Great Cheaper Camping and Caravanning Hunt

oldnewhand

We have also availed ourselves of Aire de Services in France, they allow you to travel on into the late evening when it's cooler. Likewise we've found Camping Municipals always to be of at least a reasonable standard and consistently good value. On some busy N roads there are (or were) Bison Fute (Wily Buffalo) stops that encourage motorists to take a break and have a drink and snack, often provided free so even if you're not camping you can get a quick snack and rest.
I did find about a scheme whereby some farmers and vineyard owners allowed motorhomes to park overnight for free having paid a nominal subscription to join, but have lost my favourites in computer rebuild.
In UK some pubs will let you park up overnight free, especially if you have a meal there.

oldnewhand

We have done tents and are on 4th camper but have only expereinced static caravans. We currently have a small demountabel camper i.e. a camper unit that is raised on jacks and a pick up truck is reversed under. This is our ideal unit for our needs. We are just a couple so the more limited space is not such a problem.
Pros.
Convenience, you have everything with you - if like us you like to stray away from mass civilisation during the day, you have your loo, you have a change of clothes if it chucks it down or if the sun blazes or even if someone decides spontaneously to take you out for dinner you can wash and put on glad rags and go without returning to base. in other words you don't have to plan, you do whatever whenever which is what a holiday is all about for me. You can park up free in aire de service or aire de repose in France - or even a layby.Cheaper than car and caravan on ferry.
Cons. Height barriers especially at hypermarkets, in towns and at some beaches. You might not want a larger motorhome as main vehicle. If you have mechanical problems on holiday your home is in the garage too.
We choose demountable so that the vehicle could be updated without needing to pay out for a complete new unit, but they are not common in UK.

pauls_wife

just come back from isle of wight £7 per night for unit and one pup tent on same pitch temp holiday site showers and toilets available with caravan and camping club £33 per year membership saved £150 ish on ferry alone when quoted member number

grannymoney

Canada is a great place for camping. Flights on Canadian Affairs can be really cheap. We got a secondhand motorhome off ebayUSA, and imported it into Canada. We fixed it up from 'garage sales', now we visit relatives when we want. Just make sure you have anti bug spray.

SaraTheNutter

We've just bought a new 8 man tent on eBay...It's brand new and it should have been £180, we got it for £35. The seller is called Tentastic and he seems to have loads of tents really cheap. Worth a look if you're thinking of buying a new one. Ours is brilliant and arrived in 2 days!:T

Working_mum_4

Only just joined site today - just wanted to say have been staying in caravan in France every Aug for 5 years - whilst out this Aug checked out one of the Siblu sites in Brittany - looks fab and comes FREE if you save enough Tesco vouchers, together with the crossing with Eurotunnel. SAVE your vouchers - we've already had a 2 week Cosmos Gold holiday in Portugal & it was brilliant and only cost us our spending money!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vikkii

SaraTheNutter wrote: »

We've just bought a new 8 man tent on eBay...It's brand new and it should have been £180, we got it for £35. The seller is called Tentastic and he seems to have loads of tents really cheap. Worth a look if you're thinking of buying a new one. Ours is brilliant and arrived in 2 days!:T

Last night I got a 6 man tent (also brand new) from the same seller for £26 and the RRP is £149.99 Well pleased and looking forward to next year now - thanks so much for this tip!