Would it be worth joining c&cc

[sallybw]

Hi all, Knowing that you are all a knowledgable group of people, I wonder if you could assist me. I am a member of the cc and enjoy the sites I visit, however interesting in going to a few smaller sites so was wondering whether you would recommend the C & CC. What are the benefits and you opinions of being a member.

Regards

sally

 

[graham_somersham]

I'm a member of both CC and CCC. I use the CC sites mainly in the winter months as availability is better then and many of the CCC sites have a long winter close period. I prefer the CCC sites as I feel more at home on them and they tend
to be less formal than the identikit hard standing pitches found on many CC sites. I also use both CL and CS sites especially in the summer months when the ground is not too soggy as many of them are in out of the way quiet locations which suits me. I have been known to also use the CCC temp holiday sites when I am on an economy month and there is a suitable one in the area I want to visit.

All down to personal preferences really and you will get some swear by the CCC and other swear about the CCC. Pop into a few of the sites when you are out and about and ask at the reception if you can take a look around as you are thinking about joining, they will soon take your money for membership if you are interested!

 

[Rita1]

We belong to both Use the 5caravan site of both But use the C&CC proper sites in the winter as we get concessions for being over 55
And you can book 4 nights and pay for 3 or book 7 pay 5
But i normally tell folks to go try and see as CC&C site allow non members to there bigger sites
There are also weekend meets and tempory holiday sites Of which you can turn up to normally with out booking
have put a link in for the local areas find the nearest to you and possible go and see
Parksy no doubt will be along to fill you in more about the C&CC
We all like different things so realy the choice is yours

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/aboutus/localgroups/localgroupwebsites/

 

[Rita1]

Great minds think alike graham

 

[Big S]

Member of both club's but Grahams reply was spot on and we much prefer the C & CC site for the relaxed atmosphere. Both club's offer excellent facilities but the CC have more sites in the NW to chose from but then again are much harder to book for weekends or during school holidays.

 

[Countrylass]

Like everyone else, we are members of both clubs. As Rita says, the C&CC over 55 discount is very welcome. They also offer good family deal prices. The CC sites can sometimes be difficult to find space at especially at weekends. Last summer we could not find a CC site in the Lake District with space for a whole week as weekends in June, July and August were full. No problem at the C&CC sites.

 

[haggarj2]

Hi I'm a member of boith clubs but prefer the C&CC as you book the pitch beforehand and pay a deposit so it stops people clogging up the bookingsystem then failingto turn up at the site.
When you join the C&CC you are and are a RAC member with breakdown and recovery and inform the RAC they seem to automatically make you part of their arriva scheme. for breakdown and recovery with the caravan. At no extra cost!

 

[Parksy]

In terms of membership both clubs offer similar things such as insurance cover, European travel and of course sites all over the country.
Both clubs also offer smaller sites, in the case of the CC these are known as 'certified locations' (or cl's) and the C&CC 'certified sites' (or cs's) There is normally no need to book on either cl's or cs's and in theory these smaller sites are licensed for 5 caravans. In practice there are sometimes more because a minority of site owners sometimes bend or manipulate the rules in order to obtain national advertising in both clubs publications.
The main noticeable difference between the clubs as far as these small sites are concerned is the the C&CC allows tent campers to use it's sites whereas the CC do not. Often the tenters are in a separate area and the distance between units has to be maintained.
A slight advantage of the use of smaller sites by tenters is that often there will be some sort of toilet / shower on a C&CC certified site even if it is a single unisex toilet with one shower cubicle. The disadvantage can sometimes be that tenters have been known not to bother about keeping the facilities as clean as they ought to, I've been on small certified sites with spotless facilities, pristine showers and wash basins but I'm sorry to say that I've also visited small sites where tenters have walked mud everywhere and not bothered to mop it up.
The obvious benefits of C&CC membership are the pitch availability, ease of booking online, age discounts and free nights offers and from reading forum posts I'd suggest that perhaps the C&CC sites are not quite as formal, they appear to be more welcoming to children and they don't seem to have as many rules (both written and unwritten) but that is just an opinion based on reading posts on forums. Why not risk £39 on a years membership to see if you like it, there is more about benefits of C&CC membership Here

 

[Martin24]

Joined CCC when couldn't get a CL where we wanted to go, however this has only happened twice. For whatever reason when planning trips we always look at CLs before CSs so most of the time don't really use our membership. Considered many times going back to just CC but keep it on just incase.

