Norn iron caravanners?

big-girl

Hi Madmam - we also upsized this year and have done of vanning since! 2 weekends in ballycastle, one bad one good. Stayed in watertop farm - had a great weekend - lovely walks and staff all pleasant, ammenities basic but clean - defo go back. were r you going in August. Still log on to CCC wee group of us get our monthly weekends away!

Cherryscone

we are going to carfunnock and i hope the weather holds ,watertop sounds good whats all at it i have a 3 year old who loves the caravan but can get bored money ways how expensive is it ,must get on to ccc will you pm me a link new laptop new isp thanks

Cherryscone

Just letting the happy caravanners and campers know carfunnock was really good my 3 year old adored it ,weather was really nice as well the only problem's i had was with when we came in the pitch we got was mucked up really bad we were told be an other caravanner that the ones before us had decided to wash their ground sheets before they left,dog poo was another issue may i add not the parks fault but the owners who tied their dog up and then ignored it and its mess,and 3 lots of caravanners decided to have a punch up which had my 16 year old in stitchs not nice when you have a 3 year old sleeping drink i think had a lot to do with it ,one of the things that did annoy me was the toilets was always dirty the showers had a built up of grime that had me itching for bleach and a hose there always seemed to be someone cleaning them but i think thats one area they need to look at ....apart from that i shall stop moaning and shall say i give it 9 out of 10 its by far the best site around that i have been at and i will defo go back again next year ,i did try to get in for hallowen but they are booked and have over 30 on the waiting list thumbs up for carfunnock

EmmaT_3

Castlewellan Forest Park and Tullymore Forest Park are just OK as such sites go, except for one thing; there is no security of any description, and having had first hand experience of the consequences of no park security, we now give all such sites a miss. Nowadays we only use privately owned sites but mainly, we do the majority of our caravanning on the mainland where they care about the customers.

Cherryscone

what happened emma ? i really enjoyed carfunnock have you been their before?

EmmaT_3

Everything, including travellers, local vandals in the middle of the night, drunks and boy racers rallying their cars around the site, and bikes being stolen. Seems that after about 5pm, you're on your own in these places.
We go caravanning to relax and enjoy the countryside, something we can no longer do in non private sites around Northern Ireland.
As I've said, we've been to numerous sites around the mainland without any problems and we spend around 6 to 8 weeks per year there. Only at home have we encountered problems on a regular basis. Remember Tullymore making the news? Never again.
Went to Carfunnock and was pestered the whole weekend by idiots wanting us to join their club. Caravanners we meet and socialise with across the Irish sea know how to socialise without trying to brow beat you into joining their clan.
Probably to many newbies, all wanting to take over.
Had to laugh at the weekend though. Two families arrived together early Saturday morning. It took them until 3.30 to set up the two caravans and two awnings. They started dismantling again 9am Sunday morning. What is the point?
When we arrive on site, my husband sets up in approx 10 minutes. 30 minutes maximum if we're putting the awning up, and we have a very large heavy awning.
:beer:

kidshorsesdogs

Emma, sorry to hear of your problems with Tollymore & Castlewellan, we tend to avoid them high season. We have done numerous off season trips without any bother at all. I do have to say though, we have caravanned in NI for 6 years and have not had nearly the amount of trouble you have encountered. We do tend to go to the better sites and common sense tells us to avoid large non supervised sites in peak season especailly bank holiday weekends.

Carnfunnock while it has a lot to offer younger families can be cramped when busy. What club were they asking you to join, we we can avoid them too!!!

EmmaT_3

Most of the trouble has been encountered Sept/Oct times and the club was the C&C. Also pestered by them at Castlewellan last May.
Another problem with Carnfunnock was the facilities and I don't blame the owners. Why do people turn into disgusting pigs when they're away from home? On the other hand, maybe they're disgusting pigs at home. Glad I don't have to visit some of them.
We've been caravanning for 20 plus years. While the mainland sites have upped their game; toilet/shower facilities in many we use are of hotel standards, 30amp power supplies, broadband, 24 hour security, masses of space between caravans (no overcrowding), the list is to long but over here!!!
Most of the changes appear to have been of the downgrade variety.
Just heard at the weekend that a popular site in Newcastle will only be allowing in tourers of the 'park it for the season' variety of which they already have many and no awnings will be allowed either. Much like many of the other private owner sites here. Can anyone explain this practice? Why buy a tourer, then permantly park it on a site for the best part of a year? Am I missing the obvious? Are these people ex static owners avoiding charges such as rates etc? We bought a tourer to tour, see new parts of the country, and in past years we made it to France, Italy, Austria and Germany.
Nothing stranger than folk. Especially some caravanners it seems.

Cherryscone

I am sorry emma you have had trouble whats c+c ? i havent been pestered by anyone i go to have a break for my wee boy whos 3 to have fun as i stated above i did have slight bother with carnfunnock but i made the site aware ,i did feel that they should have 24 hr staff i had a teen coming into my anwing and removing a ball and got abused when i asked him what he thought he was doing i also witnessed the same teen breaking the wooden boat in the playpark ,i told staff they knew who he was and said the family comes 4 times maybe a year he always does something but they have to catch him doing it to be able to do anything about it seems my word wasnt good enough sad really that this young fellow felt he needed to behave like that.

EmmaT_3

Camping and caravanning club.
Last year on the mainland, the owner of a site caught two young brothers (they looked about 6 and 10) chasing ducks down by a small onsite lake. An hour later, the family had been evicted from the site. No questions asked, no excuses accepted, no second chances. It was just great to see. No chance of it happening here. What a pity.
The guy who owns a great friendly wee site we use up near the borders goes one better. When you arrive, he goes out to have a look at everybody in the car/campervan, and if he doesn't like what he sees, he turns you away whether you've booked or not. We've watched him do it a number of times.
There'd be court cases about discrimination over here.
Can't make it out this weekend but going up to the Skerries at Portrush the following week. Don't like Portrush, never go into town, but it's great base for touring the area.
End of the month we're booked for a week @ NW Donegal. Probably snow but why worry about the weather. Only make you ill.