I curently live in a large northern city. I rent a flat at around £400 per month, and basically after food/bills/cothing etc I have no money left. Luckly I have quite a bit of money saved so I am planning a lifestyle change.
I was thinking about buying a caravan and living in the countryside, but I can think of many problems. Has anyone any experince of something like this or similar?
The bad sort of gypsies (or really the tinkers) have ruined this idea for you. You will be treated as hostile in many areas due to the devestation these people have left in their wake in the past. Worn out the welcome.
You can try legitimate renting of space though, rather than just shoving your way in. You should be fine that way but it will cost money.
You're getting robbed, lad. I live eight miles from a large northern city and pay the same for a four bedroom house.
Move out of the city. I wouldn't advise you to go 'nomad' unless you have some idea of where to park and so on. It's a nice idea but if you're neither a diddycoy nor a type (err, 'crusty') then you're caught between two soiled and unstable stools.
>>1301 I ex-colleague of mine decided to buy an old transit (not unlike the one in the picture), stuck a matrace in it and proceeded to bugger off with his girl friend for a year long tour around Scotland and the rest of this fair country. I've not heard much from him since he left, but from what trickled through it went OK. Apparently by not looking much like a caravan they avoided a fair bit of hassle.
He's since moved to Austria, though, which maybe tells you something about his mental state.
That anecdote aside, unless you're hell-bent on being mobile >>1304 probably has the better idea. Failing that, there might be a stationary caravan park in your area which can be even cheaper (though be extremely wary of the landlords for those, quite a few of them are of the seriously unpleasant kind).
>>1305 Another idea is to ask very politely to use a farmers land to live on with the caravan in exchange for work and/or money, i would try the farms which sell free range eggs, my local one houses a few caravans, although i dont see people using them so thats probaly just for storage, but i expect that could turn out cheaper than a caravan park, and with the bonus of living on a farm.
I've been shot at in Wiltshire just for going to ask to borrow some jump leads. That was in an old (unmarked) ambulance. Farmers round here (not Wilts. incidentally) aren't the people you would expect from your reading of H.E. Bates either.
It's apple season. Go to Paddock Wood and walk out to the orchards up past the Elm Tree pub on Pearson's Green Road. You'll meet gypsies, types and if you're lucky one or two people from the collectives. Good people for tips, hard work, and you'll make a few bob. Bring a tent, and avoid hop picking like the plague. Good luck.
>>1306 > i expect that could turn out cheaper than a caravan park
Perhaps, but maybe we're not talking about the same thing. I meant the UK equivalent of trailer parks.
The UK doesn't really have an equivalent of the USA "trailer parks". Here such places are usually full of somewhat well-off retired people on holiday to St. Andrews or the Lake District in their mini holiday home. In the USA it's unemployed people or those who cannot afford homes.
The worst you can expect is simply a bad neighbour.
The nearest thing to the bad side would be the tinkers, but those are all family and such and unmistakable.
>>1310 I'm afraid you're wrong. There are "camping sites" with very much stationary trailers rented out like flats and inhabited by piss-poor folks — exactly equivalent to US trailer parks.
>>1312 I've driven past a few in Cornwall and there was radio programme about them where I currently live (Herefordshire). There is one near here (sorry, won't get too specific) which I've never been to but where one of the regular customers in the charity shop I do a few hours in lives. He used to live in a flat near the shop, but moved out and into a trailer. He waxes poetical about how much cheaper it is. Some of his neighbours are "travellers" (which is a bit of a misnomer given they no longer travel), but far from all are.
I wish I knew the proper term for them to google it, but I assure you: they exist and they are not all inhabited by tinkers or Sinti/Roma.
If you happen to travel about in a clean looking VW like the one in your picture or the slightly later one with the bay window then you'll get nothing but admiration(If however you go for the next one down with the angled front then people will start screaming gypsie). There are some nice farms(Own experience) about that might let you park up and use the leccy in exchange for little money or work but you best be careful.
The correct term would be a static caravan, these can be your general weekly booked for holidays or for long term leases paying monthly. http://www.static-caravan.co.uk/ I'm going away in a couple of weeks down to Cornwall in a caravan I booked for a ton for the week, which is for a 4 berth one, even though its only going to be the 2 of us.
>>1326 The one I've booked in Cornwall has everything you'd need, including a full sized cooker with oven, fridge freezer, microwave and telly with freeview. It even has 2 double bedrooms, one has its own en-suite shower as well as the main one. looking at the pictures and dimensions given its bigger than my old flat.
I stayed in a static near Kielder last year, and it had a WiFi repeater and an ethernet connection in it, amongst other things. It really was better than my flat, in terms of plushness.
>>1357 The point is that a static sells as one of two things: an old age investment or a bare-bones living arrangement. I know at least one of the lots near Mousehole, Cornwall had semi-legal subsistence farm gardens near it. And on further enquiry it became obvious that they really relied on it. (though they were really up-beat and open to friendly newcomers). Great bunch of /eco/-luddites, in a nutshell.
