Do you research an area before booking a site?
Do you research an area before booking a site or do you travel blind? I was struck by a comment on a review that said 'Like most members we decide on which site we want to stay on having decided previously on what we want to do in the area'. If we were going away and staying in a hotel with friends for a few days we might research. When we caravan we generally look at a UK map and think 'where have we not been or where have we not been for 4 or 5 years'. This is not in respect of specific sites but areas of the country. We then plan a route for about 8 stops and look for convenient places. WE don't consider what there is of interest as we stay 5 nights and move and generally find enough to interest us and sometimes stuff to fit in another time.
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Choose area we want to visit, look at what places of interest to us is about i.e walks,towns, views then a suitable site wether thats a club site cl or commercial. I read reviews on sites and use Google earth to check out locations.
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We generally know what is in the areas that we want to visit. Like ET we tend to stop for about 5/6 days. When we arrive we get out the relevant OS maps, which I've assembled from my collection at home, and the N/T, E/H & HHA guides to see what's in the area and when &/or if they are open. We then plan our days out around them and walk in the area, depending on the weather forecast.
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Unless it's somewhere we have been before I do tend to do some research. A lot of that will be looking at public transport or walking from site options. As an example earlier in the year we had thought about the Club's Knaresborough site but at the same time discovered The Great Yorkshire Showground site at Harrogate, now a commercial site having previously been in the Club network. What the research showed up was that the commercial site had better transport links (including to Knaresborough) a supermarket within easy walking distance. I appreciate that, as a motorhomer, my requirements could be different from someone with a car and caravan.
David
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The site map comes out as a guide ..... really more to see towns, roads, villages than to see sites. We then think where have we not been or not been for a while. The last trip was a short one and we decided on starting off near Carsington water, thought that we had not been near mablethorpe are for a while and not been to Norwich nor Boston and then thought that we would look in at Peterborough as although we have been in the area a couple of times, last time was 6 or so years ago and it was the only place where I knew that I wanted to see something and that was Peterborough Cathedral, looked for where to stop on the way back and decided on C&CC site at Conkers. On most of the sites other than Peterborough I had little idea of what we wished to visit. Decision made on each site the evening before generally. Not a great one for planning ahead.
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Our main reason for camping and then caravanning has always been walking (with or without dogs). So we choose an area first, usually staying for maybe a week and plan walks in that area. If there are NT properties or similar nearby that's an extra attraction. So I guess that means we do a fair bit of research.
Over the past few years though, we have started breaking long journeys by finding a CL en route - their location comes first and then we'll look for things to do. We've discovered some gems in quite unexpected places that way!
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If it's a fairly long trip away, say 5-8 weeks, we will head to an area that holds the most interest for us as the priority, either having had some experience of if beforehand or researching it beforehand (usually those ones abroad). We then fit other areas around it as we go. If in the UK we will have a rough idea of things that we want to see or do and if in a busy period for touring pre book sites.
We tend to have a more laissez-faire attitude to booking if abroad and will often head off to places on a whim but again having a rough idea of it having POI for us.
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Nearly all of our trips away are based around walking/hiking/climbing with our 2 dogs. So we either know the area relatively well beforehand or (as in our trip away on Wednesday to The Peak District ) we pick a new area that offers us the types of thing we enjoy or a specific place we want to go to and then research like mad! I've picked up some great tips and ideas from reading through the discussions on here: particularly in the "Certified Locations" and "UK sites and touring" threads.
I also can't resist buying the OS maps for wherever we go (hubby uses Viewranger and other apps, but I'm a sucker for a paper map and have an extensive collection😊
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Much the same as us. Find a nice site in an area we fancy, the rest we will sort out usually on a daily basis.
If the weather is nice we may stay longer if we like the area.
If the weather is not so good or the area doesn't appeal then we move on.
This next trip is probably the most researched, as we have a list of places we would like to see.
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Take next week we have not done any research has we have been to Hawes on numerous occasions, its one of the sites we go to for relaxing time plus some walking, more leisurely walking not long hikes. Next year we will look at different places we have not been, we will check for good cycle rides and at least 2 golf courses in the area. We are members of the national trust so we will look what's round to visit, one thing we will check does it have good bus services, its a nice to have not essential though. We also prefer sites within walking distance of a village and bear it in mind how far, reachable by foot or cycle
Heethers
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Bit of a mixture for us. Sometimes we will choose the area, look for sites and then specific places that might interest us, NT, EH, walks, etc. Other times we will have a specific place we want to see, such as the Kelpies and the Falkirk wheel a few years ago. Or more recently Carcassonne and Aigues Morte. However, the way we go about it has changed since getting a MH. Now we try and get a site or Aire right on top of where we want to visit, rather than travel from one further away. Next year on our Scottish tour we want to visit Scone Palace and Inverewe gardens. So will be joining the C&CC as they have sites on the doorstep.
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Yes I always have a look at potential days out be they visiting a NT property, an old town, drives or walks before looking at the sites map and choosing a site in that area. We usually go for at least a month and don't like to have to set up the caravan more times than we have to so three sites in that time would be ideal plus maybe overnight stops to get to the area we are going.
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Of course less of a problem over there, due to the abundance of Aires in close proximity to many of the things we wanted to visit.
Agree however, it does require a lot more thought / planning in the UK. Although for us, in England at least, a bus stop close to the site can extend our range at no additional cost.
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I have no doubt that a MH is in its element abroad and that is one of our main reasons for looking at changing.
As you have now had your MH for a few months what is your view of the change - has it been a total success or not. Do you now think you should have made the change sooner or even later than you did.
Not trying to find fault with your decision but really interested in your views and motivation for the change.
Apologies to anyone who thinks this is way of topic.
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Purchasing the right sized MH for what you want to do is critical. If you want to truly tour, hop from site to site, taking in all the lovely scenery and attractions both in towns and outside, small is best. If you want to pitch up and stay and explore an area primarily rural based, then a caravan and car are easier. Transport links away from London and other cities are not that good and can be expensive. And you don’t leave an expensive ebike safely anywhere!
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I don't see it as a downside, it's just a case of organisation and research. We have no wish to go back to a caravan as we like the ease of travelling and being able to stop en route. It does mean that we choose not to use sites that are remote from the facilities we prefer to be able to walk into a village or town, or catch a bus. Perhaps one positive of Global Warming might be that Governments are forced into providing proper public transport!!! Being of a certain age it is free for us in England at least.
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The solution is to buy a small take it (almost) anywhere MH. We don’t carry bikes, don’t walk long distances and after 6 seasons of MH-ing have not yet found the need for public transport. Static MH? Not us.
As for research, in the UK we have a pretty good idea of what different areas are like so would only research anything specific we wanted to see.
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As for research, in the UK we have a pretty good idea of what different areas are like so would only research anything specific we wanted to see.
I agree fully with that and was interested in the Alan's OP. You could ask me about any area in the UK and I'll have a pretty good overall idea of what it looks like. We then choose an area to explore it in more detail.
We do more of the research when we arrive on site.
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I check things like opening times, some places are closed during the winter, some have seasonal events, so for me it's worth a check beforehand in certain areas. I often make mistakes locally by not checking if there is an event on/or closed, so if we're heading off somewhere it's more important.
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I agree fully with that and was interested in the Alan's OP. You could ask me about any area in the UK and I'll have a pretty good overall idea of what it looks like.
It is usually several years when I revisit an area - often more like 5 years and I have a poor memory . Because we move every 5 nights I may know some of what is close to a particular site and there may be something or somewhere that I want to revisit but usually research whilst on the site and find other points of interest
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