Serviced pitch
Comments
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How long before caravanners want a direct connection from on board toilet to an external pipe to a sewage system? No more carrying cassettes to an emptying point. Piped sewage as well as piped water, piped waste, piped tv, and piped electricity. Just like living in a bungalow on a housing estate instead of camping.
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Indeed they are very nice. Just back from another week there in that very hot weather. The hot water lasted for ages in the shower, as the cold wasn’t particularly cold. So was glad I could top up and empty with ease. Plus have a decent length shower.😂
They are very popular, next July is already highly booked and it would be impossible to get more than 3 days in a row. Hopefully we will be over there at that time though.🤞
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It’s not compulsory to use one 😉 but the super pitches at Chatsworth do have a CDP on each pitch. Our Cadiz had its cassette door on the rear and it could be pulled out and emptied straight in. On the MH I have to walk a few yards as it is half way along the side.☹️😂
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BB wrote "the problem is that, as more SP get built, the more difficult it might be to book an ordinary pitch....i for one, would not pay the Clubs asking price."
Nor me. We could, as suggested, increasingly be asked to pay for services that we do not always require and that includes EHU. I suppose an argument could be made for a 100% service pitch site and dispense with the shower/toilet block. That could impinge, however, on Campervans and Trailer tent owners.
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They are in a particularly nice spot on the Hawes site, I haven't seen a similar arrangement on other CAMC sites. In fact some service pitches aren't in very good spots at all, Hawes is the exception, I think?
Since we started our van holidays we've come across all sorts of serviced arrangements, some by chance and maybe just an individual tap per pitch but we enjoy the opportunity to use them.
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..but Steve (reportedly) only stays a few days during tours....with a 100+ ltr fresh tank (plus the extra 10 ltr in the boiler) and a waste tank size to match 'a few days' shouldnt require any water management at all, should it...or have i missed something?
even when using our own shower (as weve been doing this week) a single fill lasts five or six days.
agreed, if staying far longer than a tank lasts (10-14 days) then perhaps getting once to a tap might be a problem, but after two weeks on a serviced pitch one will have paid nearly £60 for a tank (and a bit) of water!
ok, it might be filled in dribs and drabs, but that is the nub of it...I'm in the wrong business!
there are laws against reselling electricity at a profit but (under the guise of a 'service') this is whats happening with water...
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already fitted to some MH....
either a macerator 'black tank' (been around for ages) or the latest Thetford 'mix the black and grey waste together' system which is exited to a drain via a pipe....
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As I put BB we are all different. There is no way I would want to manage our 100 litres to the extent you do. If on a non service pitch we don’t do a lot different, it’s just not quite as easy to fill and dump. I don’t have a problem paying the premium. I am not sure why others are so concerned. Even in normal times we don’t do any other sorts of holiday, such as cruises, hotels etc. So a few extra pounds to make our stay more enjoyable isn’t that significant.
Oh Hawes is one of the few places we would go for more than 3 / 4 nights with the MH. There is just so much to do walking from the site, it doesn’t move for the week.
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We rarely use site facilities so a serviced pitch is a bonus sometimes, but we don't look for serviced pitches as a priority just nice to have the option. We won't be using our van forever so we use it in a way that suits us. Not the slightest bit bothered if some want to make use of facilities, the communal trek to them has no appeal, reminds me of old style holidays! (Hot and cold in every bedroom and a bathroom down the corridor....
) As said, we are all different and can do things to suit ourselves.Just as happy with very basic facility sites, a tap and disposal point, glad we have reasonably good facilities on board for our own use. Don't want camping style stays, would buy a tent if we did!
So far this year we've used a mix of sites from non facility to serviced.
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Very similar view here. We only occasionally use site facilities mainly preferring to use our own as we find it much more convenient. We find it so easy to shower etc in the van, get dressed be ready for the day without stepping outside the van! OK it means more regular filling up and emptying but I don't find that a particular issue. We don't automatically go for a serviced pitch but they are a nice to have. Just feel that the Club charge a bit too much for them for it to be a regular choice. We try to pitch near to a service point if that is an option.
David
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i certainly don't feel we 'scrimp' on water, merely turning the tap off during teeth cleaning/hand washing and, perhaps, using a bit less for washing up than we might at site facs...ageeed, our showers are shorter than they would be in the site ones...
however, without trying, the water last us as long as it does....many days....and theres no escaping the fact that if i wanted a single fill during that 10-12 day break, it would cost me £50 for the privilege....thats mightily expensive water.
if there was a chap at the MHSP holding his hand out for five tenners for the same tank fill, customers would give him pretty short shrift.
stick the tap on the pitch and folk are falling over themselves to give the club money...at almost £30 a week....even when its not likely to be actually needed (if the stay is a few days) and then most of it gets kicked over (barrel) or drained (MH) at the end the stay....
wish i was in the water business...
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We don't stay on sites to save money BB although sometimes it works out that way. We're quite relaxed about the way we do things, we have a van and we use it in the way we want. We're not away for weeks on end so don't have to budget in any particular way. And a serviced pitch just makes life easier sometimes. There are some sites where trudging up and down dale with containers can be a chore...Old Hartley springs to mind, we don't mind doing that either, but not too often!
