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My sons tell me that I should be thinking of getting an automatic but as I am ever so old and started to drive in the 50s my memories of them are not good.  I would welcome some advice.

the automatic gearbox has advanced quite a lot over the years

as johnho says they are a little heavier on the fuel  and  as redtuts says your chouice of vehicle is restricted unless you are buying from new then the cost of the vehicle will increase by a few hundred pounds.

The Autosleeper Frisky I had last year was an automatic.

To be frank that was one of the things I didn't like about it as I'd never owned an automatic before & found it a right pain - I didn't feel in control, but that was just me I think. It was quite heavy on fuel, 22 mpg for a 2 litre petrol, but no motorcaravan is particularly good, the Elddis I have now is 2.5 diesel & only does 25 mpg.

But for people who have to have an automatic I would say that there are now a lot more about than there used to be and they are much more reliable than they were 30 years or more ago (as are all cars).

I believe the problem is that the Sevil base vehicles which are the most commonly used for motorcaravans/motorhomes (Peugeot Talbot/Boxer & Fiat Ducatto) are not produced in a right hand drive/automatic version. So you need to look for one based on other vans such as the Ford Transit (like my Frisky was).

I passed the test in an auto so long ago they gave me a licence to drive anything!

 They have certainly improved - used to go through quite a bit of extra juice for less output, but now I don't think there's much lost in performance in an average motor, and the difference in economy is much less.

For everyday motoring I'd say go for it - one less thing to worry about.  For a van, though, I can see your choice might be limited.

Enjoy!

JG