Aires in the UK
Comments
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Some are like that, most are not. Also depends how busy the aire is. If you’re just looking for an inexpensive stopover with some basic facilities, why concern yourself with such things? Obsession with rules isn’t really the way camping is done in France. As for the great unwashed living full-time in old vans, mostly they’re freeloaders and not interested in places where fees are payable. Travellers are a different story all together!
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The Aires we have noticed on our trips through France have been packed and just enough room to open the side door between vans. Never seen a 6 metre gap yet. Perhaps someone with knowledge of the rules could advise if there are any gap requirements any who would enforce them.
The ones we used were nothing like that. The picture shows the closest sort of spacing, we came across. Ours is the grey van, with the white alongside, the spacing is about the width of our vehicle. The barrier you can see counts the number arriving and prevents overcrowding at peak times. Another that we used a municipal Aire, had been the old campsite. They put in a barrier and a high tech payment machine to control entry. That was very roomy.
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Alan, its not that difficult....MH are self contained, taxed vehicles that are allowed to use the highway and (under appropriate regs) parking facilities.
caravans are not.
they have to be left at sites and the owners go out and come back, and go out and come back...
the vehicle types are different as if the mode of use.
to have a town/city invest in a P/R to keep traffic congestion out of the town and then prohibit taller vehicles from using it is self defeating.
a (effectively banned) MH owner will either try and park somewhere in the town as best they can or they will give the same two fingers to the place that the council have given them.
one thing they wont do is buy a caravan....
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Of course in this country at least, a fair percentage of MH owners also have a bus pass. In the absence of any Aires ( or at least what we would consider using) we prefer to find a site with transport links and bus in, rather than leave it in a car park.😀
Having said that, we often did the same when we had a caravan. Why drive into a town, when the bus can take the strain.😂
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In the areas that are susceptible to illegal camping by groups ,most large towns/cities are trying to deter the problem,by installing height retrictions ,and as usual will "upset" some others
,Until there is a different more robust mindset (as some other countries) to tackle that problem, then "aire type" stopovers near any large population areas are going to be very difficult to convince LAs, who in the main local tax payers pick up the bill to move on and repair/clear up behind them,
Ask any site staff who have had the problem or any landowner who have to pay to have them removed
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Hi BB, welcome back, as you know not a MH'er but I woulld like to say that some LC like my own have tried to be MH friendly, but due to the minority who spoil it for the majority have had to return to a more draconian methods, if that is what people want to call them.
1. provided 8 purpose built bays, 2 mins from seafront backing on to a very large open field, each bay is seperated by a nice barrier so as to prevent people using them as camping pitches, they are pay and display
2. kept public toilets 2 mins away open overnight
now bays provided are "no overnight habitation" the rubbish etc that was left had to be cleaned up and the council felt this was a cost they could not afford, 2 of the provided picnic tables severly burnt. Bays seldom used now even during the day
public toilets were trashed, could be people occupying MH's could be others who knows
some of our car parks are pay and display now with height barriers, too many MH's using them with the canopy out occupying 2 spaces
some of our car parks are free no height barrier but vechicle has to be able to fit within the white lines, bays are generous, but we have had twin axle jobies trying to squeeze in
all of our car parks are now "no overnight human habitation" and the enforcer has been known to knock on doors in the wee small hours.
So the bottom line is, our LC tried, but the management costs were something they felt they could not pass on to the local community.
I must say we do seem to get a lot of "free loaders", so to my mind we have to come up with a way to make "free loaders" more responsible, from your observations it doesnt seem to be a problem over there, so why so much over here ?,
some residents along our seafront had big banners in their gardens encouraging MH's to go home we dont need you
What is strange is that out of season you can leave your MH in the carpark free of charge, for 7 days you just cant live in it.
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BM, i did try and outline the most popular types of aire upthread, mainly because posters have been debating thrm as if they are totally familiar with their differing styles and usage despite being as knowlegeble about them (not) as your good self.
