Canterbury Old Dover Road Park and Ride Overnight

S

sudafogi

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Benijofar, 03178, Alicante, Spain
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Carthago A Class
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Staying in Kent for a few days and found a very moho friendly council park and ride at Old Dover Road in Canterbury. They provide a dedicated Motorhome parking area with clean potable water and grey waste disposal for £3.50. Mostly European vans there but they allow 48 hours stay and many had overnighted there. Didn’t count but guess space for 20 vans and with cameras seemed very safe and secure. Perfect for the channel ferry or tunnel and Canterbury is worth a visit. A very pleasant change to find that Moho are welcomed! Well recommended
 
Stayed there back in April. There is also black waste disposal and it is possible to stay on the part of the car park to the right of Aire if it is full. For dog owners, if you go back to the roundabout there is bridleway for walks. Usually stay at C&MC site at Folkestone, won’t be in future.
 
We were there on Wed night for a Thursday morning ferry, lot busier than when we first started using it some years ago.

It's £3.50 per day until midnight so an overnight costs £7, great value for a peaceful & secure night with fresh water & dump facilities close to ferries & chunnel.

As a bonus your parking ticket entitles up to 7 people to travel in to town on the bus free of charge.
 
Yes it’s a very handy place to stay. We were there on Sunday night, ready for the ferry crossing on Monday morning.

Mrs QFour

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We usually use it both going and coming back - excellent facility. The Old Gate Inn pub at the roundabout is very dog friendly and the food is good too. We will be there on Tuesday and, for the first time, plan to get the bus into Canterbury as, apparently, dogs are allowed on the bus. Anyone know of any dog friendly pubs in the town?
 
Not being pedantic but it is 'New Dover Road P+R' just in case anyone has trouble finding it. And the P+R bus has that on the front.

Although Old Dover Road and New Dover Road meet up at the roundabout.
 
scousebird said:
We use it loads as it's 25 mins from home and we can go and have a few drinkypoos in Canterbury then back to the moho for more drinkypoos :wine:
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Had one or two last night:wine::wine::wine::wine::wine:

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Maybe see you there as also local and as you say Canterbury a great city to go out in for drinks.
 
We stayed overnight at Dover road park and ride Aire. Why doesn’t this country do more parking places like this for motor homes??
We arrived at 11am yesterday and caught the bus into Canterbury. Spent most of the day there, came back to the Aire overnight. There were between 7 and 10 MHs there over the time we were there. It was £7 which included grey waste, black waste disposals and a fresh water point. Then left this morning around midday. AMAZING why can’t there be more of these places around the country. Will definitely come here again.
 
I believe the reason that Canterbury has such a good place is that the guy on the council responsible for it is very keen on motorhomes. It's an excellent example, of course, to other councils throughout the UK but sadly, most don't have the push of the Canterbury guy.
 
as well as the
£7 per night the town must benefit from spending i've yet to get away without having a meal and a few drinks in town as its so convenient with the bus service

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mitzimad said:
as well as the
£7 per night the town must benefit from spending i've yet to get away without having a meal and a few drinks in town as its so convenient with the bus service
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Which is, of course, the precise reason so many French towns and villages provide them, as well as Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and to some extent Spain and Portugal. (I have no experience of other countries but I'm sure there are more).
 
TerryL said:
I believe the reason that Canterbury has such a good place is that the guy on the council responsible for it is very keen on motorhomes. It's an excellent example, of course, to other councils throughout the UK but sadly, most don't have the push of the Canterbury guy.
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Colin is indeed a nice guy, and he listens.

I had been in touch with him by e-mail a few times over the years and just over a year ago he asked to meet, which we did at the P+R.

The City Council are developping a new MH facility at the to-be-extended Wincheap P+R next to a new junction being built from the A2. He wanted opinions on what he is planning to put in at the new facility. He was also interested in hearing how different MH owners use their beasts.

I encouraged him to keep the service facilities a short distance apart so people did not block all of them when using the others, e.g. leaving the cassette sluice free when filling the water and vice-versa.

In the years I have been using the existing one Colin has arranged a second tap away from the dump, a large waste bin in the MH area and opened up access to the overflow area, by removing the height barriers(they have never had any trouble with travellers, but maybe because the P+R is manned during opening hours)

The plan is that Wincheap will have double the number of spaces at N. Dover Road(NDR) and two service points.

According to one of the Supervisors at NDR they would be happy to have more MHs staying there, which they can do now the overflow area is accessible for MHs. All the Supervisors in the small office are friendly and helpful - one even came out of retirement to work there because Colin would be his boss - says something.

It is an excellent facility and its use is to be encouraged.

Just a note on charging; whilst it is £3.50 for day of arrival and again for departure = £7 for one night, if one stays 2 nights(3 days) it comes to £10.50, which is reasonable with all free facilities and no limit on water, plus free P+R bus for 6 persons as many times as you want.

Geoff

[Sorry for long post but I think the place and Colin and Staff are worthy of praise]
 
I can add to the comment about the supervisors. On our last visit we wanted to stay for 2 nights and were as not sure if that was allowed. I went over and had a friendly chat with the supervisor, who said that would be no problem at all. I gained the impression that we could have stayed longer if we had wanted to. I was very impressed at how helpful he was.

