Campsite costs

It seems to me that we have two types of CL customers emerging. The traditional ones, where value for money is important and a new variety who want the facilities of a big campsite but prefer the intimacy of a CL and are willing to pay an enhanced rate. You only have to look at Facebook to see how popular some of these latter sites are. Ted of Cholsey Grange CL has made the point that people shouldn't expect a well spec'd CL to be a lot cheaper than a comparable campsite. No doubt the argument would be that creating that level of facilities for 5 pitches is more expensive per pitch than a larger site? We have just stayed at Overwater Marina which was £20 a night, the only difference I could see between staying on their main campsite for £25 a night was a larger hardstanding and serviced pitches. This CL was pretty popular whilst we were there and I thought £20 a night was perfectly reasonable.

David

Yes, I’m one of the latter-peace, quiet, tranquility & solitude is priceless. I want to hear & see the natural world. I am also a fair minded person who will pay a fair rate. I’m not one to drive prices down to unsustainable levels then moan at ‘my favourite’ CL has closed my ‘bit of heaven’. I will support them👍🏻

Peace, tranquillity and solitude we can have by just staying home, and the natural world too, our garden is bird heaven, and plenty of squirrels, hedgehogs and foxes, even the occasional deer.  We are very fortunate in where we live.......convenient if we need shops etc, but an extremely quiet area close to open countryside..

A fair price is good, happy to pay that, but would not be happy to  find all CLs going "upmarket" and prices going up to match.

The ones we will be using this year range from £14 for EHU and hardstanding,  to £20 for same  plus serviced pitch, which is perfectly acceptable.   We need nothing more.  Location is the main attraction.

I’m happy you’re happy👍🏻. I live in deep country with no shop for miles nor a bus service so I’d not trade it for anything less but I do like different periodically. £14?, I’d expect a bit of grass, chem waste point & water🤷🏻‍♂️, anything else I’d see as the CL as part charity☹️. £20 per night is good value👍🏻

This is our favourite CL - £5. There are a few left out there. Tick ‘no electric’ in the search facility and flick through the few that will come up until you find one in your price range. 

The least we paid last year was £7 and that included £1 for the dog. Brilliant value for family stays as all inclusive for each unit. 

We mix our sites up to get a decent average cost per night. Touring is still a cheap holiday for us, our MH didn’t cost us a huge sum, we have no storage fees, and get close to 40mpg depending on routes. We can easily do a week without hook up, so take advantage of some gorgeous peaceful out of the way spots, but don’t mind paying £20 if the CL location suits us. But for that I would expect hook up, hard standing and decent spacing. Happy to leave CLs with serviced pitches, loos and showers to others. 

We know that CL owners have suffered over the last couple of years and are feeling the effects of inflation as we all are so we're not surprised that basic prices are rising.  However more of the owners are starting to add extras such as for children, an awning, a dog, an extra car etc. One site we looked at had a basic price of £19,  After adding extras the cost rose to £30 (£5 for our daughter, £4 for an awning and £2 for our tow car which is classed as an extra vehicle). Needless to say we won't be going there. This is becoming increasingly common and makes it more difficult to find a basic CL at a reasonable price. The owners are starting to price themselves out of the market so why don't they have a straightforward price without the extras? All we want is value for money.

"….why don't they have a straightforward price without the extras?"

They choose their own way of pricing just as you and I can choose whether to give them our custom or not. It’s as simple  as that.

I sometimes wonder if these "extra charges" are there as a discouragement. Could it be they don't want children/awning etc but feel they have to accept them? We recently stayed at a CL which was part of a large Marina. Whilst the base price for us was a very reasonable £20 (given the facilities) I was a bit surprised they charge extra for extra adults and children over five. I could perhaps understand the discouragement of children on safety grounds as children and deep water don't usually mix. I suppose the point is that if the site are transparent in what they are charging the customer always has the choice? I suspect we are going to have to get used to rising prices given the increase in inflation.

David