Steamer Quay Upgrade
Comments
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+1
I've seen many a MH, foreign and domestic as they say, using SP across a number of club sites, some just for one night, some a few days or a weekend, some for longer and I would say evenly spread out amongst those three. There is no set minimum or maximum (well I suppose between 1 and 21 days) but use SP they most certainly do in large numbers always 50/50 but many times in the high percentages.
I would say there are no set rules, or even size of MH, to using a SP but I suppose it's the way they want to tour when they are on club sites.
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YT
A service pitch may well be superfluous to you but I imagine you don't claim to speak for the majority of motorhomers, especially those that use Club sites? As CS observes there are lots of motorhomers who choose to use a service pitch. It is impossible to drill down into why they do so but clearly there are lots that do, including my good self from time to time. Not everyone judges everything on the cost, for many convenience is more important. Also many would prefer the security of a campsite rather than a public car park regardless of how cheap it is.
David
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I agree entirely DK. As a user of Seacroft site for example, you'll know that the site is mainly serviced pitches. This week, out of the 32 serviced pitches 24 are occupied with motorhomes.
As for Longmarsh carpark in Totnes, well I think Moulesy touched on it upthread, I wouldn't leave my car there overnight let alone sleep there. The advice for motorhomes parking up overnight is to use every other bay but nothing prevents cars or anyone going in between. I stayed at SQ twice in 2022 and taking an evening stroll along he river you could see and hear the "activity" of the van dwellers (being kind there) that stay there for weeks at a time before they are moved on. No thanks.
As you say not everyone judges everything on cost, £30 odd for a pretty secure campsite or a tenner to join in with mad max, mmm.
JK
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With SQ as a non facs site, it was a possible for us, but by hiking the price not only up to full CAMC levels but to make every pitch serviced is not in our value range...nor many others i suspect.
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I personally really can't imagine anyone (CT or not) who doesn't want or value security for their multi (tens of possibly) thousands for their outfit and (from what I've read here about the place) would even think to park there even for a few hours as posted.
Again as posted and in my experience (so no suspicion needed) there are many who pay the SP price, and perhaps they would find it very good value and exactly what they want for their touring.
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I have stayed overnight in several car parks with a car/caravan - plus ferry ports, at pubs, motorway services, a lay by, and in a quarry.
If I had a motorhome an overnight in the car park at Totnes would not frighten me one little bit. Are some members more timid ?
Of course I would not leave a motorhome there unattended while I went up to Dartington Hall, or for a boat ride down the river, but overnight does not seem to be the sort of problem that some are describing..
And I still think that motorhomers without a car are going to find that Steamer Quay is not all that convenient for getting around the district from a long stay base there.
Regards to all.
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One person's timid is another's sensible, Euro.
If you wouldn’t leave a MH unattended at Longmarsh, why on earth would you be happy to sleep there?
I can’t agree with your last comment about convenience of getting around and, as Longmarsh cannot be used as a long stay base as you suggest, anyone wanting a long stay at Steamer Quay will need to use the CAMC site.
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It is impossible to drill down into why they do so but clearly there are lots that do,
Not really I can think of reasons why motorhome owners use serviced pitches.
Convenience is probable the biggest reason either because they cannot be bothered with the routine chores of disposal of waste or topping up of water (lazyness) or because of infirmity that makes those chores difficult. This probably applies more to those owners of vans which only have a small capacity to store water and waste.
With a completely self contained outfit with a fresh water capacity of at least 5 days and an equally large capacity to store waste and, in spite of my age, I have no real need of serviced pitches, but admit to using them when there is no choice or when they have been offered at an acceptable price.
peedee
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I, too, don't understand why some MH-ers use SPs, PD, but clearly they do and I accept it’s their choice. I wouldn’t imply those folk are lazy though as they all have their reasons which are perfectly valid to them. After all, those folk are on holiday and entitled to take it easy.
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While I might do quite strenuous things on holiday I'm quite happy to keep all chores to an absolute minimum and to be as lazy as possible in the overnight accomodation.
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Steamer Quay is in a prime location. It's always been a site with a toilet/ shower block. I think the prices charged there due to that prime location and facilities before it closed while awaiting planning permission would put it on your never possible list BB. It was always full.
While I agree there's a need and a market for aire type parking in this country there's also a demand for serviced pitches from caravaners and motorhomers alike so I guess it will be busy when it reopens.
JK
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You have voiced my thoughts well PD. I suspect the majority of MH'ers favour serviced pitches when they are planning to stay longer than their tank capacities can provide without a trip to the service point. It's certainly what we do provided the price is right. However, when touring and staying only 1 to 4 nights we try to avoid paying for something we don't need.
