What are you paying to use a 5-van sites now?

[Stewen]

I don't mind paying £12.50 at your site Brian as its so nice and you & Helen are lovely hosts.
Generally I don't like paying more than £10 as we don't really need any facilities, just a field will do us.

We are the same. When on longer trips 2-3 weeks in the uk, if we need a proper shower, laundry & battery top up we will go to a full service site for a night.

 

[Badknee]

What I don’t understand is a CL/CS advertising hardstanding/ehu/toilets/showers. That’s a campsite surely.
I want a place to park, water and waste nowt else and don’t want to pay more that a tenner or so. We’re in Spain at the moment and have had to pay exactly zero €.

 

[Spriddler]

I don't understand all the hand-wringing over differences of a couple of quid. Twelve quid only buys me just over a gallon of diesel, just less than a packet of fags or two small glasses of St Emilion.
The last thing in my mind when I bought a motorhome was to be able to scrimp on cheap travelling.

 

[Pausim]

What I don’t understand is a CL/CS advertising hardstanding/ehu/toilets/showers. That’s a campsite surely.
I want a place to park, water and waste nowt else and don’t want to pay more that a tenner or so. We’re in Spain at the moment and have had to pay exactly zero €.

A CL/CS is a campsite that is limited to 5 caravans and motorhomes, plus a few tents. It may or may not have hardstandings/ehu/toilets/showers. It is up to the site owner to decide what facilities they want to provide. The big difference is that a CL/CS does not need full planning permission but is authorised through a club that certifies it complies with minimum standards.

 

[pacman]

Stayed at an aire in D&G last night. EHU, Elsan, Grey Waste drive over and water - for £10. Heaven, but sure how they do it.

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[L' Hobo]

What I don’t understand is a CL/CS advertising hardstanding/ehu/toilets/showers. That’s a campsite surely.
I want a place to park, water and waste nowt else and don’t want to pay more that a tenner or so. We’re in Spain at the moment and have had to pay exactly zero €.

but someone has to eventually, Local Authorities perhaps or the EU, otherwise it's not a sustainable business concept, is it?

I would be happy to pay £12.50 on Quackers but, only because of the site and the wonderful couple that own it, but it must be said, being a single OAP, I can stay on some CCC sites (off season) with all facilities, for not much extra a night.
A couple or family, that would be a different story.

 

[JB30]

Just come back from a UK trip and paid between £15 and £18 including electricity. One or two were going to raise prices from 01 October due to the energy price increases.

 

[Badknee]

A CL/CS is a campsite that is limited to 5 caravans and motorhomes, plus a few tents. It may or may not have hardstandings/ehu/toilets/showers. It is up to the site owner to decide what facilities they want to provide. The big difference is that a CL/CS does not need full planning permission but is authorised through a club that certifies it complies with minimum standards.

Ok that’s fine, I’ll stick with a field with water and waste. Thanks for correcting me.

 

[mikeg40]

This is always a difficult question as I, the potential visitor, want the charge to be as low as possible and you the owner probably (and understandably) want the opposite. So these are my thoughts.
You have a beautiful looking stopover with basic facilities ie black and grey waste, fresh water tap. No EHU, which suits us, and you don't have the additional worry of how you charge for it.
So my wife and I are your potential market!
CAMpRA suggest £10/night based on a survey of 9000 members in 2020.
One thing in your favour is a pub nearby, and looking at your reviews on Search4Sites, your visitors love it, so you are doing a good job! One review on Park4Night, 4 out of 5.
I don't know what your occupancy rate is like and I don't know if you have black waste going into the public sewer or a septic tank. If the latter, where I live in Scotland, it probably costs £2 to £3 per cassette empty.
I think if you increase more than a nominal amount you will find visitor numbers drop off. If you go as high as £15/night we wouldn't come .......... sorry.

I agree with this as I also feel that £15 is about top price for basic site. I tend to save my service site stops up and will pay up to about £25 for EHU and a decent shower/wash up but tend to off grid in between. for me, situation is also important, especially what's round about, within walking distance/public transport

 

[James-Alex]

15 to 20 quid depending on site. some have meter elec and some have it included

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[Riverbankannie]

I have just returned from a hospital visit, £3.50 for 2 hours (I was there 20 mins).
Not much in the way of upkeep, probably no parking attendant as only a small place, no facilities provided and a tight squeeze to open the car door and get out. The free aires in EU tend to be a bit like this (but often with a bit more space I agree but then there is a lot more space to go around over there). They don’t cost much to maintain and no human interaction required. No one has to check how many arrive, you just pile in.

You could say a CL/CS is just a field but in comparison the upkeep is immense especially with the size of field that Quackers has. I am sure his mower maintenance and fuel costs have grown alarmingly. Then there is the time and effort required to operate a booking system as only 5 units (mad) allowed - daily time consuming, purchase and operate security to prevent the problems we have in this country with unauthorised access and fly tipping and probably a myriad of other things that go on that we know nothing about.

