UK Campsites are Filling Up (1 Viewer)

Ivory55

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We have been going all over Europe for twelve years now in three different vans, month at a time, never yet needed to hook up, if we stop somewhere where ehu is thrown in we have on an occasion used it but then sit there wondering what to do with it, no just can't be bothered finding the cable now. :unsure: :giggle:
I wasn’t knocking you, just saying everyone is different and have vans for different reasons, it could be just a means to an end and want the comfort of home and not mess around with solar etc.
 
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Bant

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It's time that ALL British sites stopped taking any bookings, they should work the same system as French Aires, first come first served!
Really ? Not ideal if you are driving the family around in the hope you can get a site and neither would you just turn up at a holiday accommodation etc in this or any country.

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Bant

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Have managed to book a CMC site every week (no gaps) from 12 April to end of summer. Got in early before the end of lockdown was announced. As the saying goes “if you snooze you lose”

Struggled to get places last summer due to demand and decided I wasn’t going to have the same problem this year. And the clubs no deposit and easy cancellation policy means I can change my plans if I need to.
Same with us, it seemed obvious it would be a struggle otherwise. Besides thats what most do if taking a different sort of holiday unless risking to get last minute deals/cancellations.
 
Feb 16, 2013
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I wasn’t knocking you, just saying everyone is different and have vans for different reasons, it could be just a means to an end and want the comfort of home and not mess around with solar etc.
Never thought you was mate, I know different people want different things, just saying what we do (y) :Smile:
 
Oct 25, 2016
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Lots but slow learner.
Not convinced re this hook up thing. If i wanted to go camping with a tilly lamp i would have bought a tent. Want a bit of comfort in our old age, EHU brings those comforts.
Having said that we WILL give no leccy a try this season.........sometime in the future.

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Feb 16, 2013
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Not convinced re this hook up thing. If i wanted to go camping with a tilly lamp i would have bought a tent. Want a bit of comfort in our old age, EHU brings those comforts.
Having said that we WILL give no leccy a try this season.........sometime in the future.
What do you think you are losing by not being on hookup,? and as Ivory55 commented , messing around with solar, there is nothing to mess with, fit and forget, even less to mess with than getting cables out and hooking up.
 
Oct 25, 2016
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Lots but slow learner.
What do you think you are losing by not being on hookup,? and as Ivory55 commented , messing around with solar, there is nothing to mess with, fit and forget, even less to mess with than getting cables out and hooking up.
I don't know until i've tried it. Got solar on ours.
I think for one or 2 nights it would be ok, thereafter as i say i don't know.
It's absolutely no issue getting a cable out to plug in............................unless it's pissing down :sun:

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Bant

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Anticipating the mad rush I booked CAMC sites, both club and CLs in January. It was easy then but the CL owners said the were filling up fast. We don’t even try in peak season school holiday time either.
A good Cornwall holiday in June beckons, try getting that now.
Some MHF rallies as well, I believe they will beat all record numbers too.
Phil. upmetank
Sensible and positive action. I think some aren’t able to book too far ahead but the majority can as with any holiday. ( it usually has to be booked early in the work place too or fixed early if self employed). Quite a few whinges in the CMHC about the booking but the silent majority consider this just want the customer wants. I think some forget this is a pandemic and that the booking of UK holidays needed early action.
 
May 7, 2016
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Some of my favourite UK sites don’t have EHUs. I have to make sure my battery lasts because for health reasons I run a CPAP all night. I now use an Efoy fuel cell but I got along just fine with a couple of portable solar panels for summer outings in previous years. It is no great hardship being away from an EHU and it opens up a lot of less formal and more relaxed camp sites.
 

Swifter

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Are the portable solar panels any good or best to go for a proper installation ? This thread is giving me the motivation to get some solar sorted out ASAP 👍🏻

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Mar 3, 2013
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I would urge everyone to try curb their hook up addiction. It is camping after all :D. I recall most every one of those evenings where our single battery gave out, and we giggled played cards using a torch hung from a locker as a lantern. Funny how you remember those fun times more than when you had lots of electricty, watch some long forgotten TV program

But with modern 12v kit and cheap solar, no one should run out of power for at least a couple of days, and so what if you do, the battery dies, not you. There is lots of fun to be had in the dark!
We rarely use hook up too, mainly because motocross tracks don’t have it. All joking aside we have never really needed it. We don’t have a television and don’t have microwave or coffee machines, just a cupboard full of cards and games and a laptop occasionally for the odd film. Always enough juice to recharge the phone or iPad too. We only use hook up on our ski trips to run a little fan heater if we needed some extra heat on top of the diesel heating. It has enabled us to book when we otherwise would have not got a booking. We sometimes end up on the grass with a load of tents but that’s fine. :giggle: We often get loads of campers looking at the vegan and I am pretty sure we have converted a few to motorhoming along the way.
 