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News report on the BBC about the approval of the plans, see here
David
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I certainly get your point, LLM, however on (say) a two week stay with site showers, after arriving with a full tank, we would only require one half tank top up as we can usually manage upto 10 days or so with one full tankful.
so if i topped up with that half a tank once during the 14 days, i would have paid £68.60 extra (on top of the CAMC pitch fees) for the 'pleasure' of 5 minutes with a hose pipe...now thats a mightily expensive half tank of H2O. Not even Bristol Wessex Water can get close to that.
with the amount of grey water generated being around 2/3 of the fresh intake (not everything coming into the van goes into the grey tank) we probably would only need to empty once on the way out, so again no requirement for a waste outlet on the pitch.
i realise that not everyone has largish tanks or is (perhaps) as naturally frugal with water as we seem to be, but the 'equation' still stands for many other MH but perhaps at a lower level..its that level that will get weighed against the weekly SP charge of £35 or so.
now, if the club let me use the hose on a SP once during during the two weeks (id promise not to use it again) then id happily consider paying £4.90 for the privilege but i wouldn't pay £4.90 for each of the other 13 days when i wouldn't be using the tap or drain...
...but as our UK touring doesn't involve being on a site longer than a week at a time, we have no requirement for SP.
this then brings us back to SQ and whether its 'fair' to have made the site all SP?
im sure some will love having an SP, some will love the location and just stump up the extra £35 a week, helping the Club recoup its 'considerable outlay' more quickly.
..but for some, like us, the 'surcharge' for a service that wont be used at all is a surcharge too far.
so, nice as the site will surely be, we wont be using it, especially as its likely to be similarly priced to BW, which is now between £38.60 and £56.50 a night WITHOUT an SP....
add that fiver a night for those shiny new SP and.....
surely a CAMC site cant hit £60+ can it?
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I agree with you YT. If you are using the site facilities there really is nothing to stop an extended stay without having to visit the MHSP for quite some time and certainly no reason to pay the extra for the use of a full service pitch.
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So the question is that if starting from scratch how would you design a small site in order to get the maximum out of it. I don't think you would start off with grass pitches without electricity, which is what SQ was essentially before the refurb. If you wanted it to be open all year you would certainly have all weather pitches. Given that its such a small site the option to make those pitches fully serviced makes sense in my view. The Club were going to do the same at Northbrook Farm in Worthing until the local council pulled the rug from under them. The Club know full well that sites in the centre of towns and cities are very popular, be that York, London, Edinburgh, Bristol and now Totnes. I can't see any shortage of visitors, I just wonder how long it will be before we get complaints that the site is fully booked all the time? It won't be for everyone, as indeed it wasn't when it didn't have electricity but I would suggest it opens up as a option for far more people by the way it is being designed. Personally I like the idea of being able to fill my kettle with fresh water without having to walk half a mile and even better I like to drain my waste tank so when I am ready to leave the site I can just drive out be on my way.
David
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Given that its such a small site the option to make those pitches fully serviced makes sense in my view.
It would make perfect sense it the plans did not include a toilet block. Many sites which have a majority of fully serviced pitches do not pay so much attention to providing facilities blocks making just a limited provision. I have no knowledge of SQ but I assume the existing facilities block, which is to be refurbished, was adequate for the number of pitches?
peedee
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David, ive got no problem with the club upgrading to all weather pitches for a site thats going to be open all year, it makes perfect sense...
but then again, not everyone in summer requires an EHU (we certainly don't) and, to a degree, the club has recognised this with the metering trial, giving folk the option to use (and pay for) what they need...perhaps the refurb of SQ could have included metering from the off?
Similarly, not everyone needs/wants a fully serviced pitch, so what we have at SQ is the continuing cycle of rising prices where customers at SQ will be charged SP prices even if they only use the tap sparingly or even not at all.
"Personally I like the idea of being able to fill my kettle with fresh water without having to walk half a mile and even better I like to drain my waste tank so when I am ready to leave the site I can just drive out be on my way."
we certainly don't walk half a mile to fill our kettle, the kitchen tap is just a couple of feet from it....🤷🏻♂️
....and if the MHSP were sited sensibly, then it wouldn't be any hardship to pause for a few minutes....and considering that you cant get to a club site till one o clock, is there a rush?
Failing that, its not that difficult to empty a wastemaster when emptying the toilet cassette, they're designed to fit together and be wheeled as one.
emptying the cassette is virtually the last thing we do before leaving, so the last of the grey water could be dumped at the same time...
Yes, its all about convenience and some 'value' that more highly than others might do.
it depends whether one thinks £35 a week is good 'value' for the full use of an SP or even to fill a kettle..
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Visited Steamer Quay a couple of days ago, not sure if it's been in the posts but the site has been empty for a year. It's all grown up and unkept.
