Expensive CL's

135

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  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,138 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #62

    Fabulous facilities and even a loan vacuum cleaner to do the carpets.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited March 2019 #63

    ...and £7 worth of free electric in January...undecided

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,138 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #64

    Pardon? I went in the summer.🤔

  • gibbo456
    gibbo456 Forum Participant Posts: 42
    edited March 2019 #65

    but correct me if I am wrong, don’t you encourage an honesty system for shower usage? I am not sure if other aspects are via the honesty system, for example the washing machine, maybe other aspects of the information Hut? No criticism intended by the way, I think it gives visitors a great deal of choice in terms of some of the facilities you offer, but rather than upping the pitch price, perhaps folks are not being as honest as you would like? I

    sorry let me explain, the question was do we offer a price for non ehu, we were asked once and agreed to £10 per night for a self sufficient motorhome, the lovely couple arrived in a very small motor home and had been travelling for 6 weeks, they did not use the ehu but moved into the information hut putting on the heater, watching tv, using the fridge for some food items and catching up on 6 weeks of emails etc on the internet, this is exactly what the info hut is for, the smaller motor home but we would expect them to pay £15 for it, I was not including the washing machine etc that we have an honesty jar for.  Hence my comment that we cant police what people use, we have never been asked for a pitch with non electric since and would in our circumstances say no.

    My sister will be very pleased to see you all!!!

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,138 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #66

    I see your point, Gibbo. They saved by not paying for EHU but then took undue advantage of the other facilities to compensate for not having lekky.

    Don't blame you for saying no in future.

    Btw, we would have stayed at yours but you were full so we went to your sister's site.

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636
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    edited March 2019 #68

    And a great site you have too, gibbo, having just paid you another visit. Loved our stay, and the chocolates, again.wink

  • Pliers
    Pliers Forum Participant Posts: 1,864
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    edited March 2019 #69

    Absolutely agree. My favourite CL. Profile photo was taken there with one of your beautiful  hens.🐓🐓🐓

  • Rufs
    Rufs Club Member Posts: 4,072 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #70

    each to their own,

    1. shower is wet room for coats etc

    2. toilet not when we need to but if

    3. Oh! no just like to arrive and explore

    you seemed to have missed 4 ? have a nice day laughing

  • Surfer
    Surfer Club Member Posts: 1,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #71

    On a CL we would expect to sue the shower and toilet in the caravan as we paid for those facilities. 

    We would have checked out the surrounding area before even booking into the CL

    We used to use CLs due to their lower price but now find that some very decent commercial sites offer more facilities for the same or little more than the cost of some CLs.   I think that £12 a night for a plain CL is about right and one with serviced pitches that have water and drainage we are happy to pay £15-$16 a night.  At £19 a night a fully fledged site is a better option!

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited March 2019 #72

    We would have checked out the surrounding area before even booking into the CL

    We rarely check out what is near to a proposed site as we nearly always find enough of interest during our relatively short stays

  • Surfer
    Surfer Club Member Posts: 1,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #73

    Please explain why you think my statement was ridiculous if a CL owner made the choice to add all the extras and perhaps charge higher fees or relied on an honesty box? 

    Originally a CL was supposed be reasonably priced location with or without EHU, a water connection and an Elsan point.  Now it seems to be a competition encouraged by the CC to try and be CL of the year by adding extras so that the CL is on par with a site with all the facilities.

    BTW most CLs that seem to be closing are ones with no EHU?  Happy to be corrected!

  • moulesy
    moulesy Forum Participant Posts: 9,402 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #74

    Well (a) saying that adding extras "deprives" those wanting a simple CL without EHU etc is patently untrue since many of that basic sort of site still exists, apparently - but how many of then have you actually used? (I note on another thread you say you can't make a rally because there's no EHU.)

    And (b) to say that "surely no one expects to get a wage from a CL" is something only those who give up their time and work hard to provide CLs can say.

    (And (c), according to Nellie, who knows far more than me about these things, I believe your final statement,  while maybe not "ridiculous" is inaccurate.)

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636
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    edited March 2019 #75

    BTW most CLs that seem to be closing are ones with no EHU? Happy to be corrected!

