Bridport Bingham Grange
Unable to book anything for 2022. Calendar shows closed/full for the whole of 2022. I have sent an email via "contact us", but wonder if anyone knows if this site is closing down, or is it just the wonderful booking system that doesn't know that 2022 exists?
Paul
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Yes agreed, we used it many times before the club bought it. When we used it it was family run had a lovely restaurant that also did proper take away meals, some of the facilities were not what you would expect on a club site, but for us they were more than adequate. Will not visit again. The club I believe were due to revamp the place starting last year but it was probably put on hold as a result of covid etc
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It was going to be upgraded to club and LA standards when it was first purchased ,there are still several areas of concern
The bottom half of the site has no proper waste disposal
There is not an adequate MC waste disposal either some of the showering facilities are in need of replacement
The chemical emptying point is completely inadequate
One of the major problems at the top half of the site when first purchased was the lack of fire breaks , that has been temporarily overcome by reducing the amount of pitches
There are many other areas that also need attention
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It did not function well , it just functioned the LA were it seems not happy bunnies with it ,but as told to me when we went ,there were some major issues that as new owners the club were expected to get sorted, some as mentioned in my post
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Did you ever visit before it became a club site?, I did on several occasions, it functioned well
"LA were is seems not happy bunnies"
says who, very strange they were given permission to add additional pitches before the club bought it
"There is not an adequate MC waste disposal either some of the showering facilities are in need of replacement"
MC waste maybe there was or was not as a caravaner was not a problem for us, but site was probably functioning long before MH's were so prolific and probably did not have a need, and as the site is somewhat off the beaten track with no bus service probably not ideal for MH's.
some of the showering facilities are in need of replacement, yes because they do not conform to CAMC design not that they are inadequate, i dont see full on suite showers on many club sites if any, Bingham had 2 and very pleasant they were.
"but as told to me when we went ,there were some major issues "
as told to you !, but you and yours are staunch CAMC members who i guess never venture very far from club sites and expect all sites to have similar standards, and i agree club standards are very good, but some people dont mind roughing it a little bit, we certainly dont, so yes Bingham Grange was not club standard but we have used sites a lot worse than Bingham Grange.
But all this is academic, now, the club will as i said Sterilise the place and spoil what i thought was a very good site, we still visit the area at least once per year because we love it, but have moved to another commercial site which hopefully the club will not get their hands on
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I think I will. leave it for you to , live In the world of what you consider "functioning well"?
We were there in July 2018 and the staff both cc and still some from the previous owners, were quite aware of the problems that the club had accepted as temporary untill they could all be done although the pitch problems on the top part were being addressed as best they could at the time
And when noted at sites that have been recently refurbished with one or two almost standard facilties block ,that can be made to what is required at each site it will save a lot of money
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I noticed from one of the reviews that a recent visitor mentioned it would be closed for refurbishment next year although there is no mention of this on the site page. The site clearly has a lot of serious issues according to the reviews. The Club will of course make it look like a "Club Site" that is what they do and what I would suggest the majority of Club members want. If Club sites were that awful they would be empty all the time but the opposite is the case.
David
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The silence on these improvements is deafening. Clumber Park is supposed to be closing at the beginning of October for a major refurbishment. It is shown as closed on the booking page after this date. However, the site details page makes no mention and still shows open all year and prices to go along with this.
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It is according to the manager closing for refurbishment with two new facilities blocks (no restaurant) as is Scarborough West Ayton with one Big toilet block and more serviced and super pitches, and now Bridport ,seems as if it is one in. each area managers patch and then there is LMP. plus of course Carnon Downs will be cc complete next year, and maybe another new site in Yorkshire
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"so the few naysayers must be well out in the cold"
not at all, there are thousands of sites out there from CL's to Commercials which dont resemble a car park, which are preferred by thousands of people, yes the club is succesfull with what it provides but it is not the only organisation that provides camping and carvanning holidays.
