Yes Helena, there is a lot of misunderstanding about the difference between a 'touring caravan' (One that you can tow around on your summer holidays) and a 'static'

The modern 'statics' are not cold, I visited one manufactuer last year and we stood inside his demo unit on a cold March day and it was lovely toasty warm inside. The new ones also come with fully fitted kitchens, plasma TV, luxury furniture, en-suite bathrooms, and the list goes on.

For a holiday they are superb, like yours, but for permanent living on a 'residential' park the big problem for me is the danger you'll end up with the siteowner from hell

The problem is that the site dictates the rules. I had a friend who was interested in this and we looked at the websites of some. There are rules covering visitors, pets, parties, people staying overnight etc.
And the ground space you are on isn`t yours, even if the caravan is. You can find your lease ended and nowhere to go.

thanks for all the replies, its certainly been interesting reading them

We had a fantastic mature enclosed garden with ours and it was at the end of a dead end lane in a small rural village, right next to the river Trent, totally bliss in summer to watch all the wildlife and the local bloodhound pack would come running past regularly. However, winter was a different story as ours was over 10 years old. Oh, the ground rates were £1000 a year.

Great as a summer retreat but alas, i'd rather stick with my parents (and in many ways, i'm similar to you Chloe as i'm not made to feel welcome sometimes).

If I did'nt have to empty a chemical loo. If I had easy access to a washing machine and dryer. Yes.

Is it a caravan or one of those static homes like behind the Boars Leigh? They are great. like proper little houses.

tell me about it! i hate being here but there really isnt any other options.. except my mad caravan idea

the ones at boar's leigh have an age restriction on, but ive been looking at ones up stoneyfold lane. im also looking derbyshire way aswell to maybe move closer to the potential OH

Have you looked into getting a little repo house?
When Dan and I started out we found a little house on a crescent which was repossessed for £80,000

Its 3 bedroom, loads of room. You could find somewhere smaller, there are houses around for 50K.
Much better option than a caravan IMO

You're dead right there Claire - I've been researching via site visits, manufacturer visits, and member of two forums. There have been some horror stories about bad site owners which have made me think long and hard about what to go for. The brand new ones are very nice and come with everything, furniture, carpets, curtains, cutlery, Tv the lot, but none of that compensates if you end up with a bad site owner.

Had a frantic 'phone call from my brother about an hour ago. The site office where he has his static caravan had 'phoned him to tell him he must go through straight away as the shed had blown over and needed sorting out.

Now as my brother lives in Sheffield and it's a five hour round trip to get to the van and back coupled with him still not fully recovered from a stroke he had during the summer, you can imagine he was in quite a panic.

Fortunately, we only live a five minute drive from where his van is sited so he gave us a call. We've just got back. Nothing at all wrong - it's next door's shed that's over on its side. Needless to say, the stroppy office lady got a blasting and is in for another when my brother 'phones her.

He'd even offered to pay for the office to arrange someone to go out and sort it and they refused saying he must go through himself and sort it out.