What do we want a UK aire and how much to pay? (1 Viewer)

philk

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At the weekend, we stayed here http://www.lakesidecaravans.co.uk/
The site is lovely and has room for 7 or 8 motorhomes, with access to waste empty, fresh water and pot wash/loos if we want to.

So the question is this, do we prefer to pay a lower rate, say £10, with access to all amenities or do we prefer £6/£7 and waste/fresh only?

Philk
 
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We prefer the latter.
I think sites should charge each unit whether it be tent MH or caravan , for the electric they use too. That way the ones that use lots pay more than the ones that use hardly any .
They should also charge for the wash rooms , kitchen areas , everything extra to the bit of ground your put on .

We dont use any of them , just water and waste, so it would make it so much cheaper :ROFLMAO:
 

vwalan

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are you a little confused. many airres in france are free. you only pay for leccy and or water . some you pay just a nominal amount say 2-3 quid . thats enough.
we talk about the ones that have free leccy .we will never get them and the autthority here wont believe us anyway.
if we offer the idea of paying more then they will charge more . aim low then it could be adjusted if need be. but mainly aim for a quid .

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pappajohn

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We prefer the latter.
I think sites should charge each unit whether it be tent MH or caravan , for the electric they use too. That way the ones that use lots pay more than the ones that use hardly any .
They should also charge for the wash rooms , kitchen areas , everything extra to the bit of ground your put on .

We dont use any of them , just water and waste, so it would make it so much cheaper :ROFLMAO:
Fully agree, but then us RV owners would be accused of fiddling the meter.........thats a big 'un, so must need its own power station.

not so, but site owners cant see that.

everything on mine is 12v or gas, except the aircon (like we need that in the UK :Doh:) Microwave and charger/converter

the charger draws 760w (3.3amps) at full power.
 

patyogi

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Fully agree, but then us RV owners would be accused of fiddling the meter.........thats a big 'un, so must need its own power station.

not so, but site owners cant see that.

everything on mine is 12v or gas, except the aircon (like we need that in the UK :Doh:) and charger/converter

the charger draws 760w (3.3amps) at full power.

Go too France, villages are beautiful, aires are free, wine is tre decent...bonus, nobody wants to rip you off for parking in their village.

You can even visit museums & monuments without paying for parking, mein gott, what is the world coming to. Then again it's NOT rip-off Britain and the sun shines. :shout:
 

ShiftZZ

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I think it needs to be a balance.

If they charge too much, you may as well stay in a motel, if you charge too little then there is no incentive for the owner, he must make something out of it..

I don't like the tariff where you have so many options, I would far prefer a standard charge, two people motorhome, no leccy but with toilet and water say between £6-10.

Normally we do not use EHU as we have sufficient solar etc.

I also like the idea of pub stopovers where you can park for free as long as you buy a meal, thats fair as far as I can see.

Anything over £10 (without EHU) would have to be something special.

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philk

philk

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how much to pay

This is a real option rather than me being confused Alan. i spoke at length with the owners, the conversation starting because there were 29 caravans paying £19 per night all in and just the one motorhome. So I suggested and he was amenable to it, that they put aside some of the hard standing and suggested, from the hip, the two options I had in my opening post. Pay by use meters are a not-starter as the cost of install can never be recouped so its cheaper to charge a flat fee.

I understand the views about France and I agree and love the place, but in the UK we just don't have enough options. This is a place seven miles from Lincoln and if it was £6 or £7 I would use it and would use similar.

Phil
 

vwalan

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it was just your use of airres that seemed confusing . you really mean just a basic campsite . remember these at the moment would be controlled by the regulations that already exst. best not mix them with airres. different thing altogether. many in france etc there is no charge if you dont use anything just park. isnt that really what we need here.
 

DP+JAY

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£5 to £7 per night with somewhere to get water/empty waste would be OK.
We regularly use a place thats £3 a night to park but no water etc.

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haganap

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We already have thm all over the country. They are called Cls. We use them top up with water and dump waste and get charged £5-£7 per night. :Smile:


In fact we have a lovely one not more than 4 miles from home alongside a canal with great walks.

