When you say the word “static caravans” or “holiday park home” the notion that these are optimal or even desirable holiday choice can sometimes slip behind a sea of sarcastic comments and guttural jokes. But looking a little further in depth, past the stereotypes and cynicism, and you can see a lot of advantages to a family holiday organised this way. So much so that many families go as far as to invest in their own static caravans as a permanent holiday location. So why do so many families go down this kind of holiday road?
Here’s six possible reasons to explain:
- Nature – When you think of caravan parks, your first thought might be row upon row of beige buildings. But designers and planners of such parks are cannier than many give them credit for. Most of the parks leave wide green spaces between the buildings, and strategically place them all within lush areas of verdant greenery, because caravan parks do something that hotels and other more urban holiday destinations cannot. Tread exceptionally lightly upon existing nature, and work around it rather than with it. Given the science on just much benefit there is to time either within, or nearby nature, families choosing to be as close to it as possible makes a great deal of sense.
- Community – Unlike a roving or touring caravan, where you keep it stored at home and move it around the country to various locations, the arrangement with a static caravan is clued to you in the name. This means you get to build up a rapport and familiarity with those who enjoy the same kind of things and come at the same time of year. It also means your children get to know a whole new group of children, and they get lessons about getting along with others and fitting into a new environment taught to them in an entirely new way. In an era where making new friends and developing new connections is hard, it’s always good to have a place where you can go and link up with a familiar flock of friends.
- Price Points – Static caravans are not remotely a class linked issues. Depending upon whether you are looking to buy or rent, there are places scattered all across the United Kingdom and far further afield too, with prices ranging from £150 per week to £1,000. The wide variety of available options in terms of location, be they by a beach, a stone’s throw from the forest, or within a carrier pigeon’s range of the city.
- Stability – With a static caravan purchase, there is a familiarity to the area, attractions, and everything else in the surrounding area that is deeply attractive to a wide variety of the public. Particularly with families looking after children with various forms of autism, a strong degree of predictability and familiarity can be extraordinarily valuable to help children stay comfortable, calm, and able to enjoy their holiday. This doesn’t mean that your holidays have to stay the same every year of course. Every area has a wide range of attractions and options that can be explored more in depth as you travel there more often. But there is always something to be said for a familiar anchor. A grounded port to lay anchor in and call home.
- Subletting – While you might initially only think about static caravans as a holiday arrangement and somewhere to unwind, that still leaves a large percentage of the time when it gets less than fully used. Many families see static caravans as a potential investment. Somewhere they can go to when the worries of the wider world get too much, but also somewhere that others can do the same, and pay them for the privilege. A more accessible, affordable, and achievable alternative to purchasing a second holiday home, as well as far less disruptive to everyday lives of communities getting overrun by empty-house syndrome, purchasing a static caravan could be a great way to bring in extra income.
- Styling – Say what you like about most hotels, one thing that unites most of them is their tendency to rather aggressively frown upon regular redecorating sessions. One of the great joys of a static caravan is just how easy it can be to rearrange and restyle the interior to your exact whims. You want a 70’s brown and day-glow green/yellow aesthetic? Go ahead! You want eighteenth century wood and wallpaper options? Absolutely. You want the purest possible interpretation of Philip K Dick-esque cyberpunk? Why on earth not. A static caravan is truly yours, and yours alone. When it comes to interior décor, the sky is the limit.
Many families might want a greater level of adventure. More variety each year. But many others might say to such a suggestion that there’s great value in exploring one place in depth than several places shallowly. Static caravans may not always seem the coolest, hippest, option – but there are advantages and benefits to be found if you take just a slightly closer look. What you might find is that this kind of thing could truly be the ideal holiday strategy for you and yours to enjoy evermore!