Caravan Holidays

[Trouble]

My sister has pursuaded me and my youngest to join her in Clacton for the weekend in a caravan.

I was initially dreading it but then thought back to the great times we had as kids on caravan holidays.

I remember the smell of the caravan as they all tend to smell the same, the fancy dress competitions, the club, the penny slots, the beach and the sunburn we all used to suffer with cold flannels on our shoulders at night and of course in the real early days the trek to the communial toilets and showers.

So have you got any great caravan holiday stories to share.?

[Lee Bartholomew]

I spent last Summer living in one at Combe Haven in hastings and was very tempted to buy one for this year.

Had use of Wi-Fi, Pool, Pubs, Clubs, Gym, Swimming pool, Jacuzzi etc etc etc all for a hell of alot less than rent and bills on a one bedroomed flat!!


Caravan holidays are what you make of them. Get p1ssed and it will fly by.

[Dreadful Scathe]

sounds exciting. can i come ?

[Beowulf]

Some of my fondest childhood memories were of camping holidays in Blackpool. They weren't posh and they weren't fancy but we had fun. If you're on a camp site with organised entertainement .. hmm well it can be quite variable. Some is quite good and some is down right awful but in the end it's a roof over your head and a bed to kip on.. as said above it's what you make of it. You're not having a holiday in a caravan, it's just a base from where your holiday takes place.

Hope you have fun and get good weather..

[Gav]

When you're fairly young yourself and you've got young kids, short of offloading them on family while you bugger off to the sun on your own, a caravan park holiday is a great idea. Lots for the kids to do during the day, a bar and entertainment where kids are welcome in the evening and if you get bored, there's almost always plenty of attractions nearby.
Not to mention that if you're a bit strapped, you just collect the vouchers in the tabloids and get a week long family holiday for less than £100.
I've taken my kids on plenty of cheap Sun newspaper holidays and we tend to use the park as a base to go everywhere local. Then we have the pool, the evening entertainment and somewhere to sleep.

[Daisy Chain]

My main memory of childhood caravanning holidays is being woken up really early by the local birds running up and down on the roof in hobnail boots.

It'll be nice if it rains. The sound of the rain drumming on the tincan roof will drown out the noise of the kids! Still, don't expect it'll rain...

I only 'do' posh hotels now

Daisy

(A Snobbish Little FLower)

[Trouble]

We used to go every year to a campsite called Cherry Tree Farm nr yarmouth somewhere. As my parents obviously got a little more money, the caravans used to get better. The first one (which i remember even though i was only about 7) used to tip up everytime my dad walked up one end of it.

A little better was one i remember last time we went, was about 10/11, it had steps up to it and everything. It had its own toilet as well.

We used to have to learn the Cherry Tree Farm dance and learn all the usual replies when somebody said something on stage, you know the sort of thing, compere would say: UMPA UMPA ---- we would shout back: STICK IT UP YA JUMPER....

Oh such fun !!

[JiveLad]

Oh yes - fantastic fun. Wonderful memories.

Getting up at 4:00am then driving in the Ford Cortina (Mk II) down to Woolacombe in Devon, with me and my sisters in the back of the car fighting over who would go in the middle.

The great food (thanks Mum!) - adventures on the beach, playing games ('tip tap' and 'hoops' as we called them), surfing with those wooden boards - brilliant.

One year it rained constantly for the whole week - no matter we still had fun playing cards - and cribbage became the game of choice ("one for his nob") and a bit of Rummy.

No TV, no fizzy drinks, no crisps, no iPods - and yet it was fun-tastic.

[stewart38]

My sister has pursuaded me and my youngest to join her in Clacton for the weekend in a caravan.

I was initially dreading it but then thought back to the great times we had as kids on caravan holidays.

I remember the smell of the caravan as they all tend to smell the same, the fancy dress competitions, the club, the penny slots, the beach and the sunburn we all used to suffer with cold flannels on our shoulders at night and of course in the real early days the trek to the communial toilets and showers.

