arrgghh!! ruddy camping in the forest

Jewellbags

Jewellbags

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Desperately trying to get away for a few days - legally with our aging dog. Book camping in the forest a few weeks ago and it was only that my daughter mentioned something over the weekend that i found out that they had closed - all year, no email, no nothing.

Pitch up has 2 "sites" available - anyone got any suggestions, - something an hour of two from Southampton, basic , roomy for dogs, etc
 
i’ve just done a general sort of search In Camping and Caravan Club for southeast in a motor home and there are a few vacancies in their club sites - I think I put in 8/8 for a week
 
We are staying at Walton next week to visit family it’s not like CITF but we like the heathland around and the splendid dog walk
 
Manic said:
Would this be of any use.

Highfield Farm Touring Park, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England - for Camping, Caravanning, Caravans, and Motor Homes

Highfield Farm Touring Park, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, caters for campers and camping, tents, caravans and motor caravans. Nearby facilities include fishing, golf, horse riding, and of course shopping in the city of Cambridge. The touring park is within easy travelling distance of the port of...
www.highfieldfarmtouringpark.co.uk
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thanks but a bit far off for us

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At Leonards Farm West Moors near Bournemouth. See attached photo for full details
7A5F0CFB-D351-4D0D-B088-85F3ABFB46A8.png
 
Yes we booked camping in the forest as well on the 10th July for two nights Bracelands Forest Of Dean.
They did email but it was in my junk mail so didn't pick it up for a couple of days!!
Managed to get another site but only just everything around seemed to be fully booked!
Were you looking at the New Forest location? One of the best sites we found down there for location was Red Shoots loads of walking directly from the site with 3 quality pubs in walking distance (one at the site entrance).
Good luck:giggle:
 
Funny I was doing a lookie look yesterday and there were lots of sites looked for the week of Monday 13/07/20 just did random searches on pitch up not all were silly prices either which was nice to see

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We too have been let down by camping in the forest. However, we’re booked in at Summerlands ( just north of Salisbury) and Wysdom Touring Park near the Cotswolds. Probably within your driving radius as we also live in lovely Hampshire.
 
We live near you, Church Farm, Sixpenny Handley, Coombe Nurseries Caravan Park Salisbury, Scott's Haven, are all within easy driving distance of east Southampton.
 
We booked many weeks ago and it was disappointing to have it cancelled so late. We did get an email and have been promised a refund of the deposit.

At first I thought they could have made that decision much earlier but I suspect that like some beeches they have suddenly found the forests overwhelmed by day visitors. Perhaps they need all the staff for cleanups and to stop some idiot burning them down.
 
AG 2602 said:
Yes we booked camping in the forest as well on the 10th July for two nights Bracelands Forest Of Dean.
They did email but it was in my junk mail so didn't pick it up for a couple of days!!
Managed to get another site but only just everything around seemed to be fully booked!
Were you looking at the New Forest location? One of the best sites we found down there for location was Red Shoots loads of walking directly from the site with 3 quality pubs in walking distance (one at the site entrance).
Good luck:giggle:
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Is that behind the red shoot pub in Linwood ?
 
In the end we booked at primrose farm in wareham - basic as possible but big open , woodland for the dogs and they allow campfires

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We had 9 nights booked later this month, saw the announcement on the BBC South news before their email.
Going to Lyndon Top instead now. Anyone got their refund yet?
 
RowleyBirkinQC said:
We had 9 nights booked later this month, saw the announcement on the BBC South news before their email.
Going to Lyndon Top instead now. Anyone got their refund yet?
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Yeah mine came in today
 
Not yet, was paid on a credit card and sometimes refunds take few days to pop up.
 
Jewellbags said:
Is that behind the red shoot pub in Linwood ?
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Yes we thought it was great location for walks and plenty of wild life. Also a great pub for Sunday lunch about a mile up the road (can’t remember the name) with large garden and decent menu.
 
Pausim said:
Not yet, was paid on a credit card and sometimes refunds take few days to pop up.
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We are still waiting for our refund. You would hope and expect CITF to have the decency to let you know when they have refunded.

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RowleyBirkinQC said:
Anyone got their refund yet?
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Nope
The deposit was taken quickly enough though.
Pausim said:
We booked many weeks ago and it was disappointing to have it cancelled so late. We did get an email and have been promised a refund of the deposit.

At first I thought they could have made that decision much earlier but I suspect that like some beeches they have suddenly found the forests overwhelmed by day visitors. Perhaps they need all the staff for cleanups and to stop some idiot burning them down.
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The decision was taken very late - suspect by other than the CCC/CITF as I made a booking one day & got the closed for 2020 the following day.
 
Camping in the Forest is a joint venture between the Forestry Commission who own the sites and Camping & Caravan Club who operate them.

