Friday 27 January 2017

Join the caravan of love...



Whats the story with the caravan?  Come closer, I will tell all.

When we go to Cornwall to look at houses, we will have to stay over night in case we want a second look at anything.  It will be quite hard to find a hotel or B&B that will take a dog and a puppy at short notice.

We had to think about how we could do this.

BINGO - Caravan it is.


We had been thinking of a motor home for a long time, but the thought of MOT's, motor maintenance, car tax.  There is also the thing of where ever you go to visit, we would have to find parking.  A van could be hard to park in supermarket car parks and say we wanted to go to a stately home, their might not allow or be space for a van.  

We have been monitoring e bay for a while and saw exactly what we wanted.  A quick dash down the motorway and it is now ours.  It is in really good nick, but needs a new carpet.  It has already been put to use as a temporary office on the drive.  I bet the neighbours are loving that we have a caravan in full view of the road.  No doubt someone will say we are bringing down the tone!  lol  

Once we have new carpet. We, thats the royal WE, will build into the seat bases, compartments for storage.  Then things wont fall onto the battery.  I have to go through all of the camping equipment and see what we need and what we have already.

The caravan will be stored at a camp site in Cornwall, we call them before we leave, they will tow the caravan out of the storage barns and onto a pitch.  we will hurtle down the M5, just turn up and carry on as if it had been there forever.  Then when you leave they put it back.  It saves us petrol and us having to tow.  Win Win I say.

Then when we have found a house down there, we can either leave it there to store, or take it to the new house.  If the new house is small it could be used over night in our garden as an extra room or it could be used as an office.  Using it has an office has worked out really well this week.  The builders havent finished the kitchen yet.  They are already a week over and eating microwave meals is making me ill.  Not many veggie microwave meals in the supermarket to be honest.  We will get a gas bottle for the caravan at the weekend and then at least I can cook over the weekend and next week.

Its all worked out really well, for once things have happened in our favour.

Now we need to get bits to fit it out with, that we may not have in our camping equipment.

What bits and pieces do you think we need for the caravan to make it comfortable?  What items do you have to take camping with you?  At present I am drawing a blank...

8 comments:

Patricia (La Chatte Gitane) said...

Oh, I love caravans.
And what excitement ahead of you ! Will you be moving to Cornwall permanently or will it be a second home ? xxx...x

Louise Houghton said...

We went on a couple of caravaning holidays. I wished we'd had an awning because if you get a wet day or have a day out walking you don't really have anywhere to put wet clothes, muddy boots etc but that is just me. Caravans can be quite cold first thing in the morning, probably due to the material they are made of, so I always would say a good pair of slippers or fluffy socks. Again that is just me. I'm sure you will get lots of useful advice.

Sol said...

Hey Patricia! The house will be our permanent home in Cornwall. We need to take our time making sure its right so we needed the caravan to stay in.

Hi ya Louise, it came with a porch awning that is 2/3 the size of the caravan. We have no idea if it is all there and working at present as we have 2 skips and work mens vans all over and we cant put it up. We didnt ask them to put it up when we viewed the van, as we were in such shock of how good it was and that they were giving us the awning and a load of equipment that we just hitched it up as quickly as possible! lol I think we got a bargain. Compared to a lot of the others we saw it is really good condition. I think I will need dedicated caravan slippers by the sounds of it. My friend said the same thing as you. She said the floor gets really cold? I didnt think about where to put muddy boots etc. So we will investigate the awning tomorrow. This comment has spurred me on to get it out of the bag and at least look for tears.

northsider said...

Hi Sol, Is the caravan site open all year round? Is there a cafe or supermarket near by? Can you run the gas fires, stove heaters off gas bottles? I would start collecting blankets, cleaning stuff, washing up bowls, bin bags etc for the caravan. Look forward to reading about your caravan travels and the new house in Cornwall. We are hoping to buy an house in Portugal this summer.

Sol said...

Hi Dave, the beach isnt far away and there are shops and cafes there. Everything can run on the gas, the heater is hot blow air that is either gas or electric. The fridge is a 2 type fridge, gas, electric main, leisure battery. My MIL has loads of bedding for us. And when I go through all of the things they have left in the caravan for us and going through our camping things. We will need plenty of bin bags. There are showers, toilets, a laundry bar and I think a games room.

The house in Cornwall will happen, I just dont know the real time table as we have to sell first. Kitchen still isnt finished!

Good luck with finding the house in Portugal!

Vera said...

Gosh, what an adventure! I have a love of the open road inherited from my gypsy ancestors, and have been caravanning and motor homing in a camper van. But I don't think we shall do caravans again after having lived in one for five years when we came to France, although the experience was one I am glad I had. But we might get a small motor home at some point in the future, once we have help on our farm!

yellowtulip118@gmail.com said...

We did much the same thing and had a caravan at a site in the Isle of Perbeck, a proper home from home! One thing that's a must is outdoor footwear that can easily be taken on and off (I use Crocs, and you can buy them cheaply in Lidl/Aldi). Just pop them off on a mat by the door when you come in, it will keep you new carpet nice and clean. Hot water bottles are good too unless you have a heater, and definitely caravan slippers!

Sol said...

Hey Vera, your house is amazing it was worth living in the caravan for it! we wont live in the caravan just use it for weekends and for when we need to look at houses.

Hi Jacqui, there is blown air heat, but hot water bottles are an excellent idea! Thanks! Everyone has convinced me that I should leave some slippers there. Ones that slip on and off easily.