Why don't we see families at CC sites?
We are family with 6 year old twins, new to CC. We have now visited 3 CC sites with playgrounds that are listed as family friendly but have only seen one or two other children on the sties. Why is this? We joined the club hoping that we can meet other families
on sites with young children for ours to play with but this has not been the case. The playgrounds are lovely but deserted often lonely places. The sites faciliites are great, clean and beautifully kept. The population on the sites all seem to be couples without
children. I have read a lof of the discusions on here and seen that some CC members see no children as a plus (when revewiing sites), I have also seen others saying the membership is not high % of families. I also know the last site we were at was more expensitve
than a site near by (that has won awards) and has more familiy friendly facilities- so price mgiht be a factor. Why is CC more expensive than AA5* sites with things like games rooms?
I will just add for the possible negative responses, we follow the CC rules, my children are well behaved and we play ball games in the desginated area.
Does the club want to encourage the next generation of caravaners and the additonal income they generate. Or is the % membership so bias towards the couple or single caravaner without children that it creates an atomosphere that does not make families feel
comfortable?
Shall we continue to be members in the hopes of meeting other families with young children or carry on using the comercial sites, that we know are popular with families? Why isn't there a discussion group for families, to swap sites and tips- there are for
solo caravaners?
Any thoughts??
Comments
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Completely agree Brue. Children are the future of the club and our pension payers so we need them. As with all things in life it's all about balance ?.
Humphrey Campers ours have flown the nest and we're now grandparents, can't share our 'van with them as they live in NZ . We didn't have the 'van when we had ours. I love to see children on site, sadly the children get tarred with a broad brush when really it is their parents who are at the root of problems on site a little like dogs . Assumptions made by others not that children are dogs
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I think it depends when you visit the site, we saw plenty of children on site over a recent bank holiday weekend (and could hear them in the play area till quite late
)When our children were younger everything seemed to take a lot more planning around school holidays and booking well in advance was needed (and not always possible because of my job). Now there is just two of us to consider and we have a motorhome we find
it easier to scoot off more often, This if is it is replicated with other people would result in more adult only nights on a CC site than family nights.I do wonder though why you stayed on a CC site "knowing" that there was a "better" and cheaper non CC site nearby?
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Children are the caravanners of tomorrow. Why should they not enjoy caravanning holidays with their parents.
There are many families with children stay on CC sites during the long School holidays.
The C&CC sites tend to cater more for families though.
K
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Just wait for the school holidays Humphrey, you will find them in abundance. When our grandchildren were younger we didn't allow them to go to the park alone, so therefore they didn't spend that much time at the play area because we couldn't be there too
much. This could be part of the problem, often older children there. Also depends on the site that you pick, some have many more children on site than others. I would also wonder why you didn't stay on the cheaper site with more family facilities.0 -
I think it simply depends on when and where you go. We dont have young children and can only take our grandson with us when he is in the UK (not very often). The CC site we were on at the recent half term had plenty of children (to the extent some regarded
the play facilities as theirs to the exclusion of other children.....) as did the C & CC site last week (albeit the play facilities were poor).0 -
I think in the school holidays and bank holiday weekends you would see a lot more kids on sites, perhaps you have gone out of season. Also depends on the site location, a site near a tourist attraction would no dooubt have more kids than say one in the
middle of nowhere.0 -
We have just returned from France, almost every site we stayed on had a range of equipment to suit all ages from 1 to 80. This ranged from swings etc for the young ones, to football/basketball courts for those who were older. Almost every site had outdoor
table tennis tables for every age. Contrast this with what the CC provides - a few swings if you are lucky!0 -
Good discussions...
