Moved to caravan forum.

Mark

I take it you mean static caravan holidays

these are in camps where you are captive audiences and is subject to very little competition or the sites all charge similarly to each other
They are dominated by firms like Haven (who are now Butlins too)and they almost have a monopoly on the static parks
they are just straight plain money grabbing organisations

We will only use these with touring facilities as an utter last resort as if we go caravanning with our tourer or our kids go camping we can find sites that charge a whole lot less
an example

Great Yarmouth Caravan Club site taking our tourer and 2 grandchildren works out at £36 for three nights
Haven Wild Duck site for the exact same time wanted ......£182

OK the CC site doesn't have the pool or bars but we don't want them

Having to holiday in the UK this year due to health insurance problems I too was amazed at the prices for these parks which often pack people in like sardines.

I really couldn't see us enjoying staying in a caravan that had less mod cons that we had at home. Who wants to wash up after meals when a machine does it at home?

My solution was a privately rented bungalow with 3 bedrooms and all mod cons including a dishwasher and washer/dryer only a few minutes walk from the beach in Cornwall.

The price?

£327 for a week 29th Aug - 5th Sept which includes the bank holiday weekend, and that's for 4 adults and two children.

There is a caravan park very close where we can pay a small amount daily to use their facilities on days we don't go out.

Happy holidays
Lynn

silverpixie1uk wrote:

My solution was a privately rented bungalow with 3 bedrooms and all mod cons including a dishwasher and washer/dryer only a few minutes walk from the beach in Cornwall.
The price?
£327 for a week 29th Aug - 5th Sept which includes the bank holiday weekend, and that's for 4 adults and two children.
Happy holidays
Lynn

Good solution Lynn

IF I didn't have our tourer I'd probably go for something similar but in Norfolk on the Broads where I can fish from the lawn

I didnt know they charged that much these days.
Thats more than the annual rent I pay for my static which is in the Pennines.
I wish our owner would let us rent our caravans out as we could make enough to pay for a holiday abroad.

Stupidly expensive !

we only go on these type of holidays with the SUN £9.50 / £15 holidays ( plus Butlins etc too)

we can only holiday @ wkend or during school holidays,so these make a nice cheap(er) break for us

sometimes we get free upgrade,sometimes we upgrade ourselves and other times not bother at all

the accom can sometimes be hit or miss apparently,but on the whole we personally,have been lucky to have good accom each time.
Sometimes a little dated, but always clean,tidy & well equipped etc

we dont tend to spend much time in the accom anyway ! so only a place to shower,sleep and eat

We have been to France on these static caravan hols too, and hoping to get one to Lake garda next year

Would never pay full price !

Another solution can be to book private caravans direct with the owners. We've done this a lot and find the vans are also much better equipped as well as being cheaper than booking through the likes of Haven and Parkdean. I've found caravans in the past through sites like Daltons, BookDirectly.co.uk and Direct Holiday Homes. Was looking last week at how much a week would be at Rockley Park (Haven) in August and was so shocked as Haven wanted £1200+ when in the past we haven't paid more than £500 for a private van.

hi nicJW the price you were given for that weeks holiday at rockley park ,£1200 PLUS is unreal, you need to be a wealthy man these days to take your kids on a caraven holiday i think we all need to buy a tent .i wonder how much they would charge you to erect a tent for a week? regards john

Absolutely! Luckily I was only looking out of interest - we have actually booked to go to Menorca at the same time (August) for 2 weeks and to think that it would cost more to go to Rockley Park for the fortnight is just unbelievable. Do people actually pay full price though? Was brousing Haven website last night for a late break for Whit week, the 4 night breaks that came up at Devon Cliffs were supposedly £400+ cheaper than original brochure price that would make the original price £650 for a 4 night break in May Can't believe anyone would pay that. Can't persuade my husband on the short break though as he was hoping we'd get something for around £100 - think those days are long gone!

Funny you should mention the tents John, walked past Halfords earlier and the sign in the window that caught my eye was advertising a complete Family Camping Kit for £120...have to admit it got me thinking

lol same here ! as our friends were telling us about the halfords package .

BUT having done my homework ,halfords and argos tents are a big no no !

leak,break and are generally poor

someone has recommended this tent to us : http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/coleman_columbus_4_tunnel_tent__1066 ( the make in general is supposed to be good) we only wanted something small for weekend breaks and under £100

have a look / ask on here http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/
also tent reviews pages

HTH

PS agree with private rentals too,we got a fab deal on a Butlins 10 berth static, and shared with my sis and her family

was soooooo much cheaper than Butlins own accom (standard)