caravan club - all change !

[roadwarrior]

Yes, on the beach

im assuming unofficially, cant see the BSM there, but then again, 9am in the morning would provide the safest place in the world to learn - and also offering more advanced lessons in 4 wheel slides and skid control
and then maybe time trials rocking the car out in the softer sand as the tide comes - i seem to recall there used to be an example of a failure down the far end

 

[Wack]

Just booked in at York rowntree, I asked the warden how the deposit system was going, they had 3 no shows over the weekend, 2, 3 & 5 nights, all booked before the deposits came in, everyone who's paid after they had to put a deposit down has turned up

 

[roadwarrior]

Just booked in at York rowntree, I asked the warden how the deposit system was going, they had 3 no shows over the weekend, 2, 3 & 5 nights, all booked before the deposits came in, everyone who's paid after they had to put a deposit down has turned up

cant blame them - just sad its necessary

 

[Kups]

My partner and I are newbies to motoerhome living and can totally relate it's way to expensive to be on any site in this country at anytime of year they need to visit sites in Europe and see just why we all go abroad

Ah yes but to enjoy those lower prices you have to pay to get to the EU and all the diesel to drive there. Then there's road tolls....... etc

 

[roadwarrior]

Ah yes but to enjoy those lower prices you have to pay to get to the EU and all the diesel to drive there. Then there's road tolls....... etc

its a way of life, and if you have not done it you just wont know, this of course is a huge subject - but if you pay 50k for a van and keep it in the uk im not sure its worth the outlay frankly , not to mention the fact you can drive your home to the south of france or germany or italy in 4 days and no rain in 30c weather. diesel is almost academic and is only a small part of the cost a holiday - a family of 4 will pay 2000 quid for a dodgy hotel - no comparison frankly - and i never go on tolls - ever. and miss all the beautiful villages ?

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[TinaLes]

To clarify - brean sands are the SANDS there, clue is in the name but it doesnt surprise me that someone has used the name, i have been going to brean sands since i was a teenager (granted not much in the last 40 years but it seems much the same now) and it grew up as a cheap place for a holiday as it was just tents and static caravans back then - there is even still a Pontins there i believe !
Motorhomes had not been invented and folk just wanted a couple of pubs and beach, and a fish and chip shop, a kind of poor mans Blackpool then with a very long beach which you can drive on even now. When i was there a couple of months ago the beach had probably 200 cars and probably 20 motorhomes and was very busy.
Its fine that you think its dire, it serves as a place for poorer folk to go there ( and others to buy their latest motohome from ) and keeps the riff raff away from Miggs, who states he is a virgin so im sure you will have many more dire places to discover

The irony about Brean sands ( the place) is that it has a 3 mile beach which you can drive onto and its a secret thing known only to the locals and people who found it. i dont know of many beaches you can drive a motorhome or car onto for 5 quid for the day.

Looks like its gone up from £5 per day for a MH to park on beach nowadays, just found recent review below, it may make more sense to stay on a campsite if that's the new charge.
LES
Google Review:

a month ago

Used to be amazing to drive onto and run the dogs in safety. Now charges for my vehicle ( sprinter with camper and kennels ) is £16/day. Life guard station is new and sadly for us has added to the amount of people on the beach which has reduced the appeal for us. Obviously a lot safer and better for families to enjoy. Hopefully the prices will alter for winter

 

[Kups]

its a way of life, and if you have not done it you just wont know, this of course is a huge subject - but if you pay 50k for a van and keep it in the uk im not sure its worth the outlay frankly , not to mention the fact you can drive your home to the south of france or germany or italy in 4 days and no rain in 30c weather. diesel is almost academic and is only a small part of the cost a holiday - a family of 4 will pay 2000 quid for a dodgy hotel - no comparison frankly - and i never go on tolls - ever. and miss all the beautiful villages ?

Agree entirely. The majority of our overnights are in the EU. I was just pointing out that there's an upfront cost to enjoying overseas motorhoming. Just booking our tunnel crossing in December, a bit eye watering even with our Tesco points deduction.