So have you got any great caravan holiday stories to share.?

Apparently i cried my eyes out when i lost 10p in the arcade on one of those holidays. wife said grow up

I remember the sound of rain on the caravan roof top (parents use to own a fix caravan at Selsey) kind of relaxing in a way

[Twirly]

Never stayed in a caravan park as a child. We always used to go and visit my Grannie in Scotland. However, one year we did take a motor-home type thing, which I thought was great. Until the shower broke down and I couldn’t wash my hair. Believe me, you do not want to be in a confined space with a pubescent 13 year-old who can’t shower and wash her hair about 3 times a day!

It wasn’t just the shower that broke either – lots of other stuff went wrong. So much so in fact that the following year the company gave us one (that worked!) for a week free of charge. I can remember sleeping above the cab in the bunk-bed bit – a bit claustrophobic, but great fun!

[Trouble]

Apparently i cried my eyes out when i lost 10p in the arcade on one of those holidays. wife said grow up

Talking of the sound of rain...How about the slight rocking sensation.... I remember once when we were little my brother shouting out to ma and pa.... DAD THE CARAVANS MOVING.....!! (slight rocking motion stopped), he woke me up and Dad shouted back, get to sleep its just the wind.

I also remember i was in a caravan the day Elvis died cause i was in bed reading my mills and boons (just discovered romance) when it came on the TV and mum started getting upset. I was sleeping on the kitchen table (you know the one that collapses and makes another bed) TV was in the kitchen so i was alright. !!!

[Lory]

Wow, Caravan holidays, as some of you have already said, some of my best childhood memories were of holidays in a caravan

My Nan and her two sisters joint owned a 'static' one in Seasalter, near Whitstable in Kent and my Nan used to take me and one of my mates down there for the whole 6 weeks summer holidays..

I have to point out, our Caravan was brought when the site first opened, then a larger company brought it out, with the proviso that the old caravans could stay.. but gradually, the camp got bigger and better and our Caravan got older and older (but still had prime spot) and stood out like a sore thumb, till the point, I used to lie about which one was ours!

We only had 1 cold running tap, in the kitchen, there wasn't a bathroom at all.. (and to be honest, I can't remember washing at all ) They had a toilet put in a cupboard but it was so small, you had to step over it, then close the door!

Also, I don't know how they used to do it but they used to cook a full roast dinner on this tiny Calor Gas stove, that had about as much power as a candle. I think they used to put the potatoes on at about 8am and they were still like boiled potatoes, only very oily, at 3pm. We used to shell the peas.. proper peas, from the farm next door and pick the mint, for the mint sauce too.

The freedom we had was incredible, we just used to be told to be back at tea time, no one seemed to care what we got up to... Awww those were the days!

Moving on, I've since had lovely holidays in Cornwall, Devon, Sussex and Norfolk in Caravans when my kids were little and I think they enjoyed those holidays every bit as much as some of the exotic holidays we've had to the Caribbean.

And my latest experience, was Blaze in Scotland, where the Caravans were positively luxurious, compared to the likes of Pontins!

I'm sure you'll all have a brilliant time Trouble....I just hope the weather's good for you all.. it makes all the difference in the world!

[Trouble]

Oh we are going to have a great time.

We have got bingo lined up for Friday night (and yes i am ashamed to admit it, i do enjoy bingo now and then), while the kids run about like hoodlams creating havoc everywhere they go. We got passes for ma and pa so they can join us. Swimming cossies packed as they have an indoor pool and a 200ft chute or something like that. Im gonna let sis try it first then laugh at the wedgie it gives her.

We are also sharing a bed so i have pulled all my resources and purchased a nose plug as my sister has annoying habit of passing wind at every opportunity, i myself dont do that sort of thing MInd you compared to DTS, its a butterfly sort of comment.

I just pray we get some dry weather....

[Beowulf]

I just pray we get some dry weather....

I was a bit odd as a kid. I remember in one camp site there was a heated outdoor pool. And I remember the heavens opening when I was in it.. really heavy torrential rain..

