I could complain forever on this, but why has it got so expensive. One of the things that really get on my wick lately is campervan & tent costs more than a tent with a car… WHY!
Social media, highlighting places to visit and Covid meaning more people camped. It’s popular now and web sites like pitch up make it easier to access and book. More people actively interested, prices go up
We've been looking at stops north from where we are roughly west of Donostia San Sebastian to Dieppe where we get the ferry on Sat night. So far we've paid for one campsite in 6 weeks. It was a (edit not Spanish) but Portuguese municipal site, so community run and that worked out to be 7 quid including hot showers. It was spotless and calm. Mel found a site near Bordeaux, cos it's sort of en route, and they want 60 euro for the night just for the van and 2 persons. Everything else is extra! So we'll keep looking! It's scandalous. For a patch of grass! With all the anti-tourist sentiment around Europe at the moment some businesses are doing a good job putting themselves out of business... The flip side is that unless van camping is somehow supported or regulated then laybys and previously quiet beauty spots in the UK simply fill up with more rubbish and excrement. Some campsites here have basic pitches, simply for overnight stays for a nominal 5 euro or so where Marmite cans can be dumped and water filled, but nothing can be set up as a normal pitch. The UK needs to get it's head around home based tourism so it doesn't get screwed for all of us.
With the upfront cost of motorhomes deprecation, and pitch fees, Its a hobby for the rich.. You can rent alot of nice holiday homes for less..
Some of the self-entitled motorhome owners who wild camp have ruined it. They have caused a loss of trade resulting in site fees increasing to cover the short fall, more so in Scotland. Local tea rooms, pubs and restaurants have noticed this again, they dont leave the safety of there mobile homes and contribute into local economies. This has been spoken about including a possible visitor tax for the NC500.
Most camp sites have been around for decades, when pasture land was less than £1000 an acre, so a decent size campsite was possibly purchased for less than £50,000? The reality is possibly that campsites have changed hands, to a more profit driven owner mentality? We had a seasonal pitch in Wareham forest for several years from 2000, there were campers there that had access to the site for 9 months of the year at no extra cost, water and electricity all included. Some of them virtually lived there, they looked more tanned than an old leather handbag. New owner arrives, brought in daily charges, reduced the duration of the seasonal pitches. The add-ons kept creeping up until it became cheaper to go abroad a couple of times a year. But they still have a very healthy occupancy rate.
Knock through your garage like wot I always said you should do. Rent pitches in your rear garden. Gotta be a market in Hayling now they've stopped free overnight camping. Davidoft's Retreat, sort of like Keith's Field but more compact and bijou. The neighbours will love you more x
Been there, but unlike Matt's off road recovery he doesn't do t shirts! Yet.. Nice driveway with hook up though
I had Tristram campsite polzeath booked for 2 weeks in August £1k But I had to cancel The thing what really gets me is the £2 per night per dog £56
What stops low cost campsites in the UK is travellers. If its cheap, guess who will be in residence. And as usually you have to go to court to evict, its too much pain. So put up the price to painfully high to cover the annual costs over a few months in the summer, and shut down most of the year..
