Serviced Grass Pitches
As a family new to caravanning our preference in the dry season is for a serviced pitch, just water supply and grey waste drainage rather than a CDP as on some super serviced pitches. No need for the carrying of water and waste containers.
So far haven't found one on CC sites.
We used a serviced HS (50) at Littlehampton CC site the other weekend. There are several grass pitches that abutt at the rear with serviced HS pitches ie 52, 53, 59-62 and 68-70. It would be minor works to put extra taps on the water point and grid on the
drains to make these serviced grass pitches for dry season use and would make us want to book them.
Littlehampton can't be the only site with an easy method to provide serviced grass pitches.
So what do others think of serviced grass pitches, what sites do you know of that have abutting grass pitches to existing HS serviced pitches that could easily be converted at considerably less cost than digging up perfectly good grass pitches and tarmaccing
over, as it were. As the example with Littlehampton it appeared well occupied but not full so no need to convert grass to HS for the winter.
Comments
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Could it be that CC often takes grass pitches out of use during the wetter months so a grass serviced pitch wouldn't reach its full potential of use?
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Could it be that CC often takes grass pitches out of use during the wetter months so a grass serviced pitch wouldn't reach its full potential of use?
As in my post, for the dry season, enhancing the grass pitch offering where easy to do to attract the new breed of family caravanners.
The water supply and drain are already there just takes a tap splitter, no great investment to recover for the bean counters and offers competetive advantage.
The main advantage, it keeps the girls happy so they don't run out of water in the shower!! Got to consider these things for a quiet holiday
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An interesting post but due to weather conditions grass pitches are often taken out of use in winter by many providers so serviced grass pitches IMHO would be an unnecessary expense for pitches that cannot be used to their full potential all year round.
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Good idea KS, cheap to fit & a possible good return
. Choice is king, the more choice the more happy campers. No size fits all in the 21st century
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If there is the opportunity to increase service pitches so easily it would help prove once and for all whether folk booked them to guarantee a HS.
I wouldn't be interested in a grass service pitch and in fact it would probably put me off booking one at all as I could end up paying even more to end up on grass.
(But I do believe that the club should be matching customer expectations as far as they can so if there is a demand then they should look into it. Commercial sites and the C&CC get me what I need in the summer months so I have little interest in CC sites
which don't)0 -
One of the implications of doing it, unless you can book pitch surface type, is that you would not know what sort of service pitch you would end up with. We prefer to be on hardstanding. As long as you get to a site early you stand a good chance of getting one. However, service pitches are less numerous and popular. So there would be a fair chance of a HS one not being available and we would end up on grass.
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many commercials offer water (and sometimes drainage) on grass pitches. it would be usual for their HS to also be serviced.
the serviced pitch seems to be a very common baseline on many of the commercials we have used....not that we need/want them, but they tend to come with the territory.
the SPs on CC sites seem popular for many reasons (one being the HS 'thing') so why arent there more?
seems a no brainer as far as investment is concerned if they sell like hot cakes.
however, not everyone wants one i guess and its always good to have choice, as Rocky says...so, perhaps half and half might be the right level?
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One of the implications of doing it, unless you can book pitch surface type, is that you would not know what sort of service pitch you would end up with. We prefer to be on hardstanding. As long as you get to a site early you stand a good chance of getting
one. However, surface pitches are less numerous and popular. So there would be a fair chance of a HS one not being available and we would end up on grass.....bit this is the downside of more 'types' to choose from, a smaller supply of each type.
we cant have it both ways.
hence many commercials will have a specific pitch type on their booking system, so ypu will actually know what youve booked.
cc could easily do the same, they would just need to be more specific....HS/SP or Grass/SP.
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I agree with JS, if I am paying extra for a serviced pitch, I would also want it to be HS.
but this might not be the true full customer demand....
as has been mentioned many times, including the above posts, some go for an SP just to get a HS.
similarly, some may like their grass pitches to be serviced....
it just seems odd to me that, we see this demand mentioned on a regular basis and the Club even went through the trial process, yet we (the customers) still cant actually book what we (collectively and differently) want....assuming we all have to have ehu..
a grass serviced pitch....say, £3 premium
a HS serviced pitch.....say, £5 premium
a grass pitch, no services....basic price
a HS pitch, no services...£2 premium
is this such a difficult thing to manage?
(probably, as the price differences would break the system.....)
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The return on the investment into the services, whatever that might be is going to be more limited as a grass pitch can't take the attrition of the HS. I suspect that limited return on the investment is the reason why these are not offered as no doubt the club seeks to optimise its return where it sees that opportunity.
In one way it does not add choice, it removes it by reducing pitches available to those not bothered about doing their own water filling and removal. It is much like the C&CCs provision of EHUs has taken so many otherwise lovely pitches from those who don't need it.
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a grass serviced pitch....say, £3 premium
a HS serviced pitch.....say, £5 premium
a grass pitch, no services....basic price
a HS pitch, no services...£2 premium
is this such a difficult thing to manage?
(probably, as the price differences would break the system.....)
If they were priced based on maintenance and how long they are available, grass and HS prices should be the other way round.