If you approach a £8-10 per night cl with electric and say will ou knock a couple if pound off if you dont plug in you might be surprised at what they say.


As for all the aires in France? More and more and more are charging something. The better the location the more they are charging. In our 8 years of touring France in a Motorhome we have seen a steady increase in the rate for aires, especially as motormoaners are going over more and more mags like mmm are
Publishing tips on them :Smile:
 
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Even a few more lay-bys would be welcome - and not just the ones right next to the road - dangerous, noisy and uncomfortable.

Aires as such will never catch on - unlike France we just don't have enough land - and locals would be terrified that they would be taken over by travellers. For the same reason we cannot use many carparks because of height barriers.

Pub owners should make it known if they are happy for us to use their carparks - a simple sign - a motorhome symbol like those used in France for instance.

I know there are sites that show pubs that allow motorhomers but if each pub could decide for itself and just put up a sign it would help both the pub and us - nothing organised - just put up a sign!

If nothing is done we'll just have to France more often where we are made welcome - and spend our money there
 

vwalan

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the daft bit is if you fulltime you arent really wanted by the two main clubs .this came up the other day on motorhome 365.i actually emailed both clubs about it .
the caravan club have come back first and say they only accept members with a permanent residential address.
i take thec&cc.arent even botherted about answering.
i do have a permenant address so very often ask questions on behalf of the 365ers.
at least proper aires arent worried so long as you dont stay too long. mind have known a few where you can stop indefinately sans limmit.

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philk

philk

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what price to pay

Alan,

I see your point. My line of thinking is this, yes we have cls, but if we can increase the number of choices available to us, would that not be a good thing? If so, how much to pay and for what and thats where I started.

This site, and others like it, run 365 unlike many cls, so maybe its worth a think

Philk
 

DP+JAY

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Even a few more lay-bys would be welcome - and not just the ones right next to the road - dangerous, noisy and uncomfortable.

Aires as such will never catch on - unlike France we just don't have enough land - and locals would be terrified that they would be taken over by travellers. For the same reason we cannot use many carparks because of height barriers.

Pub owners should make it known if they are happy for us to use their carparks - a simple sign - a motorhome symbol like those used in France for instance.

I know there are sites that show pubs that allow motorhomers but if each pub could decide for itself and just put up a sign it would help both the pub and us - nothing organised - just put up a sign!

If nothing is done we'll just have to France more often where we are made welcome - and spend our money there

I agree with the comment about spending our money but the problem with the pub sign thing is how are you going to find them?

The simplest way to kick start the Aires system over here would be for councils to make it part of the planning consent for supermarkets etc, to provide Aires.
Just parking for 10 motorhomes, water & waste points.Simple.
 

vwalan

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yes worth a try .but its still not an airre. not knocking your idea . and i see some sites as out of bounds for some.

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philk

philk

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Bloody hek Jay, great thinking, but have you ever tried getting planners to do something thats normal let alone think outside the box. That said I love your idea.

Because of service points on club sites and cls, we are slowly getting places to stay.
I have spoken to people who have used pubs and heard a few stories of late night stragglers knocking on the side of vans, as drunken idiots would. Most independent campsites would welcome some extra income and I think we can provide some of it.

Philk
 

DP+JAY

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Bloody hek Jay, great thinking, but have you ever tried getting planners to do something thats normal let alone think outside the box. That said I love your idea.

Philk

Just think if all the out of town shopping areas provided an aire:RollEyes:
Arrive in the evening when the car park is empty,fill up withwater & spend the night- safe&legal.Then in the morning get your shopping/fuel/gas etc. all in one place and on your way. I can dream can't I?

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Apr 13, 2012
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Just think if all the out of town shopping areas provided an aire:RollEyes:
Arrive in the evening when the car park is empty,fill up withwater & spend the night- safe&legal.Then in the morning get your shopping/fuel/gas etc. all in one place and on your way. I can dream can't I?

Local shopping centre has just put height barriers at 2.1m
 

maz

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At the weekend, we stayed here http://www.lakesidecaravans.co.uk/
The site is lovely and has room for 7 or 8 motorhomes, with access to waste empty, fresh water and pot wash/loos if we want to.

