What makes a good family site?
In another thread I made the statement that if you ignored location there were only a handful of Club sites you could consider suitable for families. That got me thinking was I right? The Club labels 107 Club owned sites in this category leaving about 60 that aren't. Looking at the 107 I wouldn't agree with them all. What makes a good family site? To me, in the summer months, first and foremost it was the site facilities and the immediate surrounding area. (walking distance) What was available further afield was definitely secondary. On that basis I would definitely rule out many of the 107 sites. Am I missing something?
peedee
Comments
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I can think of only three Club sites where we took our children - Godrevy for the beaches, York for the museums, and Crystal Palace for London. Location is everything. Sites are just somewhere to park.
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Surely when you visit a new area on holiday, one of the interests is to go out and about and enjoy what the surrounding area has to offer. The sites themselves are just somewhere to park the van as accommodation.
We can walk cycle or drive to tour the area depending how far away the attractions are from the site.
Motorhomers can leave the site and tour easily - Just unplug the orange cable and go. You have your kitchen and toilet with you.
Caravanners use their towcars but have to find public toilets or a handy hedge when out and about.
There are few sites which do not have places of interest for both adults and children within 20 miles.
K
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Surely when you visit a new area on holiday, one of the interests is to go out and about and enjoy what the surrounding area has to offer. The sites themselves are just somewhere to park the van as accommodation.
K
. That depends on the interest of the children, if children are not happy on a holiday, they can make it pretty miserable for the parents! Mine were into swimiming and beaches so in many respects my experiences of caravanning with children were similar to Eurotraveller although it was easy for me to travel into London by train on day tickets.
peedee..
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Surely it depends on what your own family thinks makes a good site?
If the family holiday consists of the whole family doing things together - walking, cycling, exploring, going to the beach etc - then many CC sites are absolutely fine - and a good deal more affordable than some others when families want to use them.
On the ther hand if your idea of a family holiday is to have entertainment laid on and rarely setting foot off site, maybe CC sites aren't for you - but expect to pay for the priviledge of staying at that all singing/all dancing site.
Both types of holiday are fine - what suits some won't suit others - you pays your money and you makes your choice!
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No my children as teenagers didn't want all singing/all dancing sites - they were just happy somewhere with chair lifts into the mountains, walking on glaciers, canoeing down rapids, campsites with bonfires, toasting themselves in the sun, beaches with
surf, and big open air swimming pools. Club sites never quite cut the mustard - altogether too sedate for them, and still so today for me.0 -
Actual sites facilities weren't that important in our trips, a playarea was a bonus but they didn't spend a lot of time there, maybe 10 minutes a day, a play room was better in the colder/wetter months but then a good fews games of table tenis and that would be it. The fact that we were away together and played with them was the main thing on site. What really made a family site was the local area, the lakes was great for 'adventures' and they enjoyed any castle (the more ruined the better) or NT type properties we could visit. Beaches, waterways, boats, paddling, visitor centers... But it was always nice to come back to the van and have what they called 'camping site meat' (any meat in a tin) for dinner. Many happy memories.
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A good site? One in a location which enabled us to explore hills and dales, or the occasional stately home or castle, and had a decent play area (sometimes a large field was enough just to play ball or fly a kite). As Mouleasy says, every family has different
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