costs of parks and sites

[Lonesome-Whizkid]

Ok, I don't think I have many questions left before I go ahead and get my first caravan. What I would like to know is how often people go away, Every week, Every month, Or just 3 to 4 times a year? And how much do the fees work out at, It would be good to have something to work with, do they vary for pitch location. I know there would be a huge difference between Major holiday parks in high season and a small farm in the middle of autumn winter. I'd expect fees of somewhere between £10 to £30 per night? Would I be close to the mark there?

Does anyone know if there's parks with a mains water supply at your pitch which can give you a constant supply of fresh water? I'm sure I read about that somewhere, that you can get a bit of hose and connectors and connect the mains supply directly to your aqua roll fresh water drums centre inlet?

Does anyone know of a site that charges less than £100 for a full 7 days? :blink:

 

[RogerL]

Caravan use varies enormously, depending on people's lifestyle - the beauty of caravanning is that it's flexible enough to fit in with almost any lifestyle - some like to go away for lots of weekends - others never go for weekends only "full" holidays - many in between those two extremes - many retired caravanners go away for longer, or more often or both.

Site charges vary enormously as well - from £7/night at a CC CL with electrics, shower and toilet to over £50+/night in the very high demand, high quality sites.

You pays your money and takes your choice

 

[Lonesome-Whizkid]

As low as £7 per night, that's cheap.

 

[Dustydog]

We like to go away as often as possible.
Before we retired we had one long weekend every month to places within 1.5 hours drive.
Our site choices vary considerably from cl's to fill blown fully serviced pitches.
A fully serviced pitch will give you direct fresh water connection, grey waste water disposal direct into your own drain. Some even have their own chemical toilet waste disposal point but not many.
If you use a direct water link may I suggest you buy an Aquaroll mains adaptor.
It's a ball **** that fits in your aquaroll and maintains a steady water level as you use the caravan taps.
I prefer this method to the direct mains attachment. Direct attachment relies on the caravans own taps and pipes withholding mains pressure.If something failed imagine the gallons of water flowing through!
Good luck in your purchase.

 

[brianjw47]

Hi Lonesome,

Go tohavenholidays.com they do some cracking out of full season deals.

We are off to Berwick on Tweed this week. Well below normal price for full service pitch. I agree about putting hose to water container, saw a van where pressure reducer failed. What a mess!

Best Wishes,

Brianjw47. B)

 

[Lonesome-Whizkid]

Now I'm stumped, What is a pressure reducer used for and how does it work? Enjoy your Berwick on Tweed trip and remember to climb the Eildons.

 

[Lonesome-Whizkid]

Thanks Dusty, just going to search e bay to see what this aqua roll mains adapter looks like.

Just as I'd expected, very similar but smaller that the house toilet one, It cuts the water off when its up at the level of almost full. Handy little toys you get in the world of caravanning I must say.

 

[brianjw47]

All in line Caravan hose direct connections rely on a pressure reducer to ensure that the amount of water "pushing" against the caravan fittings will not cause a leak.

By feeding the supply to an adapted water barrel, the risk of an internal leak is eliminated.

I use a drinking water suitable hose with fittings to fill my barrel and rely on goof old pump to transfer water to 'van, result, peace of mind. But it each individuals decision as thousands use the direct feed system with no problems.

Brianjw47

 

[Dustydog]

Brian
I have to disagree with you.
h
Having used the direct water connection 10 years ago never again. The so called pressure reducer does NOT turn off the water.
Go for the aquaroll adaptor plus blue hose and it fails safe.

 

[Lonesome-Whizkid]

Found this on e bay, can someone explain how the rapidrain works.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Caravan-Mains-Water-Adaptor-for-Aquaroll-or-WaterHog-10-metre-Hose-RapiDrain-/191215766761?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item2c85590ce9

 

[RogerL]

By feeding the supply to an adapted water barrel, the risk of an internal leak is eliminated.

Reduces significantly - but doesn't eliminate completely.
Even the ordinary submersible pump is capable of causing internal leaks is there's any issues with the internal pipework or joints.

 

[Dustydog]

We always switch off the water pump when leaving the caravan unattended just in case.

 

[ball00]

We like to go away as often as possible.
Before we retired we had one long weekend every month to places within 1.5 hours drive.
Our site choices vary considerably from cl's to fill blown fully serviced pitches.
A fully serviced pitch will give you direct fresh water connection, grey waste water disposal direct into your own drain. Some even have their own chemical toilet waste disposal point but not many.
If you use a direct water link may I suggest you buy an Aquaroll mains adaptor.
It's a ball **** that fits in your aquaroll and maintains a steady water level as you use the caravan taps.
I prefer this method to the direct mains attachment. Direct attachment relies on the caravans own taps and pipes withholding mains pressure.If something failed imagine the gallons of water flowing through!
Good luck in your purchase.

