An Interesting comparison!
🤔Given the debates around pricing that have been discussed recently, I did a little comparison this evening that proved somewhat of an eye opener for me. We have just booked a cottage for four near Melrose, very nice, en-suites, big garden, welcome hamper, 5 stars from Scottish Tourist board, no charge for the dog, plenty of free parking. Eleven nights for £550. No bond required, no booking fees, that is the total price.
Thought I would have a look and see how much it would cost for same dates, four adults on a serviced pitch at Melrose Club Site. Chose serviced pitch as it’s closest comparison to a cottage. £513.70.😲That is a saving of £36.70. I expected it to be a great deal more. Site is very busy though, so folks are happy enough paying the asking price.
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I think the comparison is misleading unless you regularly take four adults away in your van for 11 nights! For two adults the price would be £26.70 a night which is much more like the norm. You can save another £43 by not having a service pitch. If I was going anywhere without the van I expect I would prefer to stay in a hotel. Don't really see the attraction of a cottage.
David
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TTDA, Thank you, I enjoyed reading your post and think you have made a good choice. We are doing the same thing as you are more and more these days - in fact we are away to similar accommodation in two weeks time. Club Caravan sites have lost their appeal, and buying a Motorhome would be a ridiculous expense for us - the overal daily cost of having it and using it would be enormous. I hope we both have a good holiday.
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I must have missed something, Et..
even if staying on a site other than a club one, don't you already have a towcar and caravan?....so why do you need a MH, too?
use a cottage, by all means, as an alternative or supplement to your caravan holidays, but I don't get the MH (and costs) reference...
probably a bit early for me...
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We had a couple of years when we did not have a caravan. We booked flights and apartments abroad ,usually island destinations. In UK we would tour ttaking a cottage or apartment or an occasional guest house but as we normally stayed three nights and moved on it was a bit of a faff when planning. Probably far easier these days. I doubt that for our 120+ nights away that it would not be cheaper and we do like having our own place with us. It is a different scenario if just away for say 30 nights a year.
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Just shows comparing like for like doesn't always work. The one nice thing about the Melrose site is being right in the town itself and it's one of the nicest Border towns. But I'm sure you'll all have a great holiday TDA in such a lovely area!
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When working we used to use a lot of cottages, villas, gites etc., we also rented touring caravans as I couldn’t see the point of owning a van to sit outside the house for 48 weeks a year. But even all those years ago, we were paying anything up to £350/week for a 3 bedroom cottage so it wasn’t a cheap option.
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Towards the end of our time in Scotland we rented cottages a lot in the colder months rather than use the caravan, see no fun in sitting in a caravan when it is blowing a blizzard outside when you can be in a cosy cottage with the log fire burning, even now we are in the south of England a caravan is no fun for us when it is damp and cold outside, and cottages or even B&B would be our preference, yes it is probably more expensive but some of this can be off set with lower fuel costs etc if you are not towing.
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Thanks for the interesting responses. I think I used the term comparison, which might be a tad misleading, would have been better using observations really, difficult to compare anything like for like.
I don’t fundamentally agree or disagree with what most folks have put, it was just something I decided to do out of interest, in terms of what might be possible for four adults to holiday in a given place at a given time.
We have always tended to think of using a touring outfit as a cheap option, mainly because we don’t have thousands of pounds tied up in our MH and caravan. I was just a bit surprised really trying to do a bit of a match. We have toured four adults on a site in one outfit, although not for extended periods, as we used to sleep in the awning of a friend’s outfit, and they did same in ours if we were in same area, but different locations. Years ago now. I used the serviced pitch price as it doesn’t involve as much water and waste carrying as normal, hence more like being in a cottage.
If it had been just the two of us touring, then the comparison would have been hugely in favour of the site fees, even more so as I doubt we would be on a Club Site, we would have looked for a CL, more in region of a £15 per night fee. I think some asked if the cottage price would have been reduced if there were only two occupying? The answer depends very much on the individual let, but we have used larger cottages and always had a discount for just two using, might vary from owner to owner.
This year has been a tad different for us, we have used cottages way more than the MH, mainly because I am making sure Mum gets away while she can, and helping another relative get away after a stroke. But we have some tours planned, and indeed sites booked.
We love cottage holidays though. Pick a nice one, that has got all you need, in a location that suits, and it’s great. 😁
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I have a 5 year old everyday car which I would need to keep. I have an even older Caravan which would fetch £7000.
To finance a new or newish Motorhome on top of the caravan sale I would need to cash in a very profitable stocks and shares ISA with Fundsmith which is growing at 15% a year so I would immediately have a cost of £5000 per year of lost interest/profit there. Then I would need to add in depreciation on the Motorhome plus insurance, maintenance and servicing - so another £3000 per year do you think? So just to HAVE a Motorhome would cost me £8000 a year before I even began to use it.
