Tiny caravan, big adventure

We have owned our Go-Pod micro caravan for four years and it has opened up the UK to us in unexpected ways.

When our sons were small, we owned a Carousel Folding Caravan and enjoyed spending our summer holiday at various UK beach resorts but once the boys were teenagers, we moved onto other types of holidays.

Rather than just one holiday a year we now get away as often as we can and we have found we do not just visit the coast – we go all over the UK. After our first couple of outings I got a map and started putting pins on it for each place we stay, and we now find ourselves looking at the map and planning adventures to places we have never been to before.

The lockdown this year caused a few planned breaks to be cancelled, but as soon as we knew that sites might be able to open in July I started making bookings for over the summer.

Our first outing was to East Wittering, in west Sussex. The site was lovely with the pitches well-spaced so you felt comfortable with the social distancing. It was a bit strange having to wear facemasks when going into the facilities block and I found this a very misty experience with my glasses!

Some of the sites we have booked are not opening their facilities and we normally rely on these with a micro-caravan.

We do have a sink and a chemical toilet but these have only ever been used for emergencies.

We really enjoy looking for ways to adapt our camping experiences and belong to a group of other Go-Pod owners who enjoy sharing their ideas and adventures, as well as organising meet-ups.

We already owned a Kampa Geyser, which provides us with hot water, when the washing up facilities are too far for me to carry to and from (I do like to eat from china plates).

This has a shower head that fits it so we started thinking about how we could use the shower in the awning. A dog bath, hula hoop and two shower curtains made the perfect cubical, which we tested out while away. It worked a treat and I liked it so much I am not sure I will ever go back to using site facilities again.

This has pleased the other half, as sites without facilities are cheaper.

Having a small caravan does make us popular on sites. People like to come over and have a look and are always amazed at the amount of room inside. They imagine it only contains a bed, rather than the kitchen, seating area, wardrobe and TV to name a few of its charms. However it is not a normal size caravan hence the adaptions.

This means we have two different canopies, three different awnings and lots of foldaway equipment to utilise the space. The newest item I have bought is a Kampa Gas Oven. We have a small electric one but that would not work on this last site. I was so impressed with the Geyser I decided to invest in a new oven. We are off to Thetford Forest next where the site has no facilities open. We am looking forward to using it there and putting our bathroom set up fully through its paces.

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