Found this one is it ok? http://www.screwfix.com/p/side-entry-fill-valve/64191

 

[ball00]

Ok, I don't think I have many questions left before I go ahead and get my first caravan. What I would like to know is how often people go away, Every week, Every month, Or just 3 to 4 times a year? And how much do the fees work out at, It would be good to have something to work with, do they vary for pitch location. I know there would be a huge difference between Major holiday parks in high season and a small farm in the middle of autumn winter. I'd expect fees of somewhere between £10 to £30 per night? Would I be close to the mark there?

Does anyone know if there's parks with a mains water supply at your pitch which can give you a constant supply of fresh water? I'm sure I read about that somewhere, that you can get a bit of hose and connectors and connect the mains supply directly to your aqua roll fresh water drums centre inlet?

Does anyone know of a site that charges less than £100 for a full 7 days? :blink:

Have a look hear Good prices and offers nearly all the season. http://www.hru.co.uk/special_offers_list

 

[Supertractorman]

For anybody using fully serviced pitches may I suggest you watch the pressure of water at the site before walking away from your van. I recently installed water on all my CL pitches and because we have strong water pressure I have come across some vans in the daytime where the connectors have blown off and the tap is left running flooding the pitch. You only really need a steady trickle to keep your Aquaroll topped up, so only turn taps on slightly. As to prices most CL's with Hard Standings and Electric Hook Up are £10 to £12 per night so could meet your £100 budget for the week leaving you some spare cash.
David

 

[joby1]

We just had 4 nights away in South wales , for £4.50 per night total £18 including electric and wi fi , also free fishing , this deal is open twice a year if you are over 50 , www.dolbryn.co.uk , if you prefer a site with mains on every pitch and pitches twice the size of normal try Greenacres Bibury at £12 per night , also fresh produce is available when in season , I like to spend around 70 nights away in the caravan in the UK , plus we spend 3 months nearly every year in Australia ,

 

[CyberCynth]

Hi joby1, have just had a look at the link to dolbryn, looks a very nice site, and £4.50 a night sounds like my sort of price! However I'm always rather wary of commercial sites; I have so often found that they pitch units too close together during busy periods. Looking at the very artistic picture of the site, the pitches are not marked individually, so I would be worried about overcrowding here. I always tend to stick to C&CC sites, or Temporary Holiday Sites run by the Club's District Associations. Being a wrinkly I now get a discount from the Club, depending on the season, which helps to reduce the pitch fees, and many of the Club rally fees are within my budget.

 

[Gafferbill]

This company runs holiday parks across the South and 6 of them cater for touring caravans.
They are in Devon, Sussex, Kent and Essex.......they offer some good deals from £5 / night.
I have stayed on 3 in Sussex and Kent and all 3 were excellent value with good facilities.

 

[joby1]

The pitches at Dolbryn are larger than most CC pitches , there is ample room for car caravan and tables chairs and BBQs , go onto there FB page their are better photo's on there , that price is only twice a year when they have senior moments weeks

 

[CyberCynth]

Senior Moments weeks, aye? That'll be 52 for me then.....!

 

[mealsonwheels]

Hi Lonesome Whizkid

Until we retired from work, we used to have the caravan ready to get away to a site or CL on a Friday afternoon and stay until Sunday morning. When taking annual leave from work, we used to get away for a week now and then during the year.
Now that we're both retired (Whahoo!) we plan to get away for a week each month from beginning of March to late October, using mainly Caravan Club CL's and occasionally their Sites.
When we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary, we didn't hire the village hall for a 'do', instead we took ourselves away in the caravan touring the highlands of Scotland for 6 weeks. which was fantastic.
The Caravan Club and Camping & Caravan Club both issue Site Directories to members, which give full details of facilites for their Sites and CL's or CS's and Affiliated Sites and the prices.

 

[RogerL]

A week a month - part-timer!

Since retirement, we've developed a pattern of 6 weeks away followed by 4 weeks at home from mid-February to mid-November to get in 20-22 weeks/year - we eat out more often when away than at home but like the sites, we choose good value places - with an occasional extravagance.

Our biggest expense most years is ferry fares as we like to explore the UK, this year going to Mull in spring (don't miss it!) and Isle of Wight this Autumn - we've also done the Western Isles and Shetland.

Caravan Club CLs are usually cracking value and not difficult to see what you're getting from the Club website, especially now they add reviews - we avoid the very smallest and the most expensive - in Scotland many commercials are better value than CC club sites with infinitely better locations.

I use a Three network dongle to maintain internet connection for online banking so finance isn't an issue and our son pops in home a couple of times a week to check the post.

The biggest issue we get is routine hospital appointments - despite telling them well in advance when we're away, SWMBO's eye hospital appointments are invariably just before we get back and changing them is a PITA.

 

[joby1]

any body over 50 ,