Parking for overnight Motorhome (Northumberland)

Travelling up to Scotland in motorhome, and just wanting an overnight stop, on our way up (Northumberland area) not really campsite just somewhere to park and get our heads down, anyone got any recommendations? Ps could be a country pub that will allow motorhome, we could then potentially have a bite to eat and a couple of pints

What’s wrong with paying for a campsite like everyone else ? (Apart from motorhome ist who think they have a right to not pay)

We love the Cover Bridge Inn. Good simple food and great beer. And the toilet is outside for the morning.

There are two spots for bigger vans but plenty of space for Transporter sized vans.

Sorry funkydunc, Because it’s a full self sufficient motorhome, ie toilet/shower/electric/gas, so don’t need any facility’s for a overnight sleep, but I’m paying for campsite in Scotland where we are staying for 4 days if that makes you feel better

Look on Search for sites and filter on pubs

https://www.searchforsites.co.uk/advanced.php?locations=1&categories=1&country=gb&browse=true&

We often just resort to motorway services when we are stopping enroute. Not glamorous but usually remarkably quiet overnight.

@FunkyDunc we often overnight in lay-bys and sometimes car parks when travelling, we are self contained and usually do some litter picking on arrival. Campsites in general don’t allow late arrivals or early departures as it can disturb the other guests. @jonnyrockymountain I’ll try and direct message you as generally we don’t share our hard discovered sites!

What’s wrong with paying for a campsite like everyone else ? (Apart from motorhome ist who think they have a right to not pay)

What’s wrong with not being a dick to someone asking a perfectly reasonable question?

We often just resort to motorway services when we are stopping enroute. Not glamorous but usually remarkably quiet overnight.

Do you pay for parking? Most of them only allow a few hours for free.

I think kielder lets you park overnight for about a tenner?

The council has a website

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Parking/Parking-locations-charges.aspx

You might be alright in some.  More details here on specific ones you can park in

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Parking/Overnight-Motorhome-Parking.aspx

Not actually sure if you can use this one overnight but it is big and flat within walking distance of the town for food.

https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/cowhaugh/ne65/rothbury/?arriving=202307221330&leaving=202307221530

Because it’s a full self sufficient motorhome, ie toilet/shower/electric/gas, so don’t need any facility’s for a overnight sleep

So can I turn up at the same places and put up my tent ?

What’s wrong with not being a dick to someone asking a perfectly reasonable question?

I thought in England it is illegal to wild camp ? The op is asking where can he camp for free in England

Yes. Good luck getting your pegs into the tarmac

You can park here for free https://maps.app.goo.gl/ejVFyAac3NYgZU7s5?g_st=ic

the car park a few hundred metres east is no overnight parking but drive over in the morning to use the clean toilets. Both are free. Good restaurants in Amble.

as a someone else said, get Searchforsites App. Only £5.99 per year, worth every penny.

I thought in England it is illegal to wild camp ? The op is asking where can he camp for free in England

You might view those things as equivalent but the law doesn’t. It’s not illegal to sleep in a vehicle in england.

So can I turn up at the same places and put up my tent ?

Personally I’d be quite happy for you to do that and I’m sure lots of people do go for a bit of discreet roadside camping.

We’ve used Pitchup.com to find cheap ‘aire’ type stops in random places successfully. Generally find ‘wildcamping’ too much hassle in England now, prefer to find somewhere enroute for £10-£20 so we can have a glass of wine of an evening without fear of a tap on the window…

We’ve used Pitchup.com to find cheap ‘aire’ type stops in random places successfully

Which locally to me has caused issues with bunches of camper vans turning up and parking illegally.

Pitchup.com is to the best of my knowledge  for pay sites on private property.. pre-book and stay overnight.

The last one we used was a private yard behind a pub in Eyemouth. It had a freshwater tap and a black waste disposal point.

Not sure how that causes issues?

ah – apologies – its won’t be pitchup then but it was a website telling folk where they could “stealth camp”

Not sure how that causes issues?

Because if everyone did it who was driving from A-B with a caravan or in fact just in their car then every parking space in the land would be full each night.

For some reason people in motorhomes think it is acceptable and their right

Funkydunc, I think you have a bit of an issue pal

if you actually read my question I didn’t ask for free,

ps that search for sites is great, loads of country pubs with facility’s, some charge some don’t if you eat and drink in there establishment thanks guys (other than funkydunc 🤣)

Barn at Beal, just before the causeway to Holy Island have some hardstandings. Quick Google shows £36/night.

https://barnatbeal.campmanager.com/25638/Check-Availability/

We stayed at the Barn at Beal and visited Holy Island by bike, also the basic aire type place below for one night. The site is a bit grim but around the corner is the sea front.

https://www.pitchup.com/campsites/Scotland/Scotland/Berwickshire/Eyemouth/eyemouth-sea-aire/

Having permission to stay in a pub carpark after a meal is not illegal.  You’ll often get the nod and we’ve also done it at a very posh hotel/restaurant, didn’t imagine they’d say yes but couldn’t find anywhere nearby to camp. I think we’ve only been refused once and that was because the manager wasn’t onsite and the staff weren’t sure.

Campsites often don’t allow single night stays.  HGV drivers regularly sleep overnight in their cabs, as do car drivers. We’ve paid once or twice for long stay motorway services.

Campervans wanting an quick overnight stop en route are not the issue, the issue is that we are a country full of nimbys that don’t have European style aires or overnight parking in town car parks that are empty overnight.  We do the opposite and systematically ban overnight parking because there is so little choice, the legit/tolerated spots get busy.  Similarly due to the restrictions you often can’t find anywhere to park your camper even if you did want to leave it and pay for a b&b.