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I agree with JS, if I am paying extra for a serviced pitch, I would also want it to be HS.
but this might not be the true full customer demand....
as has been mentioned many times, including the above posts, some go for an SP just to get a HS.
similarly, some may like their grass pitches to be serviced....
it just seems odd to me that, we see this demand mentioned on a regular basis and the Club even went through the trial process, yet we (the customers) still cant actually book what we (collectively and differently) want....assuming we all have to have ehu..
a grass serviced pitch....say, £3 premium
a HS serviced pitch.....say, £5 premium
a grass pitch, no services....basic price
a HS pitch, no services...£2 premium
is this such a difficult thing to manage?
(probably, as the price differences would break the system.....)
I don't disagree with this type of arrangement but as the CC has discontinued the HS trial I can't see it happening.
As I see it customer demand has been to be able to choose and book pitch surface type. We aren't going to be able to do it.
There have been requests for more serviced pitches. I see no harm in putting grass ones in if it is cheap and easy to do as the OP has pointed out. From my point of view I won't be booking service pitches because the probability of getting a grass one
is going to be higher. Some may value the provision of services higher than the guarantee of a HS. May as well please some people!0 -
It is just my personal opinion but grass pitches will eventually become a thing of the past. They have no part to play in a now all year round activity. New sites are now all hard standing, more and more grass pitches are being converted to HS. They are
easier to maintain, and can be used all year round and hence make money all year round.On sites that have a mixture its the HS ones that get taken up before the grass ones even in summer. Service pitches get taken up even quicker on bookings (yes that could be as there are fewer of them).
So to answer the OP, it's a no from me.
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From OP’s 2nd post. IMHO not a valid reason
The main advantage, it keeps the girls happy so they don't run out of water in the shower!! Got to consider these things for a quiet holiday
Why can't they simply make sure there is enough water and volume in the waste and if not sort these out before showering?
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It is just my personal opinion but grass pitches will eventually become a thing of the past. They have no part to play in a now all year round activity. New sites are now all hard standing, more and more grass pitches are being converted to HS. They are
easier to maintain, and can be used all year round and hence make money all year round.On sites that have a mixture its the HS ones that get taken up before the grass ones even in summer. Service pitches get taken up even quicker on bookings (yes that could be as there are fewer of them).
So to answer the OP, it's a no from me.
I agree in general terms although there are a few sites where the drainage is so good that the grass does not get damaged nor in most cases muddy based on what I have personally experienced. These sites are, however, few and far between
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As I understand it, with grass pitches the wardens have some leeway to move peg positions/take some pitches out of service if the grass gets too damaged.
If services are provided this would make moving the pitch position more difficult, people would be complaining that taps and drains were too far away!
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It does seem quite puzzling that when the Club build a new site from scratch that they don't supply taps to all pitches, even if it were one tap between two pitches. Technically they would not be serviced pitches and it would be difficult to charge a premium which is getting quite large at £4 a night for the current serviced pitches and perhaps a reason why they don't!!!
I did think there were a few grass serviced pitches at Belper but have these been converted to hardstanding?
David
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Was it Belper? Wherever it was, I think you are correct in saying they are now hardstandings.
We used a serviced pitch at Belper, the ones down the hill. The taps there are in pairs between 2 pitches, but the drains are individual because of the slope across the pitching area.
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Thanks for the varying responses.
The comment about the girls did include an emojee.
The object of a serviced pitch regardless of base is to remove the fetch and carry of water and wastewater surely. That was a point in our decision to change from MH to caravan. Having a decent shower in the caravan negates the need to use the on site facilities
for us.The girls and I prefer it that way. Recognise not all use onboard facilities.Summer camping is all about barefoot in the grass to us, and not sitting in a car park as on a HS. Wet season we tend not to sit out so for practical purposes a HS is ideal.
There doesn't appear a standard set up on serviced pitches in respect of drain point or tap point, so we use the length of hose with the waterflow unit and the caravan chronicles drain solution to give us scope to get to the drain.
Interesting how there is an acceptance of an additional per diem rate for anything over a basic pitch. As newcomers that comes as a surprise, but with the MH we just looked at a EHU price and didn't notice other options.
In my example of Littlehampton the water supply is already there, as are the drains. The grass pitches are out of use in the wet season, just seemed a logical progression to offer water and grey waste using the infrastructure in place with a minor addition
for those that want it in the summer. If the grass are converted to HS in the future would they also be converted to serviced by adding a tap and drain grid? Why wait? Or good heavens above provide it and not charge a high premium for it!! Break the mould,
be radical0 -
I doubt that the hard standings would all have services. Most do not appear to want them .......... or not at £4 a night. Particularly as many use the site facilities as I do and an aquaroll with perhaps a 10 litre top up will last the two of us for a 5
night stay with some to spare and the same with waste. So I would not wish to spend £20 to save me a 15mins filling aquaroll and emtying waste. If on a non facility site I am happy to use the van facilities.0 -
C&CC seem to have a much higher ratio of grass pitches than the CC and they generally work out fine.
You could argue that in the winter overall occupancy is lower and therefore any waterlogged grass pitches (serviced or not) could easily be taken out of service.
We prefer serviced pitches, but have always felt that the CCs £4pn additional charge for them was a bit excessive.
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