Fully Serviced pitches
Comments
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It is interesting to read the reasons folk give for using/ not using serviced pitches. Here is my take......
We started using serviced pitches on Club sites as a means of securing a hardstanding. This is still an issue on Club sites, and will be unless the Club allow members to book hardstanding pitches - that's another story, and one I continue to champion. The Club do tend to add extra serviced oitches when they do an upgrade. It would be interesting to know if as many serviced pitches would be used if members were allowed to book pitch surface types. However, as a result of using serviced pitches, we have grown to really like them, but these days there are other issues too that now draw us to them.
One of these reasons is the important issue of caravan user payload. It seems to me that, as caravanners require/ like more 'mod cons' in their caravans and like to pull the vehicles with 'relatively small' cars, caravan manufacturers limit user payload. With the motor mover weighing about 30kg, a leisure battery 22-25kg, (we have a wind out awning - our choice - to make life easier - 35kg) - it soon mounts up and eats into the 150kg payload that tends to be available for most single axle caravans. We carry so much stuff in the back of the car these days and we actually find in more convenient (all the stuff we use 'outside' travels in the car - including, when necessary the aquaroll and wastemaster. This summer, we were away for just over five and a half weeks and we used only Serviced pitches. This meant that the aquaroll and wastemaster stayed at home, saving space in the car and a bit ow weight.
As I get older - with two replacement knees, two replacement shoulders, a small heart problem and arthritis, it becomes easier to use a serviced pitch. There was even one site that we used (not a Club site) where I put the toilet cassette in the back of the car to take to the CDP because of the distance and because of the uneven road surface which made it difficult to wheel (I wasn't the only one
).Just a few quick comments....
David
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We prefer serviced grass pitches. Not available on CAMC sites.
A quick search on ukcampsite gives these:
https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=557&rg=South East
Hampshire (View on Map and Add more Search Criteria)
New Forest Caravan And Motorhome Club Centenary Site - Bransgore , Hampshire
Black Knowl Caravan And Motorhome Club Site - Brockenhurst , Hampshire
The Travellers Rest - Fareham , Hampshire
Foxhill Farm Certificated Location - Fordingbridge , Hampshire
Hill Cottage Farm Camping & Caravan Park - Fordingbridge , Hampshire
Lytton Lawn Touring Park - Milford On Sea , Hampshire
Meon Springs Yurt Village - Petersfield , Hampshire
Hill Farm Caravan & Camping Park - Romsey , Hampshire
Sunnydale Farm Touring Park Ltd - Southampton , Hampshire0 -
I usually take the toilet casette to the CPD in the Land Rover, unless we have ended up on a pitch very close to one (not on the priority list for selecting a pitch). Empty it on the way off site - no-one there to use it while we are out anyway.
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There are a few CAMC sites with grass serviced pitches.... I think Grafham Water (Cambridgeshire), Rutland CAMC site, and The Firs CAMC site, Derbyshire and Trevedra Farm (Affilliated Site), in Cornwall - the last time I looked....unless there have been changes in the meantime.
Do let me know of any other CAMC sites or changes to the above....David
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very good post, why is it necessary for anyone to justify their choice?
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You don't find many of your vast majority of sites in the UK though David
Some mainline sites do have water and waste on pitch but there are few that provide this free of charge compared to their pitches without. We also occasionally encounter a water tap but no waste on pitches.
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BB, yours aren’t just baffles they’re M&S baffles👍🏻
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‘Full fat’ service pitches-sorted👍🏻. . .Next😊
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David, you really should read posts more carefully before replying to them - maybe you still had sea water in your eyes from your pre breakfast swim!
"Surely there are only a handful of sites ..."
So, no, I'm not saying that such sites (with optional EHU to all pitches) are no longer to be found in the UK, merely that that they are not "the vast majority".
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the tanks on our swift were external, rectangular and had an inspection hole underneath!....
great for sloshing and getting soaked when cleaning with a hose from the bottom....
ive recently read about some vans (with already small tanks) which lose about half their capacity when driving on a single journey due to sloshing and running out of the overflow...owners not best pleased.
when I changed vans I still wanted to occasionally rinse out the tanks so checked them out and firstly found the inboard tanks had inspection caps on the top, inside the van....no more getting soaked....
i then found how they were curiously (but cleverly) shaped as I directed the hose and used my hand to swill the water about....obviously designed to give maximum capacity with the least sloshing.
so, yes.....M&S baffles, or no baffles, that do an effective job.
no worries when driving with any amount of water.👍
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I find the C&MC quite generous with taps compared to many sites including those of the C&CC. I would not have thought it would cost that much to pipe water to every pitch. It is certailny less difficult than providing grey and black waste drains.
peedee
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Some major factual errors in your post there David.
Awning pitches were not brought in. All pitches were awning pitches but some of these were disignated non awning.
The reason was certainly not to cram in more pitches (in infact no pitches were changed) but to comply with fire safety regulations/guidelines and ensure the correct and safe spacing between outfits. So you often find that awning and non awning pitches are of the same size.
As a long time member I thought you would have known all that? It certainly has been discussed many times on here.
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With ref to the comment about "cram extra pitches" there has allways been space for awnings on most cc sites well since 1969 when we joined caravans and awnings have got bigger over time which in the past could have given the impression of some smaller sites being crowded ? since the latest spacing to meet advised fire regulations those who stay club sites more than one or two occasions will have noticed that numerous EHU bollards have "spare" hookups, where pitches have been taken out in the vicinity so it is more a case of less available pitches
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Well, just after saying ' I dont need or want a Serviced Pitch' I have just booked one for Christmas (all that was available for the dates we wanted !). So, never say never. I may be denying someone who 'really needs' a Serviced Pitch, and we would prefer not to have pay for facilities we probably will not use. But as they say ' being there is everything' especially where young family is concerned.
Pehaps this explains Some motorhomes being on Serviced Pitches ? it does in my case anyway.
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We arrived here behind a motor caravan I was in the office the time he was booking in, he and asked as the serviced pitches were all booked was there a pitch near a service point as he could keep topping up his water with his hose from there, as he did not want to move when set up,lady said some that were availble were close by,but several arrivals had not advised where they were,when he left i asked if his question was often asked ,she replied that motor home owners were always wanting a serviced pitch or one near a service point so they did not need to move once on site,I said i thought it was because it guaranteed a hard standing? She said that a hardstand is not their priority just water and waste, a previose site they worked on (not cc)but in the west country would not say where had grass service pitches and that's where motor homes always went
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Ray
There could be lots of cancellations nearer the time so you may be able to amend your booking to a non serviced pitch, should you wish, nearer time?
David
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After being severely 'bogged down' once after a wet week in Southern Ireland, I always try to get a hardstanding, so as not to repeat the experience, especially as wardens these days arent allowed to tow you out due to 'elf n safety'. If wardens say to me 'how do you feel about a grass pitch' ? I reply with ' how do you feel if my van turns your pitch into a quagmire' ? 3 and a half tonne plus vehicles with front wheel drive and normal tyres shouldnt be parked on grass in our climate. Thanks for the tip Dave I will keep an eye out.
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