£700 for a weeks pitch camping in Devon?

[Laughingstock91]

We normally go camping in France in the summer and pay about £600 for 2 weeks on a lovely site with a pool in Provence. We take our own camping gear when we go.

£700 for 7 nights for a tent pitch in Devon? It’s basically a field with no other facilities bar a toilet block. That’s for us to pitch our own tent too! Not glamping or anything.

Aibu to think it’s taking the fucking piss? I am so over this poxy plague ridden island today. I know we are lucky to get any holiday but it’s a weeks camping - we save up all year to go to France & love it.

@ThursdayLastWeek

Hold off a bit, I’m hearing locals say lots of folk cancelling to rebook abroad.

Might bring them to their senses re: prices.

There was a couple on the news earlier in the week. She was extremely smug because she’d booked a week abroad and the same week in Norfolk with a view to cancelling it if she can fly. She seemed to think the she was the cleverest woman in the country for thinking of it, meanwhile the poor sods who own the place they booked in Norfolk could well end up with an empty property.

I do hope the owner saw them on the tv and cancelled their booking.

I have a flat in Cornwall. We don't let it out. My next door neighbour has let his out for this summer - I had a look. OMFG - there are only 2 nights left, in mid September. £976 for the 2 nights. His is a tiny studio flat. Sea view etc, but renters are not allowed to use most of the facilities either. Mental.

we are going to house swap

We did that with my inlaws a few years ago. We got a 2 up 2 down in Manchester, they got our house in Oxford. It was great - we did nice day trips to places we'd never have gone to otherwise.

I refuse to be held ransom in this country. Would rather wait until I go abroad. We were lucky last year and got to holidays in - Florence in Feb and Dubrovnik in August. So not desperate just would be nice.

After hearing about so many people having double bookings (one abroad and one UK) I'm holding off for a late cancellation in the UK if EU gets on our green list any time soon. If I don't get one then I'm not that bothered but the choice of cottages available at the moment is limited so maybe some better ones will come back on for rent.

That’s absurd. We’re paying £15 a night for the Lake District! No pool but fire pit included.

Caravan on the NorthEast coast for £1,000 for the week 😂😂. They have to be joking. Coming from that part of the world I know that the weather can be pretty cold and miserable, even in the summer if you’re unlucky. We normally go to France and get 2 weeks in a beautiful gite for less than that.

What ?
Our caravan £329 for 9 nights, in Dorset, close to Poole and Weymouth.

This seems too much to me.
Just increased demand and the site taking advantage?

I am hoping for a cheap cancellation. If not we are doing day trips only. I am not paying what I could pay for a lovely holiday abroad.

@EenyMeenyMinyNo

I got so fed up with trying to find something with availability and without being ripped off, I spoke to a friend and we are going to house swap. We get a week in her home on the Gower peninsula and she gets a week in Somerset. Feels like a good, stress free arrangement!

I think that's a great idea

We’re doing a house swap - a relative in Scotland is having our house for the week and we’re having theirs. It’s a bit of a drive but I’m looking forward to exploring the east coast and they can’t wait to have a putter round the new forest and visit some beaches.

Ha - you beat me to it!!!

That’s why I’ve not even bothered looking at holidays this year - don’t wish to pay bonkers amounts in the UK and not willing to take the risk of cancellation / testing / quarantine palaver and rules changing abroad .

I paid £449 for a Haven 4 night caravan break back in October last year.

Out of curiosity- and reading this thread - I just checked and it's now £889.

Last year we didn't get a holiday as one was cancelled and then everything was booked up.

Center parcs were asking for £5000 for a four night break at the start of the school holidays. Will keep my money and take the entire family to Florida for two weeks for the same money .

That's a massive amount of money!
If you'd consider Dorset, there's a campsite in Seatown right on the beach. Think it's Golden Cap, West Dorset Leisure holidays. Mum lives there & the coast is gorgeous all along that stretch.
Lots to do for kids and a massive choice of pitches so lots of availability still for summer. Cost you somewhere between 250 and 300 for an electric pitch for a week.
Nice little shop and facilities, all really clean and The Anchor pub does great food.

@RaiseTheBeastie

I work in tourism. I could have doubled my prices this year and filled my bookings still. However I refuse to do that because it's taking the piss. And I know it would be an insult to my regular customers. We're not all arseholes

More fool you.

Adjusting your prices to reflect demand is just good business sense. If you see that as being an arsehole then you're way too personally involved.

Although your regulars might love you, you're unlikely to have a very profitable business long term.

On the contrary I have been running a profitable business for 15 years now and it is thriving, whereas those in a similar field have come and gone. Part of what makes it thrive is knowing how to treat our loyal customers, who would soon stop coming if I doubled the price because we are in a pandemic.

But thanks for the business advice.

£280 for a beautiful campsite with direct sandy beach access on the Gower, first week of school holidays. Tent only (no EHU) family of 3. Site has beautiful modern and clean wash blocks, cafe / shop selling daily fresh bread and cakes on the premises, free site-wide wifi and free secure charging lockers

An all inclusive hotel in Portugal might be cheaper and a lot warmer!

Our favourite Devon campsite is £23 per night for a family of 4. It's recently gone up but still reasonable. Not North Devon, fairly basic but beautiful views. It's a short drive to the coast rather than on it. Not fully booked as yet. Another one of our favourites (Dorset) is on the coast overlooking the sea and is £34 in high season for 4 (but is fully booked for school holidays). £700 is too much.

Highly recommend you look at St Just Rugby Club on Facebook - they are a small campsite, bar, shower / toilet block, but in a beautiful part of West Cornwall. And cheap as chips.

I think Mousehole FC are doing this too- you can spot a trend, can’t you 😆

Well, I know plenty of basic places to camp in Cornwall and Devon that cost about a tenner a night. Thing is, places like this often don’t have a proper website, so you have to do a good bit of detective work. Googling “(desired area) farm camping” is a good place to start.

I feel your pain OP. I’m in NI and to go to Scotland for a week in the caravan was going to cost us roughly what we usually spend going to France for 2 weeks. At least in France there is more chance of sun and a swimming pool for the kids, not so sure about Scotland.

We have decided to hold out for this year and hope we can get a better trip next year.

at this thread and the plaque ridden French.

I think this is the year to either accept that holidays are going to be very different, do a home swap or perhaps set aside half your holiday budget for some lovely day trips from your home. We have a family from Northern England as we've now renamed it coming to ours in c. London; we'll go there. We normally go to Crete; DH is less than impressed by our impending six-hour drive to the middle of nowhere .

There should have been a price gouging dept set up for people to report these things

I wouldn't go that far myself; after all the price is (usually) clear and if owners want to drive away custom, either now or potential ones in the future, that's their lookout

And I would expect folk to be driven away, since as said a really good experience seems unlikely with an owner whose main interest is gouging ... see also the comments from HesterShaw1 as to how a successful business can be run without the need to behave like this

It's a crying shame for all the decent ones, but the comedy image of the grasping and unwelcoming British owner didn't arise for no reason - though of course Britain isn't alone in having them

Everywhere is mad this year, we’re going to a bog standard caravan in Norfolk for 4 nights, £950! It is right on a lovely beach but still. We’ve then booked a lovely cottage down the road with dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer 2 beds/bathrooms, garden, tv/Netflix etc for 7 night for less! We’re visiting family at the caravan place though so sucking it up.