Advice about CL sites

freelander

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Hi all, I've been a member of the MCC for many years but find that the number of CL sites is limited! Looking to join another club as my renewal is due. Toiling between the CC or CCC any suggestions on best availability of CL's?
 
If you want to join a club for CL's, go for the Caravan club. It has twice as many CL's as the C&CC has CS's
 
I'm a member of the Caravan Club and find that the CL's are by far the best reason for joining. England and Wales are densely populated with them..Scotland less so...most have electric hook-ups and I find most of them that I stay on very good value for money.
 
Too true. Regular CC sites can be a little bit snooty for my liking, not to mention pricey.

Some are Ok though, you just can't tell. Eg Mildenhall £10 a night with hook up. Set in thick woodland, very secluded. No toilets. Water and emptying only.
 
CLs are super and how anyone can begrudge a farmer making a few extra bob from running one is beyond me. I've paid from £4 to £12 but the dearer ones include EHU. I'm sure that some do it for a hobby as, when you consider the legal and H & S hoops that they must have to jump through, it can't be because they want to make money.

The CC, which despite the silly comments that you always seem to get from the biased and uninformed is the perfect example of a co-operative. Much of its work is done by volunteers in the regional centres and every penny that it makes goes back into the club to develop more sites and CLs. There are no shareholders and the top executives are simply paid a salary commensurate with the skills required to run such an enormous organisation.

When you look at the CC's success over the last few decades I wonder if we shouldn't ask them to run the country!
 
basildog said:
I was a member of the supposed clubs for years and I am afraid I do not like the way they have gone I neither want nor need to use over priced sites and do not like being told how to park by some small minded officous jumped up volunteer ! They probably the local neighbourhood watch coordinator too !
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I have never, repeat never, been told where to park on a CC site. In every case I have been asked to have a drive or walk around, choose a pitch and let them know where I've parked.

I have never, repeat never, found a CC warden jumped up or officious. On the contrary they will go out of their way to help if necessary.

Of course if you approach them with the attitude and views that you're expressing here you may well reap what you sow.

As for 'over-priced sites', over-priced in comparison to what? I am currently in Portugal and you really ought to see the price of some of the commercial sites here!

If the CC is over-priced it does make one wonder how it's so incredibly successful and why some of its sites are almost impossible to get on unless booked in advance.

I would also add that in many countries of Europe I have have never found a site that is as well run as a typical CC site. If you want a site, the CC to my mind offers just what you need, no swimming pools or clubs, just spacious pitches, immaculate sanitary facilities and beautifully kept grounds.

I enjoy wild camping when it's suitable but if you need a site, and some of us do occasionally (wives etc.) you simply can't do better than a CC site.
 
I just stayed at Strid Wood Skipton CC site over xmas and it was as described above. Immaculately kept, could choose your own pitch, great wardens. I think it was £23 a night for two and the van.

Slight contrast to Sheepcote Valley Brighton CC a couple of years back. Rude wardens, got told what pitch to use, and I got ripped off for Calor gas there this year (£29 exchange 6kg Bottle, cash only).
 
basildog said:
You are entitled to your opinion but it is not my experience of the clubs at all ! As for them not being commercial I think you will find they are moving into having bars and clubs etc Also swimming pools !
When my children were young I admit they did feel like safe places for them to be .
I now use on occasion the odd commercial site and their prices are far more competitve and realistic !
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The CC is moving into clubs and swimming pools? Where is your evidence for this? I'm a member and know nothing about it.

As for commercial sites being more realistic and competitive than CC sites you really should take off those rose-tinted specs! CC sites usually cost me about £12-16 and occasionally up to £20 for the odd one. That's for the 'van and two adults and EHU. Anyway, as you haven't been a member for some time, how do you know what CC site charges are? When you use a commercial site do you actually go to the trouble of looking up the equivalent CC site prices just for a bit of fun? And if you do, why?
 
I would never stay on a CC Club site but have stayed on 100's of CL sites. They are superb.

If you join the CC you also get loads of discounts on attractions as well as ferries. We usually save more than the membership every year on the days out vouchers. Just try not to read the letters page in the monthly magazine or you will loose the will to live. Full of Sycophantic crap about how the CC Wardens are one step removed from God and their new bestest friends!

Good value though.
 
There has been an above inflation hike in CL prices in the last year but there are still bargains out there. I let my membership drop because I never used any of their sites. It seems odd but although they have the most sites, it was usually a C&CC site that was nearer to where I wanted to be. I should explain that at one time I worked around the country and needed to be a member of both clubs.

