Setting off on a motorhome holiday
I had never undertaken a motorhome holiday before and I was looking forward to the benefits like the toilet, hob, cooker and nice double bed but a little unsure about Simon driving such a large vehicle and jobs such as emptying the said toilet.

The two of us along with friends Tom and Vickie Warren and our dog Norman picked up ‘Rocky’ the motorhome from Horizon Motorhomes on the Shropshire border in Chirk and set off in the late afternoon on a Saturday to travel to our first campsite at the Basingstoke Canal at Mytchett, Surrey.

We reached our destination at about 8.30pm and immediately lit the barbecue and enjoyed burgers and sausages in the open air. We had filled the motorhome up with our various belongings, including the weekly shop which came to £95.83 and all of our toilet rolls, washing up liquid, jay cloths and various bits and pieces as well as the food.

The five-sleeper motorhome costs £625 for the week, leaving £625 spending money for the trip if we were to stay within our budget. The campsites cost about £120 in total and we have estimated about £150 for petrol so that leaves us at around the £355 mark. With the shopping coming in at £95.83 we had £259.17 left…

It eventually got a bit chilly at the Mychett campsite and we were being eaten alive by the local insects so we piled into the motorhome, which had loads of space, and listened to some music before pulling all of the blinds, setting up the beds and settling down for the night.

We were up bright and early on the Sunday morning and cooked a full English breakfast on the motorhome hob and grill. We ran out of water. It’s amazing to see how much water you use just washing up and cleaning teeth – so had to drive the van to the tap and top up before embarking on the day’s activities.

One of the benefits about a motorhome is being able to enjoy different days out at different places throughout the holiday and Sunday’s plan was to enjoy the Basingstoke Canal.

Tom and Vickie had their bikes on the back of the van so they mounted up and took off on a ride along the towpaths while Simon, Norman and I met with a relative and headed to a canal-side pub for lunch and a few drinks – my godfather bought lunch so that was a welcome bonus to keep the expenditure down.

We don’t get to see our relatives very often as they are spread across the UK so a motorhome holiday was the perfect chance to spend a little time nearby and pop in and say hello.

It was sunny all day and we really enjoyed ourselves. Sunday was Tom and Vickie’s first wedding anniversary so in the evening they went to a nearby restaurant for a three-course meal and a bottle of wine, totalling £42, and Simon and I paid a visit to more relatives and enjoyed a free tea.

We also had to factor in £1.80 for electric tokens so that Vickie could straighten her hair in the campsite facilities before dinner…….luckily this is the only site where we have no electric hook-up!! The gas and battery powered everything in the van apart from the sockets so we didn’t really notice a lack of electricity. We headed into the third day with a budget of £215.37.

On the Monday morning we set off for Eastbourne and were in good time to enjoy fish and chips on the beach after a walk along the promenade then on to the Fairfields campsite in Pevensey, near Eastbourne.

The fish and chips were £21.90, parking the motorhome in Eastbourne was £4.80 and we paid a visit to a shop for lemonade, more milk, fruit, postcards a newspaper and scourers, costing £11.50.

On the Tuesday we donned walking boots and rucksacks and headed along the coast to Beachy Head, a trip which was tiring but fantastic. The sun broke through the clouds at midday and the afternoon was a scorcher!

We bought more milk from the campsite shop for a £1, paid £4.80 to park in Eastbourne again, bought ice-cream at Beachy Head costing £7.50 and then topped up the alcohol stocks for the rest of the holiday at a cost of £29 – the total expenditure for Monday and Tuesday brought the available budget to £134.87.

The holiday so far has seen praise heaped on Rocky the motorhome named by the staff at Horizon motorhomes. Simon likes the fact that he can have a cold beer wherever he is, Vickie likes the fact she can’t forget anything because we took the whole motorhome with us and that her friends who don’t like flying would be able to go all over the country and Tom has great ideas about camping in remote and distant Scottish highlands and still having access to a proper toilet, a hob and a fridge!

Simon said the van was much easier to drive than he imagined and the toilet emptying has proved much less traumatic than I imagined!

And travelling around makes the week seem longer  – we had ridden along canals, enjoyed lunch with relatives, had a barbecue, sat and eaten fish and chips on the beach and walked along the coastline in just three days.

The next day we got up early and packed up, which took all of 15 minutes as everything was in cupboards and ready to go and headed to Pevensey Castle then on to Pevensey Bay for a paddle and a sit in the sunshine.

