A friend of mine has a severely disabled son, so they have rarely been able to go away on holiday, being content instead with the occasional, planned-with-military-precision days out. But this changed since they bought their very own caravan! Modified over a period of time, to suit their young one’s rather extensive needs, they are now able to go on family holidays around the UK, subject now only to finding suitable family holiday parks at which to rest from their travels. My own children have different needs (actually, its demands, rather than needs) so my friend and I have compared notes and come up with a few observations on what works best for caravans at family holiday parks!

• Hook ups: the availability of electrical hook-ups is a must for my friend, so do make sure that your chosen park offers plenty of hook-up pitches.

• Availability of toilet facilities: we’ve found some holiday parks that open up all of their amenities to their residential, caravan and camping customers equally, which is great because on a larger camp this means that there is always a toilet facility that you can use somewhere nearby (essential with a family). However, we’ve also been to some that have ‘exclusive’ toilet facilities, e.g.: only for use by customers staying in the park’s chalets or lodges, restricting us touring and camping types to the one brick-built privy at the bottom of the camping field, impractical at best and impossible at worst (the park was full to capacity that week and it felt like most of them were in the toilet queue)! If toilet facilities are important to you (and if you have children, they will be) do check availability prior to booking!

• On a similar theme, check that there are separate washrooms and laundry facilities: some families were spending hours in a toilet that had a separate sink in it because they were undertaking domestic tasks such as a family–sized batch of washing up and laundry – seriously!

• Gather information in advance as to the quality of the ‘play’ amenities. Many family holiday parks state that they have a “play area for the children” but in our experience this has ranged from a patch of grass with tents around the outside (so no football), to a similar patch of ground with an ancient ‘Swingball’ emerging like an ancient relic from the soil (and no racquets, of course), to something tantamount to a theme park, with climbing forts, sand pits, swings and soft-play for tiny tots. Check information carefully and, if you are researching on-line, try to find pictures of the play area so that you can see if it is going to suit your children.

Of course, there are plenty of other basics pertinent to you and yours that you will want to add, this is just our gentle way of helping you to get started to ensure that the family holiday parks you are considering with your caravan, will give you the relaxing time you need!