If this BBC News story today is to be believed the Forestry Commission aren't in agreement the sites should be closed. That means it is a decision by the CITF management themselves, or the C&CC 9noting that head office is based at the C&CC office). It was also extremely late in the day, given they had previously updated the websites saying they would open on 4th July, and then pulled that the day after the PM confirmed they could open.

I can understand that the largest New Forest sites - Roundhill, Holmsley, Hollands Wood and even Ashurst may have had concerns over how you actually maintained cleansing of the facility blocks, which are overused over the summer period. Roundhill may also have been costly to set up for a short period as their toilet / shower blocks are sectional cabins that they do cart away to storage off season. Having been on the larger sites at peak periods when tenting I can see some may have had concerns for how the sites could be stewarded to preventy larger gatherings, even if they avoided so called group bookings (but the closure was underway, based on the website stopping bookings before the Bournemouth beach overload). Plenty of no facility sites could have been managed, again at a lower capacity if there was concern, and perhaps change the free for all pitching on most sites (Sethorns is one of the few sites with identifible pitches). It may well be that, as many on site staff would be seasonal, some during lockdown had moved on to other things so full staffing for all sites would be impossible, but move staff around and open just a few? Simple answer would have been to limit site capacity, but perhaps that wasn't to be economic? But the filed accounts for 2019, suggest there was plenty of profit to be made, so I find it difficult to see that costs would be the concern, especially as the 6 week peak summer dates season was still to come.

I'm fortunate that I managed to find a CS nearby and at a fractionally cheaper price than I was to pay for my Sethorns stay over the August BH. Meanwhile CITF have had my money since December and I'd rather like it back.

I feel sorry for many of the local businesses, who will now have vastly reduced custom, just as they were trying to get going again. As the BBC article shows perhaps 50% of trade was a result of campers, who now won't be there.
 
As I understand, citf are part of ccc, and I don't think they have the staff in place to open the sites.
The local council's in new forest are trying to push for them to open, sites like setthorns don't have facilities anyhow, so can't see a problem with opening.
I think watch this space and see what happens, I can foresee them losing the franchise otherwise.
Places like Lyndhurst and brockenhurst want them to open, shops will lose a lot of trade, and forestry commission say without them parking in busy times will be attrotious as people have to travel to get onto the forest instead of wandering out from campsites.
I wonder if the seasonals will get refunds and those who do storage !
 
Statement on the Forestry England website, shows they aren't happy

We feel for the staff, their families and holidaymakers affected by Camping in the Forests’ decision not to run a very short season in 2020, and we hope the company takes the time to quickly review and reconsider.

We understand the economic environment post-lockdown is very tough and seasonal businesses are uncertain about their income. We are also very aware of people’s concerns about the anti-social behaviour we are already seeing in our Forests and fears that closed campsites might increase this.
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And it's starting to get the attention of the national media. But the chances of being able to open now must be negligible. What staff they had available will have been let go, and if they didn't have enough before they pulled the plug it's got to be a lot worse now.
 
Having booked, and then been cancelled - I would not be impressed if they did a UTurn and subsequently opened...

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Langtoftlad said:
Having booked, and then been cancelled - I would not be impressed if they did a UTurn and subsequently opened...
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I am disappointed but if they are being leant on heavily then perhaps they will need to question whether they made the right decision. I won’t be any more, or any less, disappointed whatever they decide to do. I have made other arrangements for now and will visit the forest some other time.
 
We still haven't received our refund from CITF yet but on Sunday we did manage to find a lovely quiet, adults only!!, CS less than 3 miles from Setthorns. So we are now sorted for our August long weekend and wouldn't rebook with CITF this year, even if they changed their mind and reopened. The CS was also slightly cheaper, so we have booked for an extra night. It's a win win for us (y)
 
Yep a lot of scurrying around to find somewhere else, and I suspect those who were quick off the mark will have now made alternative arrangements. I wonder if I found the same place as Holly's mum which looks to be a few minutes walk from the Rising Sun pub.

As others now I've made alternative arrangements it's too late for CITF this summer. But it does mean they've lost out on a couple of weekend bookings from me. Maybe if they were to be able to open something an Autumn escape would still occur. Certainly I was able to do a couple of weekends over last year in November and February on Sethorns (it got quite muddy), and I'd still reconsider that again if allowed.

But if they don't get me my money back quick for the cancelled booking, I'm going to get very annoyed.
 
Our refund arrived in the account this morning 1 July but was dated 29 June. I suspect some of the delay was down to banking systems rather than CITF.
 
Pausim said:
Our refund arrived in the account this morning 1 July but was dated 29 June. I suspect some of the delay was down to banking systems rather than CITF.
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Did CITF have the decency to let you know you had a refund or did you find you had been refunded by checking your account ?

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