Caravan holidays: how times have changed

Loraine and Paul Prigg had been looking forward to their summer holiday at the seaside for months. Their plan was to hire a caravan at Seaview Holiday Park on the coast at Swalecliffe in Kent.

Together with their two-year-old son Paul, they would drive down from their home in East London in parents John and Edna’s car and spend the week together enjoying themselves.

Everything went according to plan – until they reached Seaview. Then, the bombshell: due to a misunderstanding, there were no caravans available for hire.

Not to be deterred, they decided to buy one there and then instead.

That was 44 years ago.

Five decades on, the Priggs are still taking regular holidays at Seaview. But some things have changed.

They still have a caravan there, although not the same one. Paul Jnr now has a sister, Samantha. She has children of her own; And all of them enjoy regular holidays at Seaview, not least Loraine and Paul.

They are on their fourth caravan since that spur-of-the-moment purchase. And it is a far cry from that 1971 model, a 28ft x 10 Lynton.

The Lynton cost them the princely sum of £680 brand new and was state of the art at the time. But it had no running water, no water heater, no flushing toilet and no electricity – gas lamps were the order of the day.

Their current model is a 40ft x 12ft 6in Bluebird Sherborne which cost £50,000 with all mod cons.

Seaview itself has changed almost beyond recognition since the Priggs first arrived.

Now part of Park Holidays UK, it offers state-of-the-art facilities fit for the 21st century.

Amenities on site include an outdoor pool and sun terrace, family entertainment venue, bar with live entertainment, free wi-fi, Kids’ Club, restaurant and takeaway, a mini supermarket, boatyard and slipway and playing fields.

Annual plot fees start at £3,545 – the Priggs paid £50 a year back in 1971.

Those were the days…