Booking a hard standing pitch

yes +1. All I'm bothered about is what is in my pitch and can I enjoy my time away on it. Also bothered about clean and good showers, but after that what the site looks like is not even on my list of things that affect the holiday.

Maybe those that complain about the car park effect or whatever spend much of their time on site?  For us if it's summer we're off site till after 6, if its winter it's too dark to notice.

I recall doing an overnight on a site in middle England some years ago where the whole site was concrete, marked out with paint. It has previously been an airfield and the pitches were all on the former runway.

I wonder if it is still there?

sites that look like car parks (those with acres of gravel) will look like car parks irrespective of how long one spends on them.

Like many others, we spend most of each day away from the site, but this doesnt change the 'look' of a site. an unattractive site is just that...

they might look like meadows, but grass pitches shouldnt look like car parks.....how many town car parks are grass?

most of them are gravel or other forms of HS.

If the club swapped white lines for their white pegs, the job would be complete....and perhaps fees could be collected with a parking meter at the entrance

good aesthetic design is no more difficult to acheive than its poor equivalent.....gravel rectangles are not at all attractive and do they really do more than a decently drained grass pitch during most of 'the season' when, of course, we have our wonderful weather?

i pitched (for one night) on a gravel pitch in January at Chapel Lane, the weather then was pretty dry and this HS wasn't a necessity.

the surface was basically large chippings which are not nice to walk or sit on.

compare this to last week at Wareham/Furzebrook with all grass beautifully mown field, step out of the van without shoes, sit around, tend the BBQ, pour the drinks etc all without fear of stepping on a sharp stone....much more like the camping experience i like for the time we are on site.

as Steve (and others) suggests, perhaps getting the pitch ratio right just need the price ratio right to ensure the take up ratio is correct.

Melrose is one of our favourite sites, I think that area you are talking about is possibly down in the area behind reception?

One time we were there it had been very wet, the downhill side of our HS pitch was flooded, and there were huge puddles on the tarmac bit.  Took a while to drain away!

As you have not had a caravan BB, you will not be aware that it can sometimes be difficult to position the van precisely  on the pitch just by using the car.

With a long outfit and narrow site roads, this becomes even more difficult, especially if there are cars or vans near the road on opposite pitches,  even though I am perfectly capable of reversing the van reasonably accurately. 

With easy access and a gravel pitch I can more or less reverse exactly to the peg.

The van weighs 1900kg, we cannot move it by hand, that is why we use a mover.  Being a twin axle, when it turns it  can do a lot of damage to grass, especially  if the ground is soft, and the mover losing grip on wet, muddy wheels does not help . There is also the motion of the jockey wheel to consider, and the fact that there will be a load approaching 100kg on it.  It does not take long for it to get stuck on soft ground.   I prefer not to cause damage to pitches.

There is no problem when moving on gravel, or any other hard surface, including baked soil.

I think the ones at BHF may be gone then, they were extensively reorganising part of the ferry pitch area last year, in conjunction with building a new reception building.

youre absolutely right Alan

but, i dont get how a damp pitch (caused by a 'heavy dew') makes it u suitable when its the slippage of a mover thats the issue rather than the slippage anywhere on the pitch.

a wet pitch may be 'unsuitable' for Kjell, for the reasons he cites, but my point is it doesnt warrant the removal of 'damp pitches' from service, nor for them to replaced by more gravel areas post haste.

in winter time, when grass pitches do get towads an 'insuitable (for all) state, they are taken out of service, but at a time when demand is far lower and the (say) 20% reduction in capacity is generally not an issue due to reduced demand at that time of year.

agreed, AD, back to 'booking a HS pitch'.....

in a nutshell, if the club deems it desrable to provide choice on  awning/non awning bookings for its members, (without this confusing them nor having a detrimental effect on bookings) it seems perfectly logical to extend that choice to members with regard to HS/grass.

the resons given by the club for the failure to proceed with the implementation pf the HS/grass choice, could equally be applied to the awning/non situation, yet not a squeak on this front.

I am happy to take pot luck but don't think the wardens are too happy to see me go on grass. If it is really wet or going to be you have the choice to go elsewhere after all you haven't a deposit to loose.

peedee