Caravan length and French sites.

[cooky1]

I have been looking at the CC recommended sites in France. Quite a few in South France state that caravans over 7m are not allowed. Some even say 6.5 and one was 6m max length. Since my Bailey has a shipping length of 7.2m does this mean I will not be able to stay on these sites? If I book via the CC they ask for the caravan make so they will know it is over 7m long.

If these rules are adhered to then this limits the number of sites I can stay on.

I don't consider my van to be exceptionally long and this 7m rule must prohibit a lot of caravans from staying on certain sites.

I wonder if the plot sizes are small which would account for the limit. Does anyone know if this is the case?

Graeme.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Graeme,

Just check what the french sites are saying - it's body length rather than shipping length.

European 2 star pitches (ACSI rating) are 8m by 10m, whilst 4 star are 10m by 10m - roughly

Robert

 

[ThePlotter]

Having been to a couple of sites in the south of France they can be tight,on one site the first pitch offered to me I would have had the whole of the A frame sticking in to the site road,Iwas moved to another pitch which was only a bit better.The following year at a different site the pitch had a site road to front and rear and the van just fitted but far from comfortable.Having looked in at other sites down there we will not travel all that way to be cramped so now visit other areas of france where pitches are always bigger.I think in the south it is greed driven by getting as many vans on site as possible.

 

[ValA.]

What particular sites are you looking at, and in what area? We've stayed at lots of different sites, and our caravan is longer than yours, but we've never ever had a problem. I imagine, though, that the Caravan Club will be correct - the sites you've looked at will have small pitches, because their advice is usually correct - but there are sites with bigger pitches, and I am sure someone on here will come up with some in the areas you're looking at.

 

[RiaandJames_374303418]

I'm off on a caravanning "girls" trip with my mum and mother in-law at the end of the week. Husband is away on duty and the two dads are going golfing in Portugal for two weeks.

We will head for the Bordeaux area for a few days and then south towards Perpignan and then the Frejus area before turning back and deciding on a route and stops on the way home. We've no sites booked, we just play it as we go with site guides and just call ahead a few hours down the road from Dunkerque and call ahead to sites when we decide where we are going.

Our caravan shipping length is about 8.49 metres and we've not had a problem getting pitched before. We have always found sites keen to accomodate our large caravans.

We're the "sing along" outfit with the Glen Miller, Andy Willaims and the Big Band singers

Ria

 

[cooky1]

Some of the sites I was looking at were:- Le Vallon Rouge, Les Pinedes, Le Pre Lombard, Le Petite Camargue, L'Occitanie, Le Haras, Domaine Des Naiads. All of these sites are in the CC European travel service booklet. They say 'Maximum van length' is 6,6.5 or 7m. This is why I thought it meant shipping length.

I haven't looked at sites that are not part of the CC, so I think I need to do a bit more research.

Some of the sites also say minimum stay 7 nights in high season, from Saturday to Saturday. This is not flexible enough for us.

Graeme.

 

[ValA.]

Le Vallon Rouge,can't say, haven't been

Les Pinedes, same

Le Pre Lombard, overnight stop, big enough pitch to leave the car and caravan hitched up ready for off in the morning

Le Petite Camargue, - medium pitches, but certainly big enough for our van

L'Occ itanie, can't say, haven't been

Le Haras - some absolutely enormous pitches - and all very beautiful with loads of flowers,

Domaine Des Naiads - we've got a photo of car, caravan, our awning, shaded rush awning, and a pup tent, plus three teenage boys - no problems.

 

[ValA.]

Sorry, didn't see the bit about seven days - a lot of sites seem to do this in very high season - but when are you going? French high season tends to be only mid-July to mid-August - and from the second week in August onwards some sites can be almost empty. Have you tried booking directly with the sites - it's so easy, these days, on line.

 

[cooky1]

Thanks Valerie. We are booked up for Normandy this year but we were planning ahead for next year and we fancy the South of France, as we have not been there before.

Your message makes me feel a bit more hopeful about finding somewhere suitable. Thanks again.

Graeme.

 

[rayc]

Graeme, a couple of years ago I booked a site through CC that said no vans over 6m during July / August. I had stayed at the site two years previous with my 6.9m van with no problems. I checked with the CC who confirmed that it was the overall length that mattered not the body length. They did however say that if I booked early there would be no problem as some large pitches were reserved for their customers. I booked early and there were no problems. I did note that there were lots of long vans on the site and the pitches were all large but some had fairly difficult access.

I have caravanned for years in France and never found having a van of 6.9m any problem.

 

[RiaandJames_374303418]

As posted, our present caravan is nearly 8.5 metres long and the previous one was also over 8 metres.

We've never given the length of the caravan a lot of thought and site managements have only ever gone out of their way to help with large caravans in the south of France and other countries. Even when 5 caravans of equal size arrived together.

We nearly always book directly with the sites and often on our arrival day, email the sites and ask them directly if you have any concerns.

We have no where booked for this weekend in France and that will not be a problem. The Loire is in easy reach with plenty of sites to choose from.

Ria

 

[Guest]

I have read the comments posted with interest as this issue was one that concerned me last year, although my own van was only 6.40 meters shipping length.

What I did find was that some of the sites with the restriction meant that the access roads were up steep hills or had very sharp inclines and there was a concern about bottoming out. I also agree that some pitches can be a bit tight and saw one large UK van with tail in one road and nose in the next, much to the owners concern, but the site was totally full, and he had not given the length of his outfit.

I am also not too sure about the policy of not booking ahead. I think it depends very much on the time of year and the area. If you want the Med coast between the middle of July and the middle of August then I suggest booking, and yes, on some sites you will be crammed in. We did think that by staying back from the coast we would be fine. Yes, there were sites with pitches, but there was no shade and facilities were poor, and we tried several. Staying up north and there is less of a problem, but the weather is less attractive.

It is an issue that concerns me as the seasons pass. As more and more French opt for motorhomes the sites become more and more filled with cabins as the owners have to make business. In turn this means fewer sites/good pitches for caravanners such as ourselves. I am not too thrilled about paying top dollar for a piece of sand and a lot of noise.

Answers??> Don't know yet.

 

[ValA.]

Scotchlad - you're absolutely right about Motorhomes being replaced with cabins. This year on a site in the Ardeche there were about 30% less touring pitches, and these pitches had been replaced by IRM 'loft' mobile homes. Only one motorhome was on site - but we saw loads parked up in the 'aires' provided in towns for motorhomes. However, because the cabins were expensive the staff were complaining that in low season they were not being rented - consequently the shop opening hours had been cut, the shop staff cut from two to one, receptions staff reduced, etc.

The number of motorhomes being sold seems to be increasing all the time - although our friends have just changed back, because they decided they were fed up of having to pack up every time they wanted to go out somewhere, couldn't get into the lovely little villages they used to, and wanted somewhere to 'come back to' when they were hot and tired after a day out. In the long term I wonder what will happen. We'll all have to work hard persuading the next generation of caravanners (apparently they are now selling like hot cakes again to young families, according to our local dealership) to venture to France and fill up some of the pitches before they disappear altogether.