Back in the late 1800’s mainly by Dr Gordon Stables, a retired naval officer, he decided to travel the UK with a specially built horse drawn caravan named The Wanderer. Stables wrote of his travels and soon rich folk followed his path – pitching up on land down country by-ways.
As years progressed and the car towed caravan came into being the 20’s/30’s caravanners often asked farmers for a pitch for the night. These soon became favourite spots and a few more caravans would also pitch up for a small fee – usually a few old pence. These pitches became sites some not very well run, i.e. rubbish thrown in a river for instance. But more primitive sites emerged as caravanning in the 30’s became more affordable.
With WW2 caravanning had come generally to a halt, owners usually stored their caravans away or moved their caravan into the countryside. The caravan would be left on a patch of farmland/land where the owners then would possibly visit it the caravan remaining “static”. After the war these makeshift sites became permanent with caravans now being classed as now static. Problem was that many of these sites were unplanned with caravans being placed as and where owners wanted to leave them. By the early 50’s new legislations saw planning laws come into force.
Caravan parks as they were now being named also had a bad reputation with many resembling shanty town style caravans – many home made units were sited, even old railway carriages were employed with families living in them. To improve the image of caravan’s new developments of static caravan parks sites were now being improved. Site owners actually began looking at screening caravans from view and also laying down proper gravel roadways. Caravan parks were to become more formal, organised and also have facilities such as shower/toilet blocks.
The 1960’s witnessed parks having their own maintenance teams, caravan owners were not left to cut grass as before though until the 70’s there were still park owners that left this job to the static caravan owner. Gravel was also being used for some plots on parks while others also began looking at concreting a base for static caravans to park on. Owners were encouraged to look after their plot with many also now having small patio type sets outside the caravan. With the advancement of powered garden tools this gave park operators more scope of keeping their parks looking tidy and attractive to the new holiday caravan purchaser. Residential parks were kept separate from holiday caravans and such parks specialised in retired folk, with caravan manufacturers building living units known as mobile homes now known as park homes!
Trees could be more easily pruned and actual planted shrubs and flower beds with hedge breaks between sections of the static holiday homes which added to most parks appeal. With larger holiday caravans 25ft x 9ft plots were made to accommodate these units, and also with improved machinery a holiday caravan could be placed in a plot which may have been uneconomical to do years previously. Parks also began looking at adding mains electrics to plots along with drainage for flushing loos and shower/bath in the holiday homes. TV aerials would slowly disappear on most parks as piped TV came into holiday caravans by the late 90’s.
The modern park is a business where re-investment is now essential with regular maintenance teams on call out to keep the holiday caravan owner in perfect surroundings and there essential facilities. From those days of a caravan being left in a field with knee high grass, weeds and generally looking much unplanned plus rubbish being left in a pile under a hedge (not uncommon back then)! The modern park has become a well run business. Now providing the holiday home owner a retreat with all the comforts of home, the days of gas lamps, and cold caravans and parks with few facilities are definitely a thing of the past! The holiday home owner has lifestyle light years away from those back in the early decades.
Residential parks have also moved on greatly with modern park homes being placed on well planned plots with well kept gardens and driveways. Lodges have also become a big part of the park history with lodges becoming popular from the 1980’s onwards. The industry has seen many changes making the holiday caravan a very desirable idea for leisure time and the park home an ideal retirement lifestyle. The site dweller back in the day would see a very big difference in 2023 indeed!
