If you want a place of your own to escape to, you’ll probably weigh up two options: a holiday lodge on a holiday park, or a holiday cottage or second home in a village or town. Both give you somewhere to go whenever you like, but they work very differently. Here’s a plain comparison to help you choose.
The short version
- A holiday lodge sits on a holiday park. You own the lodge and pay the park an annual site fee for your pitch. It’s designed for holidays, not as a main home.
- A holiday cottage is a house. You own the property and its land, with all the costs and responsibilities that come with owning a house.
Price
A holiday cottage is a house purchase, so it’s priced like one, with the usual buying costs that go with property. A holiday lodge is usually a smaller outlay. At Epworth Fields, lodges start from £49,995, and the price includes siting, connection, decking and furnishings.
How you pay is different, too. You can’t buy a holiday lodge with a mortgage, so buyers usually use savings, and some part-exchange what they already own. We accept lodges, motorhomes, static caravans, touring caravans and chalets in part-exchange.
Yearly costs
With a lodge, the main fixed yearly cost is the site fee. At Epworth Fields it’s £3,000 plus VAT, frozen for 5 years. There’s no council tax on a holiday lodge.
A cottage comes with the running costs of a house, including council tax and looking after the building and garden yourself. For a full breakdown on the lodge side, see our guide to the cost of buying a holiday lodge.
Looking after it
A cottage is all yours to look after: roof, garden, repairs and security, often from a distance. If something goes wrong when you’re not there, you have to sort it out.
A lodge on a holiday park is simpler. The grounds and shared areas are run by the park, and you look after your own lodge and deck. Many lodge owners find that’s the main appeal: more time relaxing, less time on upkeep.
Use
A cottage can, in principle, become a main home later. A holiday lodge can’t: it’s for holiday use only. That said, on a 12-month park like Epworth Fields, you can use your lodge in every season.
Setting and neighbours
A cottage gives you a village or town setting, with neighbours who may be permanent residents, holidaymakers or other second-home owners.
A lodge gives you a park setting with shared surroundings. At Epworth Fields that means woodland walks, a picnic area and an owners-only fishing lake, in open North Lincolnshire countryside. The park is owners-only, with no letting, so the people around you are fellow owners.
Letting
Some cottage owners let their property as a holiday let. At Epworth Fields, lodges can’t be let; they’re for owners’ own use. If income is your goal, read our honest guide, are holiday lodges a good investment?
Which is right for you?
A lodge may suit you if you want a ready-to-use bolt-hole, predictable yearly costs, little upkeep, a quiet park setting and a smaller outlay than a house.
A cottage may suit you if you want to own a house and its land outright, might want to make it your main home one day, or want to let it out.
There’s no wrong answer. It comes down to how you’ll use it, how much upkeep you want, and what you’d like to spend. If a lodge sounds right, see what we have on our lodges for sale page.
