Dave Potts
Member
Hi
Is it worth joining a club such as the camper and motor home club/ camping caravan club?
Is it worth joining a club such as the camper and motor home club/ camping caravan club?
Camper and motor home club
- Thread starter Dave Potts
- Start date
Used to be in the camping & caravan club but never used it so came out, never fancied the motorhome & caravan one gen though they do have some better sites to visit.
We are in the Camping and Caravan Club - we have stayed on 5 of their sites this year mainly because you are pretty much guaranteed a decent standard and can usually get good hard standing with hook-up (a must for us when winter camping). The monthly magazine is also a reasonable read.
What we tend to do when visiting a new area is look to see if there is a Club site first but we have stayed on a lot more independent sites over the last year.
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I am a member of both. I would say that on the whole the Caravan and Motorhome Club have better/cleaner facilities. The Caravan and Motorhome Club tend to have older campers on the sites. It really is all about location for us. The ability to camp at CL's and CS's is a real bonus.
I stayed on the Chatsworth site this year, caravan and motorhome club. Im not a member of either and just paid the extra to stay. It was a lovely clean site but very regimental and it also felt it was almost like a competition for who had the best and most kit. The other thing to be aware of with the motorhome club that took the shine off my stay was due to me not having a full camper conversion and just a kombi bed I shouldn't really be using the site so best to keep my curtains closed !! so that put me on edge for the rest of my stay. I guess my fault for not checking the small print. So regarding the motorhome club if rocking up with a tent and lighting fires is your thing its maybe not for you.
The Camping and Caravan Club are OK with people sleeping in cars and vans with side windows as long as they have fully reclining seats and/or purpose made bed, and curtains of some sort.
I don't think it's quite as regimented as the Caravan and Motorhome club and, with as many people in tents as caravans/motorhomes, not quite so much one upmanship visible (still there though - at West Runton earlier this year we had a bloke with a massive caravan and awning that simply refused to acknowledge our friendly hello as he walked past us several times a day - it became sport and we finally got him to talk on our last day by asking a inane question about his caravan).
A few of the C&CC sites we have used this year had neighbouring Caravan and Motorhome Club sites (West Runton, Sandringham and Malvern) which we had a look at and there didn't seem a lot to chose between the standards (if anything the Caravan and Motorhome club sites edged it slightly), that said, as we walked around the Cararvan Club sites there didn't seem to be a lot of people sitting outside, mixing with their neighbours and actually enjoying themselves.
@superflyguy you are spot on with you last comment. We have been in the C&CC for 6 years but it's only the last 12 months since having our van that we have actually made use of their sites (had tried a few affiliated sites but never a club site) - we will stay as members but have stayed on lots of other sites over the years that are just as good but maybe in different ways, i.e. don't always want showers with underfloor heating, perfectly manicured lawns with flower borders, etc., and more often than not prefer to settle for a field, where we can light a fire, with a nearby pub and good walks.
I don't think it's quite as regimented as the Caravan and Motorhome club and, with as many people in tents as caravans/motorhomes, not quite so much one upmanship visible (still there though - at West Runton earlier this year we had a bloke with a massive caravan and awning that simply refused to acknowledge our friendly hello as he walked past us several times a day - it became sport and we finally got him to talk on our last day by asking a inane question about his caravan).
A few of the C&CC sites we have used this year had neighbouring Caravan and Motorhome Club sites (West Runton, Sandringham and Malvern) which we had a look at and there didn't seem a lot to chose between the standards (if anything the Caravan and Motorhome club sites edged it slightly), that said, as we walked around the Cararvan Club sites there didn't seem to be a lot of people sitting outside, mixing with their neighbours and actually enjoying themselves.
@superflyguy you are spot on with you last comment. We have been in the C&CC for 6 years but it's only the last 12 months since having our van that we have actually made use of their sites (had tried a few affiliated sites but never a club site) - we will stay as members but have stayed on lots of other sites over the years that are just as good but maybe in different ways, i.e. don't always want showers with underfloor heating, perfectly manicured lawns with flower borders, etc., and more often than not prefer to settle for a field, where we can light a fire, with a nearby pub and good walks.