On our last visit we used the overflow area for the first time. Much more peaceful and a lot more space than the main area, so we will be using it again from now onward. The only problem was it did not have a tap or dump adjacent, unlike the main area. The did not worry us because we had plenty of capacity for a 2 night stay, especially when you realise that you can use the council toilets during the day. And in any case it was not that far to the main area if we had needed to use the facilities.
 
We generally use the overflow area as well because it is quieter. However in the run up to Christmas we were asked to move to the original MH area so they could get more cars in.

We have stayed there for 3 nights before now and there doesn't seem to be a problem with that - arrived Friday and left on Monday.

It's a great facility and good to hear that they're planning on more MH spaces at the Wincheap P&R although New Dover Road is more convenient for us but Wincheap would be better for people coming into Canterbury from that side of the city.

Denise
 
If you don't stop praising this facility too many will start using it. Met a chinese couple, drove from Hong Kong to use it.

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ctc said:
If you don't stop praising this facility too many will start using it. Met a chinese couple, drove from Hong Kong to use it.
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I am sure that was said tongue in cheek, but even if seriously, I doubt with the addition of the Wincheap facility they will both get over subscribed.

I am sure Colin has the figures to prove that it is financially viable for the City to invest. After all there are a lot of Continental users with money to spend and the British users are mainly flush with the 'Grey pound'. So the City might open another facility if necessary.

If it gets around local councils in UK that Canterbury is making a financial success of its investment in MH facilities, they may start a different approach and ignore the vested interests of campsite owners' objections to 'aire' facilities.

With that objective in mind I am happy to keep promoting Canterbury with no risk at present to over use as I see it.

Geoff
 
nicholsong said:
I am sure that was said tongue in cheek, but even if seriously, I doubt with the addition of the Wincheap facility they will both get over subscribed.

I am sure Colin has the figures to prove that it is financially viable for the City to invest. After all there are a lot of Continental users with money to spend and the British users are mainly flush with the 'Grey pound'. So the City might open another facility if necessary.

If it gets around local councils in UK that Canterbury is making a financial success of its investment in MH facilities, they may start a different approach and ignore the vested interests of campsite owners' objections to 'aire' facilities.

With that objective in mind I am happy to keep promoting Canterbury with no risk at present to over use as I see it.

Geoff
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I echo your sentiments entirely. But .......

The biggest benefit by far from this facility is the spending power of the visitors. We always have a meal in town and wander around the shops, where we always manage to spend some more. But, of course, this money does not go to the Council. Canterbury are far sighted enough to know that this is for the good of the City and helps keep the commercial centre viable. That, after is, why most other European villages towns and cities provide night stops.

I am not sure a lot of other UK councils have made that connection yet.

I suspect somebody will come along and say it is up to us to "sell" this benefit to those councils, but in reality it should be as plain as a pikestaff to them. Canterbury didn't need any selling and nor did all those other European municipalities.
 
When we stay we always spend money not only in Canterbury but in other areas in the South East. We usually eat out each day we're there as well as having a drink or two.

Would love to see more facilities like the P&R in other areas of the country.
 
Rita and I have been using NDR P&R since June 2010.

nicholsong said:
In the years I have been using the existing one Colin has arranged a second tap away from the dump,
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It may not be well known Geoff, but Mavis Nye, a former long standing member of FUN (and FACTS as locovan) was very instrumental in getting the second tap installed, away from the original. She lived locally and campaigned at Colin Perris for some time, expressing the need to have a designated drinking water tap, which he authorised.

When the campaign was live for MH parking at Lytham St Annes, I approached Colin to ask if he would be happy to communicate with them, re the benefits of providing overnight MH facilities, to which he agreed. Whether L St Annes took up the offer or not, I don't know. :(

peterc10 said:
I gained the impression that we could have stayed longer if we had wanted to. I was very impressed at how helpful he was.
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Technically you can Peter, by validating your ticket, leaving the P&R, going round the roundabout, and back in again, collecting a new ticket at the barrier. ;)
Years ago, they had to clamp down on the amount of time one could stay in their MH, as one person in an old beat up van was almost living there permanently, running their engine daily at all unsociable hours to recharge their batteries. Very antisocial indeed. :(

We'll be in there again in January on the way out, and again in March/April, on the way back. (y)

Cheers,

Jock. :)

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We used the P+R at New Dover Road on our trip to France in September both on the way down to the tunnel and back so we could overnight up the road (which in reality proved to be a pain). But having the facility was great. We thought the cost was very reasonable considering we got a bus ride for 2 adults and the dog thrown in with the parking ticket and we were able to spend several hours mooching round Canterbury and spending in shops and pubs. Brilliant facility. We’d definitely use it again ?
 
Used the facility several times. An absolute credit to Canterbury council and all those involved in its operation. Always spend time and money in the city. Use a great pub in the centre, a good pint and excellent pies, can't remember the name, bet someone will come along and name it in a minute.
 
Can anyone tell me if it is possible to park with a Car trailer there? as we would like to give it a try on our way to Spain early December?
 

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