What do you use your caravan for?

rodneylambert
rodneylambert Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited January 2012 in Your stories #1

How many reasons are there to use a caravan? Talking with fellow members you can get to understand the diversification of member’s interests.

 

Some travel for antique fairs some to visit close family who live a distance away. Others for that exceptional shopping trip, or to see that magnificent stately home. Caravan Club membership goes along with lots of other interests and organisations: Royal society for the Protection of Birds, Royal Horticultural Society, English Heritage, National Trus,t Inland Waterways Association, Vintage Sports Car Club, The list goes on, but a caravan allows you to travel and stay to be close to the action of your choice.

 

I am keen on historic Cars and have some1930’s MG sports cars, I belong to the MG Car Club and the Triple “M” Register, it collates all the MG cars built between 1929 and 1935 and of the 10,000 built over the period 3000 still exist. I suppose you would say built to last. I like to attend hill climbs, circuit races, motor museums, quite a petrol head. I have noticed that there is a Caravan Club event at the MG meeting at Silverstone, you park inside the Circuit, I am sure that is one I will try to get too.

 

I imagine the list of interests both at home and abroad will be huge, but it would be very interesting to hear about the people who spend time stone walling, cannel clearing, pot holing, searching for that valuable antique, etc etc,

Comments

  • robsta
    robsta Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited February 2012 #2

    Love the car Rodney, its a classic Saab that's the love of my life but it's not as old or nice condition as your MG! 

  • BrianAdams
    BrianAdams Forum Participant Posts: 10
    edited February 2012 #3

    Keen MG fan and warden here Rodney and i will be at the Slverstone meeting ( if i can sort the rota out to suit ) Cant quite stretch to your model but the 71 B Roadster is a lot of fun  .

    Robsta ,a friend of mine just restored a V4 saab 94 i think it was .Lovely it is to

     

  • moffatian
    moffatian Forum Participant Posts: 4
    edited February 2012 #4

    Sorry!! its my auto e`mail nom de plume, so you might say i`m a bit backward.

    I loved the MG -- sold my 541S Jensen (No1 of only 127 built) to go caravaning again

  • Gadgets
    Gadgets Forum Participant Posts: 12
    edited February 2012 #5

    Took our caravan to the Goodwood Revival 2011 had 4 nights on the official campsite. To wake in the morning to Spitfires & Hurricanes flying over for the "dawn patrol" was a most unforgettable experience!  Dozens of campers stood outside there units with
    mugs of tea in there pajama's LOL.   Ah the Rolls Royce Merlin, in my opinion the greatest sound man has ever produced.  Never thought I would get so much enjoyment even after 20 years of caravanning!

  • arwynwil
    arwynwil Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited February 2012 #6

    We have used our van for family weekends away, but have recently become dog owners so will be travelling to dog shows this year.

  • Smartalex
    Smartalex Forum Participant Posts: 11
    edited February 2012 #7
    Love the car, always wished I could afford one but the caravan and tow car came first. In my youth one of my friends had one and we went out quite frequently. Loved it. Yours looks in fantastic condition.
  • Tommy1418
    Tommy1418 Forum Participant Posts: 5
    edited February 2012 #8

    Use the caravan for quiet weekends away so I can research W.W.1 Soldiers and to visit historic sites as I was a coach/tour driver for nearly 20years visiting all over Europe (especially the Battlefields of W.W.1 and 2). Lovely car you have.

  • DangerCurves
    DangerCurves Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited February 2012 #9

    We stay in the UK, been on our first trip this year in Feb to Fakenham Racecourse, we do more Club Sites for our son as he is 7 and he meets loads of new friends and we can get some peace and quiet.  We occassionally take one of our cats as well, he loves
    it!!  we are doing a couple of CLs this year as well

  • Brockwood6
    Brockwood6 Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited February 2012 #10

    Got the caravan primarily becuase with 4 children it is diffcult to find other accommodation that we can all fit into. It has also been very useful when we want to visit family,many of whom live a long way away. When we stay with my parents the caravan goes
    on the drive the children sleep in the house and we sleep in the caravan. We get the lie-in, grandparents get to do the work!

  • dreamer1
    dreamer1 Forum Participant Posts: 141
    100 Comments
    edited March 2012 #11

    Ju st love getting in the car and towing the van anywhere we want total freedom no rules on what time breakfast is wonderfull fixed bed our wonderfull cocker spanial comes everywhere with us and loves every minute knows when we are packing the van . you
    can keep your hotels etc . have done all that home and abroad . once you try it especially with young children you will be hooked . every trip is an adventure .

