Are we members of a touring club?
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As well as opening up sites to tenters, as R2b suggests, the club could also reconsider its stance on letting members not staying on site use the facilities for a fee (post covid, of course). Until now the club has taken a firm stance of "non" such as Charles de Gaulle would be proud of.
That would be adapting to grow and survive.
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Even something as simple as being able to book a hardstanding pitch seems not to be on the horizon?
If the club were to permit booking hard standings the it would have to be for all members and I am pretty sure that I know why they would not wish to do so..
As well as opening up sites to tenters, as R2b suggests, the club could also reconsider its stance on letting members not staying on site use the facilities for a fee
Many tenters, not all, seem to be fair weather tenters wanting sites when sites are likely to be pretty full.
The club probably did reconsider the possibility of visits to discharge waste when the C&CC made some provisions. To my mind they came to the right decision.
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Who can say what's right or not, Easy, as no business has ever been in this position before in terms of pandemic and the flood of new wave MHs onto the market.
Time to let go of the old days that we old fogies knew and move forward with the times. Evolve or die as the saying goes so let's not be the dinosaurs of the leisure industry.
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We have tent camped down the years on Club Sites. Since the late 1980’s I think. Stayed on a few Sites that accept tents. It’s not generally a class tent camping experience. You are nearly always at the furthest point from the toilet/shower blocks (more important must have for tent campers, Lower Wensleydale, Wincanton and Durham are/were a fair old hike to the loo), the tent areas can appear a bit of an after thought, not quite that bit of scrub land or thin finger of land sometimes designated as a “dog walk”, but they can be devoid of much grass, lumpy and sloping. For this, you don’t get that much of a discount off a standard touring pitch price, so they tend to be in the “high” pitch price bracket. That said, the tent camping area at YRP is a little gem, private from rest of site, not far from a water point, and nice and quiet. It’s still a hike all the way across Site though, but on the plus side, might be one of the few areas of Site that doesn’t flood😂
Club would have a lot of work to do to be a viable alternative to a nice tent campsite. Ditching all those awful limestone chipping hard standings for a start. I doubt the spacing would be good enough either. Not from a safety point of view, but from a “hemmed in, noise carrying” point of view. I wouldn’t want to pitch my tent up within four metres of a big slab sided behemoth either side of me. Vitamin D tablets required for lack of sunshine!😂
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Just spent the last 3 days looking to book a third week in Scotland in September. Never known so many CLs to be so full. Space on sites for this length of stay like hens teeth. I could understand it for the first 2 weeks once schools have gone back but the owners I have had conversations with say they could fill their sites 2 or 3 times over.
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Who can say what is right?
Anybody who has an opinion can say what they believe ...... maybe not in China though and, in some instances, not in the UK.
With regard to booking hard standing I have no strong feelings although the club obviously have. I would look at a site and if all hard standings were booked I would simply choose another provider.
On the tent issue I have no personal strong feelings.
With regard to visiting motorhomes using dump stations etc I am dead against it.
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Now the Club's outlook is very much of a "he-who-books-first-can-stay-here" and "the-earlier-you-book-the-better-for-us" coupled with "the-longer-you-stay-the better".
And this is the clubs "bread and butter" predominately campers of a certain age who require somewhere to park their LV on a site that has reasonable facilities, reasonable pitches, well maintained, maybe a dog walk, & if you are lucky a swing and a slide for the kids, i think 3 or 4 have swimming pools and that is your lot, and if you are going to stay for 3 weeks, great less adminstration.
IMO it is pointless trying to compare over here with over there and i think we have done this to the death many times on CT, however, having a caravan of 7.3m the last thing i would want to do is tour in the UK especially during the months June - Sept, unlike Spain for e.g. the roads here are a nightmare who would want to join a traffic jam every 4 or 5 days, not me thank you. Normally use commercial sites that have swimming pools as a minimum, although the sea at Stokes bay was lovely today
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Opinions are fine, Easy, and we're all entitled to them. Some of us manage to see the other side of the coin as well👍🏻
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Club would have a lot of work to do to be a viable alternative to a nice tent campsite. Ditching all those awful limestone chipping hard standings for a start. I doubt the spacing would be good enough either. Not from a safety point of view, but from a “hemmed in, noise carrying” point of view. I wouldn’t want to pitch my tent up within four metres of a big slab sided behemoth either side of me. Vitamin D tablets required for lack of sunshine!😂
Well I for one would look to C&CC if I wanted to use any club.
