after finally accepting middle age, realising my love for camping has somewhat diminished and somewhat inspired by the other caravan thread, me and sofagirl have given in a bought a small second hand touring caravan (almost ended uo going for a camper van, but realised i wanted more space and i was never cool in the first place!)
it being a whole new alien world to me, one of my many questions is which club should i join - camping and motorhome club or the camping and caravan club. i like the look of the smaller certified location sites which it seems like you need to be a member to use - which has more? is one organisation better than the otehr? or is it much of a muchness?
Member of the Camping and Caravanning club here by necessity. The head honcho describes themself as Director General - that should tell you all you need to know 🤦♂️
Seriously though, depends on which sites you want to use.
None.
Why do you need to join a club?.
Why do you need to join a club?
To be able to use the certified location sites - max 5 caravans, often in more rural locations, less kids etc
I use certified locations all the time and am in no club. Never have been.
It's not a requirement for booking.
They aren't just 5 vans either, some are massive.
We are in the Caravan & Motorhome club.
It is a bit stiff to be honest. I'm 46 and nearly always feel young on a club site. Some sites have been dead officious (worse now with CV-19). The rules are quite strict DO NOT park your van too far from the peg!!!
The Daily Mail is the newspaper of choice is my observation.
The people we have met have all been lovely. The kids ride and play in a safe environment, you don't get loonie drivers belting about. The toilets blocks are generally spotless and consistently nice and well kept. Never had a cold shower.
Also some great locations.
Good booking website, easy to browse. You can cancel at no cost (48 hrs notice)
I quite enjoy being the tatty beige van with a pickup on the front. I get the feeling that some of the other club members are less appreciative of me lowering the tone 🙂
Not a carvaner but we were (just have less travel time ATM so lapsed) a member of camping and caravanning club and liked their small sites, ones mark hideaway were best.
My parents were a caravan club members and I remember the sites being very strict, what they are like now I don't know. Having said that my parents live in the new forest and there is a caravan club site and a camping and caravanning club site near by. The caravan club site lives up to the stereo type.
They aren’t just 5 vans either, some are massive
The 5 vans is a legal requirement for a certified site.
NBT here on Bunnyhop's login
brads
Full Member
I use certified locations all the time and am in no club. Never have been.
It’s not a requirement for booking.They aren’t just 5 vans either, some are massive.
Then sites you mention are not CLs (Caravan and Motorhome club call them CLs, Certificated Locations, the Camping And Caravanning Club call them CSs, Certificated Sites), they're independent sites. It's possible to run ANY site independent of either club, but the big two do help with setting up and with spreading the word, so you do find that MOST 5 van sites are affiliated to one or the other. The 5-van thing is that the requirements for running a 5 van site are MUCH less onerous than for a bigger site. There are MANY caravan / camping clubs apart from the big two, as running rallies via a club helps with centralised insurance for the Rally Organiser and so on - but I digress
We're members of the Caravan Club - nothing specific against the C&CC, but I grew up in a caravanning family and we were always in the Caravan Club. Over the years since Bunnyhop (Mrs NBT) and I got our own caravan, we have used Caravan Club sites and CLs, independent sites, and sites affiliated to both the big clubs. I can honestly say that the facilities on Caravan Club sites are FAR better than any of the independent / affiliated sites. Facilities on CLs are not as common, and don't always approach the same standard
As to which has more CL / CS sites, can't tell you offhand sorry. MOST 5-van sites we've used have asked for membership details, but not all.
My parents use the caravan club, seem to like the sites offered, think they insure the van through them too.
Pick the club which has the most sites in the areas you would be most likely to visit.
thanks For the input. From a quick play around on both clubs websites (neither being as user friendly as they could be) it seems the caravan and Motorhome club seems to have more of the small CL sites that we’re likely to go to most - north wales & the lakes.
Are the CL sites subject to the same rules as the main club sites ie not aloud open but raised fires? Or do they kind of set their own rules?
Found this today, https://www.britstops.com/welcome.php
Only £28 plus P&P (£3.60), and valid till the end of Feburary 2021 (still six months to enjoy Britstopping!), the Brit Stops 2020 book contains details of over 1000 hosts who are all looking forward to meeting Britstoppers.
Clear and simple to use (see a sample page here) the book features country pubs, farm shops, vineyards, breweries, craft / antiques centres, etc. all offering an invitation through the Brit Stops scheme to stay overnight in your motorhome or campervan in a safe environment - free of charge!
These are not camp sites, so won't have shower blocks or overnight toilet facilities, but you do get a pleasant stopover somewhere off the road, and a bit different.
Anyone heard of it or used it?
Are the CL sites subject to the same rules as the main club sites ie not aloud open but raised fires? Or do they kind of set their own rules?
All CLs are independent and set their own rules. It wouldn't surprise me to see that most are not keen on fires though - if you look at it from the other side, if such fires are banned at most places, there's probalby an underlying reason for that
not hear of britstops, but I have seena few google maps of pubs who are happy for you to stop overnight if you're eating / drinking with them., e.g.
http://wildcamping.moonfruit.com/pub-stopovers/4563550207
I just joined both the big ones - makes it easier and cheaper when I'm picking a location for work. I sometimes use private sites too
We're in both, we use Caravan and Motorhome more than the other by a long way, the ease of seeing what is available and the 72 hours cancellation policy are good. However I think that also means a certain demographic book everything for their year ahead and then cancel. The Camping and caravanning club has some good locations, less snooty but not as easy to see what is available and you also pay a deposit on booking - a good thing in my opinion. Membership also gives you discounts at other sites too.
We are CAMC, but we didn't really shop around. However I am now tempted by CCC because if you want to holiday with someone else and they don't have a caravan, they could bring a tent.
I really don't like the big sites much. Most are too packed in, and they cost a sodding fortune. Caravanning for us is the small sites. in 2018 we stayed in the Whitesands Bay site (which is pretty bleak) and paid £450 or so, this year we stayed in a beautiful CL near Cardigan next to the Preseli Hills and paid about £130. The extra £320 paid for a lot of extra fun.
And I have to say that we've frequently stayed in small sites that are affiliated with neither club. They can be found on google maps, although this is not as reliable as simply using the CAMC website.
Thanks for the input peeps. Will give the CAMC a go as a start then as they seem to have more CL sites in the areas of interest, and see how we go from there.
Intrigued to see how staid and dailymail the sites actually are, how it’s all going to go and how long it it is before I inadvertently break the rules and get reprimanded!
Don’t get the van for another 4 weeks so figure the sites might be quieter by the time we get to go and use them
Both.
Both have a good variety of sites.
We use them for the CLs.
Tend to find the caravan and camping club is better for when we go to a big site in terms of being family friendly for the kids. The caravan club is more your retirees and couples sans children kind of club.
We joined the C&CC as it's more child friendly. You get cheaper insurance etc through a club.
IME, the CMC sites are too regimented for us, however, in retrospect the CMC probably have more CLs in useful locations, so sooner or later we will probably end up in both.
CLs used to by limited to 5 pitches, and members only, I think for planning & insurance purposes, I guess there must be ways round that now though as some are more flexible.