Rhea Alton, husband Simon, dog Norman and friends Tom and Vickie Warren, all from Shrewsbury, have embarked on a mission to enjoy a ‘holiday on a shoestring’ around the UK in a motorhome. Rhea blogs on the end of their touring vacation:

Well, the holiday has come to an end.

We had a little lie-in this morning followed by a cup of tea and some cereal….we seem to have mountains of food left over so as we packed our clothes back into their bags we divided up the food to take back to Shrewsbury with us.

Greenhill Farm has ducks, chickens, alpacas and a lake so Tom and Vickie had a look around while Simon and I took Norman on the dog exercise field for a run-around before the journey home.

That is one thing that impressed us at this site – most campsites charge for a dog but have absolutely no facilities for them.

Greenhill was very strict on keeping dogs on a lead but as they provide for them it was no problem.

My only wish would be for a metal hook or something similar to attach the dog lead to in the toilet and washing up areas – it can be difficult to hold onto the dog lead and wash up the dishes at the same time…Norman is a mummy’s boy you see, likes to check I’m ok 24/7!

As I write we are passing the signage for Warwick Castle and will soon be stopping at services because Vickie is craving a Frappucino and we have a waste water tank to empty.

It has been a really enjoyable trip and we have managed to barbecue, bike along canals, enjoy lunch at canalside pubs, visit relatives, have a celebratory anniversary meal, eat fish and chips on the beach near Eastbourne Pier, walk along the coast, eat ice-creams, spend an afternoon on the vast sands of West Wittering, take a historic tour of Oxford and much more besides.

Budget wise….drum roll…….we have done it!

The van cost is £625, campsites totalled £120, our total food and entertainment expenditure came to £322.98 and total petrol costs stand at £120, although we may have to pop a little in at the end to make sure we return it to Horizon Motorhomes with a full tank.

That brings us to a total of £1,187.98, to my calculations £62.02 under budget and a total of £237.60 per person for five people travelling.

For us, as I doubt Norman will be coughing up his share anytime soon, it has cost £594 per couple for an all inclusive seven-day UK holiday and we have managed to do all of the different things we wanted to do.

If we did it all again we would definitely buy less food as I am not sure our cupboards at home are going to cope too well with all our leftovers, and we would buy more cheap alcohol at the beginning to lower the costs of our beer bills.

So, all in all, our mission is complete.

We feel a bit like the Famous Five coming to the end of their journey in Enid Blyton’s books, although Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy usually solved more important mysteries than how to make the water run hot in a motorhome.

But we have just heard on the radio that the M54 is closed between Wellington and Telford and the A5 is closed due to a lorry fire so there may be one more challenge ahead…….