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Evolve? it has been going on for years but for some it is happening too slowly ? as it seems these days if it did not happen immediately it is to slow (who remembers the 10amp max grey hookup boxes)
Motor caravans for many it seems ,as in the past, means not towing to their destination ,and it seems for quite a few will not change
The club was £23 million down on revenue when sites were allowed to open again (that was with overseas cancelations as well as repatriation for some,
17 sites were still "open" giving refuge to some members ,all costing the club money
And do not look for any upgrades or new sites for the forseable future, untill things with the Virus fade?
But one good thing it seems with the amount of Staycations and buoyant new members, sites look busy right into October
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I think any site is happy to receive advanced bookings and all that I can think is that when a site is fully booked it is fully booked no different with any provider is it?
Unlike some providers the club does permit 1 night stays at any time. Many other providers have minimum stays at certain times.
As for swimming pools I noticed that Seacroft, Cromer reduced fees by £5 with the pool closed. That is £5 for a facility that many have no use for.
I encounter very few traffic queues, less than 1 a year.
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I think any site is happy to receive advanced bookings and all that I can think is that when a site is fully booked it is fully booked no different with any provider is it?
Never said it was
Unlike some providers the club does permit 1 night stays at any time. Many other providers have minimum stays at certain times.
Never said it didnt
As for swimming pools I noticed that Seacroft, Cromer reduced fees by £5 with the pool closed. That is £5 for a facility that many have no use for.
You should try staying at Loo during peak season
encounter very few traffic queues, less than 1 a year.
well you wouldnt , would you, up before the birds chomping at the bit to get away early and arrive early if it were possible, very pridictable.
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Some sites look busy, others don't and quite a few remain closed.
Cayton has been upgraded through the summer, gradual opening planned but revenue will be lacking. A lot more thought on that site to introduce the type of mixed camping styles preferred by younger people.
The club will have to change.
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The club will have to change.
very difficult but agree, over many years the club model in terms of site layout has changed very little, yes pitches, facilities etc have been upgraded but the model is pretty much the same as when i joined some 18 years ago.
Many of the commercial sites have swimming pools, bars, restaurants, bowling allys, provided entertainment for children, bike hire, the list goes on, for the club to adopt to any of this would mean a drastic re think on site layout etc, but today they seem to be stuck in the old model, take a look at sites they have acquired e.g. Bingham Grange, personally we really enjoyed this site when it was privately owned and visited many times, but club members complained bitterly when the club bought it and continued to do business without first giving it that sterile club look, i am no youngster but I welcome change and i hope the club can step up to the mark but it is not going to be easy
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If the club were to permit booking hard standings the it would have to be for all members and I am pretty sure that I know why they would not wish to do so..
Did I suggest otherwise? All I was pointing out that motorhomers, of which most, would prefer to have a hardstanding. Obviously if you could book a hardstanding it would be open to all, caravans and motorhomes.
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Quite a few remain closed?
LA shows very few pitches in the areas that have pitches
Not change , but as been happening for years, it has evolved from when we first joined over 50 yrs ago,
Into what it seems the majority who keep useing the sites are wanting ,not the few who would not be satisfied no matter what "changed"
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Just what Rocky and I were suggesting, Brue. Time for change, for open minds, new ways and getting out of the old rut 👍🏻.
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Two have already been mooted to encourage a younger and wider audience to the club. Obviously you don’t agree.
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As an example of that an old friend - well he's about 50 - says he will come round here in the morning and help strim the hayfield we pretend is a garden, but as the weather forecast is good he is going down west with his VW Camper after that to do a bit of fishing.
He's a National Trust member, and as a keen gardener he is in RHS too, but when I ask if he's in CMC he shakes his head. His idea of spontaneity is going away for the weekend just after looking at the weather forecast.
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No David I did not say that yo said otherwise did I. Amongst those complaining about sites amongst the motor homers are generally the ones saying that they want to book last minute. Good luck with getting hard standing. As I said it would simply mean that here will be some. like me, who would not book a grass pitch. I also suspect that some who might choose grass in good weather will book a hardstand hoping to change to the grass on arrival if the weather is good
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You need to get out more Easy T & JVB, I recommend the M5/M6 interchange at 12pm or the A303 at Stonehenge anytime during summer daylight hours..
(amongst others, A30 over Bodmin Moor on a holiday weekend ?)One not to be missed is the M5 weekend holiday traffic through Bristol, nice views of the Avon as you crawl along...
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