Introducing Experience Freedom
Comments
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So in 10/15:years we no longer have tugs or MH but elect cars which we use to travel to our pod. Why would anyone want to pay a membership? That alone could cause the club to fold. Also no van/MH insurance/Red Pennant etc etc. Pods and Yerts as futureproofing, personally I dont think so.
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The club tried them last year. We saw them at Strathclyde Park but the take up was very low and they have gone this year. Presumably the club are looking carefully at the sites that can accomodate them but I hope not at the expense of pitches for the rest of us.
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See comment above - at Brighton they placed them on caravan pitches that were in a nice, sunny location.
This is a site that is regularly full, so would have benefitted from extra hardstandings on these pitches. Instead they went for little sheds (at great expense) that have rarely been occupied whenever we've been there.
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The club is 'delighted to announce ..........'.
Cannot say that I am delighted at the news. As a caravanner (and a trailer tenter before). I joined the caravan club. I wonder when the club will announce it's holiday homes, tennis courts and amusement arcades!!
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Good, Alan, you are coming up with positive ideas after all.
Maybe not the amusement arcades but certainly yes to holiday homes and tennis courts - volleyball, a football pitch and table tennis tables too. Add in drying rooms, a shop with basic groceries, fresh bread every morning, and so on and you are getting the right ideas. Well done!
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Again why do you want these things on club sites? Why do you think they are needed? Are club sites empty desolate places or are they very popular they way they are now?
If you want those things to go sites where they have them. I'm sure you'll have no trouble booking a pitch. Remember just to choose what you like best and let the rest of us do the same perhaps?
btw, I've never been to any site that didn't have a shop with basic groceries, and I've used drying rooms on club sites. Have you actually used a club site?
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i think there is a case for club sites to up their game a bit if the club (and some responses in the 'next gereation of campers' thread is anything to go by.
if its not us (the older folk) who are the 'apparent' future of the club, then it has to be the next, younger (and even younger) generation, who will only come if there is sufficient entertainment to keep them amused.
yes, sites are busy currently, but thats because its populated by us oldies (midweek and off peak) and by families (parents 40+) with a camping background.
what about in 20 years time? will all those kids bring their families?
perhaps, but perhaps not.....vanning (vans and sites) isn't getting any cheaper and sotes need to offer more for £20-30 a night than just a parking spot....and a toilet/shower for those that want this.
when we visit sites in france, there are always much more facilities (as named by Rocky and ET above) and the great thing is....they get used, by all the family.....dad and the boys playing football or basketball, mum and the girls in the pool or other activities.
the interaction of families as a group is one of the really heartening thigs aboutvisiting sites in france or spain, everyone doing things together.
i agree, the older, current crop on CT dont see a need for this type of site, as it doesnt interest them, but if the club wants to still be attracting customers in 20+ years time, something has to change, and perhaps (gradually) from now onwards would be a start....
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good post
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...but isnt the club trying to attract 'the next generation' of vanners, hence the need to change a few things within their offering?
yes, sites are full (in season and at weekends) now because the 40+ yr old dads still enjoy sitting out among rows of white vans and their kids have to come along, but what is going to interest these kids sufficiently to come themselves (and bring their kids) in 20 yrs time?
i know that, while my kids would love the chance to nick our van off the drive and head off to the Med, they know that (in the uk) they (and their children) would love to have plenty to do on site, one area where club sites are lacking.
this is why our kids would rather have a week at CentreParcs....bar., restaurant, activities, safe walking, cycling etc.....all the things you usually get on a Continental site....all the things that appeal to the age group the club is (apparently) trying to attract.
the club cant have it both ways.....change nothing and keep the appeal with the current aging membership, yet pretend to be broadening appeal and just change the name/logo to show everyone how serious they are
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Bolero - They seem to have gone about it the A.. to Front. With Yurts, Pods etc the new name is meaningless. It was nothing more than an Ego trip by the tea drinkers. If the club is gong down the radical route of " all singing all dancing sites" then we may as well give up our membership and find these sites a plenty in the commercial sector.
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I remember holiday boarding houses in the back streets of Bridlington - chucking out time was 10am. and you weren't allowed back till 5pm. . My Dad and Mum went there with me when I was a kid. I grew up and learned from the experience. Other sorts of holiday accommodation came along. Times change, improvements happen, they might even one day happen on Club sites too - even though some old people want everything to stay the same.
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Anyway, back to the OP. I've no objection to having tents, pods, yurts, even motorhomes (
) on CC sites. Even better if they attract more folk to use the sites and make money for the club as an alternative to swimming pools, bars, restaurants etc.!1 -
Well people on here do use van to mean a caravan and never heard MH described as a van. But moving on...
so, do you see your children touring in a 'van' in a few years time?
Yes I do, one still does and loves the life and says she'll get a motorhome while single/married. but a caravan with a family. the other haven't expressed a preference but always talk about they good times they had on our holidays. But then we did things together outside the site rather than use it as a theme park where they had to entertain themselves or be dumped in the hotel kids club.
Yours tempted?
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It is the follow on from season lets, the end is nigh😞😞😞😞
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apart from those who have twee 'names' for their vehicle, pretty well everyone else i know who has a MH refers to it as the 'van' or possibly 'truck'.
we always go away in 'the van' never 'the Motorhome' and certainly not 'the Motor Caravan' which only seems to appear on the DVLA radar and one or two 'clever' journalists.......oh, and you
how many MH owners do you know who gaily enthuse about their 'Motor Caravan'?
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We have just left the Coniston Park Coppice site and notice a couple pods at the bottom of the site nearest to the lake. Their steps proved useful as seats to rest weary legs on the long hike back from the waterside. They didn't seem to be in use.
We are now on a C&CC site which is equipped with several larger fixed tent structures, they don't seem to be in use either.
Perhaps those using them will have the opportunity to view touring 'vans at close quarters thereby encouraging them to try the real thing.
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So let me see if I've got this right, you don't have to be a member to use a hobbit house or Mongolian bungalow but members using them get a discount.
When we can no longer use our diesel tugs and MH I don't think the above are going to be the saviour of the club.
Just think trailer tents could become very popular!
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