Expensive CL's
ive just been reading the link sent from the club re CL of the year. From £17 or even £19 a night?
When most vans have full facilities why do we have so many of this type of site? What about the quiet, peaceful site with a tap, bins and toilet disposal.
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Not everyone has a full facility van and some people obviously like "this type of site". They are clearly filling a need or they wouldn't survive.
More basic sites are available. Just choose what suits you and leave the others for those who want them. There's room for all types.
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Each to their own, Steve. There is at least one thread running here about going off grid and the basic sites are out there.
I repeat, not everyone has the full facilities on board so spare them a thought.
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Maybe they should have a Category , if there isn't one already, for best basic CL. Think a winner last year is £12 per night.
As long as we have Electric for OH breathing machine, can even be 6 amp, we are happy with no toilet or showers. But more and more caravanners want the facilities so less are using these cheaper CL's which drive them out of business.
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When cl s charge this much You might as well just go to a club site . Unless it is in high season . There are some very nice commercial sites just as cheap . I use a few cl s with but only if they have an easy access . We do like toilets and showers , but some are charging so much now that in low season both clubs can work out cheaper .
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This was discussed recently on another good post. I suppose CL's that have existed for years have recouped their initial investment, but newer CL's have had to invest heavily paying for the property and fitting it out as the modern vanner wants and therefore needs to charge high prices to recoup their investment.
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We use Cls and CS's most of the time and are quite happy to pay that sort of money - just for the space, the tranquility, relaxed atmosphere and absence of 'elf 'n safety notices everywhere!
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We use CL'S quite regularly and don't mind paying a bit extra for a good CL, or one in an area we really want to stay, we do like EHU, but don't need anything else.
These days with prices increasing, I think CL'S have to increase their prices just to cover their additional costs involved.
We have a local CL that for us with a dog & using an awning would be £27.50 per night.😮 It does seem to be well used.
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Thee does seem to be a trend of pricing themselves out of the market. Over the last 4 years we have not used a Cl when visiting the Lleyn peninsular for example as commercials provide better
facilities and pricing n the "off season". They may be busy in July/Aug but I wonder what happens at other times. Overcrowding is another problem at peak times though I have a lot of sympathy with the need to maximise income in a short period. We have found Pembokshire area very similar but in Scotland with fewer Cls not so bad. Little experience of England so no comment. The competition is fierce and all we need is EHU and Hardstandings in winter. I am afraid the trend to fewer Cls will continue.
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There are all sorts of CLs out there, Steve, ranging from the most basic to those providing whatever facilities the customer requires. As far as price is concerned it's all a question of what the site provides and what the alternatives are in the area. One of our favourite CLs was £20 a night last year - that's for a HS, serviced pitch, awning, wifi and dogs inclusive and there's a toilet and shower as well. And outstanding open views across the valley to the hills. The alternative would be a commercial site ( statics and all) just down the road surrounded by trees and very gloomy at £35 a night or the other club's site down in the town with no views for £24 a night. For us the choice is obvious. I think it's unreasonable to expect CL owners to provide what they do and survive without charging a reasonable price.
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Whilst some of the expensive ones do look really nice, we always go for the cheaper ones with the view that the cheaper it is, the more often we can afford to go away and spend on meals out locally.
We do like our TV on an evening so we tend to go EHU in the winter and no facilities in the summer. We use facilities in our van.
We never pay more than £5-£7.50 for basic and £10-£12 for EHU. We never have trouble finding these in lovely locations although it does take a little time. Although we are mostly up north, we still managed to find these prices in Cambridge and Brighton when we were down south last year.
I don't know how true this is, on a site once someone told me that the site owner had told him that they were being encouraged to raise the prices by the club (although he had chosen not to). Perhaps this is the reason why a lot of new openers are charging more than the prices we usually pay. We have looked at a lot of new openers in the North Yorks area but they are usually £14-£18. We think why bother trying them when there are other perfectly lovely ones for less. It may only be a couple of quid but it all mounts up if we are away most weekends. However, each to their own, so long as there are these CLs we will keep being a member (we've never stayed at a club sigh and only 2 small commercials).
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The problem is that many vanners using CL's demand all the bling of a full fat Club Site on the cheap. I don't blame CL owners for charging close to club site prices for an all singing all dancing CL.
As said earlier, there are CL's to suit everybody so pay for the type which suits your preference. There are thankfully still loads of CL's for vanners who prefer to use their own facilities.
