Are camping sites full nowadays ? (1 Viewer)

[joner8888]

I used to motorhome 10 years ago or so and could just click on the road and book in.

Looking aging now to get another motorhome and was just looking in advance for site availability.
Mrs likes to stay in places where there is entertainment , music beer and bingo

Just looked and everywhere for weeks are all solidly booked.
Is this normal nowadays...

Even a 3 day Friday to Sunday is booked to take the kids to sites when not in the holiday season.

I just take off on my own for weeks in Europe.

 

[gus-lopez]

Is this normal nowadays...

appears to be

I just take off on my own for weeks in Europe.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Lenny HB]

Just do Europe you can always find a place and at a fraction of the price.

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[Figaro]

entertainment , music beer and bingo

Benidorm ?

 

[Spriddler]

Be wary of the entertainment if you go to Whitstable.

 

[joner8888]

Benidorm ?

Nope, she won't go past the coastline
Sites as Woolacombe, Cofton.
I drive and am a mobile ATM
Everything seems booked.
Are there other crowded ,noisy ,expensive sites in the UK that she would enjoy.

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[chaser]

Nope, she won't go past the coastline
Sites as Woolacombe, Cofton.
I drive and am a mobile ATM
Everything seems booked.
Are there other crowded ,noisy ,expensive sites in the UK that she would enjoy.

Presume you have tried haven, very reasonable at certain times.

 

[Silverman]

Unity Farm at Brean?

 

[meanders]

Park Holidays have lots of sites, some of which take motorhomes and tourers This one at Jaywick definitely does (or did). You might want to look at the sites available but then might have to ring to ask if tourers are allowed. Other than there are a few different ones on the Isle of Wight

Red Funnel do some good holiday deals.

Hylands End in Dorset?

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[Brains]

Nope, she won't go past the coastline
Sites as Woolacombe, Cofton.
I drive and am a mobile ATM
Everything seems booked.
Are there other crowded ,noisy ,expensive sites in the UK that she would enjoy.

Sounds to me like you need to book her into a Premier Inn in Blackpool for an all inclusive 90 day stay, whilst you head off to the wilds of mainland western Europe!

 

[Phill D]

Try Whitemead Forrest park, near Lydney not too far from you, great for a mid week this time of year.
You may not get a weekend though.

 

[Nanniemate]

Nope, she won't go past the coastline
Sites as Woolacombe, Cofton.
I drive and am a mobile ATM
Everything seems booked.
Are there other crowded ,noisy ,expensive sites in the UK that she would enjoy.

Look at haven they have some good offers outside of school hols

Already mentioned amongst others oops

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[Gina M]

You are doing the right thing joner8888 happy wife happy life

 

[nicholsong]

Is the unavailability of campsites the result of the 'law of unintended consequences' in countries, like UK and Portugal as reported recently, because of the various tightening of restrictions on 'wildcamping'?

The authorities involved may not have calculated how many MHs are touring in their areas compared with the number of pitches available.

 

[joner8888]

I think before i shell out ££££££ , maybe i ought to rent a motorhome for a week or so.
It`s years since i done it
Get a feel of what it`s like out there with traffic, sites, costs ect
There is a place near me that can rent out Burtsner 727 . c1

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[Dickyb]

