My parents have been avid motorhomers but my dad is now finding driving it a struggle. They are now looking to sell the motorhome and buying a caravan but dont want to have to tow it much. They are looking instead to find a small site in Essex or maybe Suffolk with basic facilities such as power, where they can store a caravan and then have it sited on a pitch when they come to use it. Any suitable sites that people know of would be greatly appreciated. Nowhere commercial or noisy. Many thanks.
------------- Macmacky
Rayleigh
Essex
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Welcome to UKCS. I’m sure the suggestions will come flying in soon, meanwhile try the Site Search on here, tick the Seasonal box & anything else that’s important.
I find the satellite version of the location map is useful. And read the most recent reviews, focus on what’s important; eg if reviews rate the karaoke nights, that site might not be appeal.
Site Search won’t say if the van is towed on & off the pitch, or if it sits on the pitch for the duration.
There are two different ways you could go. A seasonal pitch is yours for the whole season. You take your caravan at the start of the season (often around the 1st March) and set it up on your pitch. It stays there and you can come and go as much as you like throughout the season (often until the end of October, however some sites have longer seasons and some are even 11 or 12 months). This means you don’t have to keep setting up the caravan, it is there waiting for you, all ready to use. Most of these sites will also store your caravan for you if the site closes over winter. For this type of pitch there is a single annual fee which varies from site to site depending on the facilities offered, the popularity of the area, and the length of season. From our recent research into seasonal pitches, the average price for the season seems to be from about £2500 to £3500. You then have to pay separately for electricity which is usually on a meter.
The other option is called ‘store and stay’ where the site has a storage compound where you pay to store your caravan (the ones we looked at were around £500-£600 a year). Then, when you want to use it, they pull it out of storage and put it on one of their pitches for you. Most sites we looked at had a ‘pull out’ charge of around £15, so £30 every time they put it out and away again for you. You then arrive and set up the caravan and at the end of your break, you put everything away and the site tows the caravan back into the storage compound for you. You pay the standard nightly fee for every night you stay and depending on the site, electricity might be included or might be on a meter, the same way that it is for people who are touring.
If you choose a ‘store and stay’ site and are going to be starting with them over the next few months, then make sure you check availability of pitches on the site before you commit. For example, on one of our favourite site, they are advertising a couple of ‘store and stay’ spaces in their storage compound at the minute, however, looking at the booking calendar on their website, there are hardly any weekends with pitch availability right through the spring, summer and early autumn. So if you did ‘store and stay’ there, you would be limited to a few nights midweek when you could actually stay on the site.
‘Store and Stay’ can work out cheaper if you only want to use the caravan occasionally, but if you want to use it every weekend, for example, then a seasonal pitches will work out more economical in the long term. Also, some ‘store and stay’ sites will have a minimum number of nights that you have to stay and if the site is a popular one, you will have to book your breaks quite far in advance to secure a pitch.
We decided that when we do stop touring, we will go for a seasonal pitch as we use the caravan a lot. We would only have to stay 40 nights a year to make it break even for us over the cost of single night stays and as we usually spend around 75 nights in the caravan every year, this makes sense for us.
Quote: Originally posted by Polly62 on 27/8/2025
I actually need storage in hull for my caravan please that is not too expensive 🙃.
Welcome to UKCS
You need to start a new post as this thread is called “siting in Essex”, so people with knowledge of Hull but not Essex probably won’t read your request for suggestions.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
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Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Caravan storage and siting in essex
via mobile 21/4/2025 at 2:21pm