So pay the rate for the CL --- If you don't think it's value for money, go to a Club Site.
K
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I'm not sure the words "bling" and "club site" belong in the same sentence, K!
For us, location comes first every time and then if there is a good looking CL in the area it's the fact that, in most cases you're assured peace and quiet with only 4 other units at most. And, yes, although we have stayed at "basic" sites in the past and would do again for a stop over, we would choose a site with a loo and shower if we were staying for any length of time because in our small van the shower is used as a storage area. Not sure that counts as "all singing, all dancing" though!
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It does make you wonder sometimes why there is such a huge difference in CL charges, we have paid as little as £10 pn up to £15 for a site with only EHU. There has also been little difference in the standard of cl.
1tracey1 I have also spoken to a CL owner who was "advised "by the club to charge more, he wanted to charge £10 but was "advised" to look at charging a bit more.
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Of course the CC may have another reason for advising CL owners to charge a little more and that could be in order not to show just how expensive club sites are.. I have not stayed on a club site for over 3 years now. Dumped them once the started to exceed £20pn.
I am still finding that the average price for an EHU equipped CL is mainly sub £15, some are still as cheap as £10. Why pay more? This is supposed to be an inexpensive hobby!
TF
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It is a relatively inexpensive hobby.. Not everybody has the latest twin axle caravan or tag axle motorhome. Some vanners have deep pockets and others have a huge credit limit. What people have and how they pay for it is their business alone.
The thread is about CL prices. --The bottom line is, you pay for what you consider good value for money. Some will want a CL with all the bells and whistles and some will want a basic CL-.if the price is right go for it , if not go elsewhere. Simples !
K
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Caravanning can be inexpensive - I once bought a caravan for £700 and towed it with a Rover 214, holidaying with my two young children. However, these days you can spend an arm and a leg and it clearly isn't cheap.
We prefer CLs and am happy to pay the £17 to £19 for the correct CL. All we want is elec, water and peace and quiet. The latter being missing on most Club sites bar North York Moors which is quiet I presume because it doesn't have a toilet block in site!
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Yes, if your reason for using a CL is price, but mine is the exclusivity of just five vans on a site so I am not looking out at a load of tin boxes. I am happy to pay more for that five vans only, which is why I get so wound up when people say what does it matter if there are more.
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I've been involved with running a Scout camp for 20 years but the cost of third party liability insurance has more than trebled in the past 3 years (no claims made) and the H&S , Supervision (Duty of Care) and Risk Assessment requirements are very onerous, to the point where this year's event is in doubt. No doubt this is a cost/responsibility increase that has affected CL owners too.
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Just about sums up my thoughts too Moulesy.
Contrary to what some have posted re basic sites, my searches for CLs in a chosen area throw up more sites without facilities than those with. If I want a site with a shower and a toilet then I expect to pay more, it will still be much less than the nearest club site.
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We haven't used that many CL's but the ones we have were around £12 - £14 no toilet/showers but they did have EHU and pleasant outlooks.
I would think that the prices on some CL's will have had to go up in price due to the modern need for everything electric being used in the vans, you only have to read other threads to see how 'greedy' some folk are with electric. There must be times when the owners make very little from what they charge.
We would use more but with a MH its not always easy unless you are prepared to drive it off site most days to explore, some of them are way off the beaten track. Which is off course is why others love them.
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tg, youre right about the location of some CLs but one of the advantages of not having to have planning permission for them is that they can be put in places where a full blown site can't be placed....sometimes (often) this can be quite close to towns....easy walking or cycling distance.
we have a few like this we us regularly...and with the C&CC also having a selection of CSs there the chance that there will be something 'handy'
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In fairness, TG, I don't think there are an awful lot of comments indicating that folk are "greedy" with electric (I can probably count them on the fingers of less than two hands!) and I certainly doubt that those of us who regularly use CLs fall into that category.
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We have a meter for our CL and the DD is £315, we have a separate meter for our shower block and that is £60, in winter a single caravan may use £6 of electric per day or more, unfortunately this is why CL's are beginning to charge what they do, as you know this is only one of many charges that CL's now face, our home insurance has doubled as it is now classed as a business, if CL's do not get the foot fall to cover all of these fixed costs they will close. Before you say that you only need basic CL's with no amenities we were and we were empty, the more facilities we offer the fuller we are, but this all comes at an additional cost to ourselves.
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