How Many Under 40 Have A Caravan

[John W]

Got an Ace Globetrotter when I was 17 as a relative was selling for £150. It was 1976 and four years older than me at the time, an internally vented gas fire, lamps and fridge and glass windows. How it didn't kill us with carbon monoxide I will never know.

 

That rotted away alas. I still have happy memories of buying a tube of silicon and sealing the back up after rain literally poured in. Not a care in the world. :-)

 

Then went to tents for years, till I reached 29 and decided that with a young baby tents were hell! Gradually upgraded the vans and now at 35 have a U3 which we all love. Kids at 4 and 6 stay up late when we are away as we went for a Valencia with fixed bed and love it!

 

Cheap holidays and independence, it isn't cheap but it's what we enjoy and in France in the summer there is no comparison.

Edited February 2, 2016 by John W

[AlfaEuropa]

As Karl has already said was. youngcaravan. org

Cheers. Missed that one

[Ancona]

Just turned 50 have had a caravan for the last 23 years, now have children and take 12 and 7 year olds, the 12 year old was 4 months old and the 7 year old was 2 weeks old when they started they know nothing else and we mange 70 plus nights a year, go for it you won't look back. Ancona

[Kiters72]

we started caravaning when we were 26 & have had a van ever since, now we are 67 & still enjoy it.

[Wonky]

All these historical details are great (& I've added to that) but why is it that fewer youngsters are coming into the pastime?

[ATeamVan]

All these historical details are great (& I've added to that) but why is it that fewer youngsters are coming into the pastime?

Because new caravans are so expensive and us lot on 'ere put the fear of dontknowwhat into them with never ending tales of damp in second hand ones?? ?

[sunshinetours]

Not 40 now, but we started under 40 (Swmbo still is). Kids were 5 and 3, and are now 12 and 10. They love going away. Even the 12 year old becomes a kid again, which is a rare thing nowadays.

Yours will love it. Just make sure you look at a van design that considers the kids growing and needing additional space - I've learnt the hard and expensive way!!

 

Pretty similar overall to MM - we started with a Pennine folding camper and have moved onto a caravan and now changing to a different layout as kids are growing with luxury of fixed bed for us!

 

If you buy right and buy lucky it can work out Ok to change vans, its when you buy brand new obviously depreciation and loss of new-VAT can become quite expensive

 

As MM ours love it also and look forward to being away. We have a few weeks in Europe most summers which one works out a lot cheaper than package hols and, two, gives us a huge amount of extra freedom and we go places where you might not if booking into a beach resort and not leaving the hotel for two weeks (a generalisation I know)

 

it becomes a way of life and one I never thought I would partake in to be honest and you definitely don;t "get it" unless you are doing it!

Edited February 3, 2016 by sunshinetours

[Soaky]

Because new caravans are so expensive and us lot on 'ere put the fear of dontknowwhat into them with never ending tales of damp in second hand ones??

 

Plus the change in Licence may have had an impact to some extent.

[Debaser]

All these historical details are great (& I've added to that) but why is it that fewer youngsters are coming into the pastime?

 

Maybe put off by the proliferation of. .....how can I put this politely. ....retired people

[sunshinetours]

 

Maybe put off by the proliferation of. .....how can I put this politely. ....retired people

 

LOL if newbies accidentally wander onto the CC forum or even certain "points scoring" threads on here they might be put off for life.

Don't worry plenty of "normal" people are out there caravanning!

[dawnandchris]

I'm 36 and my wife is 31. We have no children (yet) but have a 3yr old springer spaniel.

We started Caravanning 5 years ago, however both Caravanned when younger with parents.

 

We are waiting delivery of our new van hopefully within the next 8 weeks

[Jimd]

Back in August I got my 30 year membership sticker from the CC. So I must have been around 32 - 33 when we first got a 'van.

 

It was only meant to be a stop gap until the kids were old enough to go on package hols abroad.

[SamP]

Both my wife and myself are 32. We've owned a caravan for 8 years now. We don't have any kids, just a dog. We both grew up caravaning with our parents, in fact we actually met on a holiday rally when we were 17.

[Wonky]

All the above backs up what I am saying! Most of us started young. Why is it that the 'youngsters' of today aren't interested in caravanning?

[Ted E]

We got our first caravan last year when I was 41 and Mrs Ted 37, more important was the kids ages… 4 and 7.

 

We’ve wanted a caravan for around 8 years but with moving home, having kids and lack of funds we couldn’t do before. Last year it was looking unlikely that we would be in a position to own one for another couple of years and Mrs Ted was getting very concerned we would miss the best years for our girls to enjoy caravan holidays with Mum & Dad.

So I made sure it happened.

 

Best thing we have ever done as a family. Both my girls are really excited for trips in the caravan again this year, even when being told the only holidays they would have this year would be in the caravan. They love it. The thought of taking bikes and all the toys they want makes them smile like you wouldn’t believe.

 

Good piece in ‘Practical Caravan’ July 2015 edition for anybody thinking about caravan holidays and young children… Martin Roberts – My home from home.