'Aire' just means 'area' in French, its a simple as that.
whether its the most salibrious one in europe or the tattiest, the fundamental 'rule' is the same....they are for parking NOT camping and dont require any 6m rule or white pegs or one way systems or earliest arrival times or......
here are a few examples of 'aires' that all serve different purposes.
1. fwd thinking German retailer welcomes MHers...obviously free.
2. ready access for MHers to Gibraltar. lovely parking in Marina area.€12.
3. St Martin de Ré aire bang in centre of a World Heritage Site. no wild parking allowed but tiny island has four/five aires. from memory, this one €12 (48 hr max) in high season, €5 (five day max) in low season.
4. Blaye, another WHS, two aires (plus camping at the 'Citadel') available....one on the seas front, this one at Vauban's Chateau gardens/vinyard, free for 48 hrs, EHU included.
5. Les Mortièrs. a simple countryside aire. only used as a lunch stop but a beautiful place to overnight too.
some aires have parking but not services (water, waste etc). some are service areas but no parking. some are daytime only. most have parking and services and allow overnighting. some have max stays.
its no good thinking one can lay the CAMC template across the range of aires a typical user will come across....they are all different and much different from CAMC sites, thank goodness.
they offer a differnt service to a different type of customer.
aires offer MHers what MHers want, which is why a typical CAMC caravan site use will never 'understand' the attraction.
with luck, that will remain the case.
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Steve, although we have passes, not everyone does and busses dont always go (necessarily) where you want to go or when...
im more than happy to follow (sat nav and) 'aire' signs (even a carpark with MH spaces) in large towns as the route has been designed to bet large vehicles away from bottlenecks and into the place the LA would like them.
this will inevitibly place you at the heart of the city, no real need to consider busses from most city aires, youre already there.
we only do busses if theres no other choice.
the 'point' for many MHers is that they dont want a site.....they want parking to visit the town, have a meal, overnight and move on.
why use a (£30) site if it then involves busses when you can park in town, right where you want to be, for much less with less hassle?
obviously, you havent yet shaken off your caravanning roots
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Here's an Aire in France. Could be coming soon to a town in the UK?
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David, i did acknowledge your thoughts in my first post...
"so, DK has the right idea.....no use trying to go for something that will never happen....the best anyone could hope for in the UK is for a few larger bays at the back of an underused carpark...."
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a typical CAMC caravan site use will never 'understand' the attraction.
What is difficult to understand? No idea why you would think any caravan using a CMC site as part of the tours would not understand the attraction of a reasonably priced stopover conveniently located.
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On our free to park no height barrier, we have that already, it is just that you are not allowed to sleep overnight, although when i was out with the dog for evening walk i did see people bedding down in the back of their car
there have also been incidences of people camping on the beach, also not allowed.1 -
Just a personal thought – Having campaigns and discussions of this subject now and in the past I wonder how many CAMpRA supporters (and their ilk) would campaign for/support the type of facilities they say are needed to be set up in their own community by their LA e.g. their local (to them) car park/village/town/city etc or nearby countryside.
Not something I would support as I prefer my LA to spend my bit of council tax elsewhere.
Not every motorhome ‘wants or uses’ Aire type facilities here or elsewhere but some motorhome owners will pay for 2 spaces (where allowable) to visit somewhere. Again just may thoughts.
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and again, a campsite using caravanner dleighting in showing a crowded aire....
they are parking areas NOT campsites and are no different to the areas caravanners park their cars on a crowded seafront carpark.
the difference is that these are folk paring their MH not their cars.
the fact that its busy, shows the popularity of the area.
the earlier Canterbury photo also showed in in a busy period but, despite silly 'cheek by jowel' comments, i thought that it was a perfectly well designed and provided 'parking' area.
we stayed at St Jean de Luz aire last year on our dash back from Spain. its one of the most popular aires in France (terrific town) and is next to a railway line....BUT its cheap, convenient and just a short stroll into town and having another van next to you for the night is not likely to put a typical MH aire user off.
as i said earlier...i wouldnt expect a caravanner to be the remotest bit interested, other thsn to try and tell folk who use and enjoy them, how 'truly awful' they are.
great, carry on using sites and leave those who have a different requirement to make use of them.