 

[graham_somersham]

The disadvantage can sometimes be that tenters have been known not to bother about keeping the facilities as clean as they ought to, I've been on small certified sites with spotless facilities, pristine showers and wash basins but I'm sorry to say that I've also visited small sites where tenters have walked mud everywhere and not bothered to mop it up.

Parksy, I find your comments about people with tents somewhat discriminatory and in my life of camping and caravanning the most offensive people have been caravanners. The most recent incident was a few weeks ago when staying on a CCC temporary holiday site. As I was walking across the site on the final morning I noticed a nasty mess on the grass - some dirty bas***d had deposited the contents of their chemical toilet straight on to the grass. It could not have been more than 100m to the disposal point but obviously they could not be bothered to walk that far. I will spare you some other grizzly tales about peoples disgusting behaviour but please respect the fact that it is not reasonable to label a group of fellow campers in the way you have. If we all had a little more respect for each other there would be less strife in this world.

 

[Parksy]

Hi Graham
You have misunderstood my comment because I was not generalising or labelling all tenters. I have twice visited certified sites, in one case the toilet/shower block was newly built, where tent campers had walked mud into the shower blocks and not bothered to mop out afterwards as is the normal accepted practice. If the people who had done this had been caravanners I would have said so but they were tenters. They didn't bother to clean out the washbasins either in the new shower block, the remnants of morning shaves were left for others to deal with.
At a recent well attended rally committee members reported that the contents of a chemical toilet had been emptied onto grass a mere five yards from the elsan point, the people who did this were never identified and they could either have been caravanners or tenters we will never know but I know for a fact that the mud and shaving detritus that I mentioned earlier was left by tenters and it is not discriminatory of me to say so.

 

[Surfer]

When we were members of the C & CC we found the sites that we visited in general unfriendly and very regimented. The worst was their Winchcome site and if you were not off by 12pm on the dot on a Sunday you had the warden breathing down your neck even though they had few or no bookings for the Sunday night. We intensely disliked being told where to pitch and if you objected got a real dirty look. So much for being the "friendly" cluib.
We tried two differrent CS sites but foudn them to below par. One was a sloping field where it was impossible to pitch a twin axle caravan. The bit of the site that was reasonably flat was very much like a marsh. The other one that we tried we thought we had taken a wrong turning and gone onto a travellers site without the caravans. Stayed one night and left.
I have a passionate dislike for the C & CC howeve I concede that they must have some good sites somewhere that ar managed by amiable wardens. Unfortunatley we cannot spend half a year searching for thsi type of site. Th eonly real advantage is their discount for the over fifties.
Just my opinion.

 

[susanswift]

Are c&cc members only then? And if not is there a big saving between members and non members on fees

I watched the caravan channel last night and they were talking about c&cc but when it came to the pricing bit, i`d fallen asleep...I woke up at the adverts and watched the second part. I`m trying my hardest to learn...
I been watching people putting awnings up on youtube for days...lol

 

[Parksy]

Nightly pitch fees are more expensive for non members so at £39 per year for a joint membership and including up to four children. It makes more sense to join because for the average family the cost of membership could be recouped within a week or so because of the savings on pitch fees and free night offers.

 

[jackwinguk]

Am thinking of leaving the CCC as I am finding better value sites that are not in either clubs. We find their far more easygoing, friendly and more often than not cheaper.

 

[Parksy]

Quite correct Jackwing, many sites are much cheaper than either of the clubs main sites. The certified sites remain competitively priced but I take your point about commercial sites being more easygoing than those affiliated to clubs. This can be a two edged sword though, I must be getting old because I don't enjoy shouting, drunken behaviour or overly loud awning conversations with children screaming and women laughing hysterically into the small hours. Most certified sites are reasonably quiet at night while not as uptight as main sites, we take no notice of what people do but after midnight we want peace and quiet and a good nights sleep.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Parksy

Are you becoming a ageist noise abating Tee-total anti-children clock watching pacifist?