    Not the case, Surfer. Have just looked through the Site Directory and so far this year I see that there are 16 EHU CLs closed compared to 7 Non-EHU. (That includes those marked as closed when the SD was published)

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,044 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #76

    Not very honest at all. Sadly there are folks out there like this. I think your set up is an excellent one. They have spoilt things for other visitors in some ways. 😁

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited March 2019 #77

    Of course the pro rata closure rate depends on the relative numbers of EHU and non-EHU CLs. No idea

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,668 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #78

    Gibbo....do you have a CL and a CS, or is it you who has the CL and your sister who has the CS?

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,138 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #79

    It’s the latter, Kj.

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,668 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #80

    Thanks.

    They both look very good.

  • Rufs
    Rufs Club Member Posts: 4,072 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #81

    Not very honest at all. Sadly there are folks out there like this.

    agree, and yet in another post there are people advocating allowing MH's/caravans onto EHU pitches, but paying a reduced pitch fee if they do not use the EHU, my question was who is going to police this?, some thought we did not have dishonest/chancer folk in the club. surprised

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636
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    edited March 2019 #82

    There are currently 1824 with EHU out of a total of 2231 CLs, so the closure rate is definitely greater for non-EHU sites, although the statement concerned "most" closures. 

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636
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    edited March 2019 #83

    some thought we did not have dishonest/chancer folk in the club

    We didn't use to!!wink

  • Johnny57
    Johnny57 Club Member Posts: 369 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #85

    Hi Bobbie

    Great to here use “simple and reasonable”CL's and enjoy your freedom. 
    I run Newton Grove an Off-Grid CL (non-ehu) of which there are currently 407 on the Clubs CL website search.

    You maybe interested in a spreadsheet and interactive map that feature all of these.

  • Bobbie
    Bobbie Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited March 2019 #86

    Johnny, you have a fantastic looking site at newton Grove !!. By coincidence during the week we discussed the possibility of taking the caravan to the Oxford area so I may well visit you sometime as this looks fab.

    Congrats on the site and on sun blessed 'Hinkley C' charging point !!

     

  • Johnny57
    Johnny57 Club Member Posts: 369 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2019 #87

    Thanks for your kind words.

    Will be great to see you sometime.

    "Long live simple and reasonable 5 van CL's " smile

  • Freddy55
    Freddy55 Club Member Posts: 1,810
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    edited March 2019 #88

    I suppose £19 a night is relatively expensive for a CL. I use both Club sites and CL’s during the ‘season’ and it’s always the CL’s that please me the most. The peace, the quiet, the locations....

    So I guess it comes down to ‘value’ for me. I probably pay at least £30 a night for a Club site, and around £12-15 for a CL with the facilities I want. For a ‘special’ CL? Yes, I’d pay £19. As to whether or not the cited CL is ‘special’, I don’t have a clue, horses for courses.

  • thebells
    thebells Forum Participant Posts: 365
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    edited March 2019 #89

    On the whole I think I agree with you Freddy; I've never stayed on a club site but for our planned trip to Snowdonia later in the year I've just booked a commercial site and the price made my eyes water but it had everything we need and was in the best location  so hopefully we'll think it was money well spent...

    There are some cls I've stayed on that I feel didn't charge enough, in comparison to others but I guess it's all down to supply and demand.

    There's a new cl opened in Northumberland virtually on one of the best beaches in England,  which for us is about an hour away so perfect for last minute breaks and winter getaways. However, it seems a bit pricey at £20 per night (it has hardstanding but not serviced pitches) initially this put me off; but actually the location is amazing so we'll probably book it.....unless they charge extra for dogs and awnings😂!!

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636
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    edited March 2019 #90

    We have a budget and won't pay more than £15 pn on a CL. If we started to pay more we would have to reduce the number of nights we're away, and we don't intend doing that. However we will occasionally pay a little more on a commercial site if there is no CL in the area we want to visit, as we will be doing on our next trip, at Beescraigs near Linlithgow.

  • Freddy55
    Freddy55 Club Member Posts: 1,810
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    edited March 2019 #91

    I’ll be retiring in a few weeks, and therefore will be spending more time touring. I imagine at that point I’ll need to be a bit more...careful. On the whole, I think CL’s offer great value for money. I think part of the problem is that we all remember paying a lot less. I once paid £2 for an overnight stop, must be 15+ years ago. This was in a farmers field, with grass destined to become hay, it was that long! I didn’t experience many CL’s back then, but I get the impression they’ve come a long way since then. Indeed, the ones I visited last year were all very good, and one in particular was my idea of heaven, £14 a night. It would be sad to see the demise of the CL network, such a great resource.