Jump to content

UK Campsite prices


Bulletguy

Recommended Posts

One of the reasons we often go to CCC local meets, - generally offer limited facilities but usually in the region of £8 to £9 per night, cheap way of camping meaning we can make more nights away, the bigger sites want maybe £23 a night, - Hookup, hard-standing, clean showers out of season, -

 

The biggest sites with all the facilities, Bar, Swimming Pool, entertainment etc are a crazy price however "you pays your money and takes your choice". These sites are not my choice, especially in School holiday periods but for others with Children they offer a lot for everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

StuartO - 2016-07-16 5:00 PM

 

I suppose it depends what they provide - swimming pool, club house bar and restaurant, special location, super pitches? If you just want good value in UK you go for a CL don't you? 

 

I'd expect a red carpet and personal punkawallah for prices like that. £32 for one night is just sheer greed imo.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bulletguy - 2016-07-16 11:15 PM

 

StuartO - 2016-07-16 5:00 PM

 

I suppose it depends what they provide - swimming pool, club house bar and restaurant, special location, super pitches? If you just want good value in UK you go for a CL don't you? 

 

I'd expect a red carpet and personal punkawallah for prices like that. £32 for one night is just sheer greed imo.

 

 

 

If people are prepared to that those kind of prices - then that is what they will charge.

Doesn't just apply to camp site fees.

 

 

Having put off our trip to France this June ( where we would be paying 10 to 15 pounds a night ) we went to northern Wales and Anglesey instead and were surprised to find we only paid between 15 and 20 pounds a night.

As we had 'saved' money by not using a ferry I decided to put up with U.K. prices .

 

Nice place Anglesey - but gave up early due to the weather.

 

;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bulletguy - 2016-07-16 11:15 PM
StuartO - 2016-07-16 5:00 PMI suppose it depends what they provide - swimming pool, club house bar and restaurant, special location, super pitches? If you just want good value in UK you go for a CL don't you? 
I'd expect a red carpet and personal punkawallah for prices like that. £32 for one night is just sheer greed imo.

One of the joys of going to more expensive places is that you are less likely to come across moaning cheapskates who think that making any sort of profit from a business is tantamount to theft.   Without knowledge of a campsite's facilities, costs, seasonal pattern etc, jumping to the conclusion that the owners are being "greedy" is just bigoted nonsense.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

malc d - 2016-07-17 8:46 AM

 

If people are prepared to pay those kind of prices - then that is what they will charge.

Doesn't just apply to camp site fees.

 

True.....a fool and their money being easily parted!

 

 

Having put off our trip to France this June ( where we would be paying 10 to 15 pounds a night ) we went to northern Wales and Anglesey instead and were surprised to find we only paid between 15 and 20 pounds a night.

As we had 'saved' money by not using a ferry I decided to put up with U.K. prices .

 

Nice place Anglesey - but gave up early due to the weather.

 

;-)

 

Could be worth nipping back as summer is about to start........only for two days though! :D

 

 

StuartO - 2016-07-17 9:00 AM

 

One of the joys of going to more expensive places is that you are less likely to come across moaning cheapskates who think that making any sort of profit from a business is tantamount to theft.   Without knowledge of a campsite's facilities, costs, seasonal pattern etc, jumping to the conclusion that the owners are being "greedy" is just bigoted nonsense.

 

If that's being "a cheapskate" then i'm proud to be one!

 

I'm all for people making fair and reasonable profit but there's a vast difference between need and greed. Unfortunately the latter is often revered and applauded enabling the likes of Green & co to plunder pension funds and squander it on a third £100m yacht whilst throwing thousands of people on the scrap heap with no job and no pension.

 

Try telling those folk that's all 'bigoted nonsense'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

david lloyd - 2016-07-16 5:39 PM

 

It may go up a bit more yet if the stories of caravanners with the Mitsubishi PHEV plugging in to recharge on site are true!

 

I am on a Caravan Club site in Scotland where a Dutch couple (with a British Elddis caravan) and a PHEV are doing exactly that ! Wonder how much electricity they are using ? Is it Green ? Does it use any more than a fan heater in the awning ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bulletguy - 2016-07-17 1:52 PM ...I'm all for people making fair and reasonable profit but there's a vast difference between need and greed. Unfortunately the latter is often revered and applauded enabling the likes of Green & co to plunder pension funds and squander it on a third £100m yacht whilst throwing thousands of people on the scrap heap with no job and no pension.Try telling those folk that's all 'bigoted nonsense'.

Cheating on pension funds is of course despicable but what has that got to do with the profit from running a campsite?  It's a small business, so there's hardly any prospect of running a big yacht on it and probably no chance of pension scheme either? 

