Was I unreasonable? Camping politics!!

[Seagullsbythesea]

Just been bank holiday camping. On the last day we were there, new people turned up on the pitch next door. We had our tent width ways accross the pitch so the sleeping end was right next to their pitch. They had a camper van & 2 kids also. There is an 11pm noise curfew on the site.

Last night they were up sitting outside their van with their friends talking really loudly at 11.20 right next to our heads!! My kids were trying to get to sleep.

So I went and asked them to keep it down - they really weren’t happy & just carried on. Eventually they did STFU but it was past midnight.

Was i a party pooper on their first night? Or right to just tell them to keep it down- I was polite & just said ‘it’s right by my kids heads’

We are actually leaving today whereas they are staying - I think I was feeling tired & grumpy yesterday & my kids were knackered!!

Oh yes its terrible hearing people laugh and have fun on holiday

Quiet means quiet, not sitting around talking and laughing until 1am.

Also it isn’t fun to be exhausted next day because some people don’t know how to camp properly.

On a campsite where there is a noise curfew, then it disrupts other people.
There are plenty of campsites where people can make noise, chatter, play music until who knows what time in the morning.

It can be incredibly hard to get to sleep when people are chatting away and drinking on a pitch just next to you.

That why we tend to camp at sites that don’t have pitches, it’s more of field so everyone can keep space between them. One time we were in a pitched place I was really irritated by the neighbours talking in the morning.

We camped on a pitch anywhere site last year and someone pitched their tent on our parking spot while we were out, despite the instructions to leave at least 3m

You really didn't read that properly did you

@GoodChat

Oh yes its terrible hearing people laugh and have fun on holiday

At 1am when you can't sleep because of it, then yes, it is!

Regardless of whether or not you feel an 11pm curfew is reasonable, you should stick to it. I am sure the campsite website will tell you about it before you book.

This is why I can't do camping anymore. My husband loves it and I was willing to give it a go but I can't stand entitled, disrespectful bawbags who think rules don't apply to them. I started to seethe in anticipation of noisy neighbours before we even got to the campsite 🤣

@countrygirl99 i really did.

Loud noise is crap, but normal conversation and the occasional laugh is fine.

If you don't want to be pitched by other groups, be more selective about where you camp.

If they had a toddler who didnt sleep through that noise would travel too

For goodness sake. They are talking .... Yes you are being a party pooper. Sound carries in a tent

No you clearly didn't

I only go to sites with no EHU and where all electronic / amplified music is banned, and clearly stated ‘quiet times’. Also big sparsely spaced pitches mown into a meadow, pitch where you like or similar. Compost toilets tend to put the rowdy off, too. As does having to cart your stuff into the camping area in a barrow.

Only once had noise.

No

If the rules say keep the noise down after 11pm, then you don't sit round chatting.

If you want to sit round chatting after 11pm, then find a campsite with no such noise rule

We were camping in France once and some people started playing the guitar and singing (badly) at 2am and it went on for over an hour.
DH who is fairly laid back and normally sleeps through anything complained and the offending people were asked to leave the next day. (I'm pretty sure ours was not the only complaint)
I have often slept really well when camping but once on a long weekend we were woken by crows squarking and making a racket at 4.45am each morning. It was awful but nothing anyone could do about it! 🤣

I run a campsite. I've had people complain about various things, music, laughing, talking, wildlife sounds and snoring!
I try to take a sensible approach, ask a few others close by what was going on etc and then if needed deal with the issue by having a quiet word.
I try to remind people you arent in bricks and mortar, you're under canvas or in a tin box, nose travels and sounds even louder in a big dark field!
I also find first nighters are all keen and stay up late but the early morning wake up and a day out in the fresh air normally takes the wind out of their sails and they are all soundo much earlier the remaining nights.

You wernt unreasonable in asking them OP

On all the camp sites I’ve stayed on your tent would have been classed as pitched incorrectly.

Tents or caravans down either the right or left depending on site with the car/empty space the other side. Or for extra oversized tents dead middle. For a firebreak as such.

With the talking I’d say depends how loud they where, I’d much rather hear a little chitchat than a jumbo jet snorer next door 😅

@cakeorwine no. Keeping the noise down is completely different to silence

They were being unreasonable pitching their tent so close to yours and I bet there was space for them to be elsewhere.

That to me is such an odd mindset.

There is a rule in place for quiet after 11 so that it doesn't ruin someone else's holiday if they are really tired. You can't inflict yourself in someone else.

If there's a rule in place that's different. What I was getting at was even if her children's heads were at a different end they would still be able to hear them. The people talking aren't to know someone's heads are feet away unless they are looking inside a tent.

I like you. We do the same. I would ask for your list of low facility campsites but other people might see it and arrive and ruin it for us 🤣

I wouldn’t go camping and expect much sleep…

There will always be night noise - last time
i was kept awake most of the night by ducks quacking. I got up and went straight home. Camping is noisy and awful.

Keeping the noise down is not having a normal conversation and a laugh, as you say,

It means getting ready for bed, being in the tents and whispering.

If you are on a campsite with a noise curfew and you are still sat outside, with people, having a normal conversation and a laugh when it's supposed to be a noise curfew, then you are the one who is not following the rules.