Great Cheaper Camping and Caravanning Hunt

floras_dad

If your just getting into camping its worth you joining the YhA or Ramblers assoc. Blacks and Millets offer 10% off non sale goods. When you consider family membership for the YHa is 22.95 you could make your money back in the first purchase. If its the YHA it also gives you somewhere warm to stay if your tent collapses or your on a long run from the South to Scotland or some such.

merit_mark_2

Self and partner regularly take walking or cycle camping holidays in UK and abroad - with practice (at selecting and packing for light weight) it is quite possible to carry camping and cooking gear plus reasonable quantity of supermarket dried food (rice or pasta meals, dried potato, Beanfeast, dried fruit etc) for several days as a reserve and supplemented with local bread, cheese, wine etc. Thus we 'eat out' only when we want to. This avoids being caught out by those expensive food outlets located where they think you have no choice!

Especially if not using a car, wild camping is very feasible in many rural places you might want to go - with a bit of practice and instinct you can find amazing places to stay in peace away from invariably noisy campsites with near zero impact on the environment or your pocket. Alternatively, in some of the more wild areas (mountain) bothies provide a free roof over your head - and often a party atmosphere too!

Top tips: Recommend taking water purification tablets for use if can't find 'safe' free supply nearby (there is a limit to how much water you want to carry!) - and a 'solar shower' ... real luxury if it is hot .

Out of season, or if we want a bit of luxury! ... camping at Youth Hostels is sometimes allowed for half the overnight fee (you get to use all facilities but sleep in your own tent without campsite noise) or use 'camping barns' - which are pretty much what the name suggests!

Happy hols!
Mark

djkruse

So camping may be a cheap holiday but what about the cost of all the kit? And then there is the stress of getting it all in (or on) the car! The kids squashed in the back in between the sleeping bags with layers of clothes on to save on suitcases? Thats not a holiday, its training to be a sardine. then the car uses twice as much fuel getting there and the exhaust pipe needs replacing since it got ground away on the journey.
There is a better way
Haven Holidays have pre-built and furnished tents at their Perran Sands holiday park in Cornwall. they have 3 double bedrooms with beds , a fridge, a cooker, pots, pans, lights and a dining suite. OK its a patio set and the cooker is a 2 ring stove but the beds do have very comfortable matteresses.
Me and my family have just come back from a week in one of these, it only cost £122 for all six of us and that included all the entertainment you can handle. Grab your bedding, pack your clothes and go! There are several very clean toilet blocks close by with excellent showers. the on-site shop is a bit expensive but there is a Morrisons about 10 minutes drive away. we've been four times now and would recommend it to anyone with kids aged between 3 and 13.

shellf

we always go to mablethorpe haven out of season for the weekend it cost us about a fiver a night sometimes lessfor sevon of us and we get swimming and entertainment for that so its a bargain all the haven sight are dirt cheap :T

doncaster_2

If like us you enjoy the beautiful New Forest, here's a good tip!

Go on the www.forestholidays.co.uk website , and once you have selected which campsite you want to stay at, call them up, and when ordering mention you would like the Forest Experience Card, it entitles you to discounts in the New Forest shopping area, just ask ... for example we needed a bike pump and route maps from a bike shop in Brockenhurst, and by using the Forest Experience Card, we gained 10% off!!

The card also gives you a discount on the pitch fee !!

Its well worth it folks!!



also if you are heading to the forest this summer, we always go to Roundhill campsite, its right by heathland, forest, and has a pond area, adequete washing facilities and of course lots of horsies and cows passing through..Just watch out for the pesky donkeys!

frankie

floras_dad wrote: »

If your just getting into camping its worth you joining the YhA or Ramblers assoc. Blacks and Millets offer 10% off non sale goods. When you consider family membership for the YHa is 22.95 you could make your money back in the first purchase. If its the YHA it also gives you somewhere warm to stay if your tent collapses or your on a long run from the South to Scotland or some such.

No need to actually join one of these clubs just for the discount in stores.

I've always ask for discount in these stores and have not been turned down yet. (But then I ask for discount in most stores cos I'm an MSEr!!)

WeirdoMagnet

These are more practical tips than big, campsite moneysaving tips, but I hope they help someone!

