Living in a Static Caravan

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Living in a Static Caravan
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Tess

Joined: 06 Nov 2012
Posts: 1

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 5:36 pm Post subject: Living in a Static Caravan

Hi all
So pleased to have found this group. My family and friends look at me like I am slightly mad when I say I would love to live in a caravan, preferably in a field somewhere

Luckily my husband also loves the idea!

Just wondering really what barriers there are... for instance how difficult is it to set up on land, where do you start? We have considered going to France but this means hanging on a good few more years and ideally we'd like to do it within the next year or so.

Anyone with any experience or knowledge of where to start and what difficulties we are likely to face, be really pleased to hear from you - shall also trawl through all the topics to see what other information is about.

Thank you!

Tess

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 5:51 pm Post subject:
No idea but welcome and hello from Asturias...

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 6:00 pm Post subject:
Welcome from me too. I think if you are going to make a living off the land it's easier to get permission to have a static on site.

arvo

Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Posts: 3321
Location: Somerset

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 6:07 pm Post subject:

Hello Tess!

We thought about it and a mate of ours has lived in hers (with 2 kids) for about 8 years, until she got planning on her own land to build something permanent.

We really toyed with the idea for a while. The advice our mate gave us was: buy as big a one as you can afford (the kids! you might have different criteria). She has really loved living in it. I think she'll be sad to move when it comes to it.

Because she's a farm too she has electric plumbed into it as a drop of the pole and town water I think from the village. She has central heating piped into it from a crazy rayburn adaptation and that and her washer and drier live in a big metal shed kit thing they built right next to the van. They've since built a veranda in the crook between the two with a roof over and she says that's great for wet coats and boots as well as eating outside when the weather's nice.

Her number one complaint is condensation.

Good luck, we decided not to go ahead for family related reasons but no-one on here will think you're *that* mad

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 6:10 pm Post subject:

I'd recommend reading the DIY Planning Handbook which is invaluable.

A few tips - keeping tidy, especially outside, is important - if it looks bad you're more likely to get opposition. Secondly, heating, make sure it is up to a harsh winter as -20 doesn't happen very often, but when it does it is very miserable indeed if you can't keep warm. As Tavascarow says, it is easier to get planning if you are making a living from the land, but the planning part of that equation is the easy bit, and planners generally want you to be working towards a permanent structure in that situation & may only grant planning for a limited time.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 6:16 pm Post subject:

arvo wrote:

The advice our mate gave us was: buy as big a one as you can afford (the kids! you might have different criteria). She has really loved living in it. I think she'll be sad to move when it comes to it.

Good advice - and think about the layout too. 12ft is like a palace compared to a 10ft wide van, much easier to get proper furniture (we have a super kingsize matress in ours!) in and make it feel like a proper home.

arvo wrote:

Her number one complaint is condensation.

Funnily enough that is one common problem we hear about but never have a problem with.

There's a programme on Channel 4/4od about small homes, if you haven't already seen it.

nickofthewoods

Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 59
Location: South West Wales

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 9:16 pm Post subject:

we pulled on to our present site 20 years ago here

the advantage of a static or caravan is that if the planners get on to you then there are options other than demolition.

a landbased occupation is good for your selves aswell as your local area and neighbours...i was a hedgelayer for 10 years..got to know all the farmers..

keep on good terms with neighbours..council planners act on tip offs and complaints

keep a low profile..i have seen many people bulldoze their way onto the land with no regard for others eg..car parking,widening gateways,rubbish,loose animals..only to come a cropper pretty quick..

choose your site carefully..we parked on the southern edge of a woodland..discreet,shaded in summer,sunny in winter and plenty of canopy cover..

we started with a 26 x7 foot showman's..with another blim caravan later..a roof went over the whole lot and we carried on from there..slowly and steadily..creating the space,filling in the sides and podding out bit by bit

be lucky

Nature'sgrafter

Joined: 22 Feb 2012
Posts: 527
Location: Sanday , Orkney

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 9:59 pm Post subject:
Can I ask what you want to do? Are you trying to be self sufficient. are you trying to escape society. Do you just have a romantic concept of life in a field. Or do you have a grand plan

Gai

Joined: 31 Dec 2004
Posts: 408
Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 12 10:12 pm Post subject:
This was a good thread about caravan living.

graysalchemy

Joined: 10 Oct 2012
Posts: 73

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 12 10:43 am Post subject:

I lived in one for three years on the West coast of Scotland. I was young and a bachelor but i did enjoy the experience even though it was very basic.

However who ever had sited the caravan had forgotten to think about the strong westerlies that came up the glen most nights in winter.

It was placed side on with a bank of large trees next to it. It used to lift in the wind and i always feared a tree falling on it. It got so much that one night I decided it was safer to sleep in the adjacent deer larder with the days stalking tally.

cassy

Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1047
Location: South West Scotland

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 12 11:09 am Post subject:

Living in a caravan in a field is great but even with planning permission for a house, permission to live there in a caravan is usually only temporary, as Rob R said. Our caravan permission needs to be renewed every 3 years, for example, and they could choose not to renew it. Council Tax is paid at Band A.

I think you get more out of it if you go the whole hog, be off-grid and as self-sufficient as possible rather than just replicating living in a house.

If you have a wood burning stove in the static, damp seems to be less of a problem.

Good luck with your decision.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 12 4:25 pm Post subject:
personally Id take note that your friends think you slightly mad. Nothing in this world would induce me to live in a static in a field (personal opinion). Saying this, im thinking Im a bit selfish, but then Im employed and can afford a reasonable standard of living.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 12 4:37 pm Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

personally Id take note that your friends think you slightly mad.

Nothing in this world would induce me to live in a static in a field (personal opinion).

Saying this, im thinking Im a bit selfish, but then Im employed and can afford a reasonable standard of living.

I don't know what makes you think that living in a static gives you a lower standard of living? If anything it gives you a better standard as you can afford more luxuries.

nickofthewoods

Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 59
Location: South West Wales

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 12 7:23 pm Post subject:
maybe lorrainelovesloos ?

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 12 9:02 am Post subject:
Lorraineloves central heating, space, oh too many things to mention. I think the constriction of living and the noise of rain (lets face it we live in a 'challenging' climate) would put me right off.

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