 

Will scan it in later if I can’t find a link to an online copy.

 

Teddy

[Ted E]

Come and join us on the young caravanners forum . ... Mind you I am 45 now, coming up for 46 now, so not that young anymore! Been caravanning since birth in July 1970

Would love to. .. but keeping seeing message saying "The user Teddy with Email ****************@gmail. com (IP **.***.**.**) is a Spam, please contact forum administrator." with no contact details for administrator.

 

Maybe I'm no longer consider 'young' at the old age pf 41

[Ted E]

Great to hear all the positives.

 

Any tips for carvan design? we were thinking bunk beds now we are thinking single beds for the kids and we will have the living room for us.

 

How much would you advice spending on your first one?

 

We went for fixed double with the front lounge turning into good sized bunks for the girls. This gives us the following options. .

 

1. Mum & Dad sit out in awning when girls are in bed.

2. Put girls to sleep in double while we read, play games, watch television and drink wine in the front. Then move them into their beds later (we are lucky that both can be moved without waking)

3. Read in bed or watch television when they bunk down in their beds.

 

Nearly went for twin single bunks at the rear and we sleep in the lounge, but soooooo happy with the comfort of the fixed bed that i know this works best for us.

 

Teddy

[Ted E]

Good piece in ‘Practical Caravan’ July 2015 edition for anybody thinking about caravan holidays and young children… Martin Roberts – My home from home.

 

http://www. practicalcaravan. com/blog/34725-the-joy-of-back-to-basics

[IainM1970]

Would love to. .. but keeping seeing message saying "The user Teddy with Email ****************@gmail. com (IP **.***.**.**) is a Spam, please contact forum administrator." with no contact details for administrator.

 

Maybe I'm no longer consider 'young' at the old age pf 41

On dear . ... Please keep trying!

[bessacarr425]

I'm retired so I can be impartial. I have seen many young caravan owners with children on C&CC sites. It is great that the hobby is still attracting parents. Reminds me of when our own kids were young and enjoying campsites.

The CC on the other hand has a very high proportion of retirees and I have seen very few young families on their sites.

[Debaser]

Why is it that the 'youngsters' of today aren't interested in caravanning?

 

As I said before, I think caravanning is viewed as something for retired folk, pensioners et al

 

With good reason, they do seem to be in abundance on most sites or DA meets

 

Never put us off, but I can see how some youngers ones might be

[Sparkyy]

I'm retired so I can be impartial. I have seen many young caravan owners with children on C&CC sites. It is great that the hobby is still attracting parents. Reminds me of when our own kids were young and enjoying campsites.

The CC on the other hand has a very high proportion of retirees and I have seen very few young families on their sites.

 

 

We went to a cc site not long after we had first started I doubt we will be going again too many retirees giving disapproving looks at 2 kids playing and being kids at any time before 11am we've never let them out until after 830am despite them being up at 0530 out of consideration to others. none of them actually said anything but the looks and head shakes said it all for us if you don't like children playing go to an adult only site. So yes I understand why many would be put off if that had been our first experience when we borrowed a caravan to try I seriously doubt we would have bought one.

[Soaky]

We went to a cc site not long after we had first started I doubt we will be going again too many retirees giving disapproving looks at 2 kids playing and being kids at any time before 11am we've never let them out until after 830am despite them being up at 0530 out of consideration to others. none of them actually said anything but the looks and head shakes said it all for us if you don't like children playing go to an adult only site. So yes I understand why many would be put off if that had been our first experience when we borrowed a caravan to try I seriously doubt we would have bought one.

 

Had a few issues over the years with the CC myself when my son was a toddler due to Victorian standards and membership not all Members and not all Wardens may I add. The main reason why I never renewed my membership after being a member for 8 years.

 

Found some smashing family sites over the years not my first choice but it was for the wee fella after all and he loved it. ...

[Sparkyy]

Had a few issues over the years with the CC myself when my son was a toddler due to Victorian standards and membership not all Members and not all Wardens may I add. The main reason why I never renewed my membership after being a member for 8 years.

 

Found some smashing family sites over the years not my first choice but it was for the wee fella after all and he loved it. ...

 

I'm sure there are some good CC sites and some nicer people but that experience was enough to put us off even trying again to be honest, we have been to a couple of CC&C sites which seemed better suited to families again I'm sure there will be some that aren't but that's been our experience. I understand that some people don't particularly like kids, or after reading this site dogs, bikes, land rovers and plenty of other things. Luckily that particular trip wasn't our first experience but it would have been enough to put us off buying our own caravan thinking that families aren't welcome, maybe this is one of the reasons not many young families get caravans one only has to read some of the things on this site to know if you where pitched next to one of the culprits you would be towing their caravan away whilst they where asleep.

[paulthomas]

All the above backs up what I am saying! Most of us started young. Why is it that the 'youngsters' of today aren't interested in caravanning?

Too busy trying to scrape together the deposit for a mortgage?