  • geordie g
    geordie g Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited March 2012 #12

    i hope iam on the right page i have just joined this morning after buying our first motorhome last week.we are travelling to north wales at easter and are looking for a stopover in shropshire anybody reccommend a good site there thanks geoff

  • towedhall
    towedhall Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited March 2012 #13

    we go away every month in our caravan, booked in at sites up and down the country, nothing like getting the cadac out and doing the breakfast on it even in the rain - my wife is quite pleased too!

  • pheasantplucker
    pheasantplucker Forum Participant Posts: 8
    edited March 2012 #14

    Love the car. Must have cost a bit to get into that condition.

    We  were at Brooklands a couple of years back on Bentley day, as it happened. My grandson was permitted to sit in a 3 litre which was of indeterminate value, but the last one auctioned went for £425000!

    Can anyone suggest a reasonably affordable classic car? Maybe convertible Rapier or Alpine?

    Also, are there any special interest groups within the Caravan Club?

  • FiatBessacarr
    FiatBessacarr Forum Participant Posts: 21
    edited March 2012 #15

    We simply use our van to get away from the everyday stresses and strains of a working life in the city and on the road up and down motorways to take relaxing breaks for that little bit of peace and quiet I'm sure most of us crave for and find it a very useful
    mobile-home away from home. We do attend many events around the uk so not unlike us to travel to North of England for a few days if we can get the time off. Our unit is large enough to take/sleep 6 people and our grandaughter loves it. When our children were
    younger we used to caravan and found it more useful to have a car to go out for the day but now it's mainly the two of us a motorhome suits us better particularly as we also do a lot of touring abroad France, Spain and Portugal mainly and are in the process
    of planning a 9 country tour late summer/autumn something which we probably wouldn't have done with a caravan. Happy vanning (& trailer tenting!) whatever your preference.

  • Paladin
    Paladin Forum Participant Posts: 64
    edited March 2012 #16

    Our caravan gets used for many things, some of which I have already contributed stories about.

    We obviously have our holidays, then there are festivals throughout the summer, mainly Folk festivals, but also Festival at the Edge (on Wenlock Edge), and we have also been away to kite Festivals where it (well, the awning mainly) becomes the base for the
    kite display team I am a member of -  Sky Symphony 

    Also, although having been based in Birmingham, Sarah has had to deliver training courses across the country at times, so she usually arranged 3 or 4 in the same area (such as Newcastle) on consecutive days, or either side of a weekend, so we could actually
    get away in the caravan and make use of that weekend and days away and have expenses paid for!

    Further, it has been used by a photographer for a photoshoot (see story), and also for our local Carnival as the control point and Treasurers 'counting house' (another story)!

  • geistman
    geistman Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited March 2012 #17

    We bought our first caravan to transport my model railway to exhibitions. It served as a van for transport then accomodation during the overnight stay.And we had many great evenings with the clubs that we would have missed if we commuted back and forth.

  • GregandDee
    GregandDee Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited March 2012 #18

    Well, we live in our van in Australia - we are termed 'Grey Nomads" and since we retired we have travelled and worked occasionally - mainly remote stations that need some help due to illness or some other disaster. 

    We are now doing something similar with our English van but on a much smaller scale.  We plan to come to England every other year for as long as we can manage it, and this year we are travelling around France and the UK.

    However, when it's not being towed, the English van is used for storage!  We use a small lockup when we are travelling and then when we head back to Australia we put everything into the van.  Sounds daft but the lockup costs 8 pounds a week and the caravan
    storage is 6 pounds a week!

  • Raytherailwayfireman
    Raytherailwayfireman Forum Participant Posts: 4
    edited March 2012 #19

    Well, ours gets used for the usual weekends away and holidays, but also as accommodation when I am firing Steam Locomotives on the Llangollen Railway and there is a gala on - next one is Stem Steel and Stars, 21-29 April 2012 - hoping to get my hands on
    Brittania, or even maybe a turn on Tornado.

  • Ralphk
    Ralphk Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited April 2012 #20

    Having caravanned for more years than I care to remember it's amazing how the hobby adjusts itself to whatever lifestyle just happens to be in vogue at the time.

    We have always used the 'van for main summer holidays both in the UK and abroad but whilst we used to rally very regularly, initially with the South Staffs and eventually with West Wales, it was only when SWMBO and I started playing golf during the last
    ten years that we found a new lease of life for the old girl (van not SWMBO).

    We play a large number of "Open" golf competitions and having the 'van means we can venture much farther from home without the high cost of hotels etc. Additionally we now get to explore places that without the complimentary activities of caravanning and
    golf we would never have seen.

    The beauty of caravanning I guess is that whatever you want it to be, it is!

  • GEOF
    GEOF Forum Participant Posts: 9
    edited August 2013 #21

    We go on holiday for a week every month of the year in the UK.

    We use it as a base for conducting family history research and to explore and photograph the natural history of the country

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