So the question is this, do we prefer to pay a lower rate, say £10, with access to all amenities or do we prefer £6/£7 and waste/fresh only?

Philk

For me, I do not want or need a shower/toilet block. I much prefer to be as self-contained as possible - that's why I have a van with a nice washroom. :Smile: Take on water, empty waste and bin rubbish - that's what I want.

In the summer, I generally don't want EHU - solar panels and back-up generator see me through. In the winter, I do want EHU. So I need to be able to choose whether I pay extra for EHU or not.

And, of course, I want to pay as little as possible ......... :winky:
 

656

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I think it needs to be a balance.

Anything over £10 (without EHU) would have to be something special.

How about this for the Olympics

The Camping and Caravanning Club is delighted to have signed an agreement with The Crown Estate to operate Windsor Great Park Campsite during the summer of 2012 – just a 30 minute walk from Windsor Castle!

Camping at Windsor Great Park Campsite will cost £40 per pitch a night, based on a minimum three-night stay, and will be open to members and non-members.:Eeek::Eeek::Eeek:

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DP+JAY

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We already have thm all over the country. They are called Cls. We use them top up with water and dump waste and get charged £5-£7 per night. :Smile:

Really? find me one near Edinburgh/Stirling 'cos I can't.
 

magicsurfbus

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UK Campsites should definitely offer a low MH stopover rate that includes grey water and loo waste dumping and access to a tap, even if the parking is in the late arrivals area or reception car park after hours. Most of us don't need an electric hookup for one or two nights, and a lot of us are self-sufficient for electricity via solar panels. On the few occasions I use UK campsites with electricity provided I object to paying for a hookup as part of the fixed nightly rate when I don't need one.

Others have suggested pubs, although I'd rather pay a fixed rate to park overnight at a pub than pay nothing and be expected to eat & drink indoors. After two rounds and a pub meal you might as well pay to be on a campsite. Maybe a basic parking fee with a certain amount redeemable against food/drink in the pub would give more choice.

Local authorities could help by making designated sections of Park 'n' Rides available for 24 hour MH parking, as in Canterbury and La Rochelle, where return bus journeys are included in the price of the stay.

To my mind the biggest impact would come if UK supermarkets put French-style pay to use service points at one end of their car parks and designated some spaces for overnight MH parking, especially those that are open 24 hours anyway. I've seen a similar scheme operating in France, and have lost count of the number of times I've seen groups of motorhomes parked overnight in supermarket car parks there. The outlay to provide that facility would be a tiny fraction of a typical supermarket's annual income.

As for how much I'd pay - we don't mind forking out £10 a night for a field with a loo block and tap type campsite, but in France we're talking an average of 5-7 Euros a night for Aires, which equates to £4-6.
 
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I think sites should charge each unit whether it be tent MH or caravan , for the electric they use too. That way the ones that use lots pay more than the ones that use hardly any .
They should also charge for the wash rooms , kitchen areas , everything extra to the bit of ground your put on .

We dont use any of them , just water and waste, so it would make it so much cheaper :ROFLMAO:

No, no....let's charge per pitch size as well...smaller pitches = more customers (as some motorhome storage companies do)....and bigger vans are going to require more hard-standing material and do more damage to grass :hardhat:

--
Neil (4.3 m x 1.5 m.....2000kg)

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GJH

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Campsites should..................
Local authorities should....................
And who is going to pay for it? The camp site owner who might not make a return on his investment? Council tax payers, most of whom would probably object vehemently if it came out?

There are very few P&R sites in this country which have the locational advantage of Canterbury being on the route of cross channel traffic. Local authorities - and owners of private camp sites - need to be reasonably sure that any investment they make can be recouped - which doesn't always work out, as Guisborough showed.

Supermarkets, pubs, indeed any private businesses, would break the law if they set up MH facilities without a caravan site licence or club exemption.

It is, of course, open to anyone and everyone to approach local authorities constructively to create facilities and/or to lobby for changes to the 1960 Act. As the various petitions have shown, though, there is actually a very small number of people who really want anything other than is already available if it means they have to put in some effort and/or pay.
 

magicsurfbus

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And who is going to pay for it? The camp site owner who might not make a return on his investment?