"The site clearly has a lot of serious issues according to the reviews."
not read them but more than likely from club members who arrived expecting to find a Club site with facilities you find on most club sites, Bingham Grange is not that site, maybe the club should have added a caveat to the booking page
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A nearby commercial touring site we've used over the years has been turned into a lodge / holiday home (previously known as mobile homes, then statics) field. Hence we were delighted to find Bingham Grange on the CAMC list and take advantage of the ability to make a deposit free booking we could cancel at 72 hours notice if required.
On our recent visit BG was pretty well full. We noted no serious issues. However, if there were serious issues the LA / Fire Brigade / Health authority surely would have served improvement / enforcement / closure notices on a legion of grounds. As were are going again at half term and have no formal notification of any such serious issues as we reasonably expect from a bona fide enterprise running a leisure business, perhaps the social media experts are incorrect in their evaluations of serious.
Thus far on our peak summer holidays we have not seen the oft referred full CAMC sites, far from it, considering the social media reports of rammed packed sites. Off again today to 2 sites. Wonder how full they will be? One we only booked last weekend that indicates they aren't rammed full. We've chosen them as they don't look like car parks from the site pages, there appear large areas of greenery and grass pitches.
Happy camping, hopefully.
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Perhaps when redesigning, consideration could be made for a "dump & fill" facility adjacent to the entrance for passing motorhomes.
Oh, I forgot. CAMC was just a change of name, not a change of policy.
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I read this article today "eastern daily express" it raises an old chestnut which i was not going to do, but it would appear what you allude to is becoming more of a problem
but not sure your solution would be applicable to Bingham Grange as there is a very long drive way down to the site which is not really condusive to having MH's travelling back and forth to empty whatever, unless of course the club change the layout considerably.p.s. off for the weekend, but will view this post with interest when i return
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Increasing numbers of motorhome owners illegally "wild camping" in car parks across North Norfolk has been blamed for blocking public toilets and incorrectly disposing of waste.
Wild camping is illegal in most of England, and overnight stays in North Norfolk District Council's car parks are prohibited with motorhome owners instead encouraged to make use of the area's many campsites.
But the number of motorhomes and caravans using certain car parks on the coast has been described as "beyond ridiculous".
In recent weeks NNDC has received increasing reports of motorhome owners staying overnight in public car parks and emptying wastewater into public toilets, said to be causing blockages.
Motorhomes have been reported parking up in car parks at Weybourne, East Runton, Overstrand, Cart Gap and Sea Palling."
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Of Course, reviewers in the main, will be members used to the regular standard that the Club offers and will make a judgement accordingly. That is probably why they are more clear minded what needs to happen to improve the site rather that those with a misty eyed view of things. Seemingly the complaints are, poor quality toilet blocks, inadequate motorhome waste point, insufficient waste water disposal at the lower level, small pitches. When the Club buys a site it is always going to refurbish it in a time honoured manner and we should all expect that. Perhaps those that don't like that should ponder of the possibility that had someone else purchased the site there would have been a pretty high risk that the touring element would disappear altogether? Hopefully they will reinstate the restaurant?
David
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I understand that another problem is that some of the buildings that were to be used as part of the upgrade have been condemned
As you say the "misty eyed view "of some it seems is not what the site was really like, and just goes to show what poor facilities some would accept
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just out of interest apart from the CCC do many other large commercial sites offer this?
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The new late availability page does not now show how many pitches are available ,it could be only one as two bookings we have made now show full for some of the days out of the time we booked
As for "improvement orders?" it doesn't mean that the facility cannot carry on ,trading,
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I think sometimes people feed you duff info, could it possibly be that in reality when the club and the builders responsible for the upgrade when looking at the prospects of re-vamping some very old buildings, which if i remember some were stone built, decided it would be more practical to condem the lot and restart from scratch, seems more plausible to me
afterall the previous owners would have had a licence from the LC to operate and probably underwent frequent inspections especially as they had quite recently added additional pitches. I would take with a pinch of salt some of the things your warden friends tell you over a wee dram in the evenings maybe ,incidentally did the club purchase the houses that are adjacent to the site, I think the owners also had some sort of small holding adjacent to the site ?
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