The festivities are well and truly over now, and my thoughts have turned to planning the caravanning year ahead. I’m visiting websites and thumbing through brochures as I write.

There’s a wealth of information out there, but I am left with the same old conundrum: should I stick with the tried-and-tested destinations and sites I’ve been to before, or should I explore uncharted territories, seek out new civilisations, boldly go…

Or, here’s a radical thought, should I just plonk the caravan on a seasonal pitch at our favourite site and forget all the palaver about ‘touring the country’?

The last option certainly has its merits. Seriously, who actually enjoys the whole towing experience? I still set off wondering whether we’ll arrive in one piece! And then there’s pitching up – connecting this, levelling that, inflating the other. It’s all a means to an end – and the end is usually a glass of fermented grape juice that I sip while the wife rebuilds the inside of the van after the tin-dislodging, equipment-scrambling, bedding-bouncing journey, and returns it to some semblance of habitability.

As I write this, I don’t know what we will end up doing. To help myself (and, if you’re equally undecided, help you), I’ve compiled the pros and cons of each option. I can reveal (having obviously, been the first person to go through it) that I am now as undecided as ever. That was a worthwhile process, then! Wherever you end up, I wish you a very happy new caravanning year.

Seasonal pitch


Pros

✔ No hassle

✔ Just turn up and start enjoying

✔ No towing, hitching or setting up

✔ May be cheaper if you do a deal

✔ You can bring more stuff (garden furniture, chiminea, gnomes, whirlpool spa)

✔ You know the pitch and facilities

Cons

✘ It could get repetitive

✘ It could get very expensive if you leave your van on site permanently, because you pay for the pitch even if you’re not there

✘ Why not go the whole hog and just buy a static caravan?

✘ Doesn’t this defeat the object of owning a ‘touring’ caravan?
   

Touring new sites   


Pros

✔ Isn’t this the point of owning a ‘tourer’?

✔ Explore parts of the UK you’ve never been to before

✔ You may discover new favourite sites and new friends

✔ You can use your van as accommodation when attending festivals and other events

Cons

✘ Fear of the unknown

✘ The places you pick might be rubbish

✘ It’s more stressful, and holidays are not supposed to involve stress

Visit Martin’s website for information about him, his books and his property training weekends, and follow his adventures on Twitter.