Location is a key point for us and for many others so I am happy to pay £10 - £15 for a space in a carpark in the centre of a town or in a forest or national park even without any water or waste dump, for example the harbour carpark at Appledore.

Likewise I think £12.50 - £15 is perfectly reasonable return for providing a CL like Woodside field.
Those free or very cheap stops hope to make some money out of you another way, go into town and buy stuff/visit restaurants, at the vineyard buy wine and so on. A CL owner doesn’t have this.

 

[JoJo Da MoHo]

As our season draws to close in a few weeks at Woodside Field, just wondering what you have been paying this year at the smaller 5-van sites if you visit them? We have tried to keep our price down but next year will have no choice but to increase our £12.50 per night. So, you only have a few weeks left at our current rate and we still have blackberries and hazelnuts to pick and plenty of leaves to kick in the woods.
Safe travels.

I don’t have a problem with people making a living. It’s the ones who want to make a killing I object to.

 

[bobandjanie]

We had a month in the UK this year, what they charge at some Cl / Cs sites varied anything from £25 the cheapest was £10 we used and never paid over £17 without electric .
But then we have been in the van since Easter and still in it until November having had lots of bookings for our apartment keeping our guests happy, just taken a booking for Christmas/ New Year return guests.

Can't grumble having been to Portugal Spain and France using free Aires and free parking we are here at the moment quite at night, clean toilets small cafe and for me free swimming pool and €1.50 for Janie.
Nice walk down to the town and very friendly, not good for over 7m with low backend it's very steep. Bob.

Castell de Relleu

Castell de Relleu · Carrer el Molí, 03578 Relleu, Alicante, Spain

★★★★★ · Castle

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[TerryL]

Unless you're a philanthropist in any business you have to at least cover your costs and make provision for future repair and replacements. To answer the OP's question costs are always going to be different for different sites no matter what services are or are not provided so it's impossible to generalise on what should or should not be charged. Hopefully most CL/CS type owners look more upon it as a hobby, albeit one that covers it's costs, so we must be prepared to cover those costs for them. And yes, increasing prices almost inevitably means reduction in turnover which in turn needs more increases - it's a vicious circle which rarely works the other way round unfortunately.

Don't get me wrong, I don't object to paying for facilities I need, but that is also why you'll rarely find me on a campsite. On our tour of Scotland last week prices were all over the place, not helped by more and more places turning m/hs away (NC500 has a lot to answer for). So that's why a reasonable area to park safely in with water and waste disposal is all I need most of the time. If I want to be in a specific location at a specific time I accept that I may have to pay more for it - but that's life!

Oh yes, one more irritating point I need to get off my chest and that is these (adjective deleted) folk who comment that you can afford to pay thousands of pounds for a nice motorhome but object to paying high prices to park. That is precisely why I bought a motorhome after getting fed up with the limitations of holidays in "fixed" accommodation and has nothing to do with affordability.

 

[Lenny HB]

I don't understand all the hand-wringing over differences of a couple of quid. Twelve quid only buys me just over a gallon of diesel, just less than a packet of fags or two small glasses of St Emilion.
The last thing in my mind when I bought a motorhome was to be able to scrimp on cheap travelling.

Depends how many nights you have away gets expensive if doing 120 - 150 nights a year.

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[ChrisL]

£18/night plus electricity @ 33p/unit in Dorset recently.

 

[Spriddler]

Depends how many nights you have away gets expensive if doing 120 - 150 nights a year.

That's true. My perception of acceptable pitch cost is skewed because due to my other hobbies I can only fit in at most about 30 nights a year in the m/h.
However, on further thought the £600 a year just for the tax and insurance equates to £20 a night ...........

 

[Justus3]

For a basic site ie waste and water we've tended to go THS and meet paying no more than £12 a night.
Much more and the site would need to be something worth paying for. A site with a pub down the road or a few shops wont do it for us. We can do that at home the whole point of being away is exploring and going off the beaten track. So transport and location are key for us.
Cl's we've used have been around the £15-20 but thats with EHU and hard standing some also had full facilitates. With locations with easy access to public transport.
Full sites max we have paid is £28 but that's a site that has every thing and to a high standard with owner who can't go enough for you.
with good links and out the way on a working farm. Which is both easy and not too long a drive so a great place for a weekend away from it all.
We are happy to pay for a site if it's worth it and just a quick buck. The amount some sites charge its clear they only want a certain part of the market with lifestyles to match.

 

[bexleyjohn]

I booked a CL a few weeks back at £20 a night - I thought a bit pricey as no WC or Shower but as it’s somewhere I wanted to visit I decided to bite the bullet for 2 nights. A couple of weeks ago they phoned to say that due to rising costs (mainly electricity) they are having to increase to £28 a night and did I want to continue with the booking. Rightly or wrongly I agreed as couldn’t be arsed to find somewhere else but I won’t be going there again. It’s dearer than many club sites with full facilities!

 

[Wh05apk]

I think this is a discussion with no real answers, If It was me, I wouldn't bother running a CL for £12.50pn, "IF" the site was full with 5 vans for 365 nights a year, then that would provide an income of £22,812pa, assuming maybe 50% occupancy over the year, then about £11k income, less maintenance, rates, insurance etc, not enough to make it worthwhile financially?

