The Caravan

When our children were all still children and in a year when I remember we were particularly skint, some good friends made the kind offer of the use of their caravan which was sited at High Sands Creek Campsite in Stiffkey, North Norfolk. https://highsandcreekcampsitestiffkey.co.uk/  

It was a fantastic week away and the site was wonderful, sitting just beside a narrow strip of woodland, beyond which are the marshes and ultimately the sea.  There are 20 or so static caravans and, on an adjacent field, plenty of pitches for tents and campervans.  We had a fantastic week and began to make enquiries about whether there were any of the static caravan owners looking to end their tenancies.  Fortunately there was, and the owner was also happy to part company with his caravan.

So as the 20th Century ended we became owners of a very 1970's looking static caravan.  It had been configured for just two people, with a double bedroom, galley kitchen and living room.  We ripped out all the fitted wardrobes and cupboards and bought cheap bunk beds from to make a kids room in what was the original double bedroom and I built a hardboard divide between the living area and what had been set aside for dining to create a bedroom for Mrs B and I.  It was only just big enough to fit a double bed with no room either side, but that minor inconvenience meant that our children and their friends who stayed had some space of their own in addition to the living area.

The result was a cobbled together collection of charity shop furniture, games and puzzles, an odd collection of crockery and cutlery and the walls adorned with the drawings and paintings created on rainy days.  I replaced a section of rotten floor when one of the bunk bed legs fell through it and stuck sealant in other holes that leaked, but despite its age, it held up fairly well to many years of trips.  It wasn't pretty, but it was fine for us and it's shabbiness meant that we were less concerned about the odd hole in the wall or unpainted hardboard, and just got on with enjoying the place.

A busy day a the campsite (except for the dog) - launching motorised kayaks loaned to us by a friend.

It was a very happy place to be for all the family.  Birthday parties happened there, regular barbecues, stargazing sessions, muddy walks, rubber dinghy and kayak trips on the creeks, cooking experiments and plenty of games in a TV-free zone.  The first visit in the spring could be freezing and frosty, and the gas fire turned on as soon as we emerged from beds in the morning (the children often hopping from their room still wrapped up in their sleeping bags until it was safe to emerge).  Autumn storms at the end of the season whipped the North Sea into a frenzy and high tides combined to bring the sea over the marshes crashing at the foot of the woodland.  And when the campsite beside us was empty in those edge of season days it became our own peaceful place to enjoy walking the dog and watching the arrival and departure of seasonal bird life.

The site has a fascinating history too.  Most of the caravans sit on concrete bases set quite far apart and some of the bases also have low brick walls along the long sides.  These were the original base structures for World War II Nissen huts, as this was for many years an army base and a training camp for anti-aircraft gunners.  The trainees used to shoot at dummy aircraft, towed by genuine aircraft that were based at nearby Langham RAF base.  There is a good short video that tells the wider story, including the invention of a new sighting mechanism called the "Stiffkey Stick" sights. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXjtUdxm_sU.  Many of the buildings around the site now used for farm storage are from the same period including a dance hall, canteens and officer's mess.  

I was fairly snooty about the idea of owning a "static" at first, but it turned out to be one of the best things that we ever bought.  The cost of the annual site rental started to look ridiculous against the one or two times a year that we were still visiting when the family flew off to do their own things. So we let it go - and I am still in the entire family's bad books for that decision.  No lecture in the economics of the decision convince them that it was the right thing to do.  We have been back to Stiffkey many times after letting the caravan go and so I think they are coming round to the fact that we haven't said goodbye to the place, just to a sad old shed of a caravan that was on its last legs.