I am thinking of putting my little van on a seasonal pitch but I am not sure if this is the right decision!
Last year I toured and managed 58 nights away. This year, due to ill health, I have only managed 3 nights!
I have found 2 sites near to me that have availability:
* Site 1- £1500 plus metered electric from mid March to end of October. The site has a play park, games room, shop, takeaway, laundrette and nice wash blocks.
* Site 2 - £1760 including electric from beginning of March to end of October. This site has a play park, shop and gorgeous wash blocks, including a bathroom.
Both sites allow you to leave your awning up but I would only use mine if I was staying on site.
To those of you who are on, or have been on, a seasonal pitch, how much use do you get from it?
If you have metered electric, roughly how much would I use over the course of the season?
Electric-wise I have 2 lights, a mini fridge and a 1kw heater. I would also need to charge my phone and iPad (I know electric is charged at 10p per unit)
Do you feel like you are getting value for money for the amount of time you actually spend there?
What questions should I be asking the site?!
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated as I need to make a decision sooner rather than later!
If you pay £1500 for March through to October (approx 7 months) thats a little over £200 per month. If you went the four weekends a month for two nights each weekend, that would be just over £53 per weekend. If you will be using it every weekend and perhaps full weeks over the season then it would be good value. If you manage to go 58 nights then it would be approx £25 per night which is good value and you would be saving the cost of fuel by not towing. I don't think that you electric cost would be much as sites are not allowed to make a profit on electricity and you whatever you used at the van you would not be using at home.
------------- Wish I could go camping more and not have to work for a living!!!
10p a unit for electric seems quite cheap. Im sure we pay 14p for my home account.
1kw heater will be 10p an hour, Approx another 10p an hour for the water heater which maybe 900watta?
Even if you have halogen lights it will be approx 1p per hour each. Probably less.
We have not used our van at all this year. Every time we prepared to go away something came up.
Having it sited probably wouldnt have made any difference. It would have cost ££££ to sit there unused.
In your circumstances would you have gone down to the van if sited?
cost is not the only factor, a seasonal pitch in your favorite place, no stressful towing, cheaper fuel costs, go anytime you like for as long as you like.
Work out how often you would use it and how many times to break even, and compare the costs with convenience of arriving on site with the van all set up, no towing .
The questions to ask the site.
What are the restrictions, some will only allow you and charge any other family or friends to use it.(walk away from that one).
Once you have paid for your site it should have no restrictions for its use.
I noticed you have a great little van love the colors,
Ask the site if they will allow you to place a garden storage box neatly at the back of your caravan to store any outside furniture and any other caravan items
your electric sounds cheap to me, most sites charge £5 for each night you stay
The biggest difference is its stress free.
I would agree with alpiner. I haven't been able to use my van as often as I would have liked this year due to family illness and bereavement. However, when I could get away, even for one night, my van was there and set up ready. Whilst I would not have bothered to sort out and tow the van, it did give me a few much needed days away. If you worked out the nightly rate it will have been expensive this year but I don't begrudge a penny. When you have spent most of 3 months sitting in a hospital ward, a short break is invaluable. I leave my awning up from March to October
I would go with whichever site you like best as the prices seem similar. My friend has a seasonal where they have to pay for their electric, she does uses her pitch a lot and the last time we discussed it she was paying about £300 a season for electric.
We are on a seasonal with electric included. We use it a lot. I practically lived there over the summer. Last year we did in the region of 70 nights, this year far more. To us it is invaluable and we definitely camp more because of the ease. We can just decide to go any time and are ready very quickly. To us the fact we can stay on our pitch until whatever time we like on the day of departure is a real bonus. We have a school age child so to have to leave by 10 or 12 on a sunday really eats into your weekend.
We often go just for a night. We wouldn't do that if we towed. Others may not feel the same but we cant be bothered with the set up/ pack up. When we arrive at our seasonal pitch we are set up in minutes and it takes such a short time to pack up.
Would your ill health allow more usage if the van was sited. If so I would say go for it. To us its worth every penny - we pay more than those prices for all year round use.
Thanks for all the advice and comments.
We are going to go and look at the pitches available at both sites tomorrow which may help make a decision one way or the other.
I think I would use the van more if I didn't have the hassle of towing and setting up, especially as my arthritis is going out get worse, not better, which is why I was considering a seasonal pitch.
As the sites are both fairly close to home, there would be no reason not to go every weekend and during the school holidays.
My worry with a seasonal pitch is that I will get bored going to the same site all the time!
Need to do the sums to see if it is financially viable as, although I have only managed to do 3 nights this year, we have no storage costs as the caravan lives in the garage.
As an alternative, some sites store your caravan in their storage compound and will tow it onto a pitch when you want to use it. You then pay the site's storage fees plus the nightly charge when you use the van.
Thanks once again for all your helpful advice and comments.
Having had a good look round the sites and the pitches available, I have decided to book onto the £1500 site with metered electric.
I have got a gorgeous, spacious super pitch with my own electric bollard, water and waste at the end of a row, overlooking fields.
The site wardens were really helpful and let us have a good look round the whole site, having kindly marked on a map the pitches that were available. After a good hour looking round the site, I signed on the dotted line and pitch 27 is mine for next season!
Hi HEJC72 Depends how far you want to travel and where to. There is a site at Fangfoss near Pocklington. The chages for new seasonal siters are as follows.
season 1st March to31st October £1400 stay November £100
Winter storage £30 month leave elecy plug in for season extra £50 when not there
We had a seasonal in North Yorkshire for 5 years and enjoyed every minute, only changes when we bought a static this year. A few people on our site used to take the van off for a couple of weeks or so to go on 'holiday' and then return it to their pitch, that way they had the best of both worlds. good luck and enjoy every minute as I'm sure you'll get far more use out of the van.
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: Seasonal Pitch - advice please!