 

[Go_buddy_go_]

Surely you shouldn’t worry about cost all of the time? Sometimes things are expensive sometimes not .. exactly the same with purchasing anything it’s not about the £’s It’s about your enjoyment and using it how you want to use it. One size doesn’t fit all ….that’s life and we all have a choice. I think we all get fixated about prices and yes some use it a bragging rights, I love a bargain as much as the next one but will pay if it’s something I want. This is my opinion and I know many will probably disagree

 

[LesW]

Ah yes but to enjoy those lower prices you have to pay to get to the EU and all the diesel to drive there. Then there's road tolls....... etc

I would guess that if you were to tour the UK for, say a couple of months (as if ) as we do abroad, the costs might even out.

Plus the added bonus of not having to constantly book ahead, the lack of traffic, makes for much more relaxed and enjoyable travels.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

And your proof of this is?

Their own published data on cancellations a week before the arrival date plus a load of other data on cancellations

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[MikenPauline]

Ah yes but to enjoy those lower prices you have to pay to get to the EU and all the diesel to drive there. Then there's road tolls....... etc

That’s true. However, it does beg the question why sites in EU are so much cheaper with so many more facilities than sites in UK. A French family can access better sites for less than a British family can in the UK

 

[Langtoftlad]

That’s true. However, it does beg the question why sites in EU are so much cheaper with so many more facilities than sites in UK. A French family can access better sites for less than a British family can in the UK

What are land prices like in France/Spain/Portugal?

 

[Janine]

its a way of life, and if you have not done it you just wont know, this of course is a huge subject - but if you pay 50k for a van and keep it in the uk im not sure its worth the outlay frankly , not to mention the fact you can drive your home to the south of france or germany or italy in 4 days and no rain in 30c weather. diesel is almost academic and is only a small part of the cost a holiday - a family of 4 will pay 2000 quid for a dodgy hotel - no comparison frankly - and i never go on tolls - ever. and miss all the beautiful villages ?

There are quite a few people on the forum who find it difficult to accept that not everyone wants to take their motorhomes abroad.

I have had more than 75 nights away so far this year in the UK, mostly on Club sites and many on MHF rallies. As a solo traveller, I enjoy the security of sites or being surrounded by Funsters. The thought of going abroad and sleeping in glorified carparks is not my idea of fun.

All I ask is that the Club sites and their websites are fit for purpose - which seems to be what prompted this, and similar, threads in the first place.

 

[angusboy]

I walk dog there 3 times a week only live down the road great place

 

[angusboy]

brean sands that is

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[Christy]

It seems the cravan club has had a major shakeup and not for the better.

i have just used the new booking form on Caravan Club - with great difficulty as well.
Not only has it thrown away my outfit details and forgotton who i am ect. They now want a 25% deposit or all of it at the time of booking. This of course flies in the face of the gentleman club that they used to be where they trust you to turn up and treat you like grown ups. NO MORE it seems.
This has now placed them equal footing with " the friendly club " which of course isnt . Having just returned from south of france where we stayed at a 4 star site with 3 pools, a club, and a lake for 16 euros im more than pissed off to be told to pay 28.20 at Brean sands in October.
The - by comparison, fleecing folk for every penny for any reason make me sick of uk sites and the mentality of charging for people children and dogs to push up the profits - if europe can do a good site for 15 quid - why does a site in the uk think 30-40 quid is ok ?? no wonder we all bugger off abroad..

What's wrong with paying a deposit? You will have to pay at some time anyway. Makes good business sense to me. I can only think that those who do not want to pay a deposit are those who are not sure if they are going to turn up or not.

 

[Neil S]

Moving away from the argument about deposits …… I tried to do some booking on new website. First of all you seem to have to put in arrival date, but that is not kept through to the site selection stage so no point to it.
I tried to book Cheltenham race course and fair enough, on the calender, some dates marked as closed, so I started choosing random other dates all the way through to August 2023, no dates I selected even if one night, were available - but that does not show on the calendar. I’m not sure that site would be fully booked all next year anyway.
So then I tried another site - Cirencester. Managed to get a night selected and moved on to completing the booking. Had to put in each person’s name AND date of birth, already stated as an adult, I don’t see why they need DOB. Anyway decided to proceed so attemped to add husband’s DOB. Unfortunately you are not allowed to get the keyboard and type it in, you have to use the displayed calendar which shows current month, October 2022 and goes backwards one month at a time ! After skipping back a few months, I gave up and left his date of birth as somewhere in 2020 . Tried to proceed but it wouldn’t as age of person did not meet requirements of being an adult
How am I supposed to skip back to 1946 without getting RSI??
Have given up!

