Jump to content

Cornwall campervan curfew on coastal car parks


sean.clarke

Recommended Posts

Don't want to feed the "go abroad instead" brigade, but just read:

 

"Cornwall Council have introduced a curfew parking for campers and motorhomes right across the county, with a ban on motorhomes and campervans, from 11 to 8 am with a fixed penalty fine £70"

 

http://www.tmcto.org/index.php/motorhome-news/item/32-cornwall-camper-van-curfew-on-coastal-car-parks

 

Just a warning to make sure others are aware, £70 is a bit steep for nothing more than parking.... Just cross over to Devon where you might be more welcome... they still do cream teas and pasties B-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest JudgeMental
Ha ha ha...It dont bother me as have given up on the UK long ago, so much for living in a democracy...God knows what impression foreign visitors get!lol Vote with your feet! :-D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lived in Cornwall for over twenty years and it always has been anti Motorhomes.

 

Considering the nature of the county it is perhaps unsurprising but the CCC policy was never really in favour of caravans or tents anyway or any form of non guest house or hotel holidays, but it reluctantly found itself having to cope with the increasing demand for camp sites.

 

Perhaps many of the councilors were/are guest house owners and retailers who were swayed by rumours of tight fisted Motorhomers coming to Cornwall laden with two weeks supplies who would park for free, leave piles of rubbish and spend as little as possible whilst holidaying in their rather expensive 'Dormobiles'.

 

Anyway - being an amiable sort of guy I reckon it's best to let them have it their way and not go there!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK lets cut the bull and put this into perspective.

Cornwall has proboly got more pitchs per sq mile than any other county, so there is no shortage of places to camp, they have also got a big problem with people overnighting in car parks, and we're not just talking motorhomes and campervans, but also plain vans and cars, any parking that is not 'policed' is swamped. Now some of these people are perfectly nice to know, but here's a little test, take a vehicle with a windsurfer on top to Fistral car park and see how long before the tyres are slashed.

So what are we all going to do? Go to France? This year was the first for some time that I've holidayed in france and I noticed that in popular spots there are notices forbidding overnighting in car parks, now it's true they have an aires system but judging by what i saw in june of the 'overcrowding' in popular spots I certainly wouldn't want to be there this month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the link to the Cornwall County Council website so you can get it straight from the horses mouth so to speak:

 

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=33744

 

I think the telling bit is in the first paragraph - 'encourage visitors to use the many high quality motorhome and camp sites throughout Cornwall'. So this is mostly a ploy to make motorhomers use camp sites, some of them no doubt owned by councillors or their friends / family.

 

What a difference to neighbouring Torridge Council in Devon where they have seen the light and started allowing overnight parking for motorhomes in car parks - http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=8985

 

We are Devon bound the second half of next month and will make some use of the new facilities. Will we venture further west to friendly Cornwall - what do you think?

 

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if you venture into Plymouth, use the carpark at the George (near the airport on the A386) or Milehouse (Plymouth Argyle carpark) They are both park and ride sites and parking is free. People seem to stay overnight and you do not have to use the bus to park there. Neither have height barriers but the park and ride at Plympton does, so don't bother with it. :-D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

sean.clarke - 2013-08-21 8:51 PM

 

You miss my point, this is not about wild camping etc. if I understand the article it is the fact that campervans parked between certain hours, watching the sunset with a cuppa etc. that will lead you into trouble.

 

I think you will find that the sun sets well before 11.00 pm even in the far west of Cornwall even in midsummer!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I openly admit that I am one of the "go abroad"brigade. England, particularly, is a dump for motorhomes. I do not even consider it seriously as a place to spend my money whilst motor homing. Anywhere but the land of my birth is my motto. If you are not spied on with cameras you are hunted down by the parking police and forever shunted into the overpriced campsites. Sod Cornwall, it may be beautiful, but my money is spent in France, every time, where I am made to feel most welcome.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest 1footinthegrave

Here here pal, and those on here that in effect say these councils are justified in these draconian actions mean we will never have a united voice, and quite frankly why they have a motor home at all if all they do is go and sit in a camp site mystifies me. :-S get a bloody caravan.