I have retained my C&CC membership but have hardly ever been on a Club site or CS for a long time. I find the Temporary Holiday Sites to be very good and use them often. I have started planning longer trips around them, as they have disposal and fresh water available and are moderately priced. The other big advantage is that they are more free and easy and probably what campsites were like years ago.
 
basildog said:
Try looking at Hillhead Devon ?
Yes I do check prices for everything these days and then haggle too even if the item concerned is only a pound to start with !
I hate all companies or clubs that rip people off and walk away just because I can !
I am afraid it is the way this country is going that people put up with high prices from retailers of all kinds !
As firefox says how can they justify £29 for a 6 kg refill ???????
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You really do seem angry! Rip off Britain is a myth. U.K. retailers make no more money than in other countries, I should know, I am one. What is different in Britain is the cost of doing business because of high land prices and our more socialist policies. People often say how much cheaper it is in the US for electrical goods but there are reasons. It's a massive market, and American retailers don't have to pay 14% on top of their staff wages for National Insurance or give generous maternity and now even paternity benefits to their staff. And US prices are listed without sales tax, which may be very low in some states whereas in the UK 17% of the retail price of most things that we buy is VAT.

I'm in Portugal at the moment and I can see very little difference in prices here.

But answer this for me. If UK retailers are making too much profit, why can't many survive and are going bust, and I'm talking about big, well run companies?

And answer this. Asda was taken over by the world's biggest retailer Walmart, an American company. Why are Asda's prices no different from other supermarkets and why is Tesco wiping the floor with them? Surely if the margins are so high Asda would reduce it's prices considerably and put its competitors out of business.

Tell me why Bestbuy, the American electrical retailer and the biggest in the world, has just announced that it is closing the shops that it opened in the UK just two years ago. It was going to have a hundred shops and Comet etc. were supposed to be quaking in their boots. So why, if UK profits are so high, can't Bestbuy survive in the UK?

As for Hillhead, this is a CC site that, if memory serves, was acquired by the CC complete with pool etc. I'm not sure how you can deduce from this that the CC intends opening pools and clubs on all its other sites, which is what you implied. This is simply not the case.
 
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basildog said:
I am afraid that most if not all retailers employ complete idiots that either do not have any inteligence or are paid so little that they do not care !
As for rip off britain it starts with the likes of tesco conning people in to thinking that they are getting a bargain ?
I actually worked for one of the original tesco directors who will tell you that ted cohen was pretty much a petty crook !
There is also a book written by the ex boss of tesco called Tiger by the tail whick makes great reading until you realise that he leaves a very important part out that he married Ted Cohens daughter ! Business is all about making money and even the nicest guys seem to turn when the pounds start rolling in ????
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Are, so British prices are so high because we employ idiots! Your reasoning gets even more bizarre!

And business is about making money, well I never! Who would have guessed that! Of course it's about making money! A businessman's job is to buy something as cheaply as he can and sell it for as much as he can get. The only fly in the ointment is that there is always some competitor who wants to undercut you so he'll get more market share.

What really makes me laugh is that you seem obsessed with saving money and getting the very best deal every time you buy something. But if I want to make as much money as I can that's wrong!

If you bought a house for say £200K and the area became gentrified and others starting selling a few years later at £500K, and a young couple come along, I can just imagine you saying to them "£500K is a silly price, I only paid £200K so I'll let you have it for £300K which shows me a reasonable return."

Or perhaps you'd sell it for the highest price that you can screw out of them. Don't answer that, I think I know!

You seem to be totally anti-business and I suspect that you've never been in a position where you've had to balance the books at the end of every year and that perhaps you work in the public sector where if the books don't balance you just put taxes up.

But if it's so easy, why don't you go into business? Think of all the lovely money you could make. You could do what I did and take out a second mortgage and risk losing everything if it goes wrong. But with all these massive profits to be made I just can't understand why you aren't having a go!

Finally, I'm a retailer and your comments are insulting. I don't employ idiots. I employ the best people I can get. OK, I'm not going to get someone with an Oxbridge First wanting to manage a shop, but we don't need people like that. We need bright people with commonsense and product knowledge, which we teach them.

I could of course employ only graduates, but then my prices would have to rise considerably to pay for the much higher wages, and then you'd start shouting 'Rip off Britain' even louder! We really can't win!

Edited to say: I'd still like to know why, when massive US companies open in the UK, they get hammered! How can this be if the margins are so high?
 