I usually scope out a side road where I can arrive late and park alongside a corner plot where I’m not outside anyone’s house and avoid anywhere popular such as lakes, the coast or spots with a view.

I’m currently cycling in France and have passed several Aires today, the first one being right next to the ferry terminal. On our side of the channel there is sod all. Now staying in a council run campsite in village with automated payment at the barrier.

Because if everyone did it who was driving from A-B with a caravan or in fact just in their car then every parking space in the land would be full each night.

Where do you think cars go at night now?

Makes you think 🤔

I don’t think it’s been mentioned yet, but there’s a Facebook group called “UK pub stopovers for motorhomes” or very similar… Does what it says on the tin.

Just for funcydunc – quite a lot of pubs and farm shops etc are really keen to get self contained motorhomes to stop overnight on their property. It’s their choice, nobody’s forcing them. The idea, just like the Aire system in Europe (which in the uk were years behind), people who stop there, who usually have a bit of disposable income, either have a few drinks, buy a meal or buy their shopping for dinner in the pub/ farm shop. Everyone’s happy (except possible you….?) as although it’s “free” to stop over there’s a decent pulse of cash into the local economy.

were rubbish at understanding this concept in the uk, same as we  are charging for parking in small towns. In france for example where local communes (think parish) are run locally by the Maire they are generally pretty progressive and provide spaces for motorhomes to stop for the night, mostly for free off the beaten track, as those who stop there prop up the local services such as bakeries, bars shops etc so that long term locals benefit. It’s such a simple concept, nobody’s doing anyone out of anything getting a free ride!

were rubbish at understanding this concept in the uk, same as we  are charging for parking in small towns. In france for example where local communes (think parish) are run locally by the Maire they are generally pretty progressive and provide spaces for motorhomes to stop for the night, mostly for free off the beaten track, as those who stop there prop up the local services such as bakeries, bars shops etc so that long term locals benefit. It’s such a simple concept, nobody’s doing anyone out of anything getting a free ride!

There’s a perception, and I have no idea what the reality is, that many self contained campers simply stock up at the German discounters and spend little money in the areas they visit. Given some of the highland welcomes I’ve been on receiving end of over the years, I can understand why some choose to do that.

Campervans wanting an quick overnight stop en route are not the issue

Actually they are when there is too many of them.

Scotland seems much more clued up on this. We’ve stayed on a  pub/restaurant car parks after a really good meal a few times.

Uig sands restaurant on Lewis was my favourite. Trying to have a strip wash in the van to make yourself less stinky in a 60mph crosswind was funny. It was like being on a boat. The staff were very accommodating and thought it was funny that we even thought it was necessary.

Scotland seems much more clued up on this.

I don’t think Scotland is much if any more clued up. Despite the popularity of some areas there is still very little in the way of van infrastructure, the growth in van numbers having come at a time when local authorities are flat broke and unable to invest in this.

“Van life” is causing huge issues in Scotland with masses of camper vans on beauty spots and in passing places etc.  My pal lives in one of these places – he has been blocked in his house by inconsiderate camper vans.  Dozens of the things blocking up roads at Durness despite there being a campsite.  A spot I have been to a couple of times with camper vans – never been more than one other there  in the past.  Last time I went past it there were 30 plus vans cramming into the spot – it had obviously been on one of the “van life sites”

Personally I would ban all roadside camping due to the issues caused.

“Van life” is causing huge issues in Scotland

Let’s stop using this term, its like a Daily Mail pejorative and it means different things to different people.

Its just people in vans and its mostly the sheer numbers not the type of people that are the problem.

Personally I would ban all roadside camping due to the issues caused.

Be careful what you wish for.

I would be quite happy with banning all roadside camping

Its both the numbers AND the type.  Ask folk living in Durness or Plockton what its like having campervans crammed on every bit of land – blocking people in their houses, shitting in the laybys.

its completely out of hand.

Highland communities in despair as ‘dirty camping’ spirals out of control

Just ban them!

That is the standard british attitude to everything slightly new or what vaguely or more upsets people. Such as access, wild camping, right to roam etc

The solution here as mentioned is the aire idea. Win win.

NO – this is a quality of life issue for those residents

Of course Aires etc are good – but needs a ban on roadside camping as well IMO – I have seen first hand the explosion in roadside camping has caused in Scotland

@tjagain

To be fair, roadside camping isn’t strictly within the law as it is and certainly isn’t a right as soke believe.  Most campervanners are wrongly using the Scottish outdoor access code as their justification for “wild camping” anywhere they like.

Probably needs to be more enforcement of current laws rather than outright bans.

It does feel like some motorhomers are the something-for-nothing types.  But I place some MTBers in that category too.  Spend thousands on a bike but won’t pay the parking when they get to the trail centre.

Anyway, if I was the OP I’d be calling up a pub with a car park and asking to use their car park in return for dinner/breakfast patronage.  The Black Bull in Etal for example 😉

If the OP is still looking for somewhere to stop whilst heading to Scotland, I do believe the Cottage Inn at Dunstan near Craster on the coast allows motorhomes and campers in their pretty big car park at the rear of the pub. Place does decent food and beers and is handy for a walk down to the harbour if you fancy. I don’t think they charge, but like a few others wouldn’t mind you buying a pint or two. There are 2 ‘official’ campsites very close by that I’ve stayed in many a time, but the pub always seems to do a decent trade from those 1 nighters just passing through.

PSA; beware the small jack russell that frequents the bar with its owner, snappy little get (so is the dog)

To be fair, roadside camping isn’t strictly within the law as it is and certainly isn’t a right as soke believe.  Most campervanners are wrongly using the Scottish outdoor access code as their justification for “wild camping” anywhere they like.

If i remember rightly you have a legal right to sleep roadside in a camper van in Scotland, I think it was to do with stopping people driving tired.