We have a small motorhome. As other motorhomers will realise, you have to be organised and tidy, otherwise each time you move off, all your kit goes flying round the van!

We buy some things on offer for normal (house) use (e.g. tuna, tinned toms, soup, baked beans et)c, then put one of each in the van etc, and decant things like rice, pasta, mixed oxo’s, jam, into smaller containers, so we can pick up our bargain (yellow stickered items) and still make a good meal. Makes it lots more economical than buying the odd can of tuna or a small packet of rice in the campsite shop or Spar.

My Mum bought us a Remoska a while ago, and it now comes with us on our trips – only uses low electricity, so is useful for cooking oven-style dishes in the van. Saves on pub meals!

I decant some washing up liquid into a small bottle, and take a couple of pan scrubbers & dishcloths with us. I also take a small bag of washing powder & some fabric conditioner if we are going to need to wash clothes. I buy Flash (or similar) wipes when they’re on a BOGOF – easy to use and keep the van clean, and compact and convenient in terms of storage.

We put some bits of change 10/20/50p & pound coins in a pot to take with us – useful for camp site fees, washing machines & tumble dryers, parking fees etc etc.

We bought one space saving device for the back of car chairs from a poundstretcher kind of shop, and use a hanging shoe pocket thing (from Wilkinsons) over the other chair – they’re really handy for tucking away things like phone chargers and other cables, iPod, video camera, dog leads etc. We got a hanging shoe storer from Tesco in the sale which we hang in the tiny wardrobe and use for undies, socks, rolled up t-shirts etc.

I bought a couple of Carrylock bags, which we fill with (drinking) water either at home or on a site – saves buying bottled water for drinking. NB. Bought them from Lakeland Plastics in their sale, about £3.50 each, but not sure if they still stock them.

We’re members of the C&CC – as someone else has mentioned you get reduced fees on club sites, so after 7 nights you have covered your membership fee, and also a very handy Big Sites Book, which lists all the club sites, certified sites, and independent sites too. It has been invaluable for us, and is supposed to cost about £15 to non-members. Keep an eye out for special prices tickets at the campsite - we got £3 each off our tickets for Cheddar Caves & George at Mendip Heights C&CC site.

Of course, we always buy the cheapest diesel we can, except when we were on Skye where it was £1.019 per litre!

HTH someone,

Georgie

KJP_3

d42mat wrote: »

This could be a great thread apart from the fact I haven't a tent or caravan

So.. Does anyone have any money saving tips for those static caravan sites? Everywhere I look seems to want around £800 for a week!

Thanks

Matt

Look out for the daily newspaper offers for £9.50/£15 holidays. We've had some great holidays in static caravan parks, usually three or four nights, for just collecting the tokens and paying £9.50 each (based on 4 but usually two of us go and pay the difference!). It's a great budget holiday as long as you are prepared to be flexible with your dates.

WeirdoMagnet

mae wrote: »

Does anyone know roughly how much it costs to hire a motorhome for a week. I've never done this before but thought it might be nice to drive along the coast vsiting areas in this country we have never seen before.

We hired one from Cool Campervans prior to buying ours. Very helpful & friendly folk. Obviously cheaper out of season.

Georgie

rikernumber1

Aside from camping/caravanning, membership of the "Camping and Caravanning Club" and/or "The Caravan Club" can get you some great discounts on other products. We are members of both clubs - I insure both our cars through "The Caravan Club" and also our get house insurance through them as well - this has saved me about £200 over the last year, and no other companies have been able to come close to the prices I've got on either of these products.

On the camping side: I don't baulk at paying c£18-£22 per night for a pitch with electric (we have a trailer tent) on a club site. In our experience, non-club sites with comparable standards/facilities are normally much more expensive. We like decent toilets/showers and are prepared to pay for them. If we had a caravan with a decent bathroom we'd probably use more Certified Sites (C&CC) or Certified Locations (CC) for £5 per night. Camping isn't just about being cheap - it's about getting value and enjoyment - we simply wouldn't enjoy a site that had limited toilet facilities - at least not for more than 2 nights in a row. A weekend break is different to a main holiday!