We have gone to CC sites on weekends, including bank holiday ones. We have seen other families but massively in the miniority compared to other comercial sites. Reason we still satyed at CC site and not the cheaper one is we have paid our memberhsip of CC
and want to explore as many sites as possble, as we are new to caravaning (seasoned campers) we also have comercial sites booked. It just got us thinking as we have come home from our 3rd CC site and it was New Forrest, great family faciliites but only saw
2 other kids there. Agree that some parents need to manage kids behaviour (I have seen some shocking behaviour in my time camping) however, wouldn't you still see families but there would be more complaints about them?I think in summer holidays there will be a lot more kids around generally- but then what % of the site would they make up? I wonder what % of members have kids? from just reading these dicussions I would say in minority rather than majority... which is fine.
Just bit sad that such wonderful playgrounds go often unused....and a diverse mix of caravaners adds to the atmopshere on a site.(my personal view).0 -
As someone who has only used club sites at weekends and school holidays only I can't recall a time when I haven't seen families on site, sometimes in summer it appears to be only families.
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Good discussions...
We have gone to CC sites on weekends, including bank holiday ones. We have seen other families but massively in the miniority compared to other comercial sites. Reason we still satyed at CC site and not the cheaper one is we have paid our memberhsip of CC
and want to explore as many sites as possble, as we are new to caravaning (seasoned campers) we also have comercial sites booked. It just got us thinking as we have come home from our 3rd CC site and it was New Forrest, great family faciliites but only saw
2 other kids there. Agree that some parents need to manage kids behaviour (I have seen some shocking behaviour in my time camping) however, wouldn't you still see families but there would be more complaints about them?I think in summer holidays there will be a lot more kids around generally- but then what % of the site would they make up? I wonder what % of members have kids? from just reading these dicussions I would say in minority rather than majority... which is fine.
Just bit sad that such wonderful playgrounds go often unused....and a diverse mix of caravaners adds to the atmopshere on a site.(my personal view).From this reply now know it is definitely the time of year, last year I accidentally ran our holiday into the beginning of the school summer holidays. We were stopping at the New Forest site for two weeks. At first very few children around, even at the weekend
and then suddenly the site was full of kids, noticed it even more as our pitch was near the playground. We only go away in the school holidays if we are taking the grandchildren, not because we don't like children but we do like it a little quieter. Can't
understand people who book school holidays and then moan about the noise/kids/busy etc. Only one small moan I have about children on site is that the toilet blocks get dirty quicker, think it's because kids are always in a hurry and they don't always think.0 -
If you look under UK Holidays at the top of the page you'll see "family holidays listed." In this section the CC suggests the most popular sites for familes including Hillhead and Ferry Meadows. As an example these are two completely different sites. Hillhead has lots of activities on site, swimming pool, good play areas, childrens entertainment etc. Ferry Meadows has access to a huge country park next door where there are also lots of activities for families. Much depends on what you like doing.
For me, visiting Hillhead at most times of the year the site is very popular for families in the school holiidays....the pile of bikes outside the play area is an obvious sign and the pool has a childrens section which is lovely. Out of season I quite often see a few parents and grandparents with pre-school children.
Visiting Ferry Meadows last year it was packed with all ages and most were heading for the park.
That's just two places to consider. The other idea would be to join a rally centre, especially one that has a children's section. In fact rally centres would be more than happy for parents to set up sections and encourage others to join. At the National this year there was lots for families to do, the play areas and climbing wall were awash with children. Just outside our van we had a nice group of children who set up games to play with each other. Thankfully there wasn't much vehicle movement and the grass areas were an ideal playground, so are many of the ordinary rally fields.
But I agree with the OP, it would be good to see more families.
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I think the families are there (outwith school attendance days) and we just do not notice the well behaved children.
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My reaction when I encounter children on site is to ponder why they aren't in school.
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My reaction when I encounter children on site is to ponder why they aren't in school.
Write your comments here...Probably it's because it's another of them there Teachers in-service day holidays.
--- Or perhaps there's a real reason they are not in school. Like real holidays. 
K
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When our boys were younger and caravanned with us, we tended not to go away just for a weekend, we waited until the school holidays so we could have a longer break.
