I’m a gypsy & I lived in a caravan for 9 years – 12 unwritten ‘plot rules’ & the mistake that’ll get you banned for life
THE rules of a caravan site may be unwritten – but every traveller knows them.
Chantelle Devonshire, 23, who is from Cambridge, has pulled back the curtain for those of us who aren’t from her world – including the strict rules for people’s land when they’re not home.
Chantelle explained that she lived in a trailer with her parents when she was born, and then moved into a house at the age of six.
Years later, when she was 19, she then moved into a trailer with her husband Swaley, and three years later, when she was 22, moved into a chalet home.
Now known as the ‘Gypsy Cleaning Queen’, she has shared the unwritten rules that people living on a trailer site will abide by.
Not only this, but she also revealed what could get you into serious trouble and the actions that could even get you kicked off a site.
NO ENTRY
According to Chantelle, if someone isn’t home, you must never go onto their plot.
She explained: “You should never go on someone’s plot without them being there – it’s like going into someone’s home.
“Even children wouldn’t be let onto someone’s plot without them being there.
“If you wanted to go on someone’s plot, you would stand at their gate and ask if anyone was in.”
INSIDE ETIQUETTE
If someone is home and you were to go into their trailer, the content creator and cleaning fan revealed the unwritten rules that she, and many other travellers, abide by.
She shared: “I would take my shoes off outside before I go into the trailer.
“I wouldn’t bring my own food and eat in someone’s trailer.
“I wouldn’t make a mess. That’s just how I’ve been brought up.
“I wouldn’t touch things. It’s rude.”
PARKING RULES
The traveller girl, who previously revealed common gypsy superstitions, also shared the strict parking rules that people on trailer sites must abide by.
She continued: “You wouldn’t park your car in front of anyone’s gate.
Anyone who goes onto a site would know to drive slow
Chantelle Devonshire
“Obviously if you do that, people won’t be able to get in and out of their plots.
“You’ve got to park in your own plot and if you’ve got someone visiting you, they’ve got to park near your plot and must make sure people can still get in and out.”
GO SLOW
Similarly, when it comes to driving on a site, Chantelle revealed that people always go slow.
She shared: “People will drive slowly around sites – and anyone who goes onto a site would know to drive slow.
“There’s children everywhere, and on some sites, people let their dogs roam free, so it’s important people drive slowly.”
POOCH PERFECT
When it comes to pets on trailer sites, whilst rules differ per site, Chantelle revealed: “Some sites will let their animals run around, but I would never let my animals run on other people’s places.
All dogs were kept on leads or they were in our own plots with the gates shut
Chantelle Devonshire
“They’d be doing their business on their place. We wouldn’t allow that where I was from.
“All dogs were kept on leads or they were in our own plots with the gates shut, so they could run in our plots but nowhere else.”
GAME TIME
When it comes to kids, Chantelle shared that children will play in the middle of sites, not only so that people can see them, but also to limit damage.
She added: “Kids will place in the middle of the site, where everyone can see them.
“Kids will play on the road and won’t go onto people’s places kicking their balls.
“It’s so that they don’t kick balls at people’s trailers or cars.”
GETTING ON
With the majority of trailer sites, Chantelle explained that people are often like ‘one big family’ – and favours are done without a second thought, on a regular basis.
If someone needs something, you’d hand it out
Chantelle Devonshire
She shared: “Where I was from, everyone got on with one another.
“People will watch other people’s children if they go to the shop.
“If someone is going to the shop, they’ll ask other people on the site if they want anything from the shop.
“I always used to do that, it’s just little favours for one another.
“People would always lend each other stuff, like sugar or milk or tea bags. That’s just how it is. If someone needs something, you’d hand it out.”
CLEAN QUEENS
Chantelle, who previously told Fabulous that she uses a bottle of bleach a day to clean her chalet, highlighted that an unwritten rule of living on a trailer site is keeping your home and surroundings clean.
She admitted: “Traveller women want to be the cleanest person. Cleaning is something that they have to do.
If you left rubbish outside of your neighbour’s place, it would cause trouble
Chantelle Devonshire
“Even on days when you don’t feel like it, you’d have to clean, as women talk, and you don’t want to give other people something to talk about.
“When it comes to traveller women, their reputation is everything, and there’s a lot of pride involved with being clean.”
BIN IT
To ensure that you don’t annoy your neighbours when living on a trailer site, Chantelle explained that how you dispose of your rubbish is important.
She claimed: “You wouldn’t go on someone’s plot and leave rubbish. And you wouldn’t leave rubbish outside of your own place.
“If you left rubbish outside of your neighbour’s place, it would cause trouble.
“The women are there all day as most of them don’t work and stay home with the kids, so it will cause friction if people are leaving rubbish around.”
KEEPING QUIET
Whilst in the evenings there aren’t particular rules about noise, Chantelle claimed that an unwritten rule that many travellers on trailer sites will follow, is keeping the noise down in the early hours.
She continued: “People are quiet early in the mornings – they wouldn’t be causing noise and waking people up.
“I would always be really quiet if I needed to go out in the morning, to make sure that you don’t wake up other people, especially babies. It’s just to respect them.”
SITTING UP
Another unwritten rule on sites is gathering together when someone dies, also known in the traveller community as ‘sitting up’.
Chantelle shared: “We all ‘sit up’ when someone dies. It’s to show your respect to the person that died and to their loved ones.
“When someone dies, everyone on the site will go to their place.
People are quiet early in the mornings
Chantelle Devonshire
“The men will be outside round the fire, they normally put a marquee up and women will go in there and sit up.
“Some travellers sit up for weeks, some only sit up for a few days, it just depends how long they want to do that for.
“It’s basically where you sit and talk about the person who died. It’s all about showing respect.”
INVITE EVERYONE
And where parties are concerned, Chantelle explained that it’s important that everyone gets an invite.
She beamed: “If you had a party, you would invite everyone on the site.
“Then they’d understand that there would be loud music.”
Facts on Gypsy and Traveller communities
Typically, Gypsies is a term used to describe Romani people, who migrated to Europe from India.
Meanwhile, traveller refers to a group of people who usually have either Irish, Scottish or English heritage.
It’s though that around 300,000 Gypsy Roma and Irish Travellers live in the UK.
Both groups come from nomadic ways of life, however, as it is increasingly difficult to find land to live on many are moving into permanent housing.
They place high value on family life and often live close together even after reaching adult years and getting married.
Often the men are the breadwinners of the family while the women stay home.
While many English gypsy girls are allowed to drink alcohol and go on holiday with their friends before they get married, many Irish traveller girls are not allowed to do this.
STEALING OFFENCES
But when it comes to the things that can cause issues and even get you kicked off a caravan park, Chantelle explained that stealing isn’t tolerated.
The young woman, who has recently opened up on what discrimination is really like in her community, revealed: “If you steal, you can get kicked off a site.
“If people catch people stealing, it would kick off, and people that live there will make that family live.
“People will stick together and say ‘we don’t want you round here’, ‘we can’t trust you’.”
POSITIVE VIBES ONLY
Similar to this, Chantelle explained that troublemakers aren’t allowed on trailer sites.
She claimed: “Travellers don’t like troublemakers – people that are bringing the police back and are getting in trouble.
“Gypsies don’t want trouble on their doorstep.”
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