After a bargain £4.50 lunch of sausage roll, quiche and pasty we hit the open road once again and headed in the direction of Bognor Regis.

As the sun continued to shine we decided to head straight to West Wittering, a huge sandy beach near Bognor Regis, named as one of the top 50 beaches in the UK by the Times recently and we agreed, it was really really nice.

We sunbathed, played ball with the dog, swam in the sea and, of course, got ourselves an ice-cream at a cost of £6 to the budget.

The weather held out all day and we were sad to leave the beach at about 4.30pm.

The previous night’s budget stood at £134.87 so with Wednesday’s expenditure included it was £124.37, or at least it would have been….if we hadn’t had to buy more beer……..the sunshine can be a disadvantage in some ways! The beer bill was £17 bringing us to a remaining budget of £107.37.

Simon is warming to the motorhome holiday every day and Horizon Motorhomes do a try before you buy scheme which means if we did want to buy one they would knock the price of this holiday off the price of the motorhome……….could be the way forward!

We had a little lie-in on the Thursday and enjoyed bacon sandwiches in the van for breakfast because the rain had finally caught up with us.

We set off for Oxford and an historic city tour at about 10.30am and popped into a farm shop to buy potatoes and carrots for tonight’s dinner and four apples to eat during the journey. The bill was a massive £1.35 so not too much of a hit for the budget.

We decided that because we still have a fairly large budget left that we would dine out in Oxford for lunch so we contacted the local council to find out if there was a park and ride we could park the motorhome in and to check whether Norman the dog would be allowed on the bus. They were very helpful and gave us the postcode of the park and ride to put in our sat nav.

We then turned to our mobile phones to search the internet for a dog friendly pub and found the Turf Tavern – Inspector Morse’s old haunting ground…so of course it was a must!

The park and ride was £5 return for two people so it cost us £10 for our travel expenses. We took in the city tour and perused some of the colleges before heading to our campsite at about 4.30pm.

Lunch was £28 for the four of us, bringing today’s total expenditure to £39.35 and the budget to £68.02. We also took a trip to Marks and Spencer for yet more alcohol and snacks, spending £36 and bringing the budget to £32.02.

Greenhill Farm site in Bletchington was a 25-minute drive from the Park and Ride but was worth the journey as it was complete with fishing pool, games room and a wonderful shower block.

There is a shower in Rocky but as there are four of us and we didn’t want to empty the water barrel every night we have showered in the site facilities throughout the holiday. We have only had to fill up the barrel twice so far despite all the teeth brushing, dirty plate washing and toilet trips.

The campsite cost £24 so our total campsite fees have been £120 – spot on our budget. We haven’t put any more petrol in yet but we have to take Rocky back to Horizon Motorhomes in Chirk with a full tank and I had allowed for a further £110.

Friday brought another lie-in followed by a cup of tea and some cereal….we seemed to have mountains of food left over so as we packed our clothes back into their bags we divided up the food to take back to Shrewsbury with us.

Greenhill Farm had ducks, chickens, alpacas and a lake so Tom and Vickie had a look around while Simon and I took Norman on the dog exercise field for a run-around before the journey home.

That is one thing that impressed us at this site, most campsites charge for a dog but have absolutely no facilities for them. Greenhill was very strict on keeping dogs on a lead but as they provide for them it was no problem.

My only wish would be for a metal hook or something similar to attach the dog lead to in the toilet and washing up areas it can be difficult to hold onto the dog lead and wash up the dishes at the same time…Norman is a mummy’s boy you see, likes to check I’m ok 24/7!

It was a really enjoyable trip and we managed to barbecue, bike along canals, enjoy lunch at canalside pubs, visit relatives, have a celebratory anniversary meal, eat fish and chips on the beach near Eastbourne Pier, walk along the coast, eat ice-creams, spend an afternoon on the vast sands of West Wittering, take a historic tour of Oxford and much more besides.

Budget wise….drum roll…….we have done it! The van cost is £625, campsites totalled £120, our total food and entertainment expenditure came to £322.98 and total petrol was at £133. That brings us to a total of £1,174.98, to my calculations £49.02 under budget.

If we did it all again we would definitely buy less food as I am not sure our cupboards at home are not coping too well with all our leftovers, and we would buy more cheap alcohol at the beginning to lower the costs of our beer bills.

So, all in all, our mission is complete. We felt a bit like the Famous Five coming to the end of their journey in Enid Blyton’s books, although Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy usually solved more important mysteries than how to make the water run hot in a motorhome.