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Thanks RandR. Will call them. As for using rigid pipe it costs a fraction of any other solution, cut to a range of lengths and have a selection of straight, 90 and 45 degree bends and it all stays in the van. And because it is smooth bore there are no ridges for food waste and grease to collect and get smelly. As an additional tip to the OP and for those occasions when you cannot get a serviced pitch booking I would invest in 2 Aquaroll’s. Somehow it just makes life easier.
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Rather interestingly in those "Surveys" I mentioned recently the Club ask about half a dozen questions on whether you would like various additions to campsites. One of them being an individual private toilet shower on pitch. Also the ability to be able to hire a bathroom for your exclusive use (I assume in a block somewhere?) Some of us have come across these sorts of facilities on Continental sites. I wouldn't say they were common but they are out there.
David
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Which is why you, like us, never paid to use serviced pitches. But it's all down to personal choice as Steve and Brue have said. And although it some 18 months now since we left vanning, on our last few visits to club sites it was noticeable how popular the serviced pitches were and, in particular the new pitches at Cirencester were always used and mainly by newer outfits, vans and MHs in roughly equal numbers.
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We recently returned from our first multi site touring trip with three CMCC sites and two private ones. The average cost was £25pn, the highest being Bunree which under normal times would have been £32pn.
On our return we were asked to fill in a survey which we happily did and part of it asked the questions as to what we might like to see added to CMCC sites. (See the attached photo!) For us the answer was none of them.
Some motorhome owners are crying out for more aires as if self contained vans have only recently been invented, others on the other hand are paying huge amounts for a VW style van that has little in the way of facilities whatsoever and you would have thought would want sites with toilet blocks (yet you see few parked up in CMCC sites from what I could tell.)
As a caravanner I have always used my own facilities. I have absolutely no desire to use a shared toilet or shower.The only thing I want is electricity on my pitch. Water and drainage would be an added benefit for sure but towing my Aquaroll to the tap doesn't usually afford too much effort despite my advancing years.
No, if I had a vote it would be to charge for the key to toilet blocks for those that need them, and concentrate on providing hardstandings with a tap and drainage facility and hold the pitch prices for some years to come. So, don't complain about water costing you extra for your serviced pitch if you are using the toilet facilities without extra charge. Someone like me is getting double whammied if I have to pay extra for a serviced pitch and the non use of other facilities.
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One of the reasons they are popular is because they guarantee a decent hard standing pitch. So there are all sorts of reasons coming into the "extra" fee. However we've been on sites including CLs where an individual tap next to the pitch is included and it's not an extra.
So many variations on a theme!
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However in spite of not being hard up for £4 I have a resistance to being ripped off.
I just don't like paying for something I do not need. I have never used a Club serviced pitch yet but have used them when that is all that is provided.e.g. on some Continental sites and CLs Some of the affiliated sites only offer serviced pitches e.g. Love to Stay
In that survey I also answered that none of the proposed facilities were required.
peedee
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Each to their own I think and I would only book a service pitch now. I can only see the numbers increasing as time goes by as they are obviously popular as I have found it difficult to book the ones I wanted even for next year. However the demand is difficult to calculate as it is confused by the fact that you cannot both hard standings. It was the fact that I had to book a serviced pitch to guarantee a hard standing that introduced me to them and now that’s all I book
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DaveWales, Thanks for posting the screen shot of the survey questions. I was beginning to think I was the only one getting them
I remember when we started caravanning 40 years ago virtually all Club sites had grass pitches and if you wanted electrics you had to book those as an addition because, unlike now, electricity wasn't available on all pitches. I suspect the Club gets away with charging £4 a night extra for a service pitch because it can. Serviced pitches are usually the first to be booked up. An ideal sort of site for us would be all serviced hardstandings and no toilet block but that is unlikely to happen as the Club would find it difficult to charge £35/40 a night for a pitch on a site without other facilities?
Like others we tend to book a serviced pitch now and then to guarantee a hardstanding, Seacroft springs to mind and just bite the bullet on the extra cost. So far we have lost two normal years of using our motorhome so even if we get back to some sort of normality next year I do wonder if we will do fewer nights a year moving forward and if that is the case we may as well spend the money on something that eases the load?
David
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The reason we started to use serviced pitches initially, was to secure a hardstanding pitch. Now that we've started to use them, we actually quite like them, and come with another benefit.... We now no longer take an aquaroll or wastemaster away with us, if we are on a serviced pitch. The saves an extra bit of room and, more importantly, weight. We now get all our water/waste equipment in a small collapsible box which travels in the boot of the car.
David
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I always book a service pitch if one is available. I'm in favour of more of them at as many sites as possible. I can't see why every pitch can't be provided with at least a tap like on many continental sites.
What I find annoying is seeing someone on a service pitch not using the services by not connecting to mains water or drainage. Even more annoying when i wasn't able to book one!
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We'll see you there then! We're there from 16 -31 August. KnausCol who sometimes posts on here is also there for part of that time (we're having a Knaus rally - 2 of us!!)
I think you mean Overbrook at T - Le - D, We don't like it - went to have a look and thought it was very crowded. We prefer Deerholme Farm CS - just outside Thornton at High Marishes - when Thornthorpe is closed.
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