It is possible to get away from the main tourist crowds, staying at smaller
campsites and still visit the resorts and towns when you want.
Both the Caravan and Motorhome Club
(CMC - name changed from Caravan Club in 2017), and Camping and
Caravanning Club
(CCC) have excellent full
facility sites and lists of small 5 van Certificated Locations (CL) and
Certificated Sites (CS and Hideaways in more remote places) mostly at
farms, for members only,
at low nightly costs typically £8 to £15 a night without electric
hookup and £10
to £20 with
electricity which is available more often nowadays. The cheapest CL we
have
stayed at recently (2020) was £5 and the dearest £16. For the most
popular sites it is often necessary to book
ahead especially at weekends and in high season but as we generally
stay only
one or two nights at a site we usually phone ahead during the day or
the evening before. More sites have email and are listed on websites
such as Pitchup, SearchforSites and CampsitesUK. We look for sites with hardstandings
although these can vary from rough gravel
to concrete surfaces sometimes only accessible across a grass
field which isn't ideal.
Membership of the two main clubs is
about £44(CCC) to £54(CMC) per year and we belong to both. There is an
additional non-members pitch fee
of around £10 a night so it pays to join if you stay on a club site for
more
than a few nights.
The Camping and Caravanning Club also
offer
reduced fees if you are 65 and over except in the high season. They
also offer half price annual fee if you have been a member for over 25
years. The Caravan and Motorhome Club
have a few basic sites without toilet facilities which are £17 a night
(in
2017).
The C&CC also provide a motorhome stopover service for three hours during the day
to use the service points and maybe showers and washing machines. This costs
about £7.80 in 2017.
We also like to use CCC Temporary Holiday Sites
(THS) which are
temporary sites often on a rally field at a permanent site. These can vary a lot
from a basic camping field to more organised activities and usually run for 2 to
4 weeks. Some are set up in
connection with specific events such as air shows or steam rallies.
On
Camping & Caravanning Club sites the nightly fees vary according to
season and also depending on how many bookings they have and change from
night to night. You also have generally to book in advance with a non
refundable deposit of £25 and two nights minimum at weekends. We avoid
club sites especially in the high season. There is an additional
service pitch fee
of about £4.50 a night if you want an electric hookup and/or a
hardstanding pitch.
Sometimes e.g. in wet weather this is not optional as you will not be
offered a
grass pitch.
There are of course many commercially
run
campsites in the UK ranging from farm fields at fairly low cost to full
amenity sites
with bars, restaurants and swimming pools but we rarely stay at those
sites although some sites have special offers especially in the low
season. We have found in 2020 that there are many smaller commercial
sites charging reasonable fees. They have been useful alternatives
especially in the low season although sites with lots of tents can be
more crowded and noisy in the peak season.
We have occasionally "wild" camped in
Scotland in more remote areas, in laybys and picnic spots, and aim to stay on our
own rather than with other motorhomes. We haven't had any problems but we find it
a bit worrying if a car pulls up nearby in the middle of the night. We try to
park so that we can drive off without reversing or using ramps or screen covers
so that we can leave quickly if necessary. More and more laybys in Scotland have
"No Overnight Camping" signs but these are possibly not legally
enforceable, depending on the ownership of the land. If it's a local authority
it has to be backed by a local byelaw and the police would probably not ask you
to move on unless you are causing an obstruction; they may have local
knowledge about the safety of staying in certain places. In fact it has been
suggested that the presence of an overnighting motorhome may be beneficial as it
may act as a crime deterrent. Unless you have permission from the landowner we
would advise to only "park" overnight - no awnings, tables and chairs,
BBQ's etc.
Update 2021
There is now a very active organisation CAMpRA
on Facebook and a forum who have managed to enlighten many councils and
private owners to set up aires similar to those which have been
available abroad for years, with overnight parking and sometimes water
and waste disposal facilities, mostly for a nightly fee. This is
proving to be useful with the large increase in motorhome usage during
the Covid pandemic.
They are slowly overcoming the negative attitudes of councils unfortunately due to a few who abuse and misuse the facilities, and emphasising a source of tourist income for the owners.
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