Unfortunately we all know a people like this!!!!
This year at a camping and caravanning site in Devon they sited us and other models of converted campers in roughly the same area of the campsite much to the annoyance of some caravaners no doubt, but it did make for a friendly atmosphere
We were members of the Caravan and Motorhome club for 10 yrs as we had a caravan and will be rejoining when our conversion has been done. The facilities at the sites are generally second to none and were more or less consistent wherever we stayed which we found hugely important with young kids, they also have some great sites in interesting places eg Chatsworth and Longleat. The C&CC is generally more diverse as their sites take tents but on the couple of sites we stayed the toilet blocks were not on a par with the C&MC. If you want clean and well appointed sites, their main sites are great or there are hundreds of little gems at their affiliated CL (C&MC) and CS (C&CC) which are small (upto 5 units) sites run privately with varying facilities. Well worth a look at the respective websites.
@Sjacko20 we have a gem of a site that we found via this route, i.e. via its C&CC CS listing. Rural Relaxing at Medbourne - we used it about 5 times over the winter and will return again now the nights are drawing in as it ticks all of our boxes for a quick, local getaway (recently got planning permission to become a site in its own right so may be breaking away from the C&CC affiliation?).
Going back to OP; as you can see from above, there is not an awful lot to choose between the clubs and both have sites of similar quality in similar locations (often next door to each other) but the style of camping will not suit everyone. My advice would be to sign up for one of them for a year and see what you think - for us it's worth it just for the monthly magazine. If you don't like/use the sites or like the publications then all you will of lost is about what you would pay for a magazine subscription (C&CC is £38 digital/£44 print, C&M slightly more).
@superflyguy , I have to admit I didn't read it as knocking the sites just good advice. All these clubs have t&cs that it's worth looking at first.
Dave Potts
Member
Thanks for the info..I do have a full conversion but don't like the sound of it being regimental
Hi Dave, I personally find the Camping and Motorhome Club sites less regimented than the Camping and Caravan Club. For example at a C&MC site you go to reception and book in and they give you a map and you find your pitch of your choosing on the day. With the C&CC you book in and get escorted to your pitch and then you have a warden giving you the "right hand down" / "left hand down" routine. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
We joined the CAMC as the sites and facilities are usually spot on, especially when hit with a few wet days.
Generally good washrooms - very clean and usually very warm.
Stayed at one recently at Dunnet Bay (NC5oo) and glad we did!
Saved quite a bit on normal fees.
Negatives - as mentioned some of the rules are a bit anal!! But standards are high so I guess it works.
Magazine has some great reviews and info so well worth it IMO.
Generally good washrooms - very clean and usually very warm.
Stayed at one recently at Dunnet Bay (NC5oo) and glad we did!
Saved quite a bit on normal fees.
Negatives - as mentioned some of the rules are a bit anal!! But standards are high so I guess it works.
Magazine has some great reviews and info so well worth it IMO.
Caravan and Motorhome Club for us, never had a “duff” site. Agree it can be quite regimented in that you will park your van here, your car goes there if you are towing and your awning goes there but actually I quite like that. Call me odd if you like. The facilities have always been top notch.
On our NC500 trip this summer we stayed at a few sites where it was a free for all and we found that it only takes one person to park inconsideratly to ruin it for everyone, either taking up too much space or trying to squeeze in where they shouldn’t.
On our NC500 trip this summer we stayed at a few sites where it was a free for all and we found that it only takes one person to park inconsideratly to ruin it for everyone, either taking up too much space or trying to squeeze in where they shouldn’t.
I've never been a member of either but I went to a site in Norfolk once which was run by one of them (can't remember which one) where I was taken to a pitch and told to reverse in. When I pointed out that my awning side was on the offside and therefore not where the allocated space was and asked if it was ok to go in forwards there was some hurrumphing and I was then moved to a different row rather than spoil the symetry. Put me off that sort of site altogether.
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