And I also remember getting out of the pool and running for cover as I was getting wet..

erm...


Yeah.. well it made sense at the time.. kind of


trust me.. the kids won't mind it if it's raining.. You might, but pack an umbrella and a large bottle of your favourite tipple You'll do fine and the kids will love it.

I always remember the "novelty" of dad lighting the lights and the heating and the oven..No electricity everything was gas.. I remember our first static caravan holiday.. it had TV and Fridge and everything Ooh such luxuries

[Double Trouble]

my sister has annoying habit of passing wind at every opportunity

Tango, Charlie Tea, Kettle Barby Q, this is pot here..are you receiving me?

[Trouble]

I always remember the "novelty" of dad lighting the lights and the heating and the oven..No electricity everything was gas.. I remember our first static caravan holiday.. it had TV and Fridge and everything Ooh such luxuries

OMG you just reminded me. Thats right. Dad used to light the lights in the caravan with gas and a match. Ooh yes i remember now. Blimey i forgot about that. Isn't it funny when you think about it.

I read in Hello Magazine yesterday that carvanning is the new in thing for celebs to do. They are all getting them (mobile ones) and its deffo fashionable. Ive always fancied one of them big ole American ones then leaving everything behind and touring the world. Can you imagine what fun........

[Caz]

Hope you have a fabulous time at the caravan! Hope you get some decent weather too.

I personally had some fab holidays camping and caravanning and attempted to go camping this year but my holiday clashed with the floods up here in yorkshire.... never mind... hope to go again at some point. Best camping holiday has to be with Jamie and seeing his face when he came back from the shower block OMG

I am so jealous but sure you will enjoy yourselves....

[Lory]

I read in Hello Magazine yesterday that carvanning is the new in thing for celebs to do.

Not only celebs, did you not see THIS last week?

[Trouble]

Not only celebs, did you not see THIS last week?

LOL... you see that first caravan, thats exactly like the one we slept in on our first trip to Cherry Tree Farm. It used to tip one end......funny as hell.

[Bluey]

My sister has pursuaded me and my youngest to join her in Clacton for the weekend in a caravan.

I was initially dreading it but then thought back to the great times we had as kids on caravan holidays.

I remember the smell of the caravan as they all tend to smell the same, the fancy dress competitions, the club, the penny slots, the beach and the sunburn we all used to suffer with cold flannels on our shoulders at night and of course in the real early days the trek to the communial toilets and showers.

So have you got any great caravan holiday stories to share.?

HI Trouble, I went to Clacton last weekend static carvan to Park Resorts Martello Beach, and it was right on the beach. After what happened Friday we took all our wet weather gear and guess what, Brilliant sun shine Saturday & Sunday so we got a sun tan. But 300m in land it was cloudy!! and rainy!! I rem'd you pop along to Weywick, on coast from Clacton turn right, 10 mins and see the amazing beach chalets, Then go along to Walton On the Naze and see the amazing Beach huts cut in the hill sides. I tell you the whole coast line area 100% is under rated. Then don't forget tea and scones on end of Clacton pier, or perhaps some Bungy, Rides on pier are fun too!

as for our caravan there was 3 of us, we were upgraded to GOLD premier, with 6 beds, 3 bedrooms, huge bathroom , kitchen, huge lounge PLUS central heating because it was COLD friday night! The site has an excellent club house and we were entertained by a BEE Gees tribute band- really good suprised to say. What was nice, NO SMOKE CLOUDS in venue!! Swimming pools were brand new, see has not warmed up yet!! Ive been to many sites around UK, Love the IOW and rc'md value for money!!

Strange we saw photos of the site in 1987, month of the Hurricane. and the site was under water, up to roof lines, so every sympathy for those suffering from floods at present!

Re American caravans, ie The Bullett, this was too big for our roads and a company under licence is a making reduced size ones for our Roads.

Enjoy you weekend let us know the site name as fancy the 200m shute!!