I think the racecourse sites with the C&MC are now available to book for 2023 , I have just booked Exeter Racecourse for the 11th of April next year this morning

 

[LesW]

sleeping in glorified carparks

If you ever go abroad, you will see many are far from being like this.
We have stayed on some free/very cheap aires, that put some UK CL/CS's to shame.

 

[The Wino]

If you ever go abroad, you will see many are far from being like this.
We have stayed on some free/very cheap aires, that put some UK CL/CS's to shame.

I don't mind the ones like car parks either if they're where I want them to be and are a reasonable cost. In fact some of those have been the places I've enjoyed most. What I don't get are the sites where people lie on a lounger all day having spent ages fencing off their little bit with windbreaks etc may as well stay on the lawn at home.

 

[charliesgrandad]

I have no problem with the deposit system as I don't use main sites very much but stick to CL's but their website now is a nightmare, especially if you don't have a really fast wifi connection

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[roadwarrior]

one of the glorified carparks we go to, eee its rough - others have free ehu and lakes and the beach - but i do think its the driving that puts people off - which suits me of course - if im heading to somwhere in particular I will do 250 miles a day - which is nothing really, without the rigmarole of conventional campsites you just make the bed and your gone - on the road at 8am or so, stop for brekky about 10am and off you go again - laybye's are a differant world compared to grotty uk layebys - anyway jog on for cups of coffee every couple of hours and stop about 3pm ands see what aires are local - or use "all the aires" book and pick one - its a tough life.
But i do accept some dont want to go abroad - which is fine - i picked up a 2017 autotrail couple of years ago with 1500 miles on the clock - wasnt even run in ! - we put 2000 miles on in 3 weeks in Sept..

New item by john chapman

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[roadwarrior]

its fair to say the new booking system at the caravan club is rubbish

 

[roadwarrior]

brean sands that is

marvelous !

 

[roadwarrior]

i fully accept uk and eu sites are not a level playing field - space and a differant way of life make a big differance but there is no getting away from the fact for whatever reasons of economy that eu sites both aires and what we shall call normal campsites are leagues apart and once seen cannon be unseen

 

[DuxDeluxe]

I have no problem with the deposit system as I don't use main sites very much but stick to CL's but their website now is a nightmare, especially if you don't have a really fast wifi connection

its fair to say the new booking system at the caravan club is rubbish

Why is it so hard to search for sites without knowing exactly which site to search for. There is a map search but it disappears when I actually log in. It is horrible.

C&CC next as I simply gave up.

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[ramsthom]

I booked a site for 4 nights and paid the usual deposit and selected to pay the balance on arrival. Checked the booking today and it says the balance is due 5th July 2025.

 

[roadwarrior]

I booked a site for 4 nights and paid the usual deposit and selected to pay the balance on arrival. Checked the booking today and it says the balance is due 5th July 2025.

BARGAIN ! lets all go !

 

[roadwarrior]

As a retired pc engineer I am pretty sure this a very buggy piece of software that has been written for the Caravan Club that was simple not ready to go live but was pushed out as a result of lost revenue due to no shows. The way software houses fuction is to push it out full of bugs and wait for the howls of protest and then charge for fixing/maintaining it.
Many moons ago when i had a company i commissioned an accounts package to be written which "lost" a penny on each transaction, upon complaining after a few months when after much headscratching we found it - it was explained away as collateral damage and therefore " reasonable"

 

[hja]

A post on the CAMC forum suggests that they are going to roll out electricity metering over the next couple of years. If so, raises interesting questions like will there be a base amount included in pitch fee, and by how much will prices drop if electricity is taken out of cost!!

 

[robnchris]

One thing for sure it will stop people abusing it's use by having an electric heater in in the awning.

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