camping in the uk is very shit, need to book weeks ahead

[madhurjazz]

I want to go away this weekend in the new Forest but i tried 10 campsites yesterday and they all full!/I'd book a hotel room long in adnvance but not camping as its awful if its wet cold and windy.

Even if we could of got a place it would cost not that much less than a deal on a family room at a Travelodge, and we wouldn't have to slot in endless 50p and wait a long time for the shower

Not exactly on topic. madhur, but you did ask!

Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 69% of the country's land area.
7% is built on. Other infrastructure is approx 3%.

So you're right, there isn't a whole lot of 'spare'.

Camping's my idea of "let's stay at home instead" so I'm no help to you there, I'm afraid Have a nice holiday, wherever you stay.

Try AirBNB.

Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 69% of the country's land area.
7% is built on. Other infrastructure is approx 3%

So you're right, there isn't a whole lot of 'spare'

Er, well I make it as 21% 'spare, or 1/5th.

That's 51,000 km2. If you allowed 10 x 10 m for a decent sized pitch, we could fit over 1/2 billion tents onto the spare land.

Ahhhhhhhh JR Hartley!!

Any luck OP?

Hope you find somewhere.

I am a fair-weather caravaner. I only do glamping. I like a medium rare steak, copious chilled dry white wine and a fixed double bed with a duvet.

Setting up doesn't take long.

Hope you find somewhere nice. The weather is supposed to be glorious this weekend.

m.pitchup.com/ Try here

We've been to plenty of campsites that only require a day or 2's notice. To be fair, they're in Oxfordshire, but there are some out there, if you look. Obviously, the New Forest is bound to be booked up at this time of year because people have done the sensible thing and booked in advance.

We frequent fen farm on Mersea island (they have awards for their loos)
This year we are off to Wales taking our new air tents. We do glamping , fridge TV and hair straighteners at the ready

Well we just did 2 nights in North Yorkshire, booked 2 days before, at a lovely campsite with spotless facilities, for £46 (for both nights). It's not shit at all. We all had an amazing time.

Have you tried the camping and caravanning club site at Graffham? (New Forest) I was there 2 weeks ago (within summer holidays) and it was pretty quiet. Beautiful site.

I can't imagine why anyone thinks you'd be able to camp spontaneously on popular sites during the school summer holidays.

I'm also a glamper- electric hook up essential

We always book well in advance for summer - it's a risk you have to take

Park Farm in Bodiam is absolutely massive, and doesn't take advance bookings.

It isn't to everybody's taste tho. It's very busy, and Not Glamping.

The Inside Park is really lovely, just stay there for longer, problem solved

the person who thought that Glastonbury is 'ok' after 175000 campers might want to look up the pictures. The site is left in a revolting state which takes weeks to clear up. And a lot of foreign workers, it seems, because the peace-and-love hippy types won't do it and won't take their possessions home with them.

and that is with lots of toilets, facilities etc.

oh yes, and as you hate the UK so much - move to Oz or NZ. The summer holiday camping spots there get booked up a year in advance, even with a lower population.

I booked a week in a new direst camp site for Friday on,y 3 days ago. They had space then.

Ahem.

Find somewhere you don't have to pay a deposit for. Then if you cancel at the last minute because of the weather it's not a problem.

It's not as easy as that. Sometimes it's like a hotel booking where you still get charged if you don't cancel in time. We stayed in a great campsite in North Yorkshire with friends. Friends liked it so much that they booked to go again with another family and paid a deposit. For one reason or another they had to cancel but the credit card was charged with the full amount anyway. They couldn't argue as it was in the small print.

See if you can air bnb and find a place with a garden.
Kitchen, toilet, shower, electricity, but you can put your tent up to sleep in (and go inside if it's cold and rainy)

Oops. Misread the quote! Just saying that if you don't turn up its not just the deposit you might lose.

Have you tried pitchup.com? They will check availability at lots of sites at the same time for you x

Any news OP?

This weekend is going to be glorious and they are predicting a heatwave for the next 2 weeks. Do I wouldn't worry about the weather.

I preparing now. Getting all our stuff ready, for our 2 week caravan holiday in Dorset. Can't wait!!

Caravan club web site has a section where you can see last minute vacancies. Also, telephone the sites you want to go to, may times the web site has said full but on ringing them they have found us a pitch.
People who make bookings with a small deposit and then don't turn up should be black listed from the camp site for ever, it is because of people
like this that web sites show full sites and they may well not be full. The camp site keeps the pitch for them until evening and has no idea that they are not coming so can't update the web until late evening and then you can't go because some pillock booked Friday and Saturday night and did not turn up, leaving only 1 night free to book for some one else.

Thanks, its all booked now. Looking forward to it