Great Cheaper Camping and Caravanning Hunt

viviennehayes

The Camping and Caravanning Club have Special Interest Sections like The Photography Group, Boating Group and the one I belong to the Folk Dance and Song Group. I do a couple of websites for them (very much an amateur) which give details http://www.folkgroup.org.uk and the region I belong to http://www.folkgroup.org.uk/northwest/ Our normal rally prices are £6 per unit night for two people with an additional 75p for each adult and no charge for children. This includes coffee mornings, and any dances, organised walks, craft, music and song workshops which may be organised at the rally. What a bargain!! Prices for our two Temporary Holiday Meets are slightly different. Just off to one near Southport tomorrow.

scottie60

We are in both the Caravan Club and the Camping and Caravan Club. The Camping and Caravan Club is the cheapest especially if you are over 50 as you get a good discount. Usually costs around £3.75 a night each, plus you have a pitch fee if your require electrics of £2.75.
We normally holiday in May, end of June beginning July and September which is counted as Mid season and again is cheaper.
You also can get free nights the more you use the club sites.
Our fortnights holiday at Dingwall at the beginning of July cost £147 including electrics. Where else can you holiday for just over £70 a week.

francesmary16

You can camp for free in France if you have a motor caravan - check out http://www.france-passion.co.uk - it's a great scheme

Crippled_Monkey_2

A great way to save money if you have a caravan is to join the owners club. They will probably have a newsletter, run rallys etc. They are also a great way to meet new people and usually involve the kids + organise events.

We have a Bailey caravan and are members of the Bailey Owners Caravan Club. They run about 50 rallys a year, only costs £15 to join. Last year we spent 10 days in Norfolk, overlooking a fantastic beach, for £4 a night. It did not have electric but to be honest that is not needed unless you are going to watch tv every night. They also run rally's on comercial sites as well. These will be more expensive, but most sites have rally rates which helps to save money.

Check out www.baileyownersclub.org for more info.

garrygrimshaw

Anne66 wrote: »

With the bad weather, and summer coming to a close, now is a great time to pick up camping gear at reduced prices. You will be ready and raring to go in the spring.

Okay, I did this completely by accident really but found it to be a really good way of getting a good tent for a good price.

Last year me and my mate bought a cheap £80 tent to use on Shell Island which turned out to be complete rubbish because it couldn't stand up to the wind. Plus my mate put a big hole in it because he ran into it when we were playing cricket. Anyway, disappointed after the holiday, I took the tent back to Argos 2 MONTHS LATER (because I'm a tad lazy) and basically picked on the youngest assitant and told them the tent was rubbish and the wind had ripped a hole in it(!) and I wanted to exchange it. Now, here is where the timing comes into it because it was end of season so the some of the tents were half price, one being a bigger better 8 man tent which should have been £160 - I exchanged ours for this one and didn't have to pay a penny extra!!

So basically, buy a tent mid season, take it back end of season and upgrade for nothing! Can't guarantee it will always work though, but Argos seems to employ a 'yeah whatever, we don't care' attitude. And the beauty about exchanging a tent is they don't want to unpack it instore to check it so just go with whatever you say.

Happy camping!

g4fne

garrygrimshaw wrote: »

Okay, I did this completely by accident really but found it to be a really good way of getting a good tent for a good price.

Last year me and my mate bought a cheap £80 tent to use on Shell Island which turned out to be complete rubbish because it couldn't stand up to the wind. Plus my mate put a big hole in it because he ran into it when we were playing cricket. Anyway, disappointed after the holiday, I took the tent back to Argos 2 MONTHS LATER (because I'm a tad lazy) and basically picked on the youngest assitant and told them the tent was rubbish and the wind had ripped a hole in it(!) and I wanted to exchange it. Now, here is where the timing comes into it because it was end of season so the some of the tents were half price, one being a bigger better 8 man tent which should have been £160 - I exchanged ours for this one and didn't have to pay a penny extra!!

So basically, buy a tent mid season, take it back end of season and upgrade for nothing! Can't guarantee it will always work though, but Argos seems to employ a 'yeah whatever, we don't care' attitude. And the beauty about exchanging a tent is they don't want to unpack it instore to check it so just go with whatever you say.

Happy camping!

Alternatively .... you could just wait until the sales & buy the half price tent then ... No risk factor then

garrygrimshaw

yep, was just about to say that actually, don't know why I posted that.

I'm stupid. :embarasse

Actually though it may help if you've already bought a tent, used it but are unhappy with it!

elddiscaravanner

Membership of an Owners Club is a good way to save money and make a lot of new friends. We are members of the Elddis Owners Club who run rallies throughout the year. Many are on 'temporary sites' and are typically between £4 and £5 per night, but there are quite a few on commercial sites where the club obtains a significant discount for group bookings. More information can be found at www.elddisowners.co.uk .

Most makes of caravan will have an owners club and all run along similar lines so if you don't have an Elddis use Google to find the appropriate club.

funkybubbles

mbertouche wrote: »

Couple of tips if you fancy caravanning (or camping) in France, which is a great place for either and much better than the UK.

1 - Offset the cost of the payage by staying at the service areas (Aire de) or service stations overnight for free. Always toilet/washing facilities and the service stations have restaurants.

2 - Stay at the Camping Municipal. All towns have a municipal campsite which is usually around a fiver a night (or less) and the facilities are always first class.

Have just returned from motorcaravanning in Italy, stayed a lot at the service areas. Facilities way surpass UK, with many having showers, camper waste disposal and sometimes Wi-fi connection.

tula_2

http://www.caravans-camping.co.uk/70040/info.php?p=7&cat=14582

Khyam tent factory seconds on this site. Probably the best tents in the world, usually very expensive due to them being the only manufacturers of a genuinely quick erect system. A Khyam Freelander here will cost £90,RRP around £200. My last Khyam was a factory second and I never did find out what was wrong with it!! It has recently retired after a trip across Europe but not until it had done almost 8 years of service. Unfortunately didn't find this site until after buying my new Khyam Freelander in a sale, there are lots of bargains at the moment due to poor weather and end of season coming up, still a good buy but not quite as good as it could have been.