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Can anyone answer me this, how can big furniture companies can knock hundreds of pounds off furniture (sofas n beds) in the sales? prices knocked to half origional price, and they must still be making a profit, or they wouldn't do it!!! rip off Britain at it's best I think.
 
signman said:
Can anyone answer me this, how can big furniture companies can knock hundreds of pounds off furniture (sofas n beds) in the sales? prices knocked to half origional price, and they must still be making a profit, or they wouldn't do it!!! rip off Britain at it's best I think.
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That's easy. It's a marketing ploy. They never expect to sell a sofa that may be £1000 but they'll price it at that for a period so they can then reduce it. I think that most people have worked this out. Apart from which the margins in this business are quite high as it's not a massive stock turnaround like food for instance.

But once more you too trot out the 'Rip Off Britain' myth. In the last few weeks there's been a programme on BBC in the morning called 'Rip Off Britain' which is typical BBC titling! It wasn't about high prices or excessive profits in retailing but about cheats, mainly companies and tradesmen who con people. Does the BBC, do you, think that this kind of thing only happens in Britain? Do you think that in other countries there are no con men and thieves? My God, try doing business in Italy or India or many other places around the world.

If anything Britain is one of the safest places to do business and your chances of being cheated are far less than in most parts of the world.
 
basildog said:
How wrong you are ! 30 yers of business for me . Yes I do hate business the customers the workers and the money !
I am afraid that some of the most stupid people around are the very graduates you so admire ? I would not give you tuppence for someone with a degree it means nothing . I think you wear the rose coloured spectacles as I am yet to find a shop that employs the best people for the job it seems they employ the cheapest and do not offer any real training about the products they sell !
As AN old friend of mine once said that shopkeepers are the scourge of britain as they make nothing produce nothing and merely inflate the prices !
I do understand that it is a job at the end of the day but I see no satisfaction in making money just by selling on other peoples hard work
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So there we have it! You hate business, you hate the customers, you hate the fact that retailers make money. You really are full of hate and I feel very sorry for you. It must be awful waking up every morning thinking that the world is just there to rip you off.

But the vapidity of your arguments is proven by just one statement, although there are many, when you say 'I would not give you tuppence for someone with a degree it means nothing .' That must be the silliest thing I've ever read! Next time you have a medical problem, don't bother asking to be dealt with by one of those idiots with a degree, after all, it means nothing! If you have cancer, nip along to the plumber, he'll sort you out.

Most of the things that make your life livable are the result of people with degrees. The medicine that you may take, the roads that you drive on, the aeroplanes that you fly on and the motorhome that you drive.

But who needs these idiots with degrees? Who needs research scientists and teachers and doctors and dentists and architects. Your mate who knows all about how retailers increase prices can sort you out I'm sure.

I won't be replying to any more posts from you in this thread, it's pretty pointless as you simply have no real argument, just hatred and vitriol against anyone who may be better off than you. Goodbye.
 
I am a member of both CC and C&CC for differing reasons that need not be discussed here, I find that both have a great number of sites (CL's and CS's), ranging from £5.00 upwards.

Both organisations have good sites and bad sites, I think it is a pays your money takes your choice situation.

If I were you I would look at the 2 websites, look at there area's that you like to camp, and if you feel that one satisfies your need more than the other then join that one.
 
Both clubs have great C.S and C L sites ,it is a matter of personal preference, mine is the CCC prices vary and are certainly not run on a profit system if you consider what it costs to set up a CS site , maintain it, service it , and have to deal with Joe Public, and most are only fully occupied for a short Season over a year.
 
basildog said:
What a lovely world you live in we have 3 doctors in the family and I would not trust one of them !
Myold uncle was what I call a real doctor as he never had appointments he would see all comers as to his mind if they felt the need to visit him then he saw it as his duty to see them ? Todays doctors are nothing more than businessmen and fund managers which brings the greed as seen in all business !
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I haven't had very good experiences with GP's either but I'm sure there are a lot of good ones out there somehwere. It's like we interview graduates for positions and some of them are really pretty poor. But get the right graduate with a few years experience and they'll likely to be able to take on more demanding roles than people with lower qualifications. It is difficult to say really, so much depends on the individual and their motivation.

There are a lot of "graduates" out there and a lot of really bum degrees as well. There was a culture in the 70s/80s/90s of going to uni and just dossing around for three years. Getting a grant and using it for booze. I'm not a fan of big tuition fees but at least it's focussing people's minds whether more academic study is actually the right course for them.
 
I would suggest joining both clubs purely for their CL's and CS's.then you have more options and different locations. We generally find the Caravan Club ones cheaper and believe it or not,they have more of the basic, no hook up sites than the Camping Club. A non electric CL is becoming increasingly rare, unfortunately. Seems even tents need electricity these days. We NEVER stay on Club sites, only ever use the Certificated locations.
 
Thanks for all your replies, will certainly be joining the CC if not the both. Have enjoyed reading and digesting all other comments and hope that no one holds any malice coz we all here to help each other :)
 
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