Glamping and camping pods
I am pleased to see the club installing the various '' pods '' at some sites obviously with the intention of attracting family and friends to accompany members on these sites.
My daughter stayed in one of the Glamping pods at Moreton in Marsh and I have to say that it was superbly equipped. This was in February but I imagine that in nice summer weather they will be even better because the pods have excellent outdoor space and bbq facilities.
A great initiative from the club in my view and I hope that the number of sites where these pods are can be extended
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These must be the posh ones - they usually look like a shed you would have on a pig farm.
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My little grandson loves Glamping - he tells me of sleeping In a hut with oil lamps, going to collect wood for the stove and to fire up the outdoor hot tub, climbing trees, seeing new born lambs, trying to milk a goat, and failing to catch a fish in the stream. The ambiance of the Club site at Moreton in Marsh is rather different from Featherdown Farm and might not grab him.
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We were also at Moreton in Marsh recently and went to have look at the pods. I think they have been done quite nicely, set in their own area and with their own carpark. I am a little surprised the Club call them "Pods" as they are certainly more luxurious that the wooden variety. I was shown round one at the NEC and they are really quite smart.It wouldn't surprise me if they become a regular feature on more Club sites in the future.
David
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Must admit I dont understand the Investment in Glamping Pods, which section of the Membership are they for ? The experience for family members visiting Caravanning or Motorhoming members is hardly the basis for the Investment .It is NOT the same as the family members actually TRYING Caravanning or Motorhoming themselves is it ?
Surely we are a Touring Club ? otherwise we would have many sites full of Static vans. Like so many private sites have done.
Just Curious, as i dont understand the direction the Club is going.
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Probably to be in reach of a wider customer base? With so many youngsters struggling to buy their own homes, or at least buying them at an older age it is possible that people with young families (the way most of us start with caravanning) won't be so wedded to caravan ownership. As such the Club are offering an alternative to that type of camping. Couple this with some doubt about the future of towing vehicles as we move toward hybrid or electric vehicles the future of towing could be in flux until that settles down. The group I have mentioned may well turn to motorhomes in later life when their children grow up but even that is at risk. If electric motorhomes become a reality and we have the same cost differences between say petrol and electric cars even that might be in doubt. At the end of the day it might be a clever move but we won't know that for at least 10 years!
David
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Do we? I don’t follow that logic.
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Could it also be due to the direction the motor vehicle industry is now taking and the trend towards lighter, less polluting cars and alternative fuels?
This I reckon will have an increasingly detrimental effect on touring as we currently know it!
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big thing in touring will be smaller caravans
Oxymoron?
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Touring caravan.. now there is a novelty,most are static now and use push bikes or feet to get around, me I am still a tourer remember enroute,😄😄
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My first experience of Touring was with a very old 4 berth Elddis which I towed with my Morris Oxford, the Caravan had been my Dads and I had to fit the tow bar myself to the Morris Oxford. Both lasted over 20 years of Touring with our 2 children. We never caught the ' Fly Abroad' bug, and neither have our children. I dont change vehicles very often, I expect at LEAST 20 years low mileage service from either a tow car or a motorhome.
cant see EVs or their batteries lasting that long,
good for cities perhaps, but for high torque towing touring...useless and too expensive at the moment. Still dont understand Pods though.
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'Still dont understand Pods though.'
How about pods having their own electric vehicle hook up point. Then folk could book a touring 'podiday' across the country visiting several sites on route. Much the same way as we tourers do today but without lugging the 'thing' behind.
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+1
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It would have to be a very commodious electric vehicle to convey all the clothes, bedding, crockery, etc from place to place each day - plus the hassle of the daily unload and load. Unless, of course, one was content that the previous podders had left everything in a state that matched one's own standard for hygine.
It never gets a mention in all the publicity that a major reason for caravanning in the first place is that it is all your own stuff - and is as clean as you personally want keep it.
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It may not be touring as we know it but at least we are looking outside the tin box for alternatives.
Hygiene? Sites have ablution blocks which include laundry facilities. Back in the day I carried everything on my back and still managed a decent and acceptable standard of hygiene!
The world is moving on and pretty fast too thankfully.
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A major reason for us is that we don't really like hotels. We have done cottages / gites over the years and even the odd static. Never had any problems re hygiene. As far as I know the Glamping pods provide everything except (for some reason) towels. So no need to cart loads of stuff around. There is even a BBQ.😀
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I think some are mixing up the basic pods with the "glamping" pods here's the inventory and photos of the glamping ones. HERE and it would probably be ok to do a charge on an EV/bikes or whatever with these.
You can buy your own glamping pod made by Swift and site it on a static site etc. even have one at home for guests? I think they're a clever design but wonder how much they'll stand up to constant use in such a limited space.
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Largely the same for me Steve. When OH and I stopped caravaning for a few years due to her not really getting enough leave to match my 12 weeks plus there was little opportunity to use the caravan. At that time we were maintaining two homes and gardens and holidaying abroad. We did have a handful of weekend breaks a year using cottages, apartments etc. and some longer 9 day tours using B&B, hotel and cottages. When she sold her home and moved in with me I persuaded her to retire at 55 and we soon got a caravan a few months later. For the next few years we had a couple of fortnights abroad and 8 weeks away in the caravan but also several 3 day weekends away with friends and activities with the social group that I ran a few times a week for meet ups, parties, meals out and walks and days out. Once I also retired about 3 years after getting into caravanning again booking tours around UK was definitely easier than it would otherwise have been.
Probably, like you, I like having our own space. OH is happy as I do the main cooking as at home
We spent a night in a Premier Inn whilst staying in Gowerton last September to avoid the forecast high winds with likely rocking all night!0 -
So, Swift are making Pods too ? they really ARE a 'Static' by another name. Arent there enough Static sites around the Country without adding more on precious Club Sites ?
I had enough of Hotels when working, all the rooms seemed the same whether in Frankfurt or Cornwall.
Give me my Motorhome any day....or night.
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Yep, there’s definitely a need to be forward thinking and, much as we might like to cling to the old familiar ways of vanning, the writing is surely on the wall. Well done the club for attempting to diversify.
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We have to move with the times, Ray. The days of En Route are unknown to many of us - I remember reading my Stepfather’s rather dull copies 30-40 years ago. Time to move on and look to the future where we’re unlikely to find many suitable tow cars or vans for MH conversion.
Rather than ‘at the expense of its members’, I see the diversification as being of benefit to members, especially future generations when you and I will be long gone.
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I too would love my grandchildren to enjoy our pastime, what ever it looks like. What I do know mind is that it may well be significantly different to that we grew up with. I'm pleased to see things evolving now and not just stagnating and possibly dying flat on its feet due primarily to a lack of forethought.
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