Steamer Quay Upgrade

WTG

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." You do have a choice and that choice is either to go or not to go, that is the question? A few days ago you were singing the praises of the Portmeirion motorhome aire. Now it seems to me that you don't have a choice when you stay there of having the entrance fee included in the price which makes it very expensive and also much less friendly arrival and departure times almost makes a one day stay impossible, or at least very hard work?

Apologies to WS

David

You're right, I'd happily use the council Aire at a tenner over SQ at £50-60?...

as WTG says, there are scores of good reviews on the forums that most CT users wouldn't read, with only one mention of the 'boy racers' which another poster seemed to have witnessed.

My posts (echoed by WTG) have been about the lack of pitch choice available at SQ following the refurb.

with the club trumpeting such in its 'you asked we.....' mails, it's disappointing not to be able to get a non EHU (or metered EHU) pitch, nor even a non SP pitch.

however, 'disappointing' I can get over and ill happily try Totnes but not at SQ.

I'd recently read a recommendation on my own MH brand forum, praising the council for its initiative...just like most of the other comments on similar forums.

when I've tried it, perhaps I can give a real first hand update to CT👍

...come on David, that facility is owned and managed by Portmerion and is now an integral part of the ways to visit that facility...it's not a council owned aire ......and certainly nothing like the CAMC model.

the point is that this seems to be a change in the MO of CAMC as (correct me if I'm wrong, probably) where a site is ALL premium pitches...

choice, within the site, has been eroded.

its pretty simple, if you want to visit SQ you'll be paying a (even more) premium price.

the club's middle of the road offering is being pushed further and further up the price ladder at a fair old lick.

I’ve been visiting Totnes since before I can remember. I lived not too far away and had friends and relatives who lived there and I visited on a regular basis. Therefore, I am very familiar with the uses of Steamer Quay Road and Longmarsh car park. It’s not been necessary for me to stay overnight in order to witness the happenings there and I have no need or desire to embellish the occurrences of other stayers or boy racers. I’m very happy if no or few users of Longmarsh have been bothered by such events but, believe me, it happens. 

"You're right, I'd happily use the council Aire at a tenner over SQ at £50-60?..."

So there's the solution for you and WTG then, YT. You're happy and those who choose to use the site will presumably be equally happy with their choice. The club will have spent a considerable sum refurbishing SQ and that has to be recouped surely?

What amount would you be prepared to pay if you could choose to opt out of your unwanted facilities by the way?

I didn't actually need a 'solution'...following the personal recommendation I read recently, I was going to visit Totnes and to try Longmarsh...

however, being a member of CAMC and CT, the thread about the SQ redevelopment interested me, but left me disappointed when it turns out that the choice for customers at that site will be....one....take it or leave it.

ill choose to leave it but it would have been far 'nicer/fairer' for members to not be restricted to serviced pitches only and make the site more expensive than it needed to be...perhaps a 50/50 split on SP (and the consequent reduced investment) would at least give visitors a chance of a 'normal' pitch at a 'normal' club price.

Re your last question....the club has its own 'discounts' for non EHU pitches and for those on non facs sites...if the site were where I wanted to be then I'd probably pay whatever those reduced rates might be...if SQ were like that perhaps I'd give it a go...

I think the Club (and Portmeirion) know exactly what they are doing and they probably have the evidence to support their approach to SQ, and as I mentioned the site in Worthing had that been possible would have been the same. So it seems that similar sites will be developed in the same way in the future? I have no problem with that. I think the Club recognise that our hobby is no longer done of a make do and mend basis financially and they have probably identified that an increasing number of members are investing, what some of us might think of, as vast sums in caravans and towcars and motorhomes and probably come to the conclusion they they will also be prepared to pay a premium price for a pitch? The odd thing about this discussion is that the few that are not in favour are probably unlikely to use the site even if it had regular hard standing pitches because they consider them too expensive! 

David

If the club developed SQ like a standard site with a mixture of standard hardstanding and service pitches, we would only be looking at a £4.90 saving. Not I suspect enough for YT and others to consider it over nearby alternatives. I can’t but think all the arguments rather pointless. EHU, or not, and or metering may be in the mix in the future but are not the norm yet.