‘The stress is overwhelming’: the highs and lows of starting a new life in a static caravan
J ake Lee moved into a caravan two years ago and has never been happier. Before buying his static in Moray, Scotland, Lee was a Londoner. Fifteen years earlier, he’d taken out an interest-only mortgage – or, as he puts it, “one of these mortgages that shouldn’t have been given out”. “I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to pay the 100 grand I owed,” he says. Selling up would settle the debt – but leave him very little money to buy or rent elsewhere. Then he stumbled across the idea of living in a caravan park. “Having done it, it is the best thing I’ve ever done. Because living in these places is brilliant!”
It’s certainly more popular than it was: according to the Office for National Statistics, in 2021 there were 104,000 households living in caravans or other temporary structures in England and Wales – 19,000 more than a decade before.
Apart from helping his partner with her health food shop, Lee, 60, is all but retired and lives a relaxed lifestyle in the park. He says his home is warm, easy to repair and has everything you need to live comfortably. It’s roughly the size of a studio flat, with one bedroom, a kitchen, a living room and even a small garden. He owns the caravan but not the land it’s on, so he has to pay ground rent to the park’s owners, who provide water and waste collection in return.
He is not too worried that he could be forced to move if the land is sold. “There are laws to protect residents from the worst practices of unscrupulous companies, and the current owners here are decent. Being subject to ground rent is an issue, but it’s generally outweighed by the positives. I live relatively cheaply in a lovely area within a genuine community,” he says.
The park is quite diverse: Lee has thirtysomething
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