Does the perfect Site exist for you?
We have been tourers for well over 35 years now, in a variety of outfits. Down those years we have found some truly lovely sites that have suited our needs and requirements, and some we have returned to again and again. Others have been a once only visit, but never to be forgotten as they ended up being the perfect place for that holiday, at that time.
Happy to share a couple, but sadly the sites no longer exist as we found them, but it wouldn’t stop us going back and taking a peek at progress. First up was Yeate Farm, located in Bodinnick on the River Fowey, this was a small 30 pitch family run site that we stumbled upon on our first ever tour of SW many years ago. We stayed here many times a year, for many years, touring in a camper van, a tent, a caravan, and later in one of the lovely cottages also on site. This is now know as Penmarlam Caravan Site, and today is a much larger park, but still looks very nice. Second of our favourites was a Forestry Commission Site originally, often voted Britain’s favourite camp site, at Beddgelert in North Wales. You just pitched up on any flat space when we first visited, it had a large new central ablutions block in the middle of the site, but you could walk out in various directions and do some of the great North Wales walks, and stroll into Beddgelert itself. Taken over under the CCC umbrella, things became more organised (and more expensive
) but still a great location. Now undergoing a complete transformation and going to be more about log cabins, hopefully there might be a few touring pitches available.
I’m sure others will have memories of that perfect UK Site from years ago, perhaps reincarnated for the 21st Century, and hope will share.
Comments
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Possibly this one TDA, which has been our of favourites, not perfect for some as it's awkward to reach but over the years under two ownerships it was a haven.
Trevitha Farm CL
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I think favourite sites these days tend to be judged on what they provide rather than as a means to an end.
Back in the 90s when we first started I was running my own business in partnership. It was hard going and every weekdnd when not working we would hitch up and head somewhere within 2 hours that had excellent walking and scenery. Buxton and Kendal CC sites were visited quite a bit. They weren't "great" sites providing wonderful amenities but the chance to de-stress by exhausting ourselves on hills and in valleys reinvigorated us for the next week. We did spread ourselves about a bit but mostly on CC sites and holidays were spent abroad.
Upon retiring we started staying on CLs and Independent sites more and more as we had more time to explore the UK.
I must admit to still having a soft spot for Buxton. Caravanning has kept me fit and educated and I shall forever be grateful for the day we decided to buy one.
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Took a look brue, looks very like Yeate Farm, in its older days. Perhaps one for us next time down with MH. Interestingly, Club has nearest port down as Portsmouth, 30 miles away. I think not, it’s well over 200 miles away! 🤣🤣🤣
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I have never found a perfect site. I just choose ones which are in the right location and handily placed for places I want to visit. Some are good and some are good enough, but none are perfect, and I have never found a site I would visit as a destination in its own right.
My daughter on the other hand takes the other path and goes to sites from which she need never go outside the gate - sites with shops, restaurants, saunas, jacuzzis, multiple swimming pools, water slides, archery, rope walks in trees, staff to entertain a six year old, sports pitches, sports coaches, night time kids discos and second rate adult cabarets. I doubt if sites like that exist in the UK but when I ask her what it's like she says, You would hate it Dad.
So what's perfect?
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Perfection as always is in the eye of the beholder,and we have been useing Ferry Meadows site since the early 1980s and have watched it evolve ,and the journey to and from get easier, despite the increase in traffic it was our getaway site for weekends when working ,and meeting place with friends, and still is ,although some sadly longer with us,and ,cannot see it as ever being anything but a"perfect place with everything we need close by, and still a meeting place for those friends who can no longer stay over in their LVs
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Location was always been our prime method of choice. Had to be close to lots of things we like doing such as horse riding, walking, water sports, decent pubs, lots of history. But the kind of site that’s nice to have a sunbathe and a quiet read on as well. We enjoyed the great mix of nationalities as well, always something interesting happening, be it folks nattering about various boats, best places to fish, best beaches for this, that and the other. Mix of tents, vans and campers, sharing limited facilities gave the site a buzz, and folks soon became friends. We still see and hear from some of those friends made. Our kind of perfect at the time.
We never had to consider what children might like doing, but choosing somewhere that has a lot to do must make life easier, and more relaxing if you can leave them in someone else’s care safely. Spending a lot of my early life doing just that during school holidays meant I preferred not to be on a site full of children, gave me a break!
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I suppose the perfect site might not have anything to do with the quality of a campsite but memories and reasons for being there as already expressed. When we were working we used to use Bo Peep Farm (unfortunately no longer a touring site) at Adderbury quite a lot, it was only 30 miles from home and we always found it relaxing. We usually arrived Saturday evening and stayed until early afternoon on the Monday.
A couple of memorable campsites were in Europe. One was in Florence. It was a terraced campsite over looking the Arno and the on the other side of the river was the Duomo. It was almost like being featured on a postcard! The campsite was nothing special but if it was location, location, location it certainly had that! Another site in Europe that made an impression was Camping Natterersee just outside of Innsbruck. It was the same trip as Florence and we were away for seventeen weeks and our first experience outside of France. I remember being enthralled by not only being high above Innsbruck but also staying somewhere surrounded by mountains, we have been back a couple of times since.
Since we have retired our choice is usually made around where a site is and its access to things to do nearby. We don't necessarily go away to relax as we are perfectly capable of doing that at home!
David
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Probably the best site we have stayed on is at Limeuil. At the confluence of the Dordogne and Vezere Rivers, Limeuil campsite offers canoeing and a river beach, the village is classified as one of "the most beautiful villages of France".There is a swimming pool and the site is perfectly placed to tour the wonderful Dordogne countryside with it's pretty towns and ancient caves.
K
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Friends of ours, who we shared stabling with, used to go somewhere in France every year, guessing South. Their photos of canoeing on rivers and some of the lovely towns were always interesting. We’ve been overseas, but never toured, so I suppose we are very lucky in having that initial excitement still to come.
Did once stay for weeks on coast outside of Athens. Primarily used by Athenians getting away from city, but it was a great location for us as we could get into city easily, see lots of the history there, but hotel was on Coast and weather was just perfect. We went into Piraeus as well, across to a few islands, not far away. Think place was called Glyfada, lovely hotel, but we shared it with Yasser Arafat and his entourage!
Bit of a shock on arrival, gunboat out on sea, but the Palestinians were far nicer than the Greek locals. Less pestering if you get my drift!
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I don't think we have found our 'perfect' site. However we do have a few that are becoming regulars to visit. For us we are looking for sites that have views to die for, love mountain and lake views or it could be cliff and beach/sea views.
We like to be able to cycle but prefer to be off the roads, so cycle paths along canals, rivers old railways and promenades are good where there are wonderful sights to see as you are going along.
Lake Annecy was good for that, and a site we found this year in the Alps just stunning views everywhere you look.
Hopefully next year we will find even more to add to our list.
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I think we certainly have a list of favourite sites, but I think it would be too strong to describe any one site as perfect. Most of our favourite sites tend to offer something slightly different and we choose according to what we are looking for at any one time. This applies to site both in the UK and abroad.
David
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We've not found our perfect site yet, but that's part of the fun of touring around...perhaps the next one will be "The One". We do have a few that we regularly visit because they cater for most of the things we like, but none are "Perfect". However we will keep onlooking and one day might just find it.
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