 

Years ago one of my greatest joys was to take the van to the coast and do a bit of night beach casting, not so now all these bloody petty rules the UK excels in. >:-(

 

Vive La France, and only another two weeks to go..........................for a couple of months ;-)

 

And the bloke who said French aires are getting crowded, we spent 48 nights from early June, with only 4 nights on sites, never had a single problem finding a spot anywhere, and not one of them a "car park" before the anti aire brigade put their two penneth in.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel embarrassed admitting it I will be camping in the UK tomorrow until Tuesday but not on a site at a Music fesival Twinwood will swinging &rocking the night away, even my kids are going not in my van own cars & tents.

 

A couple more weeks then off to France or Germany for 3 Motorhome friendly weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recently stayed in the area of St Jean de Monts in the Vendee and travelled up the coast to La Barre de Monts and passed many secluded and pretty empty beach car parks all of which had height barriers and expressly banned the parking of motorhomes. Looking further inland it was not too difficult to find a parking place but the picture painted of France is not as free and easy as some might suggest.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest 1footinthegrave
grahamw - 2013-08-22 7:43 AM

 

Recently stayed in the area of St Jean de Monts in the Vendee and travelled up the coast to La Barre de Monts and passed many secluded and pretty empty beach car parks all of which had height barriers and expressly banned the parking of motorhomes. Looking further inland it was not too difficult to find a parking place but the picture painted of France is not as free and easy as some might suggest.

 

Whilst that may be true in a very few instances, in our last trip in June/July we found many brand new Aires, many in some lovely spots, and to pretend France is in any way similar to the over regulated, petty minded officialdom we constantly come up against in the UK makes France as far as I'm concerned the fantastic place it is, and continues to be for so many motor home users. ;-)

 

Not once do we ever pre-plan our day when in France, knowing with certainty we WILL find somewhere to stop for the night, that is more or less an impossibility in the UK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is a shame not to go somewhere as beautiful as Cornwall or any part of the UK because you cannot park where you want to. I have a fairly large van, (my choice which is not suitable for town car parks) I regularly use the network of small sites, Holiday sites and weekend meets that are available, I also carry an electric bike (my trusty steed) which will carry my picnic all the way on to the beach or promenade, it gets me a lot more places than even a small car would, and after a day's worth of good retail therapy carries my purchases home again.

 

My latest find is a hideaway site 20min from Alton Towers at £4 a night and would you believe it an extra £2 if you require electric.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

grahamw - 2013-08-22 7:43 AM

 

Recently stayed in the area of St Jean de Monts in the Vendee and travelled up the coast to La Barre de Monts and passed many secluded and pretty empty beach car parks all of which had height barriers and expressly banned the parking of motorhomes. Looking further inland it was not too difficult to find a parking place but the picture painted of France is not as free and easy as some might suggest.

 

Thats similier to what we found, in popular spots and coastal carparks, camping-cars where banned, very much the same as Cornwall, of cause the big diferance is in France there are Aires some of which are free

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Caroline - 2013-08-22 9:50 AM

 

It is a shame not to go somewhere as beautiful as Cornwall or any part of the UK because you cannot park where you want to. I have a fairly large van, (my choice which is not suitable for town car parks) I regularly use the network of small sites, Holiday sites and weekend meets that are available, I also carry an electric bike (my trusty steed) which will carry my picnic all the way on to the beach or promenade, it gets me a lot more places than even a small car would, and after a day's worth of good retail therapy carries my purchases home again.

 

My latest find is a hideaway site 20min from Alton Towers at £4 a night and would you believe it an extra £2 if you require electric.

 

Yes, quite agree. But let’s not spoil their fun eh? Half the pleasure, for some, in motorhome ownership lies in moaning about the dreadfulness of the UK, having a hissy fit, and flouncing of to France in a state of self righteous indignation. Bless!

