Finally, read a handful of recent reviews rather than just the star rating. Look for comments on cleanliness, how the caravan or lodge compared to its photos, and how helpful the on-site team were if something needed sorting. A pattern across several reviews tells you more than any one glowing or grumbling comment on its own.

Ask about on-site facilities' actual opening hours and whether anything's seasonal. A pool that's only open during summer months, or a clubhouse with restricted evening hours outside peak season, changes what a break looks like considerably if you're travelling in spring or autumn.

Footwear deserves more thought than it usually gets. Bring proper walking shoes or trainers for dunes, coastal paths and pebble beaches, sandals for round the caravan and the pool if your park has one, and something you don't mind getting wet for rockpooling or a paddle. Flip-flops alone rarely survive a full week of coastal walking.

Food shopping on arrival, rather than eating out on your first night, is a small habit that adds up over a week. A single supermarket shop covering breakfasts, lunches and a few home-cooked evenings, topped up with the odd meal out as a treat rather than a default, keeps a self-catering break comfortably within most budgets without anyone feeling like they went without.

Don't forget the boring essentials either: any medication, chargers, a printed booking confirmation in case signal is patchy, and enough cash for small stalls or ice cream vans that don't take cards. None of this needs to be complicated. Pack for changeable weather, bring comfortable shoes for more walking than you'd expect, and let the caravan's kitchen do the rest. That's really all a coastal break asks of you.

The overall experience sits somewhere between a hotel and a self-catering cottage: more space and independence than a hotel room, with the on-site facilities and support of a proper Tingdene Holiday Parks park around you. Most first-time guests find, by day two, that it feels entirely normal, and quite a few come back wondering why they didn't try it sooner.