Which site is best? - for Go Motorhome mag

[Guest Sally at Go M]

Hello all,I'd like to ask for help with a feature in the new mag. I need six people to nominate their best site in the UK. For each one, I'd ideally need a picture of the site (although I may be able to get one), two to three sentences on when you first discovered it and why you love it, your name, part of the country you're from and what motorhome you have (including its year). Send me your address and if we publish your site I'll pop a copy of the new mag in the post to you when it comes out. Hope you can help - please email me at this address (the go motorhome one's having technical problems): sallyp@warnersgroup.co.uk and entitle the message BEST SITE IN BRITAIN. Thanks! :-D

[Guest Tracker]

Sorry Sally - but this looks much like here we go again with the same old format that's already in MMM?

 

Please can you convince me - and many other doubters - that I am wrong?

 

Would I be unreasonable in saying that we need more CC and CCC site reviews like we need a hole in the head!

[Rapido-lass]

Tracker - 2009-07-30 10:29 AM

 

 

Would I be unreasonable in saying that we need more CC and CCC site reviews like we need a hole in the head!

 

More to the point we need more sites, as many motorhomers that use the sites to tour are unable to get on them in the summer season, so why would we want to advertise our favourite and have even less chance of getting on the site when we want to? Am I being selfish or perhaps just wanting to be able to get away in the summer season without having to have planned it last year! Perhaps that point Sally maybe a good article to run - the lack of sites in the UK available for last minute booking in the summer season or exactly what is touring in a motorhome.

[Guest Sally at Go M]

Tracker - 2009-07-30 10:29 AM

 

Sorry Sally - but this looks much like here we go again with the same old format that's already in MMM?

 

Please can you convince me - and many other doubters - that I am wrong?

 

Would I be unreasonable in saying that we need more CC and CCC site reviews like we need a hole in the head!

 

Hello Tracker. Well, I think you'll find it quite different. There are a lot of sites in it (mainly independents) and I think rightly so. I had a kind of 'aha' moment when I was up in Scotland on a really fantastic site for two weeks, getting great advice from a motorhomer who regularly visits and could tell me where to pitch to avoid the mossies, and a site owner who told me I could get great cockles on the beach, but to avoid the mussels because they're too gritty. I thought "nobody really gives you that kind of level of stuff on site reviews." So we've got cut out and keep sites, which I know many mags do but ours really go under the skin. There's a set of rules which are very strict: the site has to be exceptional. The reviewer has to have stayed there for at least a long weekend, preferably longer, and on a personal holiday. The info you get is all about what the writer would take with them next time, what they discovered about approach roads and best ways of getting there, what worked for them and what didn't - all the stuff you'd get from talking to a motorhomer who knew the place very well.

 

So tell me, am I dealing with a bunch of cynics, or are you all just frustrated with what's currently on offer? What bugs you about the current magazines?

[Guest Sally at Go M]

Rapido-lass - 2009-07-30 11:59 AM

 

 

More to the point we need more sites, as many motorhomers that use the sites to tour are unable to get on them in the summer season, so why would we want to advertise our favourite and have even less chance of getting on the site when we want to? Am I being selfish or perhaps just wanting to be able to get away in the summer season without having to have planned it last year! Perhaps that point Sally maybe a good article to run - the lack of sites in the UK available for last minute booking in the summer season or exactly what is touring in a motorhome.

 

Very good point. We are very hard done by compared to our neighbours in France, say, which is all the more galling in a year when visiting France is so expensive. It would be interesting to explore the reasons behind this. Do we need it to be a local authority responsibility? What do people think?

 

My reason for asking about sites is quite specific. One of the most asked questions to MMM Interchange is about the best sites to go to in the UK (and variations of this). Go Motorhome is answering this in its own way, but it's a very subjective thing, so the more opinions the better! Keep your trade secrets though, by all means!

 

Sally (sallyp@warnersgroup.co.uk)

[BGD]

There's gonna be some commercial danger here methinks.........

 

I'm not sure how the same publisher can begin to publish a second periodical on exactly the same subject as their existing mag, and be able to establish and maintain any "clear blue water" between the two of them.

 

Isn't there a very big risk of only luring existing MMM buyers away to the "new mag".....and thus increasing your costs without adding a bean to sales revenue?

 

MMM already does Letters pages, new MH reviews, used MH reviews, technical reviews, UK site reviews, overseas site reviews, accessories reviews, et al.

