Hello from The Netherlands
Hello, we just joined. We are planning to spend our summer holiday in the UK. The ferry has already been booked, just like the campsite for the first 4 days. We are starting in London (Crystal Palace Caravan Club Site) and are planning to travel along the South coast. All tips for our visit to the UK are welcome ;-)
Hope to meet some of you this summer.
Véronique, Ad and Quinty
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Welcome to The UK, Veronique & Co
I hope you fully enjoy your time in these 'Sceptred Isles' and meet many more pups and owners. Just a word of warning though -- This forum has problems at times and you might, just might, get caught up in Very slow postings which are under investigation and have been for some considerable time
Don't forget ~~ Bring your sense of humour
Enjoy !!
Brian
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Hello, Veronique, and welcome.
Be aware that club sites can be extremely hard to book at short notice in summer and you may want to consider booking more sites for your stay.
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Hello and welcome from us too.
Good advice above. Especially on the speed and errors on Club Together (CT), it's likely folks will respond but it can take an age if there are more than usual delays so keep checking. The same with booking sites, be they this club, commercial sites or certified locations (CL's). So maybe do some planning and booking to ensure you have a night stop.
Plenty to see and do along tge South Coast! What interests you? How long are you here for? How far do you want to travel?
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Thank you Brian. Our dog will not go with us on this holiday. He will be spending time with his friends at home. We normally take him with us, but London will be to busy for him.
Thank you Tinwheeler for you advise to book more sites in advance. We were wondering if we had to do so. The only plan we had is to go to London for 4 days. We still have to figure out what we want to do for the rest of our holiday.
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Welcome to the Club. When are you coming to UK? If you have not caravanned in UK before you find that unlike in mainland Europe it is pretty much essential to book in advance. When we go to Europe we never book but in UK we always book. Certified Locations have been mentioned and are growing in popularity but may well have more availability than the main Club sites - they are certainly cheaper.
Tips. Avoid filling your car up at motorway service stations. Visit some of our lovely country Inns. Lose yourself in the Kent/East Sussex border, South Downs, New Forrest, Dartmoor and Exmoor. Visit Salisbury and Bath and the Cotswolds. Is that enough
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My heart sinks when I encounter Dutch people who tell me that they have been to the UK (which they insist on calling England) and when asked where they have been they tell me that they have been to London.Sometimes they tell me that they have also driven straight to Scotland.
When I ask them if they have considered that there is a lot of the UK to discover between the South and Scotland they look at me as if I have suggested a trip to Mars,
Amsterdam and Holland are not all there is to the Netherlands and nor are London and the South all there is to the United Kingdom.
Have a look at a map of the UK and look at where the National Parks are.The majority of them are well north or west of London and the South.
May I suggest that you consider heading to Wales and the North?
Wales really is another country with its own language and a unique culture with scenery just as good as Scotland.
We stopped eating our children a long time ago up North and we can be quite friendly.Our prices are also more reasonable than "down South" as a rule.
I am not having a dig at you and I am not anti-South as such.I am simply offering you an alternative which would give you a feel for the varied nature of the UK.
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Obviously Oneputt got caught up in the vagracies of this forum and posting.
If you are interested in historical places then there are 3 organisations that you should look at either joining or at least calculating how many you wish to visit and whether the annual fee or the one off entrance fee is the better option. They are:
I have no idea how long your visit will be for but to my mind a trip along the south coast has plenty of variety for walking, history, landscapes, solitude and seasides but, and it is a big but, it is very popular as a tourist destination. What exactly do you want to do over here. Experience a typical British seaside location, see wild landscapes, visit beautiful gardens or where places that are steeped in history such as the ports of Plymouth (Drake and the Spanish Armada), Dover Castle, Canterbury and Salisbury cathedrals, nature reserves, both large and small????
Give us some ideas of what you want to do and we can be more specific.
ps at least we will be making a bit more room for you as we are heading to the Netherlands for our main holiday!!😅
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I know the UK is more than just London. I've been to London with our daughter this year on our mother-daughter holiday. Dad had to stay at home. After hearing about our adventures he wants to visit London as well.
We love to go for nice long walks and enjoy nature. My husband loves castles and cathedrals. We have 3 weeks holiday. Which is definitely too short.
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Thank you for the websites and making some room for us
When are you coming to the Netherlands? And where are you going?
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Welcome Veronique, If you only have three weeks and own a caravan and it is not easy to obtain last minute sites it is perhaps best if you consider booking and basing yourselves at only 3 or a max of 4 sites and using your car to visit the attractions that interest you. Where do you disembark in England? If Dover, the Abbey Wood Club site might have been a better bet than Crystal Palace for its better and quicker transport links into Central London.
peedee
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Hi Veronique
We are coming over at the end of the first week in May for 5 weeks. We do a lot of birdwatching/nature visits, walking and cycling and like history, be it political, religious or industrial so can normally find something to interest us.
We haven't really done the Netherlands justice in our holidays in the past, usually just having a few days here and a few days there whilst en route to Germany or Austria or coming back to the ferry. We've always enjoyed it though and felt it was time to see as much as we could so we will have a clockwise tour starting at Texel or Overplassen reserves, then Werribben-Wieden area, up to Lauwersoog and one of the Wadden islands, down to Drenthe and the hunebedden and then finish off with a couple of weeks pottering around the Hoge-Veluwe and Biesbosch nature reserves as well as visiting the local sights in those areas. Hopefully doing quite a bit of cycling as well.
