Have you ever driven on then off again (1 Viewer)

Oct 2, 2011
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Is it just us or have others driven on to a site only to decide it is not for them? Don't get me wrong we have stayed on all sorts of sites and enjoyed them. We were booked onto a site for the weekend there. When we got there we found the office empty with a note on the door to call the number given. So we did. Straight to voicemail. Waited 10 minutes, no joy. Lets go for a walk round and see if we can see anyone says I. Looked at the touring pitches and decided which one was ours, as there was only one left.....or so I thought. Static area of the site looked excellent although they did seem a bit close together. Back at the Moho and after 40 minutes called again to say we would be away in 5 minutes when he turns up. he tells us there are two pitches and we can choose which one we want. He will see us later and off he goes. we look for the pitch that was hiding from us. We find it on the end of the row, lookes a bit like the grass track, and someone is connected to the electric. They unplug and explain that their electric keeps tripping but that one seems to stay on...... We decide on the other pitch. We drive round , level ish so connect the electric. " Have you connected yet as nothing is coming on"...... Alarm bells starting. I check our test socket which indicates an earth fault and decide that enough is enough. Unplug , call the office again and explain to the answer machine that we are off and why.
Is there a benifit for a static site to have some touring pitches? This might explain why the statics looked well looked after but the tourers area was a shambles. Also around 100 statics and 12 touring pitches...

Bit of a long one.

Thanks:thumb:
 

Janine

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Aug 22, 2007
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Oh yes - this one:

Mullion Holiday Park

All-sing, all-dancing, night club, swimming pools, restaurant, bars etc etc and only £9 a night.

Touring site was a long walk from the facilities past rows and rows of statics.

The pitches were uneven with scrubby grass - looked very unloved.

The shower block was disgraceful with mould in all of the cubicles.

Drove off and found a lovely National Trust site just down the road with sea views.
 

TheBig1

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Nov 27, 2011
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many many years! since I was a kid
have done that with a few smaller sites that looked good on paper but were like waste ground when we saw them. these days its far easier to go on the internet and find reviews, both good and bad for sites

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The wizened of OZ

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Jan 20, 2012
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Pulled into a site in Morocco, connected the electricity and stayed for a day until someone told us it was closed. Toilets and shower all ok so paid conscience money to the caretaker. ( 5 euro per night ):ROFLMAO:
 
Nov 30, 2009
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Yes this one, booked for a base to tour , www.parkfootullswater.co.uk to suit the teenage kids. Looks good on the website. Not too much all singing and dancing. Shows how wrong you can be:roflmto:
When we went it was full of feral kids and very chavvy adults. Bouncers on the club door at 11am, when we arrived at reception:Eeek:
. After driving around and seeing an annual souped up Suberu car convention , we thought nah.....
There were Blokes walking round in vests with tattoos walking menacing looking dogs with studded harnesses . :whatthe:
We may have caught them with an unusual clientele that week ( to be fair it was in the 6 week Holls), but we weren't about to stay and find out. They refunded our deposit , after a heated discussion in reception.




We found a much better site further round the lake. Ended up using it for our base for the fortnight
Www.ullswatercaravanpark.co.uk. :thumb: very clean , quiet , nice clientele . Plus it was red hot and no rain , how's that for the lakes? Can't guarantee the last bit:ROFLMAO:
 

rainbow chasers

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Oct 30, 2009
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On more than one occasion!

We stopped at one near swanage when all others were full. It was meant to be a campsite, but appeared to be more of a static/park home style place. As we got to the touring area, it seemed a little erm...traveller like dare I say it. The were the usual tell-tale signs, burnt out cars etc - we left sharpish!

A few others we have passed through we absolute dives, and at a price of £25 or £30 a night we moved on. Don't mind overnighting at a higher price if the site and amenities are good, after all a site club would make a change - but not paying that for a slum.

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haganap

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Dec 5, 2007
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Yep a few times.

Drove off from one called Ty maw in north Wales. All singing and dancing for only £9 PN... Couldn't get used to the chavs peeing in the bushes with their kids and using my motorhome as a goal. I kid you not.....

Our kids were never so grateful to get away from there
 

DuxDeluxe

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have done that with a few smaller sites that looked good on paper but were like waste ground when we saw them. these days its far easier to go on the internet and find reviews, both good and bad for sites

Same here - always now check for reviews on places such as UK campsite etc., taking the best and worst reviews with a slight pinch of salt
 
Jan 4, 2012
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A few years now
Once or twice, sometimes I park up at reception and have a quick walkabout if not been there before to see if it`s ok :thumb:

The campsite website might seem great, but if they pay a IT man £££ ,he can do wonders:ROFLMAO:

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May 8, 2011
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God's county. Helmsley, North Yorkshire.
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Since April 1846 but have always camped.
On more than one occasion!

We stopped at one near swanage when all others were full. It was meant to be a campsite, but appeared to be more of a static/park home style place. As we got to the touring area, it seemed a little erm...traveller like dare I say it. The were the usual tell-tale signs, burnt out cars etc - we left sharpish!

A few others we have passed through we absolute dives, and at a price of £25 or £30 a night we moved on. Don't mind overnighting at a higher price if the site and amenities are good, after all a site club would make a change - but not paying that for a slum.

