A few years ago, the trend-watchers would have happily sent camping and
caravanning holidays the way of the tinned pilchard and string vest. But
membership of the UK’s Camping and Caravanning Club has grown: up 44% in the
past 10 years and 25% in the past five.
At the same time, the Caravan Club has seen a 33% rise in membership over 12
years and it now represents about 1m caravanners, motor caravanners and
trailer-tenters. As air travel becomes ever more unpleasant and we
rediscover the attractions of our own country, their ranks will swell.
Not that the kind of families used to the comfort and convenience which hotel
living provides will have to rough it. Standards have been rising in
response to a more demanding customer profile.
At Ayr Holiday Park in St Ives, Cornwall, for example, the lavatory blocks
have mosaic floors and piped music. Most tourers and holiday homes come with
double glazing and heating as standard; many have en-suite bathrooms, airy
pitched roofs and wrapround verandas.
Most modern tents are cheap, light, simple to erect and keep you snug all
night long, whatever the weather. Even the vocabulary is new: caravans are
now tourers, static caravans are holiday homes and camp sites have become
holiday and touring parks. About the only thing that hasn’t altered is the
scenery: holiday parks were always situated in some of the most beautiful
parts of the English countryside, and they still are.
Viscount Coke, 42, of Holkham Hall on the north Norfolk coast, is an
enthusiastic caravanner. He is also, as the owner of Pinewoods Holiday Park
on his estate at Wells-next-the-Sea, a member of the British Holiday &
Home Parks Association (BH&HPA) and president of the Caravan Club.
When he was a child, he and his family used to spend all their holidays under
canvas, and often visited his grandmother at her static caravan at Mother
Ivey’s Bay in north Cornwall. “We had a whale of a time running about with
the other children,” he says. “It’s classless, it’s safe, you are in a
family park where lots of the owners know each other and it’s about
location, location, location.”
Certainly there are a great many locations to choose from, with 1,400 parks in
England, scattered across every rural corner. They come in all types and
sizes, from tiny ones offering the simple pleasures of the countryside to
huge places with pools, spas, golf courses and family entertainment.
And it’s not just the facilities that have improved. “You might argue that a
caravan park despoils the countryside, but most responsible owners are doing
something about it,” says Coke, who has 550 holiday homes at Pinewoods,
including 12 luxury wooden lodges overlooking Holkham National Nature
Reserve.
Landscaping is the key. Coke has planted tens of thousands of plants, trees
and shrubs, and has won gold David Bellamy conservation awards for the past
seven years.
“Twelve years ago David Bellamy started a scheme to recognise what park owners
do to promote biodiversity and create wildlife habitats,“ says Ros
Pritchard, director general of the BH&HPA.
Owners are encouraged to develop wildlife trails, children’s activities and
wildlife events, and to buy land around their parks when they can, to act as
a buffer zone. “Some use the land for golf courses,” says Pritchard. “Others
are creating orchards so children can go scrumping without upsetting
anybody.”
Scrumping is an autumnal activity but that’s no problem as the holiday park
season is getting longer all the time. “The October half-term break is
really taking off and Christmas is picking up,” says Pritchard. “People take
their mountain bikes, their walking boots and go in all seasons. They eat
local food and visit local attractions and gardens.”
It’s not necessarily cheap. “A top-of-the-range holiday home can cost £1,000 a
week in August,” says Pritchard. Beginners can buy a tent for under £100 or
borrow one, then pay £10-£25 a night for a pitch. These are the people who
may move on to a touring caravan when they have children or dogs.
Eventually, they might buy a static caravan or a lodge at a holiday park.
“People use static caravans as second homes almost, to get away from the
stresses and strains of modern life,” says Coke. “You wake up, open the door
and you are in countryside.”
He and his family – wife Polly, 40, and children Minna, 9, Juno, 7, Ned, 4,
and Beth, 2 – regularly take off in their tourer, a 1965 22ft Airstream
Safari. “It’s fun,” he says. “We take it to caravan parks, music festivals,
weddings, big parties.”
To see what 21st-century camping and caravanning has to offer, we sent Sunday
Times writers, in a variety of family/friend/partner combos, into the
English countryside to experience nights under canvas and the challenge of
towing or driving their own holiday accommodation along the byways. They
also encountered cosy log cabins and en-suite bathrooms, and chronicle their
experiences in this supplement.
Star quality
The BH&HPA works in partnership with the official tourist boards on the
star grading scheme. This provides independent annual inspection of park
facilities, grading them for overall quality of facilities, cleanliness,
service, pitches, groundsmanship, play areas and leisure facilities.
- One star: simple, practical, no frills.
- Two stars: well-presented and well-run.
- Three stars: good level of quality and comfort.
- Four stars: excellent standard.
- Five stars: exceptional, with a degree of luxury.
Even a single star shows the park has passed a 40-point test of its standards.
Most parks are in the three- to five-star categories.
The Camping and Caravanning Club, 0845 130 7631, www.campingandcaravanning
club.co.uk; the Caravan Club, 01342 326 944, www.caravanclub.co.uk
www.enjoyengland.com/quality
Cleaning up
TWELVE years ago the naturalist and green campaigner David Bellamy, right,
joined forces with the BH&HPA, the holiday park trade association, to
establish a scheme to encourage “sustainable tourism”. More than 550 British
camping and caravanning holiday parks have now earned a David Bellamy
Conservation Award, following independent audits for environmentally
friendly policies and biodiversity achievements. Find the Bellamy-approved
sites on the BH&HPA website, www.ukparks.com.
Enjoy England’s Rural Escapes brochure contains top tips to help you explore
England’s spectacular coast and countryside. It includes maps, details of
family trips, accommodation (from quirky to cosy) and group getaways. Visit www.enjoyengland.com/ruralescapes
to order your free brochure for 2008
Great news I started camping with the cubs in the 50s and began towing in 1960 and do so to this day. My wife and have traveled the world staying in top hotels but much prefer to holiday in our caravan. We also tow our caravan with a 1960s classic Jaguar and regularly tow all over the continent.
Simon Cronin, winchester, hants
We used to as well, until the government pushed the tax on our 4x4 (doing only 2000 miles pa and used almost exclusively for towing) up under their sneaky increase! I'd like to see Gordon getting a caravan out of a muddy field without four wheel drive!!!!!
Mark Jones, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire
My Wife and our 2 dogs love caravanning. We dont have to spend hours finding a hotel that will allow our 2 dogs to come with us and a weekend break costs less than dinner in a good restuarant, We have all mod cons, power points, heating full kitchen, toilet and shower. You can't beat it!
C Cooney, Rossendale, UK
All this is fine where roads have sufficient width. However would it not be a good idea to restrict times when caravans are allowed on roads, particulary at weekends- and to ban movements between 6 pm on Friday and 9 am on Monday, extended to include Bank Holidays as well?
john, Moscow, Russia
The problem with caravans/motorhomes is where they're kept when not touring or in designated parks. I'm fed up with having to negotiate at snail's pace, whether by car or foot, round the owner's car(s) parked on pavements because their caravans etc are on the drive for 50 weeks in the year...
Lindylou, Braintree, UK
Having a caravan means that we can afford family holidays anywhere in GB. We don't have to worry about the dogs sitting on the furniture and we get plenty of freash air and exercise. We also get to meet many other like minded people. Brilliant!
David Leslie, Perth, Scotland