 

You have decided that charging a high price is automatically greedy and I've suggested that jumping to that sort of conclusion without any information about the business is bigoted nonsense.  I think you are proving my point by bringing up Philip Greene and the BHS pension as if that was even remotely relevant.

 

Who gets to decide what profit would be a "reasonable" one from a campsite, you?  Is it greedy for any campsite owner to make more profit than a working man's wage, is that your thinking?  Is it OK for a working man to demand double time for work on Sundays but not OK for a campsite owner to charge more for high season simply because this is the only time he can get anywhere near selling out all of his pitches?  Likewise if there is demand for his pitches because they are in some way special, why can't he set the price accordingly?

 

By the way I wasn't referring to you personally as a cheapskate, just referring to the type as poor company.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like most 'holiday options' prices are market and time based....we have booked CC site Abbey wood, London in August which co-incides with their peak period (as does Easter, Christmas and a few other dates I think) and will be paying around £30 per night......not unreasonable, I think, any more than if we went to France at that time we would be paying €35/40, against maybe €25 or under in 'off peak' periods.

 

Having said that, as far as possible we stay away from any sites in Peak period, unless we have a specific reason, which is the case in August.

 

Certainly in shoulder periods, we can usually find in France we would pay around €16 per night inc electrics, which is definitely cheaper than most UK sites. ..and of course diesel is much cheaper, even with the lower exchange rates.

 

wherever one goes, however, it is reasonable that the campsite owners are able to maximise the profits when possible, otherwise they will simply shut down or go out of business.....and most sites are heavily investing in upgrading or even just normal maintenance.

 

interestingly, we have just returned from 6 weeks travelling in France, and nowhere have we found a poor shower or old electrics this year - a far cry from the sites just a few years ago.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spent last night at the Caravan Club site at Newport, Gwent, in South Wales - £24.90 for 2 adults, pitch and hook-up. Wi-fi would have been an extra £2.50 for 24 hours (if we'd taken it) and use of the washing machine was £4 (if we'd wanted it).

 

I believe it was the first night of their summer peak rates, but at least we got a pitch at short notice - we wanted to visit Tredegar House, a National Trust property next door.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest pelmetman

Currently on a site in deepest Norfolk which has revised my views of the CC sites..........Who I have long thought to be over regimented :-| .........It appears there are sites that are even more regimented 8-) .......

 

I guess the massed ranks of wardens/bouncers waiting by the reception should've given the game away *-) .......but confirmation came via the strict instructions from the warder who led us to our pitch :-( ......

 

Only 5 days left until we'll be free again :'( .........

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

pelmetman - 2016-07-17 11:01 PMCurrently on a site in deepest Norfolk which has revised my views of the CC sites..........Who I have long thought to be over regimented :-| .........It appears there are sites that are even more regimented 8-) .......I guess the massed ranks of wardens/bouncers waiting by the reception should've given the game away *-) .......but confirmation came via the strict instructions from the warder who led us to our pitch :-( ......Only 5 days left until we'll be free again :'( .........

Perhaps they sussed you out as a threat on arrival and decided to keep a specially close eye on you!  Have the police "just happened to be passing" yet?  Noticed any shadowy figures skulking in the hedges or one of those little tank-like vehicles crawling towards your MH? 

 

Please keep us informed of the detail, it sounds like great fun - like Camp Eden, where you can experience the delights of a WW2 Internment Camp.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By way of contast, when my father first started his caravan and camping site in 1962 at Charmouth, Dorset, it was a sloping field, no electrics, roadways, lighting, and the toilet Block consisted of 2 flush toilets and 3 elsan bucket and chuckit type enclosed in tatty iron sheeted huts.and a simple roadside mobile canteen.

 

charges were 5 shillings for a caravan, and 2 shillings six pence for a tent..

 

permission was eventually granted after a legal fight with the planners, and today the site is ACSI listed..

 

just look up Newlands caravan site to see the current facilities, and current price lists, and judge for yourselves ..is the investment something that is a good value one.

 

my father sold out and emigrated to Australia, in 1967, and started again over there at Nambucca New south wales.

 

tonyg3nwl.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bulletguy - 2016-07-16 4:53 PM

 

 

Some friends of mine are currently on a site in Cornwall charging £32 per night with ehu.

 

Thirty two quid!!!!

 

Ok so it's high season but to me that really is taking the proverbial P!

 

Some people are just barking, that would pay for 3 - 4 weeks in France for us. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tonyg3nwl - 2016-07-18 8:58 AM

 

By way of contast, when my father first started his caravan and camping site in 1962 at Charmouth, Dorset, it was a sloping field, no electrics, roadways, lighting, and the toilet Block consisted of 2 flush toilets and 3 elsan bucket and chuckit type enclosed in tatty iron sheeted huts.and a simple roadside mobile canteen.

 

charges were 5 shillings for a caravan, and 2 shillings six pence for a tent..

