Awning carpet
For the first time ever, we have been asked not to have a carpet (even a breathable one) in our awning. Surely, a little area of discoloured grass is part for the course for site owners. Any thoughts?
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I think it's par for the course for site owners to quite reasonably preserve their pitches in the best possible condition for the next occupant and if that's what the site owner or warden says, then so be it.
You don’t say if this is a club site, CL or commercial site but the club says the following in its site rules.
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I suppose it’s all to do with the look of the grass perhaps? The groundsheet issue is just one of the reasons we will hardly ever use a grass pitch as I don’t like damp grass being trodden into the caravan. I honestly could not be doing with lifting the awning carpet every day or two!! If we can’t get a hardstanding pitch, on a CL for instance, we don’t use the awning at all just a canopy.
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A selfish attitude if I may say!Damage to grass can take weeks to recover and what harm does it do to not have a groundsheet?
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Have you tried removing your outdoor shoes when you enter the caravan?
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I would not want to use a pitch where the grass is discoloured so it is for the benefit of the customer!
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A CL generally has a little more room to jiggle pitches about and don't have pegs to be rigidly pitched to. So if the grass is a little faded, people have the option to pitch next to it rather than in exactly the same place as the previous awning. The grass where my breathable awning goes is as green when we leave as it was when we arrived.
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We much prefer grass pitches to hardstanding - except in the depths of winter when grass really isn't practical. We use a breathable carpet and even after two weeks on the same pitch, it hardly discolours the grass.
What does do the damage, though - are the two triangles of heavy black fabric that sit at the corners of our Kampa air awning - that are designed to keep it 'square' - and other than banning awnings altogether, there isn't much you can do about that.
Add to that, the spots where 4 wheels sit, and, in our case, the large plates on the bottom of the E&P hydraulic rams, the heavy duty plates on the steadies, the aquaroll that hasn't moved for two weeks because we're plumbed into the water - oh, and then the wastemaster which always goes back in the same place.
We are invariably on CLs or CSs - so as said above, there is scope for the next occupant to position slightly differently and give the grass chance to recover - but I think that some 'wear and tear' on a grass pitch is to be expected. It soon recovers.
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I take it from your "soon recovers" with ref to grass you have noted after some one has used a "breathable?" ground sheet for two weeks or more how soon it recovers?,
It seems from conversations with site staff that ,soon? will probably mean two weeks or more depending on the weather ,that the pitch is unusable?
Hence as the season progresses more grass pitches are taken out of use
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I'm not that bothered about club pitches. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times a grass pitch on a site run by this Club has been available. Even less after 'they' ruined Rosedale by making that all hardstanding.
My experience is largely derived from CLs and CS's - where as I said, the opportunity is there to move around a bit. We now have friends that run both types of site - both are very 'pernickety' about their grass - and neither are bothered about the 'damage' caused by awnings and tell me that once it has been cut - and a few days have passed, it normally looks as good as new.
We are returning to a CS next month, that we have been to twice this year so far and it has been very busy. I will take a photo and post on here of what it looks like and am confident that it will look as pristine as ever.
One of the problems with Club sites is that because you have to park so precisely next to the peg, wheel, steadies, aquaroll and wastemaster marks are invariably always going to be in the same place - or thereabouts - and therefore it's not surprising the grass is soon ruined. And that's without an awning!
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Totally agree ED. If, when we arrive at a CL, if it's obvious that someone else has had an awning up, I always position my van so as to leave that space as clear as possible to give the grass chance to recover. As I said above, that's the problem with Club sites in that there isn't the space or leeway in the 'rules' to do that.
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We rarely use an awning even in this country, can't be doing with the faff of up and down every few days. I suppose if we stayed longer we might.
Over there where we usually holiday, you can find pitches completely ruined by what they use, a plastic sheet goes down first then a carpet. By September the grass pitches are just mud.
If we are on a grass pitch, like we were at the Wirral site we don't bother putting down an awning carpet as we like to just sit out on the grass. If we are on a h/s pitch we tend to put down a small woven plastic out door mat by the caravan step. We then take off our shoes and leave them there.
I personally hate to see grass pitches ruined by inconsiderate use but on the other hand I wouldn't like to have lift carpets every day.
With the other club, who have lots of tent users, they have to re-seed and rotate pitches all through the summer, you can hardly ask folk to move their tent on a daily basis.
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I guess in these times where we now find practically all sites fully booked and pitches receiving no rest bite the opportunity to rotate and rest areas is at a minimum. If constantly used the grass will suffer and the ground can turn sour. Even with breathable groundsheets the shade created by the awning will have a detrimental effect over the whole of a season. I totally understand the need to manage the pitches. In the past we have, like many others, avoided those pitches which looked in need of rest too so I guess the considerate amongst us helped the situation. But as said, I have never seen sites fully booked like this.
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Is the purpose of sites recreation, or to display immaculately groomed grass?
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Anyone looked at Centre Court baseline. Grass is not a particularly robust surface and needs treatment with care. Obsession with turning the awning space into your lounge at home will result in stressed grass. Spot stress such as wheels, steadies and ramps are seldom in exactly the same spot and are small enough to recover readily.
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I believe that the better the outlook,the better the experience.I have an intense hatred of other peoples selfish attitude and ,in my opinion ,care should be taken not to cause distress to others.Would you carpet your lawn at home? I dont think so!
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Well I would say having a good pitch surface for one's outfit would come first?
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It’s obviously recreation, Harry, but that is greatly enhanced by having a good surface to pitch on.
The grass doesn't need to be "immaculately groomed" just in a decent condition. After all, nobody wants a bald muddy patch to put their awning on.
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