How much are CL's in general?

Wissel

Wissel

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With it looking like the lockdown starting to lift, but the likely scenario where wilding could be problematic, I'm thinking of joining a club or two for access to CL's.

This is something I've never done, so I'm wondering how much these locations really are on average?

I see "from £10 a night", but is this figure common or are most sites way more? Thinking £300 a month - great. £900 a month - not so good :rolleyes:

Also which club or more than one?

I've had motorhomes for 13 years but never been a member of any of the clubs and have no idea.
 
Generally £13 up to £20 in popular locations. Although I have had £10 ones but it seems to be creeping up in price.
 
Also remember that with Camping and caravan club they have THS temporary holiday sites.
Usually only providing fresh water and an Elsan point but can be in some good locations, sensible prices and can last for several weeks.Ideal for summer stopovers. They have a very good app called " out and about" where you can locate what's on in a preset radius.
If you are travelling around and wild camping these can be used to drop in and stay a night while sorting out water and toilet (y)
 
Many of them now are over £20 and often have poor facilities. We paid £20 last year for one and I wouldn’t go near the facilities. My husband went in and reported back that the washing up sink was next to the loo and you had to use £1 coin for the scruffy shower. On top of that, the black waste emptying was a long walk around the edge of a field. There wasn’t anywhere to walk the dog and the nearest beach had an expensive pay and display car park.

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As tonka said, look at the Temporary Holiday Sites. They charge per unit so very cheap per head if you have 2, 3, more people but usually still good value for one. I have really good memories of a few I stayed on ( Burton Bradstock was a favourite)
Also in the summer look at some of the club sites that are grass pitches without EHU ( if you have solar) Can be quite cheap.
 
As a full timer... " retired" but with only a small monthly pension... Cost of sites is important to me...

I am a member of both main clubs... the reason being their CL's and CS's are not all in the same areas UK wide...

Also there are Club sites ( that have Washing machines ) that I will book into in order to wash bedding etc (These usually offer - or did offer, prior to the "New Normal" - mid week discounts... usually 13.50 with leccy)

If you wish to travel far and wide I'd recommend joining both. If you like to stay in... say a couple of local counties.. I'd look at who has the most (or desirable) sites in the area then decide.

Also "Searchforsites" app includes privately run sites etc... If I'm looking to travel to an unfamiliar area... I tend to use that in the first instance... for location... as it shows all sites (mostly) then research the site directly if it has a web page... or via CMC or CCC etc...

I also use UKcampsite dot co dot uk and a few others..
 
We are full timers and always keep a close eye on charges. We have been on a CS (that’s Camping and Caravanning Club) for about 10 weeks. We pay £10 per night for just water, rubbish disposal and an Elsan point, we do get electricity though.

We also like temporary holiday sites, you have to watch the prices though. Most of the time we are here in Norfolk but Burton Bradstock in Dorset is lovely.

Paul
 
We have been members of CCC for eight years but have only ever used the ths sites, and they can be had for about a fiver at certain ones , as tonka says you have to look for them ,if you get the monthly magazine they are in the coulered pages at the back, but we came out of CCC last year as we just don't even use the ths anymore and I think the magazine has been split in two now with the coulered pages coming seperate.
 
Mention has been made of THS. From what I have read, they will not be running this year.

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At the present time the CCC are NOT publishing the THS data. This may change when the site system opens up again. Allegedly around the 4th July?. Cl and CS sites under £10 are now at bit like rocking horse poo. When SWMBO, was Hospitalised lats year In Basingstoke I stayed on one (No Lecky) Nice. Grass paddock. That was a Tenner, and probably the cheapest, being in the South East "commuter belt" where there are very few sites. For only one nighters I`ve used Pubs, A Lot. But of course you have to be prepared to Drink or Eat in fairness to the proprietors.
 
Some really useful info here guys - thanks :)

Our van has been (re)designed from the ground up to be as self sufficient as possible for a small van, so we only need basic water filling/emptying/elsan point/rubbish disposal.

