Our new Holiday Home dogs welcome

We are now the proud owners of a 2nd home (be it a static one, but I'm now officially trailer trash what with the summerhouse in the garden!)

Anyhooo, it's on a lovely quiet site, surrounded by 250 acres of forest walks, 10 minutes from the sea, beautiful sea views from up top, no kiddies playpark, just a nice clubhouse, a gym, and a launderette, right on the South Coast at St. Leonards on Sea which is near Bexhill and Hastings, and the best part is, dogs are more than welcome, which makes a pleasant change

We spent the day down there yesterday and ended up buying a lovely two bed (one double one twin), with a massive lounge, open plan galley kitchen, a shower room and loo, and we're going to have some nice decking put all around it when it's finally sited in 2 weeks' time, can't wait!

The poor salesman, I drove him mad, and we ended up driving round and round and round trying to find the right van, and then I decided on a new one on the showground, so then we went round and round and round again finding the best plot, and I opted for one right up on the top, near to the fishing lake, within yards of the entrance to the forest walks, and with no other beggers in front of us either, just trees, and one other neighbour, so really secluded. We are allocated our own little garden area too, which we will fence all around, but with the decking up top the dogs will be safe with the doors open anyway, coz they won't be able to get off the decking unless we open the gate! Oh it's luffly, and I'm going to start my own little business renting it out, coz they reckon in peak season I can get £650 quid a week coz it sleeps 6 peops! Obviously I'll be doing mates rates, so if anyone is interested I'll be pointing you in the direction of my advert and website when I get it up and running coz it was all done in a flash coz I'd sort of gone off the idea, but the salesman rang me Friday to tell me about the sale over the week-end, so off we went!

I wanted the right site initially, somewhere peaceful and quiet with lovely doggy walks, and this perfect site came to me instead of me having to find it - fate!

My plan will be to fill this one up and then buy another..... and another.... and another, hopefully!!!

Ooooo sounds great H, the perfect getaway and those two doggies are going to love it.
Look forward to seeing your website.

Sounds lovely H...and just what you need for some relaxation after all the stress and strain you've had recently.

I'm looking forward to seeing some piccies

Sounds heaven, fisihing lake, forest walks,no playpark, nice clubhouse.....let me know when website is up and running,

And...cant wait for piccies

Welcome to the trailer trash club H we have one, had it for yrs, dont rent it out thought (like to keep it for us and the dogs)

I love it , and so do the dogs..

Not to dash your bubble in any way H, but you have a lot to think over, insurance , whether you rent to people with dogs..(that may exclude others if anyone suffers with allergies) cleaning, who's going to do it after each rental, are you paying the site to manage it,... damages..(you will get them), how many people you will allow at any given time, don't be fooled into thinking because it only sleeps 6, thats all some renters will take...(I know someone who ended up with 12 people in her van, so you need to have someone check it out.

Sorry H, ....not trying to be negative , but if you want any more info (about the negatives) pm me, I know a lot of people who do it...some it works and some it does not.

Thanks guys, I'm quite over the moon about it, but of course, stressed out old Dave doesn't know how to relax, but I'll soon teach him with week-ends away at our little retreat, and quite honestly, that's what I've done this for, to get him away from it all at the week-ends, take the dogs with us so he doesn't have to constantly worry about them being left home alone with the dog sitter, it's all so perfick!!!

I'm going to advertise with this UK company who does nothing but let out static caravans, and they do a website for you and keep it updated too, coz I wouldn't have a clue I'm afraid!

The trouble with the site we're on, is although it is the biggest UK holiday park company, this particular site is for owner holiday homes only, they don't let them out for you, because all the people on there, keep them for themselves and don't let them out, but apparently I can do it myself, so I will! I need to cover the running costs of around 3K a year, and if I can earn more to pay off the capital then all well and good! I'm not gonna be greedy, I'd rather let it out at 200 quid a week and have it occupied, than going for the top end at 650 and perhaps not filling it up all year? Of course, we want it for ourselves too, so I'm envisaging say, one week a month for ourselves and the rest for letting. It closes Jan/Feb each year, but then they all do and who would want to live in a caravan in those months anyways! It has a nice gas fire though and underfloor heating, in case we have to!!!

Everybody we came across when walking or driving around in the buggy was friendly and had a dog, and that's what made me decide it was the right place for us, I like friendly peops and I like dogs as you know Chuffed to bits I am, whereas Dave on the other hand, is just being Dave, but he'll soon be as excited as me once the bookings start flooding in! I'm an optimist ya know

Oh that's just fantastic for me Jackie, so I'll be bending your ear with this one!!! That poor salesman, I drove him nuts, coz I wanted what I wanted and there was no way he was gonna talk me into any different!!! I got the very best plot too, one in the "posh" end where all the big log cabins are, and it is usually reserved for those, but to get the sale he let me have the plot!!!! Methinks he wanted to have a lie down in a darkened room perhaps!!! No, he said it had been "entertaining", but I told him he was lying!!!!

The insurance is £250 a year, and Steve will do all the cleaning and change overs for me (apparently, but I haven't met Steve yet!!!). Dave said, once we get to know people who live there, I could probably get one of the resident women to do it at a better price, so I'll be working on that one!

This site is like yours then, all the people only use it for themselves, but I really need to recoup some of this cash back Jackie, I always like to get back what I've spent (except on shoes of course!!!)

I will show Dave your post just to convince him it really IS the right thing for us to have done, because he never wants to go on holiday, he can't get the time off for a start coz of his rubbish staff running the place, so this will be ideal for our short week-ends away!

I'm glad you're trailer trash like me, but then I knew you would be!!!!!

We'll be interested when you get it sorted H x

two of a kind

Seriously Helena , the van will do Dave the world of good, we bought ours just after my hubby had his heart attack, (a workaholic) and it has been a godsend... we go every other weekend.

Again H, you need to have stipulations in place... the amount of people you will allow, trouble is people will think, because they are paying 500 odd for a week, they can do as they like, as many people to cram in, take no care,,,, allow dogs kids to run over furniture smoke if its a non smoking, and so on and so on.

There are a thousand negatives H, to a 100 positives, you just need to be aware.. can you also take a retainer, for damages... you are going to need it, because you will get them.

Caravans are fragile things, you will look after it, others wont. replacing broken things in them, is expensive..so the more you can prevent this the better.

That apart H, I am sure you Dave and the doglets are going to have a fab time...and my bet is in time you will stop renting it out

Brilliant news Aitch. Sounds lovely xx