 

Does someone in the Publishers boradroom really belive that now, with the MH business world in deep deep economic doo-doo, and MH owners belt-tightening hard, is a good time to launch a mag to compete with the existing mag?

Maybe I'm missing something here???

 

 

[Guest Tracker]

Sally at Go M - 2009-07-31 7:59 AM

So tell me, am I dealing with a bunch of cynics,

or are you all just frustrated with what's currently on offer?

What bugs you about the current magazines?

 

In order asked Sally - YES - NO - and, as it has to appeal to all tastes there will always be bits in every magazine that each individual reader either loves or ignores - c'est la vie - it don't bug me 'cos when I've had enough I simply stop subscribing! Simples!

[Rapido-lass]

I must admit, that although we like reading features in the magazines, as pennies are getting tighter, I personally would prefer to get away for a weekend once a month on a CL for the price of that magazine and make my own reading! Magazines are one of the first things to go when the purse strings tighten.

[Guest Tracker]

Rapido-lass - 2009-07-31 10:57 AM

 

I must admit, that although we like reading features in the magazines, as pennies are getting tighter, I personally would prefer to get away for a weekend once a month on a CL for the price of that magazine and make my own reading! Magazines are one of the first things to go when the purse strings tighten.

 

Can you still get two nights on a cl for £3.40 then Cathy?

[Rapido-lass]

Tracker - 2009-07-31 11:01 AM

 

Rapido-lass - 2009-07-31 10:57 AM

 

I must admit, that although we like reading features in the magazines, as pennies are getting tighter, I personally would prefer to get away for a weekend once a month on a CL for the price of that magazine and make my own reading! Magazines are one of the first things to go when the purse strings tighten.

 

Can you still get two nights on a cl for £3.40 then Cathy?

 

I can get 1 night for £3 including all of saturday and all of sunday, and as it's only 20 mins drive away- we're their early, I count that as a good weekend and it gives me 40p towards the diesel!

[Klyne]

Sally

 

If I can be a bit more positive, do you want information specifially aimed at motorhomers or just campsites in general? If its the latter have a look at my website, lots of reviews and photos there.

 

David

[Guest peter]

Tracker - 2009-07-30 10:29 AM

 

Sorry Sally - but this looks much like here we go again with the same old format that's already in MMM?

 

Please can you convince me - and many other doubters - that I am wrong?

 

Would I be unreasonable in saying that we need more CC and CCC site reviews like we need a hole in the head!

I didn't spot any reference to CC or CCC sites anywhere in Sally's original post.

There are a few other sites in the world. >:-)

[Guest peter]

BGD - 2009-07-31 9:54 AM

 

There's gonna be some commercial danger here methinks.........

 

I'm not sure how the same publisher can begin to publish a second periodical on exactly the same subject as their existing mag, and be able to establish and maintain any "clear blue water" between the two of them.

 

Isn't there a very big risk of only luring existing MMM buyers away to the "new mag".....and thus increasing your costs without adding a bean to sales revenue?

 

MMM already does Letters pages, new MH reviews, used MH reviews, technical reviews, UK site reviews, overseas site reviews, accessories reviews, et al.

 

Does someone in the Publishers boradroom really belive that now, with the MH business world in deep deep economic doo-doo, and MH owners belt-tightening hard, is a good time to launch a mag to compete with the existing mag?

Maybe I'm missing something here???

 

Isn't it possible for the new mag' to be complimentary to the existing one. I'm sure that Warners have done their sums regarding costs. Anyway they will probably be using the same production personnel so it sounds like a good fit to me:D

[Guest Tracker]

peter - 2009-07-31 9:24 PM

 

Tracker - 2009-07-30 10:29 AM

 

Sorry Sally - but this looks much like here we go again with the same old format that's already in MMM?

 

Please can you convince me - and many other doubters - that I am wrong?

 

Would I be unreasonable in saying that we need more CC and CCC site reviews like we need a hole in the head!

I didn't spot any reference to CC or CCC sites anywhere in Sally's original post.

There are a few other sites in the world. >:-)

 

Nor is there that 'stipulation' in MMM for site reviews Peter and as these club sites are well publicised in their respective club books and all conform to a fairly reasonable and predictable standard it does seems like a pointless exercise to me?

Unless of course one is tight enough to want to make an easy forty quid for taking a couple of photos?