I wasn't going to bother with any memberships as we only need a site every 4 days or once a week if careful, but the world has changed with Covid and I think Wild Camping "could" be a bit tricky/not worth the hassle over the next few years. I think I'll likely join both clubs and download all the apps for a year, then see what we use a lot before renewing next year?

Jim mentioned in another thread the vanlife movement. I follow a few of these guys and because of Covid, quite a few have taken to travelling together/staying in groups/small colonies. I totally get this as some have had threats along the lines of "we will burn your van while you sleep - get out of this area" so resorted to safety in numbers. But it doesn't take a genius to see what will happen once a few newspapers get involved.

I'd like to avoid the possible stress. Besides, I like sites - just need to keep the costs sensible :)

Anyway, keep the ideas coming (y)

Learning quite a bit from this thread :)
 
I reckon the CLs and CSs without electricity are £4 to £5 cheaper. The ones in popular holiday spots obviously tend to be pricier but try to think of somewhere where people are less likely to take children for a holiday and you might get a better deal. I also suspect that being within an easy weekend trip distance of London tends to push up prices.
 
We belong to both big clubs and only use the CS & CL sites, the Clubsites are way too expensive and if I need to get washing done it’s cheaper to go to a laundrette!

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Also if there is a building project going on or anything else that needs mobile labour can have an affect on the prices.
 
Wissel said:
Some really useful info here guys - thanks :)

Our van has been (re)designed from the ground up to be as self sufficient as possible for a small van, so we only need basic water filling/emptying/elsan point/rubbish disposal.

I wasn't going to bother with any memberships as we only need a site every 4 days or once a week if careful, but the world has changed with Covid and I think Wild Camping "could" be a bit tricky/not worth the hassle over the next few years. I think I'll likely join both clubs and download all the apps for a year, then see what we use a lot before renewing next year?

Jim mentioned in another thread the vanlife movement. I follow a few of these guys and because of Covid, quite a few have taken to travelling together/staying in groups/small colonies. I totally get this as some have had threats along the lines of "we will burn your van while you sleep - get out of this area" so resorted to safety in numbers. But it doesn't take a genius to see what will happen once a few newspapers get involved.

I'd like to avoid the possible stress. Besides, I like sites - just need to keep the costs sensible :)

Anyway, keep the ideas coming (y)

Learning quite a bit from this thread :)
Click to expand...
I know this has been done to death, and things might change next year but not knowing your circumstances re work and stuff it's hard to advise but if you do computer stuff for your crust it would be way cheaper to go to France and live on Aires and work from there.
No need to go far from the tunnel so easy to get backwards and forwards, you don't need many free Aires to make up the fare.
 
chaser said:
I know this has been done to death, and things might change next year but not knowing your circumstances re work and stuff it's hard to advise but if you do computer stuff for your crust it would be way cheaper to go to France and live on Aires and work from there.
No need to go far from the tunnel so easy to get backwards and forwards, you don't need many free Aires to make up the fare.
Click to expand...
That’s a good point. It’s just a shame going forward the op would have to juggle the 3 months there and 3 months here until/if ever an agreement was sorted for a longer stay in the Eu after the 31st dec.
 
chaser said:
I know this has been done to death, and things might change next year but not knowing your circumstances re work and stuff it's hard to advise but if you do computer stuff for your crust it would be way cheaper to go to France and live on Aires and work from there.
No need to go far from the tunnel so easy to get backwards and forwards, you don't need many free Aires to make up the fare.
Click to expand...

Yep, I work online so can work anywhere I can get 4G (y)

But I have this:
DSC00129-2.jpg

He's a big unpapered Staffie, which "may" be an issue in France, Germany and Spain and I won't risk it. Kind of draws a line across Europe :(

Not an issue though - so much of the UK still to explore :)
 
Wissel ... Forgot to mention...
Lot's of Cl's & CS don't ask for membership details... Just a thought...

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Wissel said:
Yep, I work online so can work anywhere I can get 4G (y)

But I have this:
View attachment 398259
He's a big unpapered Staffie, which "may" be an issue in France, Germany and Spain and I won't risk it. Kind of draws a line across Europe :(

Not an issue though - so much of the UK still to explore :)
Click to expand...

