No Shows

I think obberknockle was asking a rhetorical question to be honest GJ, rather than responding to DKs post.

I also think you might be underestimating just how many Members tour either solely using the CL network, or like us, only use either no facility Club Sites or Club Sites at significantly reduced prices in the Winter months. We are on those CLs, talking to other Members, so do indeed have first hand evidence at just how many folks tour like this, and are indeed only staying in Membership primarily because of the CLs. The Club has reduced the amount of Winter pitches it now offers, sites such as Bolton Abbey, now close early November rather than early January, so we are now touring almost exclusively via CLs in the Winter. In the last three years, we have used a total of three Club Sites, Ferry Meadows very early, cheap and even cheaper with the VAT relief. Marazion, which is no facilities, and Exeter Racecourse which is an AS, and has always been very cheap. Everything else has been CL, small private/Ex CL. We don’t insure with the Club, we make sure we get our monies worth of discounts to cover the Membership costs via places like Mountain Warehouse etc. 

If the CL network wasn’t there, we would have no reason to be Members. We have no romantic illusions about them, and fully accept that like other aspects of touring, CLs have changed a lot in the last 10-15 years. The days of someone choosing to share a bit of their garden, or a little bit of farm land for diversification are not the prime mover they once were. They are now a business venture in their own right for many, with rising costs of provision to be met, and they might well be underpinning/enhancing other business ventures. The variety, ambiance and welcome are still very nice though, and possibly why so many of us really do love them, along of course with average prices vastly below that of most Club Sites. 

Indeed, we still visit a few very old CLs, a couple we use first opened their gates some 50 years ago, way before our time. Next generation have updated a few things, but they still remain essentially the same. And thriving with new visitors as well👍