On the other side of the coin, I like Europe where I can stay on free/cheap Aires so £15-20 pn for a CL to me seems a lot.

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[Cat53]

£15 per night with EHU, water and waste provision

 

[jumar]

My word , if I were a UK resident I may be restricted on the number of nights I used in our motorhome... fortunately we don't live there and are therefore free to travel and enjoy the pleasure of sleeping in a comfortable bed at a comfortable rate, with outstanding views..
Without doubt Motorhoming in the UK comes at a price...not to mention the initial cost of buying your bed on wheels...,,,,

 

[Dart]

I suppose another consideration for the site owner is whether the land could make a better profit for less work if it was used for another purpose like renting out to a famer for grazing, horse stabling or even a secure dog excercise paddock (they seem to be growing in popularity). I don't know really but I imagine running a CS can be quite a tie and involve dealing with some awkward customers as well as the nicer ones.

 

[Puddleduck]

£20 per night on a huge serviced pitch - EHU, drinking water tap and grey waste connection on a level hard standing, internet connection and I think TV connection. No showers or loo but there is a very good elsan point and rubbish disposal. Just off the A1(M) but very little traffic noise.

Services grass pitches are cheaper.

It's cheaper in the winter but they meter the electric use then which is fine by me.

No extra charge for a second vehicle (sometimes I take the car so we have car and van on the pitch).

We use this site a lot because it is near my Mum and Martin's family.

 

[Tonks]

Last night’s CL was £15 incl EHU. The one I’m at tonight is £20, also incl EHU. I was at a full ccc site on Sunday for £15.10, so the difference isn’t cost these days. I’ve been away 9 nights. So less than half on sites. It’s still one of the least costs of my trips away. I topped up my fuel this morning for more than all three sites put together.

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[grumps147]

No private site, especially CL’s/CS, can run for nothing, and some things have to have money spent on them.

A few things I can think of to spend on includes a not your usual home 10” flymo, it has to be a substantial mower and that will require maintenance and an operator (usually the site owner). Most smaller sites don’t run late autumn/winter because of access issues. Even early autumn and spring the site owner will need some way to get Motorhomes out that have got themselves stuck. If big enough the lawn tractor might manage that, certainly a hefty four wheel drive vehicle will be needed. The grey stuff can usually go into hedgerows, but the black stuff in most cases goes into a septic or dedicated tank. That tank emptying is not cheap. People tend to like the option of hard standing, that costs a few Bob if you are going to consider upgrading your facilities. Many sites are surrounded with trees. without visitors, trees can be left to do their own thing, but with visitors you need to maintain them. Not cheap, and certainly not able to be done by most owners, and specialists cost money each year. Insurance will be needed, and that rarely goes down.

That is just a few things I could think of quickly that Quackers needs to sort before one penny is taken off punters.

Its ok wanting everything for nothing, but unless we are willing to pay we will lose sites like this, and we will only have ourselves to blame.

 

[MillyMoHo]

We’ve nearly always used 5-van sites, because we don’t like big crowded ones. Prices have gone up, especially given electricity costs. We consider £18-20 per night to be reasonable. We balk at paying £25. Some are now allowing 10 units of electricity per night, but don’t give a refund if you use below that.

 

[Pathfinder]

With mortgage rates increasing sharply, energy bills shooting up and land prices having tripled in the last 10 years I’m surprised many sites are still open. We own a site as a family, its 7 days a week with a minimum of 12 hrs a day. The over heads are crippling us, this has become the hardest I’ve known it. A lot the people that own small sites have other jobs to sustain the business. The difference between here and the rest of Europe is mainly down to land costs, the demand for green space is very high in the Uk.

 

[nigel dewbery]

As our season draws to close in a few weeks at Woodside Field, just wondering what you have been paying this year at the smaller 5-van sites if you visit them? We have tried to keep our price down but next year will have no choice but to increase our £12.50 per night. So, you only have a few weeks left at our current rate and we still have blackberries and hazelnuts to pick and plenty of leaves to kick in the woods.
Safe travels.

Just been away for a few weeks, first cl overlooked river cam in Cornwall, no euh but only £8 per night, second one at apple fore Devon with which, near sea but no views was just going up to £25, I got for £20 as I booked several months back, last few days on club site at dulverton exmoor at £31
Normally we go for cos with ehu and they are around £18 mark

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

With mortgage rates increasing sharply, energy bills shooting up and land prices having tripled in the last 10 years I’m surprised many sites are still open. We own a site as a family, its 7 days a week with a minimum of 12 hrs a day. The over heads are crippling us, this has become the hardest I’ve known it. A lot the people that own small sites have other jobs to sustain the business. The difference between here and the rest of Europe is mainly down to land costs, the demand for green space is very high in the Uk.

If you already have the land why does it cost more.? Just don't have electric on or use pay as you go cards.What other overheads have increased drastically?

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