May 7, 2016
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Are the portable solar panels any good or best to go for a proper installation ? This thread is giving me the motivation to get some solar sorted out ASAP 👍🏻
The advantage of a fixed installation is it is fit and forget. The portable panels involve more hassle but you can move them around to catch more sun and angle them to be more effective, particularly useful in spring and autumn when the sun gets lower in the sky. By mid winter a horizontal fixed panel is probably only 17% efficient, even when it is in direct sunlight, indeed it would work better fixed to the sunny side of the van instead of the roof.
 

Ivory55

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What do you think you are losing by not being on hookup,? and as Ivory55 commented , messing around with solar, there is nothing to mess with, fit and forget, even less to mess with than getting cables out and hooking up.
Sort of things I mean is the solar panel work during the day on sunshine. So if someone gets up in the morning and want to use the hair dryer then the battery might be to low for a inverter to work etc. Ehu is on demand, which is what people are used to at home and want the same when away, just normal life.

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Feb 22, 2008
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Each to their own but seems a bit odd to me , spend huge sums of hard earned cash on an ultra modern all bells and whistles home away from home and then deny yourself the use of facilities that you have paid for because it’s romantic, like not doing No 2s in the toilet or avoiding using an integrated electrical system ....... but then I am odd :imoutahere:
 
Jan 24, 2014
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Because we don’t have solar and run a single leisure battery with our current MH. To be honest we’ve never even attempted to use battery only when away and anywhere we have wanted to go has always had EHU anyway.
Personally I think you would find another battery and a solar would keep you off campsites. We have 300w solar and 2 x 90amph batteries with a Victorian MMPT monitor and a B2B charger and in over 25 years rarely used a campsite.
Definitely worth doing. If it’s free on an aire/Stellplatz we use it but not otherwise.
Carol

(Eddie can always fit it all )
 
Feb 16, 2013
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Each to their own but seems a bit odd to me , spend huge sums of hard earned cash on an ultra modern all bells and whistles home away from home and then deny yourself the use of facilities that you have paid for because it’s romantic, like not doing No 2s in the toilet or avoiding using an integrated electrical system ....... but then I am odd :imoutahere:
But what are you not getting?

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M-J

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Personally I think you would find another battery and a solar would keep you off campsites. We have 300w solar and 2 x 90amph batteries with a Victorian MMPT monitor and a B2B charger and in over 25 years rarely used a campsite.
Definitely worth doing. If it’s free on an aire/Stellplatz we use it but not otherwise.
Carol

(Eddie can always fit it all )

But we like campsites 🤷‍♂️
 
Mar 14, 2019
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Have managed to book a CMC site every week (no gaps) from 12 April to end of summer. Got in early before the end of lockdown was announced. As the saying goes “if you snooze you lose”

Struggled to get places last summer due to demand and decided I wasn’t going to have the same problem this year. And the clubs no deposit and easy cancellation policy means I can change my plans if I need to.
Having read this thread anyone would have thought there are only CMC and C&C sites but the commercial ones we found one midweek no bother at all

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Bant

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Having read this thread anyone would have thought there are only CMC and C&C sites but the commercial ones we found one midweek no bother at all
Absolutely ...being resourceful is far better than having cause to complain 😂
 
Oct 25, 2016
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Lots but slow learner.
Having read this thread anyone would have thought there are only CMC and C&C sites but the commercial ones we found one midweek no bother at all
And those are the ones we seek out and have indeed used. To date the ones we have been on have been spot on with all the facilities and amenities we want. Cost, that's subjective, some may say expensive, some it matters not.
 
Mar 6, 2020
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It won't come as a surprise I suspect but if anyone has plans to use any UK campsites this year they need to book soon. I only just managed to get a few days on the CMC site near Tintagel in early May and the rally I'm organising elsewhere in Devon during May for the Murvi Owners' Club is going to be smaller than I'd hoped because the site only had 10 pitches left and I wanted 15 as groups of up to 30 should be allowed to gather by then.

Good news for the sites after a bad twelve months of course but the message for MH users should be clear. :)

I guess it won't be the same everywhere, Cornwall is popular of course, but the touristy areas elsewhere must be similar.
Motorhomes usually have a toilet and a shower. Why do you need a camp site? I've had my MH for 5 years now, and it has never been near one!

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eddie

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My camper is probably as kitted out as any to be able to be off grid when it suits.

I choose always to have hook up if available.