I don't have the opportunity you have to utilise the Motorhome to the extent others do, and my limit would be around 60 days a year - so a daily fixed cost of about £135 a day plus site fees - say£15 - on top.
£150 a day is economic madness.
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Were the opposite to AD , we go away between October to April , much prefer the cooler weather ,and frosty mornings to go for walks , we might go away in the warmer months ,but not that often , but it's good that we all like to do different things
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We all have different preferences, and to a certain extent different limiting factors that might influence our choices, and that is the business of no one else really.
We have always holidayed in different forms, at all times of the year, and will continue to do so until we are no longer able. We love the snow and ice in this country, and have the vehicle to cope with most of what is thrown at us, so going away in bad weather, either to a cottage, hotel, or most of time towing caravan isn’t an issue (6 inches of snow at Castleton was seen as a fun tow for us, but we like a challenge😁) MH is a bit of a different proposition however in heavy snow.
However you do it, whenever you do it, wherever you do it, sincere wishes that you can do it for as long as you can!😁
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We rent UK holiday homes, had a lovely one in Cornwall last October, the standards are superb compared with years ago when holiday homes where full of tatty old furniture and old beds!! It's good to have the option TDA, we're happy, like you, to do both.
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In terms of holidays, airports are what I can’t stand. All that waiting around, wondering if something is going to be delayed, wondering how many numpties will have to be endured for x number of hours. Then there’s the transfers to destinations........
Once had to sit two hours on a non air conditioned coach in the baking heat at Athens waiting for another flights luggage to finally arrive. Got to hotel to find Yasser Arafat and three gunboats waiting.......Not sure we signed up for that, but the Palestinians were a lot less hassle than some of the Greeks😂😲
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Very true, you tend to forget the ‘got to be endured’ bits once you reach somewhere nice.
Ferries........😱 Only done a few very short ones, but I am an appalling sailor. I know you do Hull to ? quite frequently, is it very variable in terms of good and bad?
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all very interesting stuff.....but, surely not relevant to you or the discussion....
if a caravanner, like yourself, wanted to tour in lieu of cottages, why would they 'need a MH', you already have an outfit that costs you little, so why should you feel you need to buy a MH?
all the interesting financial stuff seems only relevant if you're seriously thinking about a (nearly) new MH.
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Just had an 8 week tour, end of May until end of July, Lake District, Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides, enjoyed every minute, did I account for every pound spent on making it all possible ? No. but it was about £1500 - £2000. stayed mainly on Club sites but not exclusively.
Next week we are away again to.....? in our Motorhome, only way to justify the investment is to use them as often as is possible. So convenient, Warm, comfortable and we sleep in our own beds.
Keep your Airplanes, Hotels, Cruise Ships, Villas and Timeshares a Caravan or a Motorhome for Us.
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...but the thing is, these different 'styles' needn't be mutually exclusive..
we van for about 30 weeks a year...12 weeks ish abroad either after Christmas and then in Sept or May onwards and before Christmas ...and six weeks or so on and off in the uk...
but we still have 20 odd weeks to fill and some of that involves airplanes, hotels, trains, coaches, cars, ships, villas or combinations thereof...and even cottages (10 of us in one in Rhoosili last summer...)
weve always travelled and still have the desire to continue..enjoying places from all forms of accommodation via a multitude of travel modes.
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"Only done a few very short ones, but I am an appalling sailor. I know you do Hull to ? quite frequently, is it very variable in terms of good and bad?"
TtDA - when we lived in Hull we did the Hull to Rotterdam crossing regularly and I have to say it was invariably good, as good as at least one of the cruise ships we've been on. Although that was some time ago I doubt standards are much different these days.
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I agree that nowadays a caravan/car or MH is a huge investment in most instances, and only makes sound financial sense if used on a very regular basis.
We didn’t particularly go down the full commitment route, as we have a very old caravan, and although we bought a much more modern MH, it is secondhand, and is coming up for 17 years old. We occasionally toy with the idea of buying something new (MH), but to be honest, what we have got is holding its second hand value, and it fulfils all our needs in terms of comfort and practicality. We kept the van as well, as it’s worth nothing, but we hope to renovate it and use it as a bolt hole somewhere nice, like we used to do. We enjoy the different types of holiday.
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Thanks M. Hull would be easiest route over for us, only an hour’s drive. I think my afloat memories are forever tainted by the Scillonian!🤢🤢😁
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I agree that nowadays a caravan/car or MH is a huge investment in most instances, and only makes sound financial sense if used on a very regular basis.
Yes to that. We make a s much use of ours all year round, regardless of weather, unless of course we get snowed in at home and can't get away. Can't be bothered these days with all the faffing about at airports, having to get there in the first place, sitting around waiting for ages without the certainty of setting off on time, strikes by pilots and air traffic control, yobs drinking the day away....not for us, we'll leave it to others thank you.
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