Going South

I just got my energy bill for December & January, two months which we are told were milder than usual.
Well, combine the gas bill of about €480 and the electricity bill of about € 315, and the cost of a pitch HERE is covered for the same period.
Add on the fuel saving from not having vehicles on the road plus the lower cost of living in general and no prize for guessing where we will be spending next winter

There are also less expensive options than the campsite mentioned above but having stayed there a few times in the past it does tick all the boxes.

Yes. Definitely a more cost effective option than staying here in winter.

When we are away we set the zone thermostats to 12°c 24/7 to keep the house from freezing up in very cold weather. The fridge/freezer is only 170w and does very little running when it's not being opened.
Our house insurance stays on full cover provided it is not left unoccupied for more than 60 days in a row, there is no limit on the total number of days it can be unoccupied in the insurance year.
In practice, a member of the family will use the house for a weekend generally once every month or six weeks while we are away and that restarts the 'unoccupied' clock.
I also have c.c.t.v. storing to the cloud and a Ring doorbell, both of which can send a notification to my phone when someone is detected within their range, plus a monitored alarm.