Wouldn't it be great?
When we started caravanning over 30 years ago and for many years after we could treat trips out with the caravan very spontaneously. If the weather forecast was good for the weekend or if we were at a loose end we could decide midweek to go away on the Friday evening after work and leave the site late Sunday afternoon. Wouldn't it be great if we could return to that sort of situation? One where we wouldn't have to book a long time in advance and make it a very short stay and one where we didn't have to do things by a long standing timetable.
What we need to look at is how was that former situation possible and is there any way that it could be replicated today? The nearest thing to it is probably to use CLs, something that we are doing far more of these days but there must be other ways, I just haven't thought of them yet.
I know this is Utopia but as they say, "where there is a will there is a way". It just needs someone to figure it out.
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With the huge increase in leisure vehicles (including tents) without a massive investment by all park operators in pitches,that will not happen in popular areas, ,it is still quite easy to find sites that can still be accesed most of the time of year, the easy way we find to check is by useing the clubs late availability page ,if a site has pitches at the w/ends there is a 99% chance it will be even less busy at other times
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It is and on the whole we do it, always have done. The trick is to keep an open mind, don't limit your options, and don't be afraid to try something and somewhere new!
You might get a Club Site, you can always find a CL, CS or small private site. Use lots of website options. Phone and check if you are not sure.
But above all break free of the Club Site mentality. It will still be there when all you can manage is to park in a row, plug into a serviced pitch, shuffle around site at a sedate pace. In the meantime, go for it, live slightly closer to the edge! There is a fantastic touring world out there, CC is only a very tiny part of it.
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I think the club have tried to figure this out with the late availability function & also the phone app that lets you search for available sites within whatever distance you want of your current location. There were nowhere near the current volume of leisure vehicles 30 years ago & with the recent prediction of 70000+ by the end of this year, the only way things will improve will be to increase the number of sites. To this end, the club should be focusing on building new ones instead of taking over existing council run or private sites.
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It is quite difficult to get permission for sites Les and has been made more difficult now that many councils are using every spare bit of land for housing development.
The Chairman of the Club was asked a similar question (if I remember correctly is was more specifically with regards to Essex and Suffolk) at the Central Region Question time last Saturday. He confirmed how difficult it was and quoted one example when the Club thought it had found a suitable site in Essex. When they went to look at the land they had to have a police escort because of the strength of feeling from local residents. Needless to say, the Club withdrew the idea.
The Club are always on the lookout for suitable locations for sites, but there are many factors than can work against such plans - including the strength of opposition from locals.
David
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Not a problem. We are avid vaners and never book more than2 days in advance. Even on a month long trip in Scotland will only book the first night after a long M way trip. Be flexible and it can still be done on the spur of the moment. We use all sorts of sites and dont have a club mentality.
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John, I cannot understand your mentality saying that you cannot get on CC sites at last minute due to high usage. Surely if this was the case the management would not be striving to change what you appear to evidence as a successful product that has a shortage of pitches rather than prospective customers. One of you must be wrong John
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John,
One simple answer, its called Europe never book move on when we feel like and stay as long or as little as we want, just pay for stay on departure when you collect your passport used to secure your stay.
It really feels like a different world. We meet friends every August in Brighton and need to book within the first few hours of the booking system opening. It is worse than trying to book tickets to a newly released ABBA concert. Our friends in Europe look in disbelief when we tell them.
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And that is precisely what we have done most years since 1993. Only for the first couple of years did we book anywhere, (through the club) but since then it has been book the ferry and a CL near Dover for the outward and return journeys and then just follow our nose with only a general rough idea of where we wanted to end up. It is the impossibility of spontaneously booking a relatively close CC site for a weekend away that I miss. Yes, I know that we might get a late booking pitch but that is always a 'might'.
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If as stated so many times by numerous posters , if the uk had the space of some other european countries and an equivalent population per acre then the situation would be much improved ,but then this thread is concerned with the high use of sites in the uk
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Really? All I see is commercial sites doing away with touring pitches so they can site more statics and create more profit.
It's a good job we've got clubs catering for tourers (of all types), don't you think?
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We used to just turn up but found it harder and harder to be sure o9f a pitch so have had to give up on this. Having said that if you do not count bank holidays there are always sites with spare capacity but you have to be less choosy as to where you go.
I tend to agree that most commercial sites are trying to go for statics with a more secure income stream but there are many others out there where you are still welcome.
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