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Last week we were on a CC site (57 pitches)and this week a C&CC site (80 pitches). These are my observations.
On arrival we were met by nice pleasant wardens at both. Contrary to my past experiences I asked if our pitch at the C&CC site was near a dog walk and they said one was free so we had that one. In the past we have always been delegated a pitch.
Again I've posted in the past how the CC shower blocks are superior to the C&CC ones and this holds true between these sites.
The CC showers have continuously running water, a stool and three clothes hooks whereas the C&CC showers have no stool, one hook and a plunger which only gives six seconds of water before having to press it again. I never checked out the traps because I don't use them and neither did I want to get arrested

The CC site has two chemical disposal points and three service points whereas the C&CC site has one chemical disposal point by reception, tough if you are at the far end of the site, one grey water disposal centrally placed and three water points.
The CC site has general waste and recycling bins at all service points but the C&CC only have them by the site entrance.
I realise some don't like the clinical look of CC sites and their mown grass but somehow I don't think this C&CC site has a mower, at least I haven't seen one apart from a strimmer.
This doesn't mean that the C&CC site is awful but it's just tired looking and needs updating. Cutting the grass would be a good start in tidying the place up and adding another chemical disposal point at the bottom of the site because it's a long slog uphill carrying the gloopbox when it's full.

 

[Parksy]

Parksy

Are you becoming a ageist noise abating Tee-total anti-children clock watching pacifist?

All of the above with the exception of the Tee-total John,my rock and roll years are behind me and even my imbibing has reached it's lowest point on the graph since I was a schoolboy

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

More observations.
Well it came that time this morning that the gloopbox needed emptying. As I also had a bag full of rubbish I didn't fancy a coronary so early in the day so decided to take it in my car. Got rid of rubbish then found I couldn't drive back round the site because of a locked barrier so had to do a 3 point turn out in the entrance to re-enter the site. Just past the reception is another barrier gate which I now have to get out and open before driving through before getting out again to close it. This at 9.30am. Just the other side of the gate was the gloop disposal and that was about the most modern feature of the site apart from the wi-fi. Come on C&CC, it's 2011 and most sites have electrically opening barriers with a pass card now.
The C&CC site pitching is better than the CC and I don't mean where the warden rides a bike in front of you and watches you pitch correctly. I mean the van/awning/car in that order not the silly way the CC do it with the van being at the centre of the pitch. There must be a reason they do this but I can't think of one.
The C&CC score over the CC with having to pay a deposit. Last week at Bolton Abbey I got talking to two different couples who could only book 4 days because of the weekenders. After they left there were at least five pitches free due to the awful weather and the no doubt about it 'no shows'.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Even more observations.

At times the C&CC has entertainment at Delamere for free

At the moment, just the other side of the rail tracks it's Erasure in concert. If you wanted to go in to the enclosure it would cost £34.50 a ticket

and it seems half the site have gone. I wish they would turn the bass down a bit because despite the trees it's vibrating the cooking utensils hanging in the van.
Tomorrow it's the Courteeners (never heard of them) and Sunday it's Simple Minds.

 

[Gagakev]

LB are you staying in the van because you are too embarrased to show of your dance moves in public,

???????????

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

LB are you staying in the van because you are too embarrased to show of your dance moves in public,

???????????

Not at all Kev.
People travel from far and wide to see my moves especially my pelvic thrust. I'm not known as Sweet Mover Windy for nothing

Anyway, I digress. This free music from the other side of the tracks ain't all it's cracked up to be. All those who went arrived back on site at 10.30pm and some, including our neighbours, decided to sit outside drinking while playing Erasure on their CD player bin the motorhome. So much for the C&CC policy of no noise after 11pm.
I did drift off to sleep at midnight but one of the dogs was ill at 6am so I did get satisfaction of scuffing the gravel on the path, which was outside their window, and also banging the dogdump bin lid. Revenge was sweet when I saw a nose poke around their blinds to see what was going on

Teenybopper night tonight though. The Courteeners and James Walsh whoever they might be