We've had week long holidays in South Holland and Limburg areas, mainly cycling ones and both of us have spent some time visiting Amsterdam in the past, although we may catch a train in to visit the Rijksmuseum again following its refurbishment.
Your hobbies are similar to ours so I'll try to think of things I would do if visiting the South of England for the first time.
I'll post again.
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One place to consider on the south coast is Portsmouth. Home to the historic dockyard with the Mary Rose and HMS Victory. At the top of Portsmouth harbour is Portchester with its Norman castle and 12th century church. Along the top of the hill that overlooks the city are a number of Victorian forts, a couple of which are open to the public. There is a club site a few miles away, Rookesbury Park with one of the aforementioned English pubs a short walk away.
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Hi Veronique
If I was to take a trip along the south coast, knowing what I know of it now, then I would maybe travel to the furthest point and work my way back towards the ferry.
The South Hams area of Devon is a favourite place of ours. It has pretty villages, interesting heritage, magnificent coastal walking and seaside places if you want a break. We enjoy walking the coastal path that is a long distance one so you can hop on and off it as you wish. The area around Start Point is particularly attractive. It's not far from Dartmouth, which is a must in our book for visiting. There is a large Naval college that stands high above the port/town. Old style steam trains and small ferry rides can also be found here. Plymouth is famous as a naval port wrapped up in our history and folklore.
Dorset, the adjacent county to Devon is also a must see. The pretty villages tend to be inland whilst places like Lyme Regis on the coast are popular with visitors. Then head inland to Salisbury cathedral and city, maybe taking in Stonehenge stone circle or Avebury stone circle. Then head down to Portsmouth as Cyberyacht advised as it's worth a visit. I would then finish off with a visit to Dover castle and the war rooms. There is good walking on the headland but Dover town isn't attractive at all. There are quite a few interesting places in Kent, such as Leeds Castle, Whitstable with its famous oysters, Dungeness with its unique, but not to everyone's taste, environment.
If you really want castles then think about visiting Wales in another year. We have loads of them!
Anyway these are only my own personal preferences. If you want to enjoy walking then our Ordnance Survey Landranger maps on a scale of 1:50000 are commonly used. You can get an app rather than use actual maps.
Some free walks can be found on
https://www.walkinginengland.co.uk
Just choose which county you are in. They are a mixture so some come with maps and others are just descriptions.
Hope you enjoy your holiday.
Whatever you choose bear in mind that touring sites tend to get booked up, even out of high season, here so book ahead. You could look at Certificated Locations (C.L.) as an alternative to big sites. These are all different but can only accommodate 5 units on site at any one time (or should). Details can be found under "Find a Campsite" at the top of the page.
If you need anymore information then ask.
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And nobody's mentioned Cornwall. It’s as far south as you can go (Lizard Point) and as far west too (Land's End) on the English mainland.
Land of King Arthur, Poldark, the Shell Seekers and much more. Renowned for its fishing harbours, rugged coastline, fabulous beaches and pasties.
A word of caution, the roads of Devon and Cornwall need caution away from major routes but there are plenty of caravan sites which proves access is very possible.
Enjoy your visit.
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Veronique. Hope you enjoy your holiday on the south coast. Don't miss our oldest cathedral at Canterbury in Kent and maybe Winston Churchill's old home at Chartwell in the same county. Kent has a lot to offer, try some English wine at Chapel Down or some sea food at Whitstable. Further along you can get a closer look at our famous white cliffs at Beachy Head and Eastbourne is a pleasant seaside town. There's quite a bit of history at Hastings and Battle (there are two club sites near there) where we lost out to the French in 1066! Rye is a nice old coastal town too.
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I'd forgotten about Rye Brue. Lovely place with a really nice nature reserve down by the sea, where you can have a good walk at the same time.
Yep, Battle and Hastings, including the Abbey, worth a visit. And Canterbury.
Thought I'd leave Cornwall to this those that know it better than I do. Quite some time since we were down there.
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Crystal Palace is an excellent choice, great base for visiting London highlights. Crystal Palace itself is a vibrant multi-cultured area with plenty of interesting shops & places to eat - all within easy walking distance of the site. Some great distant views of central London too. The #3 red bus stop is very close to the site, operates about every 15mins, 24/7 and will take you right into central London passing some iconic landmarks including Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (get a seat upstairs). There’s a bus station and railway station in Crystal Palace that will literally take you anywhere in central or greater London. If you’ve got time visit the little Museum that tells the fascinating story of Crystal Palace Exhibition Centre. There are lots of relics of the Palace in the open spaces bordering the campsite. Watch out for the toll road at Dulwich College, it’s not necessary to use it, but some do accidentally end up there following sat nav. South Bank walk on a Sunday from Westminster to the Tate Modern is one of my favourites.
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A few club sites that we have enjoyed on the south coast. Fairlight Wood: Gives good access to the ancient town of Rye with camber sands and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Also close to Hastings. Great Dixter gardens also worth a visit. Brighton Club Site close to Brighton Marina with easy access into central Brighton. Littlehampton to visit Arundel its castle and wetland area. Hunters Moon or Haycraft plenty to see in this area including Wareham, Swanage, Sandbanks, Brownsea Island, Clouds Hill House, and Bournemouth.
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