Serviced pitches on Club Sites

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  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #92

    Robbie, if you are still reading this (we do seem to have strayed well away from your original question) then as far as I can gather there is no search function for serviced  Club pitches,  though the list that has been compiled by DSB is excellent.

    It also seems that the Club is trying to provide more serviced pitches, but that they do get booked up very quickly.

    I would suggest that you also consider looking for CLs that provide these pitches, and other private/commercial sites.  The search function and reviews of sites on ukcampsite website is very helpful, give it a try.

    https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/

    Good luck!

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,387 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #93

    That is how one of my sons lives, but he says he will never be able to afford to retire!

    peedee

  • GTP
    GTP Club Member Posts: 537
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    edited August 2019 #94

    K....My suggestion was a £40 fee...not ++ ....that was for extras I suggested.

    I proposed this over a year ago in a previous post...and if you look at the site fees today...you will note that even standard pitches are approaching that figure. My suggestion over a year ago, would in fact be good value for money fort SP's....

    I do concede that some members would simply prefer a non facility pitch..or even 'economie'....but from my observations and conversations on site, SP's are usually full with members saying 'there should be more SP's'...

    As mentioned in this thread...I can see the £50 pn fee (pitch + 2 pers) breached in the not too distant future. 

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #95

    Yes, so can I , unfortunately.   The ++ was the extra for dogs, which would not go down too well I think!

    While £40 would apparently be OK for many, would your scheme be a flat fee, or could we expect a £20 pitch off peak?  smile

     

  • GTP
    GTP Club Member Posts: 537
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    edited August 2019 #96

    Read the post K...read the post.wink

    As for the £20 off peak suggestion.....the club already has a discounted pitch fee scheme....

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #97

    So......all pitches serviced......pitch plus 2 adults to be £40 all year?

    What is this "discounted pitch fee scheme" you talk of?

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited August 2019 #98

    Mid week discounts?

  • GTP
    GTP Club Member Posts: 537
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    edited August 2019 #99
  • DSB
    DSB Club Member Posts: 5,669 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #100

    The Club have also provided a list of Serviced Pitched, but it's not quite as easy to find.  It is at the end of the description of Serviced Pitches HERE, but you need to click on the link.  It is slightly different to my list which is HERE.  Unfortunately, I haven't had chance to compare the two lists yet, but perhaps a job I will get around to in the Autumn.

    In the meantime, if you find any error in my list, please post in this thread, or email me (address in my profile), and I will update.

    David 

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #101

    Oh, that, yes we all know about that!  Not exactly generous at half price on the pitch fee only, and very limited with respect to which sites and which times.

    So how will that work with your £40 flat fee proposal?

    We will be getting the mid week discount when we visit Edinburgh Club site in October, but then October is not exactly a very desirable time to be away as far as we are concerned, plus of course every week has a weekend in  there when the prices go up. 

    Impossible to tour  using Club sites other than in winter as, as far as we are concerned, they are far too expensive, and really, we do not want to tour in winter.

    April to September is our preferred time, no doubt like many others, and the Club has realised this and pushed up the prices in September and April to June too, even outside the Bank Holidays.

    Just as well we have CLs to fall back on.

  • Tammygirl
    Tammygirl Club Member Posts: 7,957 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #102

    Pretty much the same as us. I can't remember the last time me and OH ate out just the 2 of us, we tend to only eat out when we go with family or friends. 

    Cooking on holiday for some is a no no, but it has never bothered me it doesn't take long to rustle something up, we don't have the full 3 courses. wink

    Even when we go to Lanzarote, to the apartment, we only eat out a couple of times a week, much prefer to eat in at the end of a day especially if we have been out all day.  

    It has always fascinated me how lots of posts (on here and other forums) that start with 'can anyone recommend a nice site near a pub'  that's the last thing I'd be looking for. Even the glass of wine with a meal is for me a rarity, OH doesn't mind the odd glass or 2 but that's it.  

    There is often on here a comparison with UK based holidays and over there holidays, even taking into consideration the extra cost of the ferry I think we would spend more per day in the UK than we ever would 'over there' that's if we could find sites in the UK, that have all the facilities on them, like the ones we can use 'over there'

  • DSB
    DSB Club Member Posts: 5,669 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #103

    We've been away for four and a half weeks and have eaten out twice - once for our daughter's graduation in Cornwall, and last Sunday, for our 40th Wedding anniversary.  Another week to go and I doubt if we will eat out again.

    However, we are a devil for the occasional coffee/tea/ hot chocolate and a piece of cake out mid afternoon.

    We do eat out most nights though...... outside the caravan, under the awning, cooked on the Cadac.  laughinglaughing

    David

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited August 2019 #104

    Having a meal out is a treat and form part of the holiday although we would generally only do it about once a week or so, being happy to do our own catering for most of the time. Having a nearby pub whilst not essential does give one the opportunity for a bit of a treat if the mood takes.

  • Goldie146
    Goldie146 Club Member Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #105

    Previous post Deleted User by me!

