Ray Mears – the king of bushcraft and a personal hero of Mr Tin Box – this week managed to alienate the caravanning community and talk himself out of a reported £10,000 for speaking at a major outdoor event.
During an appearance on the BBC’s Room 101, he described caravans as being ‘mobile bread bins’. Ouch!
He added: “I get stuck behind them, and I think they’re hideous.
“Swathes of our coastline are just covered in these things. I wouldn’t mind so much if they could be painted green, but they have to be painted white. Gleaming white.Continue reading the main storyStart Quote“You go down to Devon and all you can see are cities of these displaced urban people in their ghastly white caravans.”
This was followed by an amusing debate on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2, during which caravanners were lambasted by listeners who rolled out the usual anti-caravan stuff: they are slow; caravan owners are bad drivers; and caravanners just sit in fields.
One caller even accused caravanners of not supporting British tourism because they didn’t stay in hotels. Brilliant!
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I’m obviously a massive fan of caravanning and thought I’d add my piece in support of all the tin boxers out there.
- We get to stay in some interesting and unusual places – we’ve taken our caravan to airfields, the grounds of stately homes and farms. All with permission and as part of organised events I might add.
- Caravanners are a friendly bunch – I regularly see friends I made while rallying with my parents more than 20 years ago. Some of them even have their own caravans now just like us.
- Caravanning holidays are great for children – they can enjoy some good old fashioned outdoor fun and there’s nothing better than fresh air to tire them out!
- You can get away from everything – we often stay in rural locations where there isn’t a phone signal, let along 3G. While this isn’t practical for blogging, it is great for getting back to basics and enjoying quality family time away from the internet and TV-box
- You can get closer to your destination – staying in a hotel or resort can give you a rose tinted view of your holiday destination. Unless you make a point of doing it, you are less likely to use local shops and businesses or meet the people who live there.
There are many misconceptions about caravanning, so it is disappointing that these have been perpetuated by Ray Mears – an outdoor adventure champion – who you would think would understand why some people want to experience the world outside of a package holiday.
What I’m really trying to say is: don’t knock it until you’ve tried it Mr Mears!
PS. Mr TB says he still loves you and if you ever want to camp out in our awning you’d be very welcome.
I love hearing what people think about my blog so feel free to leave a comment below and browse around. You can also find me on Bloglovin’, or follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest.
Faye
Tuesday 2nd of June 2015
I used to go caravanning as a teen with my family and bloody loved it!! x
Laura Powell-Corbett
Monday 1st of June 2015
See I used to hate being stuck behind the mobile bread bins which happened a lot.... but I like the idea of trying it. And glamping. Any travel is good travel!
Thanks for linking with #effitfriday
sophie garcia
Monday 1st of June 2015
OH ACE!!! good on you! I so want one of these... one day one day! Feeling the mobile bread bin love! xxfound you on #effitfriday
Claire Hall - Tin Box Traveller
Friday 6th of February 2015
Ooh yes, the Airstreams. Good choice! That's 5 star caravanning. Yep, er, Tin box isn't one of them, but we still love her :) x
Claire Hall - Tin Box Traveller
Friday 6th of February 2015
We do get to go to and experience some pretty unique things. I love it, but I can also understand why it isn't everyone's cuppa :)