The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Home from home
Caravans have taken on new identities in recent years and have transformed into cosy cabins packed with creature comforts. Jack McKeown finds out more
No longer are they draughty, leaky, flimsy contraptions. Today’s caravans are luxurious and cosy homes.
Most of us will have stayed in a caravan at some point in our lives. Some of us own one and use it during the summer months.
But Rachel and Andy Harris have lived in one for 52 years. The couple, both from Fife, tied the knot in October 1965 and their first marital home was a caravan.
More than half a century on they’re still living at Cairnsmill Caravan Park, just outside St Andrews.
“I’ve always loved caravans,” Rachel says. “When I was nine years old my mother brought us guising to Cairnsmill. I was just smitten by what a wonderful place it was.
“I couldn’t stomach the idea of living in a tenement flat with people underneath you and people on top of you. So when I met Andy and got married I told him I wanted to live in a caravan.”
In 52 years, the couple have only had two caravans, both on the same site at Cairnsmill.
“The first was titchy,” Rachel continues. “It was just 22 feet long and had no toilet. Luckily we were a short walk from the toilet block so it wasn’t too bad.”
After seven years the couple traded up to their current model, a 44 feet long caravan that has its own bathroom.
“When our son moved out we converted his room into a walk-in wardrobe and extended the bathroom so we’ve got much more personal space now. It’s lovely,” Rachel adds.
The couple have carefully upgraded their caravan over the years and it is now fully insulated.
“We did have a coal burner, which I absolutely loved, but you have to move with the times and we’ve now got full gas central heating,” says Rachel.
“Andy’s good with his hands and he made all of the furniture. It’s all bespoke so everything fits perfectly.”
Andy, 72, and Rachel, 71, share the home with their Lakeland Jack Russell Buddy.
Rachel works part time as a cleaner at St Andrews University while Andy is also part time at bakers Fisher and Donaldson.
The couple pay council tax, which means they can live there all year round instead of having a limit of 11 months.
“It used to be completely dead in the winter,” Rachel says.
“It was just us and the other yearround residents and there were hardly any of them. It’s much busier now.”
Even after half a century on the park and having entered their 70s, Rachel says she has no desire ever to live in a “proper” house.
“We just love living here,” she says. “There are so many amazing places to take Buddy for a walk, the views are lovely and there’s plenty of peace and quiet.
“If I could go back 52 years and do it all again I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
We bought our own caravan and by the second trip away I’d fallen in love with it. I love the freedom it gives you and the ability to take everything with you
K elty man Andy Syme has been into caravans since he was a young urchin.
“My gran had one and she used to take me away in it every few weekends when I was a bairn,” the 51-year old says. “Caravans then were nothing like they are now. The toilet was a basin beside the back step.”
Andy and his wife Helen began taking regular trips after they got married. “We had a tent but I think that lasted about a week,” he continues. “My parents had a caravan so we borrowed that, then eventually we bought our own.”
The couple have since had five or six caravans. Andy bought his current one, a Sterling Continental, from Perthshire Caravans in October.
With a price tag of around £30,000 it’s a high end model with all mod cons.
It spent the winter at a static site in Glencoe before he brought it to his home in Rosyth ready for a summer of touring.
“Modern caravans are a world away from what I grew up with,” he says.
“Winters are no problem to them – they’re cosy and warm inside. I leave it berthed at Glencoe so I only need to worry about getting the car up there.
“We go up throughout the winter and a group of us goes away at New Year. We hardly ever spend Old Year’s Night at home.”
Andy runs a tattoo studio in Rosyth and says his body art forms a good talking point: “I used to be a bit worried I was scary looking but tattoos are so normal these days. They’re often a good ice breaker when we meet new people at caravan sites.”
One of the things Andy likes best about caravans is the freedom they give. “We’re off down to York this summer. We go all over Scotland. We’ve been to Germany.
“My mate and I went to Amsterdam with our caravans. We had to take the T wives as well, of course…” racey Graham and her husband David live in Broxburn, West Lothian. The couple got into caravanning four years ago and are now passionate about it, having taken six breaks already this year – many of them to Elie Holiday Park at Shell Bay, in the East Neuk of Fife.
“David’s parents had a caravan and he went away when he was little but it was my idea of hell,” Tracey says.
“Some close friends of ours bought a caravan and raved about it, which got us interested.
“We bought our own and by the second trip away I’d fallen in love with it. I love the freedom it gives you and the ability to take everything with you,” she adds.
“We have a staffie-cross called Puddy. We don’t need to worry about finding dog sitters for her because she comes away with us.”
Tracey, 43, and David, 47, bought an Ace Jubilee four-berth caravan.
“It has a fixed bed,” Tracey explains. “With a lot of caravans you convert the sofa into a bed but ours has its own bed at the back. That’s great because if you’ve been out walking all day you don’t have the faff of doing all that, and if one of us wants to stay up watching telly the other can go to bed.”
The couple are keen walkers and their caravan allows them to explore.
“When we’re at Elie Holiday Park we love doing the coastal path and exploring the site of special scientific interest at Shell Bay.
“At the moment we usually holiday during the summer but we’ve just bought a Land Rover so I think this winter we’ll go and stay at one of the parks that open all year round.” J amie Taylor is the director of the Scottish Caravan Motorhome and Holiday Home Show, which has been running annually in various forms for around 60 years. He says caravans have come a long way in that time.
“If you think how much technology in people’s houses has come on, that’s how much caravans have,” he explains.
“In fact, caravans are probably more advanced – because people buy them new they have the very latest technology in them.
“You have huge flat screen televisions, LED lighting, memory foam mattresses and all the latest kitchen gadgets.”
According to Jamie, the biggest problem turning young people onto caravan holidays is the word itself.
“People associate the word ‘caravan’ with old people. Ironically, young people prefer the word ‘campervan’ – it makes them think of Volkswagens parked on clifftops at sunset,” says Jamie.
It’s not just caravans that have improved: caravan sites are a world away from the Spartan places they once were. Elie Holiday Park at Shell Bay has a cafe that was shortlisted in last year’s Dundee Institute of Architects’ Awards, and most parks now have superb facilities.
“The great thing is they are whatever their customers want,” Jamie explains. “There’s a site on the west coast called Craig Tara that has a Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, huge play park, and one of Britain’s biggest indoor swimming pools. “
The popularity of caravan holidays is booming and Jamie expects this to continue.
“More young people are getting into it,” he says.
“With Brexit and the fall of the pound I expect the industry to keep booming.”