LUKE MARSDEN: how I've been won over by caravanning

With the foreign travel traffic light system as reliable as the Scholes traffic lights, I decided a staycation for August bank holiday weekend was the only way forward.

My friend invited me to his uncle’s caravan in Garstang for the long weekend and I jumped at the chance. It is my second August bank holiday weekend spent there.

Rewinding the clock back to the end of August 2020 (apologies if you’d rather I didn’t wind the clock back to that awful year, 2020!) I received my inaugural invite to my friend’s static caravan in Garstang and I’ll be honest, I hated the idea.

Whether it’s through the media or social media my perception of caravan holidays wasn’t great, I thought they were dated and for a more elderly clientele. The static caravan itself is dated, over 15 years old but still standing strong (which can’t be said for some new build homes!) but it instantly transported me back to a simpler time, we played Monopoly (Christmas edition but that’s for another column to discuss!) even had a mini-BBQ, drank, talked and drank some more. Caravan life is a simple one but a great one.

The thing that stood out the most to me wasn’t the size of the bedrooms or the good water pressure but just had polite and chirpy the caravan owners on the campsite were. If someone hasn’t done a study linking happiness and lower stress levels to caravan life, then the research community is missing a trick. I always thought my later life would be spent in a house but now I wouldn’t rule out my twilight years in a caravan. I’m sure my invite to become the next Caravan Club president is in the post.

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