Campsites - Motorhomers' Needs

[TonyJones]

What aspects of a campsite are ESPECIALLY important to you, as motorhomers (ie more important than they might be to campers or caravanners)?
It occurs to me that it would be good if we could put together a definitive list, and get it well-known.
Then, people writing reviews for magazines (club ones, our own, and the "other lot"), entries in campsite directories, and of course reporters for The Motohome Channel, would have an "aide-memoir" to help them tailor their information for us. So let me set the ball rolling:

• Is there a drive-over waste point?
• How near to the water tap can you drive? (ie how long a hose do you need!)
• What proportion of pitches are hard standing?
• Can a motorhome be pitched whichever way round makes sense (with consideration for fire safety and others' privacy)?
• Off-site,how near is the town, or whatever attractions bring people to the site?[/l
• Is there public transport?
• Is there a safe cycling route?
  
  All these seem to me to be much more important to MOST (not all) motorhomers, than how modern the toilet block is!
  What else would you add?

 

[klyne]

I think the list covers most things. We tend to stay at Club sites. The CC still have a lot of work to do to make their motorhome service points more user friendly. I think they have realised that but it will take some time. The C&CC sites we have used seem to have better dumping points for grey water waste. We tend only to stay on sites that are either near towns or at least with easy access to public transport. I tend to use Google Earth to work out distances from the campsite to the bus stop.

David

 

[gjh]

The main thing we look for is proximity to towns/public transport. As far as facilities go all we need are fresh water and dump points (we have jerry can and grey waste container so don't need to be able to get especially close to taps or drain).

We have a solar panel so, for most of the year, we don't need hook-up and only need hard standing if the ground is soggy enough to cause difficulty driving on/off.

Graham.

 

[BernieC]

As well as access to cycling routes you might also add easy access to footpaths.

We have also used and enjoyed the services of a visiting mobile fish and chip vans or the like in the past so notice of these would be good.

The location of the nearest pub. Walking distance or not?

For the OH, the days that any local markets are held!

 

[LizziePope]

Great forum thread – interesting reading!

 

[Aspenshaw]

Like David K, I tend to stay on Caravan Club sites. The CC enables you to choose a site against varying criteria, produce helpful leaflets for each sites, and has knowledgeable wardens who can tell you about the practicalness of parking your motorhome in the local supermarket.

The CC also produce videos of some sites and like those on the Motorhome Channel, they are positive and tend to skip over negatives. Nevertheless, it is much easier to take in information from a video highlighting some of the things we use such as motorhome service points. I would like to see a video covering the drive up to the site [ease of access], book in [ease of parking at Reception], visit the motorhome service point including how many barriers you have to negotiate, pitches, a quick trip to toilet block, and TV/wifi facilities, getting out an about the locality, and ease of departure.

You can build a tick list around this logical sequence using open questions that encourage writers to expand on the points.

I do like Clare Kelly's videos. Shame they are not longer. She exudes enthusiasm.

What I would really like to see is Accessibility Statements that extend from the site into the surrounding area. I recently stayed on a site that had an excellent Accessibility Statement for the toilet block but didn't mention how difficult it was to walk down the road outside the site ["only a ten minute walk to the town centre"] if you had mobility issues.

Neither my wife or I have any disabilities. We know motorhoming, and caravanning, provide opportunities for a diverse cross section of society and would like that better reflected in reports.

 

[chirene]

Good thread this one! Well done Tony.
As we only use our van over the water, I don't have any comments on UK sites, except that they always appear to be for Caravans, with a car for use. (That was when we belonged to CC)
We do pick sites with easy access to Town/Village though, as we don 't have bikes either!

 

[Flicka]

For us:-
as Tony originally posted & as others have previously mentioned
The location of the nearest pub serving meals . Walking distance or not? ( we are having a break or holiday & don't want to be preparing all meals every day)
Disability Access for wheelchair (i.e. difficult getting a manual wheelchair through deep gravel & long grass)
One of the things I like to check on Google earth - Is there a Footpath outside the site to local village/town.

 

[ZydecoJoe]

We also do most of our camping over in Europe as its cheaper even paying for ferrys etc. Cost of electricity, how close is public transport from the site, local supermarkets, we like hardstanding pitches so how many ,adults only is good.

 

[DonnaG]

Great thread, Tony - well done. The only things I might add are ease of access to the pitch and if it slopes. And I guess, in this day and age, perhaps the extent of WiFi coverage may be of interest.