 

permission was eventually granted after a legal fight with the planners, and today the site is ACSI listed..

 

just look up Newlands caravan site to see the current facilities, and current price lists, and judge for yourselves ..is the investment something that is a good value one.

 

my father sold out and emigrated to Australia, in 1967, and started again over there at Nambucca New south wales.

 

tonyg3nwl.

 

Tony

 

If i'm looking at the right one, the price is worse still!! £38 in high season with ehu. Interestingly the charge is per unit (caravan or motorhome) which can be up to 6 people. For six people that suddenly becomes a very cheap holiday. But what about the single person like myself?

 

So my van takes up the same space as my 'neighbour'....but there's six people in theirs to my one. Thats six times the amount of human waste going down the drains and six times the amount of water used compared to my one. And that's where this type of charging becomes wholly unfair and disproportionate.

 

Incidentally, why did your dad sell out after just five years?

 

 

lennyhb - 2016-07-18 9:02 AM

 

Bulletguy - 2016-07-16 4:53 PM

 

 

Some friends of mine are currently on a site in Cornwall charging £32 per night with ehu.

 

Thirty two quid!!!!

 

Ok so it's high season but to me that really is taking the proverbial P!

 

Some people are just barking, that would pay for 3 - 4 weeks in France for us. :D

 

When stopping on sites Lenny i'm sure you found the same as me, virtually all in Europe charge per unit then per person whic imo is fair. Aires are either completely free or just a few euro but we might as well accept it....that's never going to happen in UK!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of weeks ago we paid £35pn for a very uneven grass pitch with hookup for 2 adults

It had a sea view if you ignored the car park in front of you

I didn't want to pay £35 but I want a coastal pitch in Dorset

Had great few days and that's the price I had to pay

Worth every penny as it turned out

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn’t comparing the prices of campsites in the UK and on the Continent like comparing apples and pears? The high season in the UK is likely to be much more limited and that is when campsite owners have to make most of their money. Profit in the UK may be very variable from year to year due to our dodgy weather. Look at this year as an example. A washout for most of June when the “no kids brigade” like me and the OH might try to get in a quiet holiday without freezing. The capital outlay for purchasing a site in popular southern coastal areas is high as the websites advertising them for sale shows. Whole families down a couple of generations who operate and work hard on the sites may be dependent on the income. If anyone can demonstrate by reference to declared company profits that we campers are being ripped off I think it best that we all reserve judgement. In any event we know what we are in for when we book and what value we place on location and facilities etc. Such is the power of t’internet these days that rip-off merchants will not survive long.

 

Veronica

(Wannabe wild camper but too scared to take the plunge)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bulletguy - 2016-07-18 2:59 PM...If i'm looking at the right one, the price is worse still!! £38 in high season with ehu. Interestingly the charge is per unit (caravan or motorhome) which can be up to 6 people. For six people that suddenly becomes a very cheap holiday. But what about the single person like myself? So my van takes up the same space as my 'neighbour'....but there's six people in theirs to my one. Thats six times the amount of human waste going down the drains and six times the amount of water used compared to my one. And that's where this type of charging becomes wholly unfair and disproportionate....

 

The dominant factor affecting UK campsite prices is the way our planning system works.  Campsite owners in UK are effectively forced to sell pitch spaces; their site licence limits the number of pitches they can have and so the more money they can make per pitch the better their chance of an overall profit on their property and the work they do to run the site.  That's why, for example, CC layout their sites to cram as many pitches as the planners will allow on to every site, nibbling away at the safety spacing limits in order to do so.

 

While a campsite operator cannot increase the number of pitches to make more money, they can attract more people and therefore sell more meals, ice cream etc to increase overall profit.  Business costs will increase only a relatively small amount if extra people occupy a camping unit, even if they use a bit more water and electricity.  As long as a campsite operator doesn't overdo it, and turn customers off by overloading the site facilities, the more people they can attract to use their site the more profit they will make.

 

So charging per camping unit rather than per occupant may well make business sense and single occupants of camping units will be attractive only in low season, when pitches might otherwise remain empty.

 

Charging single occupants the same for a pitch as a group of six people has got nothing to do with fairness, it's simply a matter of business economics.  If you want the luxury of occupying a pitch and a camping unit to yourself pay the price and enjoy it; if you feel you are being hard done to, take five lodgers along to share your camping unit and make a profit yourself!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

In September we have a spare 2 weeks so was looking to go somewhere, but having worked out the sums:-

 

CC site 2 weeks at £31 pn = £434, extra for wifi

 

Normandy, 2 weeks at £15 pn + £100 ferry + £50extra for petrol = £360, free wifi, swimming pool, tennis, has bar and restaurant (St Valery sur Somme)

 

Like CC sites but at that price other options seem better..

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...