The 28 Day Rule Camping and Caravan - How Does It Work? FAQ

One of the most frequent questions asked is "How long can I stay on a site for"?

Well, this is not an easy question to answer as there are a few matters that need to be taken into consideration first.

So what I will try and do is explain the situation as I see it. The examples I talk about have all happened to me personally so I do have first hand knowledge.

OK, lets take a look at the rule to start with.

The rule states that you must vacate your caravan for 48hrs and not return within that period after 28 consecutive days spent in the caravan.

How on earth a Council Representative enforces this is anyone's guess, but it is at the discretion of the camp site owner to enforce this rule.

A camp site owner should keep a record of everyone who stays on their site with full details etc, but in practice this rarely happens.

In my experience, it is a 50/50 split between owners who play by the rules and the ones that are happy with the pound notes going in their pockets!

But how do you tell which sites will allow you and which ones won't?

Well, you can never tell to start with, but as a general rule of thumb, the smaller the site the more likely it is that the owners are more likely to let you stay longer. 

What I do is firstly on my first stay at a site I only ever book in for one week, possibly two if I get a good vibe on a pre-visit inspection.

Then once I've stayed around 10 days and have made a point of talking to the owner and generally not making any noise and keeping my pitch absolutely spotless I ask about possibly staying on for another week.

If they say yes, they have all ready sussed that you full time, your no problem and they are happy with your money, but on the odd occasion that they do say no, pay up promptly if you have not all ready done so and move on when you have to.

It's always worth asking if you can come back for another couple of weeks in a month or so's time. 9 times out of 10 they will have no problems with this.

I have stayed on a couple of sites for many months at a time, built up a friendship with the owners and helped out on a regular basis with bins, cleaning, litter picking etc. As they say every little helps.

So in general, play it by ear, never go in and book for a month it will put the wind right up the owner!

Make no mess, no noise and keep yourselves to yourselves.

It works for me so I hope it does for you!

Till later.............................