Hello from a new user

[johng]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice here. I live in Nottinghamshire and I might be interested in buying a static caravan and am looking for information about possible sites.

I'd be interested in the Lincolnshire or North Norfolk coasts or even inland if there's something of interest nearby. I'm not wanting to be at a main resort or at a noisy site, I'm looking for peace and quiet :)

I'd only be able to afford a second hand static I think so I would need somewhere where they don't mind an older van.

Thanks
John

[Darren]

Hi John,

I've never been based in that reason so can't help with that but I just wanted to welcome you to the forum.

Happy posting,

Darren

[johng]

Thanks Darren, much appreciated :)

[caravanwindowman]

Hi John
these a nice little site called gold coast just before cromer lovely little site, ive worked on it alot, nice couple who warden the site called john and ann

[johng]

Hi John
these a nice little site called gold coast just before cromer lovely little site, ive worked on it alot, nice couple who warden the site called john and ann

Thanks mate, I'll put that on the list to check out.

[keira]

hi johng welcome to the site ime in ingoldmells near skegness its not that peaceful but there are sites there where you can find it x

[susan]

hi johm welcome to the site i am on the chase at ingoldmells there isnt anything on the site just vans and i carnt really say it is quiet as we have only had our van there since september so havent seen the site in full swing yet but we like it :)
we bought a 2nd hand van as there isnt a age limit on our site as long as you keep it tidy it is ok
site fees are around £2000 a year so not cheap but everthing is within walking distance and there is a shop just over the road at waterside

[keira]

hi susan have you started going down regular now then you got everything sorted :)

[susan]

not really couse they have cut electric off and i have had a set to with them couse of this
but hopfully all will be sorted next week

[johng]

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like it might be worth looking at Ingoldmells as well. I'm probably prepared to pay up to 2,000 maximum for fess.

What are people's experiences of first starting out on this? Are there any pitfalls which I should be looking out for?

[DORRIAN]

Yes john DONT DO IT . No only kidding mate we have our caravan near to susan at Ingoldmells, the best advice i could offer is to spend some time looking and comparing prices you may see a van on 1 site for £4000 then exactly same model and age van on a different site for £2000 more its all to do what they charge for ground rent. usually the cheaper the van the dearer the ground rent and obviously (but not always) the dearer the van the cheaper the ground rent. Have a good look before you decide and see if its possible to have a weekend on the site you like to see what its properly like

Dorrian:):)

[keira]

that really is good advice from dorrian we never reaseched wish we had though ime happy now we are in ingoldmells i think its about the cheapest for ground rent

[johng]

Sounds like good advice. I might spend the rest of this year travelling around and looking at various sites. If I tell myself not to buy until next year then it will give me plenty of time to investigate properly.

[stellabelly]

Hi John, me and the wife are on Seacroft at Trusthorpe. We've had our static for about two years and it's one of the best things we ever bought. Go For It. We were lucky in getting an "immaculate" older van, there is no age limit on site as long as the vans are well kept. The site is family owned and run, well maintained and nice and peacefull.

[Macarw]

Haven gave us an all expenses paid weekend when we were looking to buy. They put us up in a posh van, and gave us owner's passes for the weekend. We had to succumb to a sales pitch, but got a tour of the site, and a look at lots of vans. Even if you don't want to buy on a Haven site it would be worth doing that just to give yourselves an idea of what's about.

We had a budget in mind, (which we told them) and all the vans we were shown were way over that budget, and we had to be very insistent in the end that we were shown the cheaper vans. We still ended up spending more than our budget, and were 'helpfully' given a welcome pack which we specifically said we didn't want - pots, pans crockery etc, - when we finally got the keys to the van (which was let out by Haven during the time it was in- between owners - they stalled and stalled over giving us the keys and we discovered that it was because they were letting the van in our absence!).

All the stuff was unpacked with no box, and spread all over the van - and then they told us that they couldn't get anyone to pick it up for a couple of days - leaving us to climb over it all!! - They were hoping we'd use it I suppose and not send it back. We packed it up and practically delivered it to Reception ourselves.

But having said that we now have ourselves a lovely van on a great pitch on a site that we are happy with. (The only problem is my OH was sent abroad with work, so we aren't getting much use out of it ourselves at the moment although we do rent it out!)

[swallow]

We went down the Haven route and it wasn't for us, too many lies and basically anything to get a sale. We moved to a much quieter site and couldn't be happier.
Have a good look around before you commit to anything, Lincolnshire and Norfolk have the biggest collection of statics in Europe.
If you want entertainment and things for kids look at the sites that provide it, they tend to be the highest for ground rent. If it's a quite peaceful site that you want they do exist and ground rent could be as low as £1200.
If you have access to a computer try google earth and have a look at some site's re location, size, etc.,:D

[johng]

I do fancy a really quiet place, somewhere like Anderby Creek where there's not much there at all and so probably not many kids about :D

[Teakbank12]

Hi John, me and the wife are on Seacroft at Trusthorpe. We've had our static for about two years and it's one of the best things we ever bought. Go For It. We were lucky in getting an "immaculate" older van, there is no age limit on site as long as the vans are well kept. The site is family owned and run, well maintained and nice and peacefull.

Hi sounds like we are near neighbours! having just moved to Trusthorpe.
We have a van at Golden Sands Mablethorpe & have enjoyed its use for the last 4 years.
You know where you stand with Haven, just get anything in writing when purchasing (this applies to any site).

Most importantly get the T&C about how long a van can remain onsite, too many people find they have to remove vans after a set age limit.

[cs2thecox]

I've just got a caravan at Beeston Regis near Sheringham on the North Norfolk coast. Lovely quiet site by the sea, with some decent priced second hand vans - their website is worth a look.
I chose the site because it's walking distance to both the station and my grandma's house!

My uncle has a caravan at Kelling Heath, also near Sheringham. It's a very different site to Beeston Regis - wooded, and you get a fenced plot with your caravan. It's more in land but there's much more actually on the site - a pool etc. But it's not so good for public transport.

When I was choosing I also looked at a site in North Walsham but it was more of a residential park, which wasn't what I was looking for.

Happy hunting!

Caroline