Another Site Lost - Northbrook Farm
I saw a post on Facebook which I later confirmed on the Club's website that the owners of Northbrook Farm in Worthing have not renewed the lease on this site. See here. I am pretty sure the owners are the local council and I thought they had been working with the Club on a refurbishment of the site to provide an all year opening site. Obviously this has not proceeded as planned. At a guess the Council have decided to build more houses which was initially planned for only part of the site?
David
Comments
-
Yes been on the cards now for years rolling yearly lease renewal with the council who obviously have now decided more money from council tax from housing than a peppercorn rent from a camp site ! Another loss to the club
0 -
And I would guess that there are a coupled others set to go the same way in the not too distant future.
0 -
What couple would they be then nth?
JK
0 -
Barnyard Downs has been on the cards to go for a while, possibly Slinfold too.
1 -
Doesn't help that it was one of the "Value" sites as well. I am sure the Club had put in planning permission to create an all year round site with serviced pitches but no toilet block, at least that was what the then warden indicated. It seemed that half the site would be lost to housing. At the time it seemed the local council were on board except they didn't like the expansion of the storage facility for some reason. Shame, nice site and handy for the bus.
David
0 -
It seems to be those "value" sites that are most likely to be the ones to be lost/closed by the club. There soon won't be any of them left the way it is going.
1 -
So, "value" sites keeps getting mentioned. My question is who are they valuable to? If they are that valuable and at £20 per night they are good value in my opinion then why does nobody use them?
JK
2 -
Is it a fact that these sites are little used?
IMO they will be attractive to those on a tighter budget, who use CLs frequently, who do not mind frequent toilet emptying and fetching/disposing of water, and who have a van with a decent shower space.
Personally, we like them and have used a few over the years.....Engelthwaite.....Altnahara......High Onn (twice).......Cadeside......if they are where we want to be. We do however go mainly for hard standings, so not so keen if there are only grass pitches.
We did book Stamford once, but as we would arrive on a Friday, in July, and likely be left with a grass pitch, we changed to a nearby CL with serviced hard standings instead.
I would think couples would be more likely to use the no facility sites rather than families, purely due to the fetching and disposing of larger amounts of water, so having some serviced pitches as at Engelthwaite could boost use.
Prices on some CLs have risen a lot lately, and more seem to be moving "up-market", so these "value" sites can be better value, though not as good value as previously.
However, I think the new booking system, the deposits, and the longer cancellation period will not have helped the situation.
1 -
JK
I am not sure that is correct. When we stayed at Northbrook Farm I would say it was quite well used. Had it survived to be upgraded it would have been even more popular. Cadeside, albeit a very small site, was full for the three nights we stayed there last year. We used to like Mildenhall and despite it being a more "rustic" experience even that seemed popular. I don't think these sites are closing because they are not popular, High Onn might be an exception, but it's more to do with the owners of the lease who seem unwilling to enter into a longer term arrangement which would make investment more attractive. I imagine in some cases the lease holders get a better offer?
David
0 -
Likewise, both Stover and Marazion were usually very busy when we visited. We had Hobson's choice of 1 pitch last time we went to Marazion.
Cadeside tends to be, by necessity, a book early site as with only 16 pitches and being a handy overnight stop close to the M5, it is very popular.
The non-fac sites aren't so popular with families so may not be so lucrative to CAMC. That's my thinking.
2 -
The Government have been advocating building more and more properties for many years, but of course, there is not enough land on which to build properties so land is at a premium, which I would think must come into the decisions as to whether leases are renewed at sites in certain areas.
0 -
Agree, we couldn’t extend our stay at Marazion last time we were there.
To put it into context, these little no facility sites, such as Bromyard, Much Wenlock, Notgrove, Nunnykirk were around £14 for a family per night not that long ago, very comparable with a lot of CLs at the time. There aren’t many left now, and whilst the price had gone up, and not much in the way of refurbishment carried out (if any), they always seemed popular when we used them. Brilliant for a short stopover in the MH, we used them a lot as part of our tour mix of Sites. When I queried their demise, I was told “use CLs”.