Looks like it could have remained open for 2023 as there is no building work, pitches remain the same but long grass everywhere. I can understand why they want to go for all weather pitches with EHU etc as it is a bigger money earner. But they could have earned money all year if they'd kept it open in 2023.
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CAMC couldn’t open the site when it was expected that the (delayed) planning permission could be granted and the rebuilding work started at an earlier time. In any case, wasn’t there a question of expiry of the old lease to be overcome?
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YT, it’s horses for courses. Clearly SQ (or any club site?) isn’t for you but it’ll suit others just fine. Can’t we accept that folk have different needs and likes regarding sites? I know you’ve been to a few that I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole but that’s fine as nobody is forcing me to. 👍🏻
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Similarly, not everyone needs/wants a fully serviced pitch, so what we have at SQ is the continuing cycle of rising prices where customers at SQ will be charged SP prices even if they only use the tap sparingly or even not at all.
Being all service pitches there won’t be any standard pitches to reference the price to. Therefore it will be interesting to see at what level they fix prices. I am afraid YT you are going to have to accept that a lot of us like service pitches, even if it doesn’t make economic sense and the club is unlikely to have a problem filling them.
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Similarly, not everyone needs/wants a fully serviced pitch, so what we have at SQ is the continuing cycle of rising prices where customers at SQ will be charged SP prices even if they only use the tap sparingly or even not at all.
Well perhaps I'm being too simple here but if one doesn't want a SP just don't go there YT and then you won't be charged anything?
As posted SP are popular with MHers
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Which was what i posted above...but thanks for the endorsement...
but, you've got my site habits wrong...
Thanks to the club's free night voucher ill be using a club site this coming month.
Of course, folk do have different needs when on site so wouldnt it be nice to be able to choose an SP (or not) on a site (as on the vast majority of club sites) just like we will be able to choose our power requirements moving forward?
if a service is separately chargeable, as an SP is, then customers should have the choice to take up the service or not.
im more than happy for folk who want SP to book and pay for them. My point is that every visitor to a site, SQ, should have the opportunity to book a non SP pitch.
the club is apparently promoting 'choice' across the network by constantly telling us there are non EHU pitches available 'at many sites' yet with a new development like this, they decide to have all the pitches set at the SP level. I think that's wrong.
of course, as per the mantra, I (or anyone else) can 'go elsewhere' which will probably be my 'choice'.
im sure the site will be great, probably full, so well done club....
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Happy to agree with you Steve, as I said, some will think the price is worth it, "even if it doesn't make (economic) sense"
my point is that the club has removed the very choice they promote so regularly in their mail shots...
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You're last sentence pretty much hits the nail on the head yt, and I'm sure that during the winter months it will be pretty much full with motorhomes
Feliz ano nuevo bud.
JK
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I really can't see what all the fuss is about here - admittedly we've never been motor homers and are unlikely ever to be, so perhaps someone can explain.
As I posted up thread we visited Totnes back in October and used the car park being mentioned. Now, having considered some of the "long term" residents I certainly wouldn't want to stay there overnight. But the experienced motor homers who are casting so much opprobrium at the club seem to think it's fine - so surely you'd use that instead of paying "inflated" club prices for facilities you don't need?
And it's only about an extra few hundred metres to walk into Totnes.
As Steve says, many motor homers apparently like serviced pitches and will pay for them. So let them holiday in the way they choose and do your own thing surely?
Edit - thinking about it again, surely even if one was given the option of staying but not paying for the unwanted facilities, the price would still be far to high for those used to "aire" type sites or basic CLs?
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WTG
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." You do have a choice and that choice is either to go or not to go, that is the question? A few days ago you were singing the praises of the Portmeirion motorhome aire. Now it seems to me that you don't have a choice when you stay there of having the entrance fee included in the price which makes it very expensive and also much less friendly arrival and departure times almost makes a one day stay impossible, or at least very hard work?
Apologies to WS
David
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You're right, I'd happily use the council Aire at a tenner over SQ at £50-60?...
as WTG says, there are scores of good reviews on the forums that most CT users wouldn't read, with only one mention of the 'boy racers' which another poster seemed to have witnessed.
My posts (echoed by WTG) have been about the lack of pitch choice available at SQ following the refurb.
with the club trumpeting such in its 'you asked we.....' mails, it's disappointing not to be able to get a non EHU (or metered EHU) pitch, nor even a non SP pitch.
however, 'disappointing' I can get over and ill happily try Totnes but not at SQ.
I'd recently read a recommendation on my own MH brand forum, praising the council for its initiative...just like most of the other comments on similar forums.
when I've tried it, perhaps I can give a real first hand update to CT👍
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