Choosing your park.

This is the most vital of your choices as it is the most difficult to change. The question I asked myself was, why am I buying a caravan? I prioritized my reasons. I wanted a bit of everything and found it!

My main reason was that I wanted to spend more time near my grandchildren so that meant a location in North Cornwall. I picked Perran Sands Holiday Park run by Haven as ticking all the boxes for all parties. Grandchildren meant that I wanted good organized activities on site; not just a play park but lots of activities that would inform them. We had a helicopter flight booked but it was cancelled due to weather. Disappointments are not part of my plan so this was changed immediately to swimming in our excellent onsite pool. Lunch is served from 11.30 until 15.30 so although we swam at midday the kids enjoyed themselves so much we didn’t emerge until 13.45 and still had time for lunch. There were intermittent downpours so we went into the Hub and made foam clay figures followed by pond dipping at 17.00 between storms. We pored over dragonfly and damselfly larva and bemoaned the fact that the newts had done their autumn migration. Amazingly no one fell in and we all learned lots about pond life from the park rangers; disappointment was nowhere on the horizon.

My next reason was that following a health scare I wanted to disentangle myself from the miasma of everyday commitments so I needed peace and quiet. I was incredibly lucky to get a sheltered pitch high up in the dunes in a little cul de sac where no car headlights would disturb our sleep and reveller noises were at a minimum. Perran Sands is in a Site of Special Scientific Interest and we have direct access to miles of wonderful dunes from our van. The 3 mile virtually private beach is 10 minutes on foot from the van through the dunes (albeit a bit of a scramble) and turned out to be almost deserted on a blazingly hot August bank holiday. I booked a brilliant surf lesson for my older grandchildren here, through the park, and I kid you not, the whole class were standing on their boards by the end of a 2 hour lesson. The children were learning confidence apart from anything else. An owners card means you get 50% off all activities. They also did fencing, archery and shooting which is great for the young adolescent who thinks they know it all! That card also gives you 15% off the mini market and meals on site plus 10% discount at some businesses in nearby Perranporth.

If I needed peace and quiet to write and spend time with my husband I had picked the ideal spot. To wake up in the morning and watch the sun rise over the grassy bank behind our caravan and forage. sloes for sloe gin from our deck is simply paradise.