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited August 2019 #106

    "Thing is BB the working families don't get to go away for 200+ nights, more like two or three weeks in their van plus weekends, so the nightly fee that seems extortionate to you and other retired folk posting on here is (talking to the people that pay it) very reasonable. "

    which is exactly what I said in my post you replied to....undecided

    those who toure often tend to watch fees a little more closely than those who are on.y paying for the odd week or weekend away.

    totally different scenario.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited August 2019 #107

    like yourself and some other respondents to your post (mainly long distance continental tourers) we must live pretty frugally too.

    when at home we have a budget that runs our everyday expenditure (housekeeping?) and we also carry our own 'allowance' with us for odds and ends, personal stuff etc...

    like many retired folk, we have no debt and, despite an income below that in our earning days we feel we live pretty well, thanks.

    when we go away, we just convert this to euros and live exactly as we do at home.

    because things are generally cheaper over there, and despite the odd meal out (usually lunchtime during a bike ride) we are often 'in profit' and we tag on additional meals or other events...

    however, we're not in the habit of spending significantly more than is necessary, especially for sites/stopping/parking as this would eat into the 'MH holidays' budgetwink

    when touring for three months or so, at a time, 90 days at £30 a night would come to £2700 just for site fees.

    and as we tour for 200+ days a year, £6000 on site fees alone would be unthinkable.

    as it happens, we do all our touring, home and away, incl ferries, fuel, sites, Aires for considerably less than that.

    ok, insurances (van, annual travel etc) VED, services are extra, but it is possible, without trying too hard, to live away in the van very well for a long period of time each year without breaking even our small bankwink

    now those Seabourne cruises are a different matter...

  • rayjsj
    rayjsj Forum Participant Posts: 930
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    edited August 2019 #108

     That is our feelings when we visit Chapel Lane in Birmingham, where our daughter lives. 

    All of our favourite 'quiet' pitches converted to Serviced Pitches... and as we dont need a constant water supply or waste water dump on pitch, a waste of the extra fee's. 

    No idea why? a motorhome would need a Serviced Pitch....could a Motorhomer who uses them please explain why ?  

     

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,387 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #109

    No idea why? a motorhome would need a Serviced Pitch....could a Motorhomer who uses them please explain why ? 

    I'm equally perplexed but I guess if you were staying quite a while it saves moving off pitch for services.

    peedee

  • Tammygirl
    Tammygirl Club Member Posts: 7,957 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #110

    No idea why? a motorhome would need a Serviced Pitch....could a Motorhomer who uses them please explain why ?

    I think for some it a way of getting a hard standing pitch, seeing as this club doesn't allow you to pre book one. Expensive way mind you but hey the club are not complaining about that. 

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,863 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #111

    No idea why? a motorhome would need a Serviced Pitch....could a Motorhomer who uses them please explain why ?

    We do occasionally, especially if we are staying for a few days. We rarely move the van off site during a stay. We like to use our own facilities so probably use more water and create more waste than those that us the site facilities.It saves going backwards and forwards to the service point. Another reason is to guarantee a hardstanding pitch. We stayed at Cayton Village earlier in the year where the number of standard pitches with hardstanding is limited but serviced pitches are plentiful. Before booking a site I always look at the site plan to establish, as far as I can, the risk of being dumped on a grass pitch. If there is a risk I will opt for a service pitch. Not quite sure why anyone needs to question a perfectly logical decisionwink

    David

  • ErnieJH
    ErnieJH Forum Participant Posts: 114
    edited August 2019 #112

    I totally agree, I started booking serviced pitches as that was the only way I could ensure I got a hard standing, as a result I now much prefer them. The only way the true need for serviced pitches will become clear is when the club allows members to book hard standings, but it appears that during the trial the members and wardens found it to complicated to cope with, why I don't know. Lets hope the club reconsiders one day in the not so distant future.

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2019 #113

    when at home we have a budget that runs our everyday expenditure (housekeeping?) and we also carry our own 'allowance' with us for odds and ends, personal stuff etc...

    I must have had a budget once but that was at least 35 years ago although possibly more like 40 years. 

    90 days at £30 a night would come to £2700 just for site fees. 

    Usually £25 or less if more it will usually be on a non club site

    We probably pay £30 on CC sites during part of our Christmas break as the cheaper options in our chosen location don't cut the mustard for us and particularly with regard to location. There is however a car park that we could use that takes motorhomes and caravans.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,428 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #114

    yes except there are numerous sites where it is all hard standing yet MH still use service pitches in great numbers? And as you know they usually get booked first (or in my experience they do) so it is not as if the SP are the only ones left? 

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited August 2019 #115

    I've just booked a club site pitch at just over £30 ....

    . Despite the headline price of 'from' £14 but it's convenient and only for 1 night .

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited August 2019 #116

    But then you already knew that before actually finishing the booking process , and it is not just the pitch @just over £30 is itlaughing 

     

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2019 #117

    We don't tour in August wink

  • DSB
    DSB Club Member Posts: 5,669 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #118

    Of course, I agree entirely, and have been asking the Club for members to be able to book pitch surface types (hardstandings or grass) at the time of booking.  I will continue to do this at all levels - I think everyone knows my thoughts and arguments.  The current system gives a false indication of the real need for serviced pitches, together with a whole host of other things.  Perhaps one day.......

    Like yourself, the current system has encouraged me to book serviced pitches, and I have grown to like them!! 

    David

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited August 2019 #119

    Perhaps it's habit. They are so used to booking SP to ensure a HS.

  • heddlo
    heddlo Forum Participant Posts: 872 ✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #120

    Totally agree with you there Cornersteady.   We have been told how easy it is for a MH to park anywhere as they already have water and waste on board, so why use a serviced pitch if all the site is hard standing??  We have often been disappointed in trying to book one and after a walk around the site (Hawes springs to mind) after arriving we find that 3 serviced pitches are MHs, none of which are connected or using the ‘services’!  A tad annoying.

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2019 #121

    none of which are connected or using the ‘services’! A tad annoying.

    Not sure that I would connect up in a motorhome. Do most lend themselves to connecting to a water feed or is it more simple to attach a hose as needed? 

    We have occasionally booked a service pitch on a private site with our caravan for the location on site. Would not dream of connecting up as for us it would be pointless. During our typical 5 nighter would fill aquaroll on arrival and empty wastemaster on departure. To faff about with water and waste connections would seem pointless effort