Anyone know how many CL's accept pets?
 
Nasher said:
Anyone know how many CL's accept pets?
Click to expand...
The C&MC app is very good and you can set the search criteria. For example, I just chose Staffordshire in a 50 mile radius, CL only, pet friendly, MH friendly and basic facilities and came up with 181 sites. The first one listed was £12.
 
Riverbankannie said:
The C&MC app is very good and you can set the search criteria. For example, I just chose Staffordshire in a 50 mile radius, CL only, pet friendly, MH friendly and basic facilities and came up with 181 sites. The first one listed was £12.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the tip. 😀 I've just installed the app and it looks good. 😀
 
Riverbankannie said:
The C&MC app is very good and you can set the search criteria. For example, I just chose Staffordshire in a 50 mile radius, CL only, pet friendly, MH friendly and basic facilities and came up with 181 sites. The first one listed was £12.
Click to expand...

That sounded good so just joined.

Downloaded app, added criteria and quite a good selection without breaking the bank.

Thank you :)
 
We have a dog and have found that the vast majority of Caravan and Motorhome CLs do allow dogs.

I remember the good old days, when you could get a site in Cornwall for £4 a night. :rolleyes:

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Easyliving said:
The C&CC cancelled them all up to the end of July, they are on again from 1st August.
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I have a booking for 6 July, they are allowed to take bookings from 4 July onwards. Subject to the government allowing it
 
The Ex-Gasman said:
I have a booking for 6 July, they are allowed to take bookings from 4 July onwards. Subject to the government allowing it
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Campsites (CS anyway) are taking bookings from 4th July. We usually go by the Out and About app when it comes to THSs, showing everything cancelled up to the end of July.

Paul
 
Wissel
Another way is to buy a seasonal pitch, you can stay up to 28 days, have to leave for 2, then come back, if you're not looking for electric they can work out very cheap, mine average out £4 a night
Just a thought as it is going to be a bit unwelcoming out on the road for the next six months I reckon
 
Nikki said:
Wissel
Another way is to buy a seasonal pitch, you can stay up to 28 days, have to leave for 2, then come back, if you're not looking for electric they can work out very cheap, mine average out £4 a night
Just a thought as it is going to be a bit unwelcoming out on the road for the next six months I reckon
Click to expand...
Thanks for that (y)

These seasonal pitches, are they through the clubs or just a case of calling around?

And are they generally available all year? Any recommendations? (PM if easier)

Cheers :)
 
Nikki said:
Wissel
Another way is to buy a seasonal pitch, you can stay up to 28 days, have to leave for 2, then come back, if you're not looking for electric they can work out very cheap, mine average out £4 a night
Just a thought as it is going to be a bit unwelcoming out on the road for the next six months I reckon
Click to expand...

The potential difficulties in wild camping for the new few months are a bit of a worry. The hostility of rural folks to van dwellers is something that might take a while to subside, and in fact could be reignited by even a modest second wave of coronavirus.
Wild camping is, in an official sense, currently banned- at least for city residents driving into rural areas to overnight in vehicles. Full time van dwellers have in many cases come to agreements with local police and been left alone for prolonged periods, but newbies taking to the road full time in July and August will not be looked on so favourably (unless perhaps they tell fibs about being long term nomads etc?)
I'm not sure what the expected date is for the restriction on overnight stays in vehicles to be lifted, but it may not happen by the time I hit the road in August, so for at least a few months I will have to count on being limited to CLs and CSs etc.
But that also seems uncertain. As things stand, some campsites are opening in early July, and probably more in August. However, if there is a second wave of CV19 (for example in mid September, when the kids have been back in school for a couple of weeks), my worry is that all the campsites might close again.
I'm now about 6 weeks away from buying a van to live in full time in, and I've recently started to wonder if I would be safer keeping my current accommodation available until say November, even if I'm not using it, as a fall back in case of a second wave.

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