We went to to Stamford CC a couple of weeks ago, and it was much quieter than normal, not many families on site or in the woods. It is normally very popular with families, as there is a family cycle route and a couple of good play areas in
the woods.0 -
Humphrey campers. A good discussion point. I agree with a lot of what you say. Some sites lend themeselves to families more than others. We started off our CC days going to centre rallies at weekends. Children get to meet other children and families
form new friendships. At the same time, holidays on popular family friendly CC sites are planned.0 -
My reaction when I encounter children on site is to ponder why they aren't in school.
Write your comments here...we only take our kids caravaning after school on weekends, or inset days or holidays. Most schools have 8_10 inset or teacher training days each year, usually Friday's or Monday's....it's likely the other children you see in term
time are on inset days... not taken out of school.0 -
Humphrey campers. A good discussion point. I agree with a lot of what you say. Some sites lend themeselves to families more than others. We started off our CC days going to centre rallies at weekends. Children get to meet other children and families
form new friendships. At the same time, holidays on popular family friendly CC sites are planned.Write your comments here...we will keep trying some CC sites in school holidays. We'dlike to try rallying too but need to find one near us... then my worry is turning up and being only family with kids in a field with no playground... but I guess we need
to try and not worry... have a go!0 -
Club together have a centre rallies section. I havent looked at that myself but maybe worth a look. At least you may be able to find your nearest centre there. Once you find what centres are near you, contact the chairman/rally sec and ask how many young
families attend rallies. If the answere is "not many", then try another centre. You are not tied down to one centres rallies.Back to sites, I find that school holiday times are when a lot of childrens playgrounds come to life. When schools start to break up, the clientel on sites seems to change and sites become more lively
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When we had three children the cost was off putting and many commercial sites were cheaper at times. As aq member of both clubs I have to say that the C&CC seems to attract more families but then again they do a family deal which gives a useful saving and
makes them competitive. It is something this club should look at if it is serious in attracting families.Having said that in peak season most full facility commercial sites seem to be far more exensive and they have lots more for you to spend your money on so you do have to factor in these points.
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When we had three children the cost was off putting and many commercial sites were cheaper at times. As aq member of both clubs I have to say that the C&CC seems to attract more families but then again they do a family deal which gives a useful saving and
makes them competitive. It is something this club should look at if it is serious in attracting families.Having said that in peak season most full facility commercial sites seem to be far more exensive and they have lots more for you to spend your money on so you do have to factor in these points.
In our first year of caravan ownership, a family of 3, the youngest being a child of 9, we have found the following:
Lowest cost night fully serviced pitch with leisure facilities = £18 on a commercial site.
Fully serviced pitch night in school summer holidays = £30 on a commercial site with leisure facilities.
Grass pitch with electric night in school summer holidays = £33 on CC site.
Fully serviced CC pitch night in school summer holidays = £40
Serviced pitch night in school holidays = £23 on a commercial site near Alton Towers.
Fully serviced pitch night with leisure facilities at Christmas = £23 on a commercial site.
Easter school holidays on grass pitch with electric on commercial site with facilities and on the beach - £28 per night
Easter school holidays on HS pitch on CC site no facilities - £33.40 per night
The CC are the highest price at every site, with less facilities for familes. Facilities include, swimming pool, liesure complex, bars, and entertainment, not all of which we partook.
I tend to find factual information assists people to assess options available.
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I am going to be blunt.
twenty years ago when my daughter was young we tried both clubs and concluded that more families used ccc sites and that cc attracted an older less tolerant membership. Now tat my daughter is a grown woman we have no interest in hearing children playing
so use cc sites as personally I do not believe anything has altered in twenty years so make of that what you will.0 -
You are probably right spk, I see far more families on C & CC sites, no doubt the much bigger mixture of tents and vans is the reason. There is often more grassy green space for children to use as play areas. I'm happy seeing families, I will really feel
old if I start getting grumpy about children playing!
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