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I certainly would use an aire if a motorhomer but like you, not a cramped one unless for a break on a long run or ferry or similar. We are talking UK though and whilst there are other reasonably priced alternative out there I would not wish to spend an evening on a car park after a busy day when there are more pleasant alternatives.
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the earlier Canterbury photo also showed in in a busy period but, despite silly 'cheek by jowel' comments, i thought that it was a perfectly well designed and provided 'parking' area.
Nothing silly about having ones own view about where they would wish to stay for the evening and night. Each to their own. In my case after a 7 hour day doing whatever I wish to put my feet up and relax (not as able a I once was). That does not mean sitting in a caravan or motorhome in decent weather nor sitting on a car park within a metre wide space between tall vehicles.
It would be nice if somebody could point out some nice aires type facilities (not CLs etc), with a few metres space within the UK.
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the 'point' for many MHers is that they dont want a site.....they want parking to visit the town, have a meal, overnight and move on.
why use a (£30) site if it then involves busses when you can park in town, right where you want to be, for much less with less hassle?
obviously, you havent yet shaken off your caravanning
If the Aire is not like some of the photos above (rammed) and in the right place, we would be happy to use it. However, the one advantage of a site is that we can travel in to where we want to visit, then travel out and have a nice BBQ in the evening.
For instance. If there was an Aire closer in than Abbey Wood in London, I very much doubt we would use it. Access to AW is so good, transport links superb and above all it is a very secure site. Something to be considered in the urban environment. Plus of course we can have a BBQ after our day in town.😀
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It would be nice if somebody could point out some nice aires type facilities (not CLs etc), with a few metres space within the UK.
Yes we had one at Stokes Bay outlined in an earlier post, 8 purpose built bays, 1.5 acre field directly behind, beach 2 mins, public toilets 2 mins, bays still there but due to overnighters trashing the place council banned overnight habitation.
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Using Apps like ‘Campercontact’ and ‘Park4night’ you can probably achieve that with a bit of research. Save yourself a small fortune as well. This club still charging £30+ in September at many sites, that’s fine if you intend to ‘do’ that area, but a waste of money otherwise for less than 24hrs.
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It would be nice if somebody could point out some nice aires type facilities (not CLs etc), with a few metres space within the UK.
Especially if there are any that provide for motorhomes taking on water/dumping of grey water tank and emptying of toilet cassette.
Shame about Stokes Bay.
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Much of this has now become about how good aires are overseas. While that may very well be true, and I'd not argue to the contrary, the title of this thread is "Aires in the UK" and telling us how great aires are across The Channel has little bearing on whether or not such places should be provided here.
I made my points much earlier in the thread and what I'd like someone to do is to come up with a cost effective feasible plan for providing aires that will not penalise local residents by way of encumbrance or Council Tax payers financially. We're very much focusing on the 'want' here rather than the 'need' and the 'how'.
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Many CLs are much more flexible than the 8pm night arrival, if you ask. We set off on spur of moment one day last year, heading North. Found a lovely CL just off A1, perfect for a one night stopover. I phoned, spoke to owners and got the just roll in, pitch up in orchard and we will see you tomorrow! We quietly rolled in around 1030pm, went to sleep, then got up and sorted things next morning. It was a gem, one we would go back to again definitely. A little bit further on, another CL along A66, we rolled into this one with prior agreement close on midnight a few years ago. Again, roll in, go to sleep, see us in the morning. We have used this a good few times now, gets the worst part of the A1 out of the way for us, up good and early, and we miss the worst of the Gateshead crawl😁Both CLs are well used to transient visitors, as well as those that stay longer, so the owners are very flexible. Surprisingly quiet little places as well considering their proximity to major routes.
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