Fun Easter family trip doing battle with caravan calamities
Courtesy of my wife and our calamitous caravan Easter holiday, I now have a new nickname - Frank Spencer with a Temper! I can’t say I was that enamoured with it at the time and, to be honest, I was about to call the divorce lawyer. But after calming down, I’ve seen the funny side.
To go camping in early spring, you need to be fully prepared. We weren’t, but we were ready to take the elements on.
We stayed in a small and very friendly campsite at St. Leonards, between Ringwood and Ferndown.
It boasted a lovely warm swimming pool, a shop, games room and a clubhouse with evening entertainment.
The pitch sizes were generous too, with plenty of room for our caravan, its side awning and our car.
The pitch was ‘soft’ to say the least and as soon as the awning went up, mud started to seep through the mat.
A quick trip to Ringwood to buy a large tarpaulin sorted that issue and we were off to a great start, enjoying dinner and drinks inside our cosy caravan.
Then the electrics failed. The meter showed nothing, even though we were hooked up to the electricity of the campsite.
Luckily there was a used caravan dealership nearby and, £400 later, the faulty transformer which cooked the battery were both replaced.
Then three days of glorious sunshine and wonderful days out at Moors Valley and Go Ape resorted our faith.
Rain was forecast so we took down the awning. A good move, as the next morning I opened our door to a puddle that reminded me of that episode in The Vicar of Dibley when Geraldine Granger disappeared into one.
The campsite kindly put us onto a hard standing pitch but as I manoeuvred the caravan into place, a big clunk suggested something wasn’t right. A motormover roller which manoeuvres the caravan into place became stuck in the ‘on’ position, meaning we couldn’t move the damn thing. Another emergency call out and £140 later freed the roller and we were back on track.
The campsite cost £250 and the caravan repairs were £550 – so much for a bargain getaway!
It’s not dampened our spirit for caravanning, though. We are now looking for a much newer caravan with a fixed bed and equipment I cannot damage.