spartacus
Guest
Although still a newbie to the world of motorhoming, six months and counting, We're fulltiming so the learning curve has been quite steep. We've done a combination of aires in Europe, sites and wildcamping in the UK. Over here we generally favour CL/CS type sites, both for cost and the fact we prefer the quieter side of life when camping. We are cuurently looking for a site to settle on for the winter, five months in total, and are running all over the place trying different sites to find one that suits location wise and financially.
Most sites seem to want around £10 per night as a minimum with some charging separately for electricity. Club, and some commercial sites would of course want much more than this. What I am surprised about is that none are prepared to offer a long term deal for a long stay ie monthly rates or a fixed price for the whole five months. Seemingly they would prefer the pitch empty than get, say, £1,000 up front for the whole five months. And for this they would be providing a small plot of land with water, CDP and electricity - so no major infrastructure requirements.
Coming from a boating background I have compared this to berthing a boat in a south coast (Solent area) marina (the most expensive in Europe) which typically would charge around £400 per metre per year. So our motorhome being 7.2 metres long would cost £2,880 for the year. For this we would get a nice pontoon berth, secure gated access, immacculate heated toilet/shower/laundry block. CCTV and on-site security and a clubhouse with a bar. Think how much that lot costs to install and run compared to a field with a tap and a manhole cover and some cables coming out of a barn for which they want £3,600 a year.
Also consider the cost of land, campsites are generally on cheap land in the back of beyond, marinas are more likely in or near to prime waterside real estate.
So why so expensive to park/site our motorhomes
Most sites seem to want around £10 per night as a minimum with some charging separately for electricity. Club, and some commercial sites would of course want much more than this. What I am surprised about is that none are prepared to offer a long term deal for a long stay ie monthly rates or a fixed price for the whole five months. Seemingly they would prefer the pitch empty than get, say, £1,000 up front for the whole five months. And for this they would be providing a small plot of land with water, CDP and electricity - so no major infrastructure requirements.
Coming from a boating background I have compared this to berthing a boat in a south coast (Solent area) marina (the most expensive in Europe) which typically would charge around £400 per metre per year. So our motorhome being 7.2 metres long would cost £2,880 for the year. For this we would get a nice pontoon berth, secure gated access, immacculate heated toilet/shower/laundry block. CCTV and on-site security and a clubhouse with a bar. Think how much that lot costs to install and run compared to a field with a tap and a manhole cover and some cables coming out of a barn for which they want £3,600 a year.
Also consider the cost of land, campsites are generally on cheap land in the back of beyond, marinas are more likely in or near to prime waterside real estate.
So why so expensive to park/site our motorhomes
