Hardstanding or Grass Pitches
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Useful Brue, but not quite accurate listing by the club. There may be others but Incloboro Fields is listed as all grass pitches but if you look at the site details it says it has 6 hardstanding pitches. Generally, though a useful guide.
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Utter tosh,over weight front wheel drive vehicles designed for roads are not designed for grass, poor choice of base vehicle based on price.
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Unfortunately there are some inaccuracies. Castleton does not have 94 service pitches, it has 12. Hawes has 10 not zero and Tewkesbury is no longer all grass, having 18 hardstanding service pitches and 17 multi-surface. Those are just the ones I recognise, there could be more.
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yes, that's one of Davids from many, many years ago, isn't it.....
and no, I mean what I posted, mine is from a site I've stayed on several times in France....
always nice and green, very large and firm and 'especially' good value
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Moderator Edit:
Part of this post has been Deleted User.
Yes like others on here I wish the club would allow booking of HS, but as stated I suspect it lost money on the trial and that confused the accountants who are not used to club sites losing money.
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indeed, did that with the Lower Wensleydale site that said it had grass pitches even though there are none.
There you go Ian, that is one to go for.
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the LW error even had grass pitches on their site plan leaflet which surprised the wardens!
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I think if JK is looking in a comment from him ref the site information could if my info is correct? that site information and updates to it are/were down to what is given to EGH via the site staff,even if any "upgrades" have been carried out via the estates dept and its contractors
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Describes tow cars too, apart from genuine 4x4s.
My most memorable Mud Plug was driving a fwd Vauxhall Cavalier towing an Elddis Gulfstream at Black Knowl and again at Camelford, only this time i had a Toyota Rav4 an early one with a diff lock, I got off the site..but the grass was wrecked.
So, its not only motorhome base vehicles, MOST mainly road going vehicles flounder when faced with an incline on soft wet grass, and 4x4s whilst not actually stuck, create a nasty mess when extricating themselves towing a caravan.
Hardstandings make sense for most sites.
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The current consensus is that a "motor home" requires nay needs or must have a hard standing,a caravan does not go in and out off a pitch, a caravan can leave the tow car somewhere else, which brings me back to the idea motor homes are not fit for purposes ie grass.
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I think you need to qualify that a bit. Motorhomes are fine on grass if the weather has been reasonably dry and the ground firm. However in wet weather the situation changes particularly if the ground conditions are such the the grass gets churned up. As a motorhomer if I am forced to use a grass pitch I always have a good look at pitch first before driving on. If I sense there could be problems I would probably put slip mats under the front wheels so that I can get going. Of the fifteen pitches I used last year only one of them was grass.
David
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That is it, a motor home does not like grass, in and out = mud, a car is a lot lighter in this respect,if they did build a conversion with nice chubby tyre's or even twin wheels things would be lot better, a motor home off grid in a field does not bear thinking about and you should be able to.
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I suspect booking grass or hardstanding has several effects on bookings made. If a site has (say) 30% grass and all hard standings are booked I am likely to go elsewhere as might many who don't want grass generally. Anybody who might choose grass normally might well select hard standing knowing that they can change on site if weather is good. I also wood not settle for booking grass as if weather/ground is too bad they are the first to be cancelled
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Tow cars are not always lighter or better designed for driving in a field, I have seen more Cars towing caravans stuck in the mud than i have Motorhomes, putting the extra weight on a towhook at the rear of a fwd vehicle spells disaster on soggy grass.
Just saying that Hardstandings make more sense for everyone except tent campers.Not necessarily Serviced pitches.
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yes I think that is exactly what happened when they did the trial, lost income due to fewer bookings once the HS were taken.
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I did get a same day response saying my observations had been passed to the appropriate team.👍 However, to date no changes have been made.👎Perhaps 2 weeks is not enough. Although they are very simple alterations. I will check again in another month.😀
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It's not the motorhome, or grass for that matter, which are 'not fit for purpose' it's the state of the ground due to weather conditions. May be we should have a surface grading system like racecourses have. They have a precise method in determining and reporting this. The terminology includes 'good to firm' etc. but to my knowledge they never say horses are unfit for purpose, They just that racing has been abandoned.
Several of us, given the right conditions actually like grass pitches but they seem to be reducing in number. In 40 years of occasional use when conditions and availability have suited I've never been unable to depart. They are only available in those more clement months and when in doubt due to forecast and prevailing conditions I've always managed to 'find' a hard standing.
I can see the attraction for some of being able to pre book a HS but that will eliminate that choice of grass should we so wish this on the day of arrival having appraised the surface and determined its fitness for purpose.
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I can see the attraction for some of being able to pre book a HS but that will eliminate that choice of grass should we so wish this on the day of arrival having appraised the surface and determined its fitness for purpose.
Don't see why. Change on arrival as there will be grass pitches left
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I actually wonder how many people use that thought process? My first option is a hardstanding and I would be very unlikely to change my mind when I get to a site. My own view is that the majority of members prefer a hardstanding so I can't see any member wanting a grass pitch being disappointed, unless of course they are out of service. Assuming pitches are not booked the warden, on arrival at the site, can easily change the pitch from the type that was originally booked. This happened to us when we stayed at Poolsbrook for a couple of nights. I had booked a serviced pitch and I mention the the lady booking me in that I wondered if I was being a bit OTT and she suggested I change to a non serviced pitch. Excellent customer service.
David
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I agree, however, I just remember the cries of no from some when the notion of switching from booked non awning to awning or vice versa, on arrival was mentioned in another thread. The objection was it wasn't fair to those who committed to a specific pitch type at booking. This ad hoc swapping and picking, it was argued, unfairly reduced choice of those 'prime pitches' by those who expectied all to adhere to their prior choice and commitments. Such objections, I recall, also played into the hands of those wishing to change the existing system to one which would allow a specific pitch to be booked thus eliminating choice on arrival altogether.
For some it had to be black or white, for others total flexibility was key to good customer service. We will never please all the folk all the time!
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This ad hoc swapping and picking, it was argued, unfairly reduced choice of those 'prime pitches' by those those who expectied all to adhere to their prior commitments.
If their is spare grass allocation left (common in my experience) might as well use them
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