Pay extra for towing a car

Merve - as you know from our exchanges in the past  I respect your views, and particularly the work you've put into promoting off grid vanning.

But I think you've got this slightly wrong - there is a place for all kinds of sites and all kinds of CLs. Many basic ones provide exactly what you like at a very low price, but others, and these are the ones we prefer, provide facilities every bit as good as club or commercial sites but on a smaller scale. The site near Clitheroe which I mentioned is a particularly good example - £20 for a maximum of 5 vans on a site with HS serviced pitches, toilet & shower, wifi, dogs and awning included. And with the views I've mentioned. This has clearly taken considerable investment and I don't think the owners could in any way be described as money grabbing. For us the alternatives would have been a large commercial site (complete with statics, bar and clubhouse) about 400 yards down the road, surrounded by trees so no view at just under double what we paid for the CL or the C&CC site down in the town itself which would have been just over £25 a night even with the age concession and not including the wifi.

Surely everyone has their own idea of what makes a site one they'd chose and this blanket statement that £20 is ludicrous for a CL is too simplistic.

Long may the variety in sites continue.

I agree with you 100% M. I wasn’t saying that fully kitted CLs are not wanted- of course they are and personally I’m very pleased they are! They are obviously wanted due to the fact that Club sites exist🤣🤣. No, what I was saying was that if a CL owner or someone who wanted to start a CL didn’t want to go to the expense and investment that the more ‘up market’ CLs do, then there is plenty of scope to do it cheaper and I wasn’t (clumsily) saying that CL owners are grab grab grab, of course, if they have made huge investment in time and money they have to charge for that and it has to be said- the ongoing maintenance of the site which is going to be far more that the basic site which is virtually self maintenance. So if I have offended any CL owners then I apologise without reservation- the market place will determine what they can charge. What does concern me though is the rapid closure of CLs- what’s the reason behind it?? Money??

For instance, a new site in Norfolk a couple of years ago was charging something I believe around £25- the next book it was £16! That must have been a reality check don’t you think?  When CLs started of course there were no full fat CLs- it was just a field with a tap and disposal point but things have moved on considerably and folk like it so good luck to them. I have no need for full fat as my fat is on the van- and I’m not talking about the OH! I have a shower, I have a loo etc etc. A beautiful site, natural and uncrowded is my choice. It just happens that at £5-£8 a night, it’s a win win for me. Yes, I can afford full fat CLs but why would I pay £20 a night for what I would consider very little extra because I already have what they are offering? - having no kids at home now and no dogs - just me and the Mrs. So, as you say, there is room for every type of site- the market determines it. Perhaps what I should have said instead of about money I should have said at one time it wasn’t about shower blocks, loos , shops. WiFi and goodness knows what else. I apologise again.

And that is precisely my point, David. Many CLs are nowadays providing those facilities - the point I was making is that your blanket statement that £20 is ludicrous for a CL takes no account of the fact that things have moved on over the years. The sort of site you and Merve are referring to doesn't charge that amount.

For the record, we have in the last couple of months stayed at 3 different CLS,  all with very good toilet/shower facilities and paid between £14 and £16 a night, but price is not a primary consideration - locality comes first and then if a CL charges £20 compared to a club or commercial site ranging from £30 to £40 which would you choose?

So say next year the club site is £30 and the CL £20 - which would you choose then?

Good diversion, David! 

But my point was that if those were the only 2 alternatives in the area (I'm thinking of the example I gave earlier ) would you be prepared to pay the £20 then?

Of course there would have to be a bit of negotiation ! What discount do you offer for me not using your electricity? 🤣🤣🤣

RP does represent good value if you are interested in seeing York, if you have invested in the touring outfit of course. We had an interesting chat with a couple of Northern Irish chaps while we were there, they wanted to see more of Yorkshire, and were querying whether or not to do it from RP. We passed on lots of nice cheaper CLs and private sites for NY Moors and Dales area, they were in a small VW, so very mobile. 

We use CLs at a wide range of prices, some as low as £3, but we won't go higher than £20 if we can help it. In Winter, Club Sites that stay open are often much better value than CLs, especially mid week. There are some very nice looking CLs with lots of extras, but we just don't get the value as we mainly use our own facilities, and aren't always bothered about having wifi.