I don't suppose that this was Herston halt campsite by any chance? Arrived there last week and would have left but couldn't. A very dodgey looking site!
 

lorger

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Jul 11, 2008
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Once in France we just turned up at this site near Paris, had a quick look round before checking in an just drove off as place was a tip
 

durhamahoy

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Jun 11, 2012
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Is it just us or have others driven on to a site only to decide it is not for them? Don't get me wrong we have stayed on all sorts of sites and enjoyed them. We were booked onto a site for the weekend there. When we got there we found the office empty with a note on the door to call the number given. So we did. Straight to voicemail. Waited 10 minutes, no joy. Lets go for a walk round and see if we can see anyone says I. Looked at the touring pitches and decided which one was ours, as there was only one left.....or so I thought. Static area of the site looked excellent although they did seem a bit close together. Back at the Moho and after 40 minutes called again to say we would be away in 5 minutes when he turns up. he tells us there are two pitches and we can choose which one we want. He will see us later and off he goes. we look for the pitch that was hiding from us. We find it on the end of the row, lookes a bit like the grass track, and someone is connected to the electric. They unplug and explain that their electric keeps tripping but that one seems to stay on...... We decide on the other pitch. We drive round , level ish so connect the electric. " Have you connected yet as nothing is coming on"...... Alarm bells starting. I check our test socket which indicates an earth fault and decide that enough is enough. Unplug , call the office again and explain to the answer machine that we are off and why.
Is there a benifit for a static site to have some touring pitches? This might explain why the statics looked well looked after but the tourers area was a shambles. Also around 100 statics and 12 touring pitches...

Bit of a long one.

Thanks:thumb:

Strangely enough had a similar experience a few years ago, off we went we just knew we wouldn't have chilled. Like you the statics were great, the touring side of things on a patch of bare grass with hookups on wooden stakes 'at all angles' was enough.
:Eeek:

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Jun 30, 2010
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The Haven site at Burnham on Sea had a similar problem, the touring side was crap, the "Super Pitches were stinking, the drains smelt that bad you couldn't sit outside, the Grass pitches were threadbare, Chavs and their feral kids were kicking soccar balls, the Facilitys were cleaned by a spotty youth who's idea of a clean was to turn on a tap and flood the floor with water
The so called "TOURER WARDEN" didn't take a blind bit of notice of any complaint, UNTIL,
I walked in the main office and demanded to see the manager, who quite surprisingly, was very unaware of what was going on in the touring area.???????

But hey!!:thumb: The Static side of the Site was immaculate:Doh: Funny that:Sad:
 

Rapide561

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Aug 5, 2007
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On and off

Yes - drove into Camping Paradiso, Switzerland, and drove off about ten minutes later - sloping pitch, motorway noise, train noise but a good view of Lake Lugano!

Russell
 
Dec 23, 2007
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Drove into a site near Cochim in Germany and quickly left,turned out it was a naturist campsite-must improve my German!:Eeek:

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wivvy's dad

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Jun 22, 2010
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Lost count of the sites we've driven on to - and then driven straight off again...!!

Now much prefer CS's in this country, municipals in France, and wild pretty much anywhere.
 
May 12, 2011
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Seen the other side of this. We were on a small farm type site in France, great place, next to no facilities, good bar and free wifi. Really peaceful, just the river making any noise. We were following traditional funster principles of sitting outside the van with drinks and food in the sun.

Three British vans turned up in convoy, drove through the site, turned round and parked outside the bar. Let their dogs run free on the field as they got into a dispute with the British owners. Turned out 6 amps was not enough electricity, they even asked if she could move some parked units so they could be together. She declined and they all left.

It was great fun to watch, two even put hi-vis jackets on when they got out of the vans, they left a perfectly good site, we continued having some peaceful days.
 

motorhomer

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Camp sites - like women and food - are very much a personal choice!

I don't think we have ever driven off from a site that we had booked, it would need to be really bad for us to do that and it doesn't seem fair to the site owners or other potential users.

But in fact we only rarely book. And we have quite frequently driven into a site, had a look round and decided not to stay. Sometimes its quite hard to say why, sometimes the site just doesn't "feel" as if its what we want. Mind you, any discos or night clubs within sight and we run a mile! We don't mind children or dogs - provided they are reasonably well behaved.

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TheBig1

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Nov 27, 2011
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Drove into a site near Cochim in Germany and quickly left,turned out it was a naturist campsite-must improve my German!:Eeek:

if you see FKK in the advert for a German campsite its a naturist site:ROFLMAO:
 

paulmold

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Jun 15, 2009
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Booked a CL some years ago near Ammanford. As we drove down the farm track we could see broken fairground rides on either side, electric hook-ups were through windows into the house and it generally looked like a scrap-yard, so we simply turned around and went out. Parked a bit further up the road, got the books out and found a 'David Bellamy' gold award site with statics but terraced pitches for tourers, a bar and entertainment by local country and western club meeting for their weekly hoe-down, complete with costumes and guns, had a great time!
 

keith

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And people wonder why many motorhomers prefer wild camping to (un)organised sites. ::bigsmile:

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rainbow chasers

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Oct 30, 2009
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I don't suppose that this was Herston halt campsite by any chance? Arrived there last week and would have left but couldn't. A very dodgey looking site!

I wasn't sure as it was a few years ago now, but I looked on google earth......it appears to be called 'Lookout' :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Oh, how aptly named! It may have been nice - but didn't appear comfortable! It looked tidier on google earth - weather it has gone uphill or down since, who knows. We didn't mind the traveller vans too much, but the burnt out cars and junk done it for us!
 

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