I would argue that in the case of a campsite owner they have already made the investment, insofar as they will already have waste disposal facilities, water points, and (possibly) reception/late arrival parking. I would be quite happy to park overnight in a late arrival area for (say) £5-7 if I arrived after 5pm and left before 9am. What I won't do is pay normal campsite fees for a quick overnight stay and early morning departure that uses none of the additional facilities that I've had to pay for.

It is however quite possible that UK motorhome ownership hasn't reached the same per capita level as on the continent, so it may simply not be economically worthwhile for Local Authorities to convert P&Rs into Aires - you make a fair point there. That might also explain why there is insufficient pressure for the sort of campsite licencing reform that would open up supermarket-based facilities.

What I can say for certain is that while this over-costly and restricted situation persists in the UK, my first preference will always be to holiday across the Channel, where MH owners are made much more welcome, and where their touring infrastructure is better developed. I'm only a small loss to the UK economy I know, but a lot of other people think the same way as I do.
 

DP+JAY

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What I can say for certain is that while this over-costly and restricted situation persists in the UK, my first preference will always be to holiday across the Channel, where MH owners are made much more welcome, and where their touring infrastructure is better developed. I'm only a small loss to the UK economy I know, but a lot of other people think the same way as I do.

Same here. but it would be nice to be able to break the 350 trip to the ferry (and the same coming back). Any succestions for free/cheap stopovers midway between Cumbria and Dover welcome.

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haganap

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Really? find me one near Edinburgh/Stirling 'cos I can't.

Best get your books out then. :Smile:

or

go to the front page and look at the downloadable section and see if anything is in there that some one has kindly put up. :Smile:

They are all over the country, however,

finding one in London would be practically impossible as I am sure it would be in any major tourist city? Do you really think that the OP would persuade some one to give a cheapie method in a hot tourist spot?

Any site in Edinburgh is going to have plenty of trade to not want to bother.

I can see the benefit regarding choice, but, can a site owner see further past his nose, after all many people dont give a stuff about wild camping and much prefer all facilities with electric, He "may" feel that they will be lost to his cheapie pitches.
 

haganap

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Same here. but it would be nice to be able to break the 350 trip to the ferry (and the same coming back). Any succestions for free/cheap stopovers midway between Cumbria and Dover welcome.

There we go,

Roughwood farm
Hassal
Nr Sandbach

In your CL book, £5 per night, lovely little place, no more than 10 mins from Junction 16 M6

Not good for RV's and may be problomatic with the weather today.
 

haganap

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To my mind the biggest impact would come if UK supermarkets put French-style pay to use service points at one end of their car parks and designated some spaces for overnight MH parking, especially those that are open 24 hours anyway. I've seen a similar scheme operating in France, and have lost count of the number of times I've seen groups of motorhomes parked overnight in supermarket car parks there. The outlay to provide that facility would be a tiny fraction of a typical supermarket's annual income.

.

sorry for snipping just a bit of your post, but, you there is one major floor with your idea.

to you and I a motorhome is a wonderful fine bit of engineering that allows us to live great lifestyles and escape the hussle and bussle of everyday life, (or the weekend for us workers).

We enjoy nothing more than sitting in a soggy field admiring the view, chatting to like minded people or simply doing our own thing.

Sadly, we are the tiniest proportion of the general public, smaller than caravaners, probably there are more train spotters than Motorhomers,

The rest of society would want nothing more at this moment than seeing/going off shopping to find in their eyes, 8-10 gypsy wagons spread accross the carpark of their finest shopping resort. There would therefore be the logisitcs of keeping us hidden or camoflouged to stop us annoying people by blighting there eyes.


Couple this with Motorhoming's undesireables leaving their rubbish, and other bits, and it would not be long before the supermarkets would think they had made a mistake. :Smile:


One other point made, Maybe Dylan (small fine site holder) would comment if she saw this post. The emptying of a septic tank for many sites in the middle of nowhere is extortionately high.

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