 

Cheers

Gwen

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest 1footinthegrave
Gwendolyn - 2013-08-22 10:33 AM

 

Caroline - 2013-08-22 9:50 AM

 

It is a shame not to go somewhere as beautiful as Cornwall or any part of the UK because you cannot park where you want to. I have a fairly large van, (my choice which is not suitable for town car parks) I regularly use the network of small sites, Holiday sites and weekend meets that are available, I also carry an electric bike (my trusty steed) which will carry my picnic all the way on to the beach or promenade, it gets me a lot more places than even a small car would, and after a day's worth of good retail therapy carries my purchases home again.

 

My latest find is a hideaway site 20min from Alton Towers at £4 a night and would you believe it an extra £2 if you require electric.

 

Yes, quite agree. But let’s not spoil their fun eh? Half the pleasure, for some, in motorhome ownership lies in moaning about the dreadfulness of the UK, having a hissy fit, and flouncing of to France in a state of self righteous indignation. Bless!

 

Cheers

Gwen

 

Gwen with respect you simply miss the point, and I can only guess that you and many others have never experienced the sheer joy of unplanned and spontaneous motor home use that France offers, some of us simply don't want to spend fruitless energy trying to find a CL in the middle of nowhere and sit in a field, but whatever turns you on. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1footinthegrave - 2013-08-22 10:42 AM

 

Gwendolyn - 2013-08-22 10:33 AM

 

Caroline - 2013-08-22 9:50 AM

 

It is a shame not to go somewhere as beautiful as Cornwall or any part of the UK because you cannot park where you want to. I have a fairly large van, (my choice which is not suitable for town car parks) I regularly use the network of small sites, Holiday sites and weekend meets that are available, I also carry an electric bike (my trusty steed) which will carry my picnic all the way on to the beach or promenade, it gets me a lot more places than even a small car would, and after a day's worth of good retail therapy carries my purchases home again.

 

My latest find is a hideaway site 20min from Alton Towers at £4 a night and would you believe it an extra £2 if you require electric.

 

Yes, quite agree. But let’s not spoil their fun eh? Half the pleasure, for some, in motorhome ownership lies in moaning about the dreadfulness of the UK, having a hissy fit, and flouncing of to France in a state of self righteous indignation. Bless!

 

Cheers

Gwen

 

Gwen with respect you simply miss the point, and I can only guess that you and many others have never experienced the sheer joy of unplanned and spontaneous motor home use that France offers, some of us simply don't want to spend fruitless energy trying to find a CL in the middle of nowhere and sit in a field, but whatever turns you on. ;-)

 

Well, you guess wrongly. We spend 6 months a year touring in Europe and book nothing. I have never been on a CL in my life. In 63 years of camping.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are from an older generation, in fact very old 1930's, when it was only the Vardo (Gypsy) community who had caravans and well before surfboards were even thought of when there were no Motorways and the only way to reach Cornwall was by train or bicycle. Then it was a quaint an interesting county and any visitor who talked differently was hastily avoided.

 

Since then it has blossomed into "One of The Counties to Visit", personally we avoid it for it can be an endless toil of traffic with hoards of people looking for a dream that never emerges. Complaints against camping have little to do with strict and aggressive councils who are doing their best to accommodate all visitors. France is only different because it has space,

 

Lets be very clear about it Cornwall was like that in the 1930s.

 

Since then life has changed dramatically. People now travel and have a voice and consider they have a right to go wherever they please for as long as they please, unfortunately this cannot be permitted to continue. Controls have to be made and accepted. If you object all I can suggest is that you were born 70 years too late for Cornwall and other picturesque counties to be free and attractive to whosoever feels the need to do whatever they like and go wherever they like.

 

If anyone feels that peeved about life and camping in the UK then I suggest they look ahead 70 years and consider themselves "extremely fortunate" they live now because those counties like Cornwall may well be forced to introduce border restrictions that actually prevent their countryside being invaded by hoards of humans whose only interest is to 'live a dream'

 

Live in the real world please! Cornwall v France, be thankful you can do either and enjoy it whatever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

×
×
  • Create New...