I too would welcome hitherto unpublicised site reviews - especially when they are a sensible price, off the beaten track, and short on facilities and crowds - and who knows I might even use one or two myself one day!

Maybe a feature of 'Sites for under a tenner' might be an idea welcomed by many campers tired of the same old high priced all singing and bells and whistles types of sites - I dunno - you tell me - or rather don't tell me, tell Sally!

[Guest peter]

Tracker - 2009-08-01 10:55 AM

 

peter - 2009-07-31 9:24 PM

 

Tracker - 2009-07-30 10:29 AM

 

Sorry Sally - but this looks much like here we go again with the same old format that's already in MMM?

 

Please can you convince me - and many other doubters - that I am wrong?

 

Would I be unreasonable in saying that we need more CC and CCC site reviews like we need a hole in the head!

I didn't spot any reference to CC or CCC sites anywhere in Sally's original post.

There are a few other sites in the world. >:-)

 

Nor is there that 'stipulation' in MMM for site reviews Peter and as these club sites are well publicised in their respective club books and all conform to a fairly reasonable and predictable standard it does seems like a pointless exercise to me?

Unless of course one is tight enough to want to make an easy forty quid for taking a couple of photos?

I too would welcome hitherto unpublicised site reviews - especially when they are a sensible price, off the beaten track, and short on facilities and crowds - and who knows I might even use one or two myself one day!

Maybe a feature of 'Sites for under a tenner' might be an idea welcomed by many campers tired of the same old high priced all singing and bells and whistles types of sites - I dunno - you tell me - or rather don't tell me, tell Sally!

Have a read of Practical Motorhome this month then Richard. Plenty of cheap private sites reviewed (£4) and it's ongoing for folks to cut out and keep.

[robertandjean]

Sally,

Why focus only on UK sites, or indeed sites at all. Why not make the new mag really stand out by ignoring sites and instead listing details of motorhome stopovers, like the aires in France or places to wildcamp in UK? Do this and straight away you have a wider and different market. Would be most willing to contribute some aires, and in the sprit of the aires would not expect any payment!

[Rainbow-Chasers]

There is one hole - where cc and ccc sites are regulated and checked with plentiful accurate reviews, PRIVATELY OWNED are not!

 

Many advertise as being recommended and graded by, but they actually aren't - they just advertise as 'extra local sites' in the relevant magazine/site books. The clubs have no control over these sites.

 

This became apparent when we delivered a motorhome to a site for a customer, who had booked based on this information given. It was deemed safe and respectable - looked OK too. Special arrangements had been made for arrival, and indeed not thirty minutes before her arrival when our van arrived, they were fine. Picked her up from the nearby airport with her two children - and she was told in language that I cannot put here, to find somewhere else, as the owner 'could not be bothered'

 

Leaving a woman with her children in a foreign country at 7pm is hardly a very proffessional thing to do, nor welcoming. We did stay with her and spent time finding another campsite for her.

 

But regulation of those - or at least a list of friendly sites would be good. What about ones with good 'late arrival' procedures? One such site, although not a great one, does in fact have a wonderful scheme of listing available pitches on the door when closed with the message 'Pitch here and we will see you in the morning!' To which you have to give them credit!

 

 

[dwaviation]

So - After 14 or so posts I guess the answer is no :-D

[yeti]

A matter I think you should address is the crazy booking system that the Caravan Club employs. It has only been challenged on forums like this.

The press now need to take up the cause against selfish individuals who book sites well in advance and fail to turn up without notifying the site managers. Why the Caravan Club can't implement a booking fee like the Camping Club remains a mystery.

I think that is a more important issue than repeating an item that is already covered in you sister publication.

more 'off the wall' or 'outside the box' articles would give the magazine more of a unique selling point.

Maybe focussing more on the hobbies people do and use their motorhome as a support. More unusual diy projects and maybe adventurous travels.

[Losos]

yeti - 2009-09-25 1:58 PM Maybe focussing more on the hobbies people do and use their motorhome as a support. More unusual diy projects and maybe adventurous travels.

Some good points Yeti - Maybe there is room for a 'sites orientated' mag. There are some interesting sites opening up in Eastern Europe too which the more adventurous might like to try. Maybe Warners could drop the site reviews in MMM but keep everything else, we shall see.

In the meantime I've yet to see any reviews on here, sadly I can't just pop down to the newsagents to get a copy, that would be a three day round trip for me just at the moment !!!!