I work still, and in my free time like to relax, tables and chairs out, BBQ and not have to pack it all away if we go out on our bikes, knowing that as I am on a campsite this is acceptable and the norm.

I also admit to arriving on a site Friday afternoon, and sitting outside playing Backgammon or Rummicub with a very large G&T without worrying about the Police driving by.

I prefer sites! 👍🏻

I don’t criticise others decision to furtively tuck themselves away down the end of leafy lanes, getting water from horse troughs and cemetery’s, getting glances from the odd dog Walker (are they called ‘Doggers’ nowadays) to see if the van is being used for camping or fly tipping.

I understand the buzz of excitement that spreads through the community on a Friday night when at closing time, the skip at Waitrose receives is weekly load of out of date foodstuffs, digging holes to crap in, Peeing in bushes, emptying cassette toilets in public loos, parking in McDonalds car park for free WiFi and nonchalantly walking into campsite, whistling looking straight ahead past the security staff to get your monthly shower.😀

I get it, I just don’t want to live that way

So when I read that a Funster is asked “Why do you want hook up” or “Why do you want to stay on a site” I wonder what does it matter to anyone else?

Some people are proud that they ’never’ stay on sites! Good for them, ’get this man a badge’ (don’t worry they’re free 😉)
 
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Jan 26, 2017
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Motorhomes usually have a toilet and a shower. Why do you need a camp site? I've had my MH for 5 years now, and it has never been near one!
Some people spend their holidays 'touring' England (not me), so campsites are pretty much a must, unless of course you like spending a month or two dossing in laybys etc.
 

busbuddy

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I would urge everyone to try curb their hook up addiction. It is camping after all :D.
Therein lies the problem
I try for no hook up when I can because I have enough power on board but when booking a lot of places they are ok to offer you a non hook up pitch until you state you are in a 7m van then they wont let you.....6m or under/tents only sort of thing......7m on hard standing
Others have hook up as part of every pitch
At the other end there are sites with no hook up and just water, toilet empty point which is not everyone's choice
The gap seems to be in the middle where you can have no hook up but there is still toilet/shower block on site
Manufacturers dont help, my van has a full gas hob/oven (2003), 2 years later they changed to 3 gas + 1 electric on the hob and the equivalent van now is 3 electric + 1 gas hobso no hook up can be tricky
The modern fridge/freezers and heating systems use much more gas than 20 years ago increasing the need for hook up
I think everyone should have the ability to enjoy their camping using whatever facilities they wish to but I believe the manufacturers are forcing the issue with the fitment of more 240v equipment...

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Feb 16, 2013
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Just to put another slant on this ,booked up thing,
I have just looked on this site and they appear to have vacancies all year.
Nothing to do with me but worth a look if you are stuck.
 

Janine

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Therein lies the problem
I try for no hook up when I can because I have enough power on board but when booking a lot of places they are ok to offer you a non hook up pitch until you state you are in a 7m van then they wont let you.....6m or under/tents only sort of thing......7m on hard standing
Others have hook up as part of every pitch
At the other end there are sites with no hook up and just water, toilet empty point which is not everyone's choice
The gap seems to be in the middle where you can have no hook up but there is still toilet/shower block on site
Manufacturers dont help, my van has a full gas hob/oven (2003), 2 years later they changed to 3 gas + 1 electric on the hob and the equivalent van now is 3 electric + 1 gas hobso no hook up can be tricky
The modern fridge/freezers and heating systems use much more gas than 20 years ago increasing the need for hook up
I think everyone should have the ability to enjoy their camping using whatever facilities they wish to but I believe the manufacturers are forcing the issue with the fitment of more 240v equipment...
The Camping and Caravanning Club usually offer the option of hookup or not.
 

spitfire

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It's the same in countries like France. Commercial sites reducing touring pitches and installing more sheds. While municipal sites (and aires) being signed over to Camping-car Parks as the local council/commune doesn't have the funds to invest.
Camping car Parks are really not too bad and clean and safe . Communes are finding finance difficult as in all countries so allows vans still to come to the village without the upkeep costs and is also nearer and cleaner . Not at all expensive compared to U.K. either . I have twice taken a group of 17 French motorhomes from our group to Scotland and the site fees were eye-watering and did ask for a discount and sometimes got one pitch free which helped . On the plus side they loved Scotland and especially north of Inverness ( we lived for 14 years near Thurso so wanted them to go that far north ) We took the president of the club with us both times , first 2011 and second 2017 and he preferred the first trip ( same itinerary) and when I asked why he said much quieter and relaxing first time . I wonder what he would make of it now with the volume of tourists now ?

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