1 -
You may be right TW, as when I stayed at North Yorkshire Moors Site (which has no toilet block), last year, the Warden mentioned that they don't have that many children staying there. It is a really lovely site, although the weather was sunny when I was there and of course, most places are very nice, when the weather is good. Personally, even though I am a single tourer, I do prefer to have a site with toilets/showers and washing up facilites but I do realise that some people have the opposite view and understandably, may not want to pay for facilities which they are not going to use.
0 -
Have used quite a few of the "non facs" sites in the past and, whilst not quite the bargain they once were, they're much better value than full fat sites which I now tend to avoid.
Digressing slightly, whilst I subscribe to the "labourer is worthy of his hire", some of the new CLs seem to want top dollar for not a lot. Are they being encouraged to chase CAMC site prices?
2 -
I have known lots of couples who have set up and developed successful, profitable campsites - in this country as well as overseas.
They didn’t do it on leased land subject to the whim of a landlord.
They didn’t do it by employing salaried wardens to do the work for them.
They didn’t do it by setting up no facility sites at low level prices.
They didn’t do it at ill thought out, unappealing locations.
They could easily explain basic business management to some who post their wish lists on this forum. And they could easily point out why some Club sites are closing.
0 -
Is Northbrook closing for want of customers? Presumably not, judging by the OP. The case of High Onn might be different. In my view, the very narrow lanes were a problem there and is why I never returned.
Like High Onn, I've only been to Northbrook once, but I loved it. My review of it was glowing, although acknowledging that it was in need of a bit of TLC (lacking, I knew, due to it being life-limited).
Moreover when I went it was very busy, but admittedly it was a spring bank holiday weekend with lots of sun.
It's such a shame to be losing it, but maybe, if demand is a factor, it might be argued that I am, in small part, to blame. But there are only a handful of sites I have been to more than once as I like to ring the changes.
For "value", in DK's comment, I read inexpensive or, as you suggest, good value. Valuable has a quite different meaning. Some like Northbrook not only because it is good value, but because it is a very attractive site, in a great location, good for public transport and very near a big Tesco. Hence, for many, it is valued! If the site is worth a lot of money, which presumably it is, because it can be used for housing, then it is also valuable!
0 -
Comment removed by poster.
0 -
They were of great "value" to many including ourselves, as you can see from some of the posts on here and by your own experience at sites such as Ilfracombe and St. Agnes, as you yourself has said in previous posts, JK. Because of their disappearance, and the relative high jump in the site fees of the others we are taking our custom elsewhere, using the other club's sites as well as small commercial sites and CLs as usual. I am sure that is the case for many others too.
I take it from your lack of a response to my idea of which sites are in line for closure soon that I am correcting my thinking.
2 -
I appreciate the few posters on here refer to sites being busy during their stay or couldn't extend bookings etc etc and that was the case on most sites in the staycation years. I'm referring to more recent times. Yes there are still times when sites seem busy but the occupancy figures give the true picture hence my post earlier.
Nth, I've no idea about the sites you mentioned earlier but even if I did I'm no official voice am I. My "lack of response" may have something to do with I'm working against the weather to get the site prepared for opening, probably another 12 hour day today
JK
0 -
Is there an increasing demand for the "full fat" sites rather than the basic ones? Plus, if as one is led to believe, the increasing requirement for fully serviced pitches, although why one needs both that and a facilities block is a bit of a mystery to me. Or maybe it is just land values.
2 -
In the last few days I've had club emails urging me to book firstly glamping units and hire vans, now sites so that I can "discover" places. I'd opted out of e mails until recently so I don't know if these are regular campaigns or is there pressure to fill pitches?
We're on a club site we visit quite often , it's usually full at weekends but there are empty pitches. At least late cancelled visits due to the weather will bring in revenue but generally rising prices and unimproved facilities etc are putting us off.
3 -
Same here brue. We are getting the emails about this that and the other, despite opting out of emails. It doesn’t bother me, we simply ignore them in the main. I did try and take a look at an Experience Freedom offer, but gave up after the website proved difficult to open. Club Sites barely feature in our plans. We had been thinking of trying one next week, booking the morning of departure, but only because it’s close and I can commute home to Mum. But the weather is unpredictable at the moment, and I’m not prepared to shell out the price the Club want to stare at a row of other vans through the rain, contemplating the delights of refurbished toilets. We’ed rather drive somewhere else, use a Britstop overnight for free, have a nice meal at a pub.
2