The wife and I bought our first motorhome in nov last year, we were campers / small caravan before. We always loved it especially Devon and Cornwall, over the years we’ve noticed way too many changes and not all for the better, these van lifers are spoiling a lot of it, leaving rubbish staying overnight and not paying as they leave early before the wardens about, forcing bans on overnight parking and putting height barriers up. Cofton now seems to have priced itself way above what it’s worth and I think it’s to keep the riffraff out that we’ve seen there the last couple of years, we’ve not gone in school holidays so can’t comment on that, also we avoid the rowdy places anyway, covid drastically increased staycations and pushed up used values and we like others thought it wouldn’t last and prices would fall again with loads of stuff for sale as people headed back abroad for package deals, obviously they must have liked it and I know the government certainly liked the extra revenue, so now every man and his dog / dogs is going camping, in truth were an overcrowded country that’s struggling to accommodate the extra campers covid bought about, just read the posts on how crowded Scotland, wales and the Lake District gets, I see this also has an effect on France, Spain and Portugal where we intend to go Dec, Jan and Feb as we both retired last year, all the rules and regs for each country and the dogs passport etc are a pain but we’ve got the time to sort it all out, and it’s mostly from this forum which has saved us so much time and money for which we are extremely grateful and we now feel more than prepared heading off knowing that we won’t always get the best site and there will be some disappointment, we expect it as all part of the fun and learning as we go and hopefully can’t be as bad as a British winter

 

[Kups]

hopefully can’t be as bad as a British winter

You're right. However, we're just booking Spanish sites for February 2025 and have already been advised that one of our favourites (Bonterra Resort) is fully booked already! We're on their waiting list and expect to be offered a pitch before Autumn. Yes, I know it's pricey but we like it, fully serviced pitch, decent restaurant and supermarkets close by, no sleeping in laybys etc. Sorry if that's a red rag to the FLTs

 

[Phill D]

van lifers are spoiling a lot of it, leaving rubbish staying overnight and not paying as they leave early before the wardens about, forcing bans on overnight parking and putting height barriers up

While I have seen rubbish left and people arriving late and leaving very early, along with drive up use the showers and other facilities without permission etc;
I am not in agreement that it’s Van lifers are to blame.
I have seen a number of irresponsible motorhome and van users abusing the situation who are clearly not Van lifers.
Van lifers tend take care not to upset locals or cause restrictions to be imposed, they want them available for next time.

For clarity I do not live in our van so not a van lifer.

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[Kthryn]

We found a lot of sites put their prices up and had less availbility due to lockdown and covid. A lot of people decided that if they couldnt go abroad theyd have a campervan caravan or tent holiday instead. The prices of everything related seemed to go up and hasnt come back down after Covid. Wonder if value of old vans that went up in covid will come back down again?

 

[Dickyb]

While I have seen rubbish left and people arriving late and leaving very early, along with drive up use the showers and other facilities without permission etc;
I am not in agreement that it’s Van lifers are to blame.
I have seen a number of irresponsible motorhome and van users abusing the situation who are clearly not Van lifers.
Van lifers tend take care not to upset locals or cause restrictions to be imposed, they want them available for next time.

For clarity I do not live in our van so not a van lifer.

I take your point and should have said the same about motorhome, caravan, campers and dog owners too, over the years I’ve seen a blatant disregard for the country side by all walks of life spoiling things for others, I have spoken to van lifers on car parks and sites charging up and doing washing, your right they don’t tend to move too far and rotate their stops mainly at places that turn a blind eye if your not seen during open hrs,

 

[Phill D]

Wonder if value of old vans that went up in covid will come back down again?

For second hand van prices to fall the price of a new van will need to reduce, can’t see that happening.

So I would guess that the price of a decent used van will hold up.

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[Dickyb]

Phill D is right about new vans keeping the old ones high, but over the last few years demand has outstripped supply, some recent posts mention dealers stock is higher than ever before so it’ll be interesting to see if the balance tips this year, obviously it a crystal ball situation, I hope things remain stable like everyone else, but higher priced sites with less availability isn’t going to help anyone, has camping now become a victim of its own success?

 

[Kthryn]

For second hand van prices to fall the price of a new van will need to reduce, can’t see that happening.

So I would guess that the price of a decent used van will hold up.

Know what you mean but having said that the price of second hand vans ,even just bare vans not yet even converted to motorhomes but which people wanted to buy to convert to campers, went up a lot with covid but I dont think the price of new vans went up by the same percentage or amounts. Wonder if people start going back abroad on holiday again theyll start to sell up and price of second hand vans could fall