Hi Kez
Lots of people choose to live in caravans not least of all in this area, you will surely need a big one with 4 children! There are several in our area and some are nice small sites. There is sometimes some confusion as to whether some of the sites are legal or not so you have to be careful here as there were a few on the coast where people found they had a short time to remove their homes from illegal sites last year. The local town hall should be able to tell you. You would also want a site where there are permenant owners and not holiday makers for reasons which I am sure you can imagine. Some of the smaller more personal sites though dont allow children, only for holidays so you need to check this out first.
Obviously with children you will need to have a proper address to obtain padrons to get them into school and you will also have to make sure you are covered with health care with either your E 106 forms from the uk or for one of the family to be working here and paying into the system, There is no longer automatic reciprocal free health care here so you may have to allow finances for private health care, another cost to add to the budget.
You also ought to consider the older children who may struggle if you put them into Spanish school at their very important ages so another cost if you decide they ought to be in a private international school. We do have a bus pass through the town here to the local British School in Alicante but you could be looking at a substantial amount to put two children through school. Our eldest attended this school and this added to our budget at least 16,000 euros for the two years he was there.
To rent is a good idea as you say you have not burnt your bridges in the UK and if things go pear shaped you can always return, If you are at all unsure about the move, location or property then renting for a while is an option. It allows you to test the water if you can before you make a long-term commitment to moving to Spain and this could also save you in terms of both money and emotional trauma. It`s also something many people seem to be considering at the moment especially when it seems that property both here and in the UK is very slow moving at the moment and the euro is at an all time low, so not a good time to buy unless you really need to of course. The best way of starting to look for a park is by reading the classified sections of local newspapers on line.
One thing you dont mention is if you intend or need to work when you are here? The weather is hot and lovely fo rmost of the year but you also have to live and so must consider that Spain although some things are still cheaper is more in line with prices in the UK than ever before, so you would be well advised to look into all of this in some detail.
If you do your homework are sensible and realistic then you can make it work and have a happy life here. We have a better family life here than I am sure we would have in the UK. You just have to be honest with yourself. Its a great adventure, if you and your family go ahead with your dream enjoy the experience and ask yourself whats the worse that can happen if you have to return. If you can live with that then what have you got to lose if you still have a base in the UK just be cautious and do your homework.
Visit as many times as you can and investigate the sites you consider as well as the towns they are in to make sure you will have all the amenities you need!
When we were moving and I got nervous my worst thought was we dont have to do this we can change our minds but this thought was more scary that coming and failing. However we bought straight away so took a bigger if not well researched risk, it worked for us but we were lucky!
Good luck and please feel free to ask any more questions which you are not sure about. You will find more detailed info about Health care and Schools etc as well as renting all on the website.
In the meantime good luck!
Sharon