More reasons to be frugal

We have just come back from a lovely wee break in our touring caravan - the joy of going straight from work on Friday, reached the site in 2 hours and back Sunday night - rested and refreshed.

There was a reason behind this impromptu holiday - we have been talking about having our tourer on a seasonal pitch for a while now. While we love our caravan and have had some brilliant holidays in it (between the van and assorted tents we have been camping for about 10 years now) our car is now getting on and we cannot afford to replace it with a big enough beast to pull the van (our van is an older one - 1994 - and not huge compared to some of the goliaths you see nowadays! but you still need a decent car to pull it) Hence the idea of a seasonal pitch. We know it wont work out any cheaper than our trips but I really like the idea of having a bolthole to vanish too....it will take about 1 and 1/2 hrs to drive to the site we have chosen - long enought to feel like a holiday but a short enough drive to do after work.

The joy of the site we have in mind is that it is open 12 months of the year - there is no clubhouse - just peace and tranquility (its near Dumfries)Its had the best toilet block I have ever seen - including, joy of joys on a campsite - a bath! DHs youngest dd (4 kids) has chipped in towards the seasons fees and so had my eldest dd so they can all have holidays in it too.

And if we dont like having the van in one place after a year we can always take it off again.

So busy doing it up - its an old van and really looking its age so we are sprucing it up with special cleaners and paint. The running and hot water stopped working ages ago and we never got it sorted (I dont trust the pipes inside no matter how much we clean them!!!!) so we just have a jerry can for water. The sink is tiny - just about enough to wash 2 cups in so its no problem to use the sites pot washing sinks. Never used the on board shower as its the loo as well and tiny.

So we are siting it in September and have to come up with 5 months fees - the year runs from Jan so will have to cough up a years fees in Jan - some major saving ahead!

After that we will be putting aside £58 per month ready to pay the following years fees if we like it.

As I said its not a cheaper option but a more usuable one at the moment.