Thinking of ditching this camping lark - noise!

[Alabasterangel6]

I think I’m done. Unless you tell me what we’re doing wrong.

We’ve had a 5m Bell for years and we love it except noise. We’ve had great times (ironically) in spaced out places like pubs with camping but anytime we tried be on a site we have such issues with noise it’s hell.

I won’t bore with the backstories but this time we have driven 7 hours in a hired motorhome to a remote beautiful place (to see if that makes a difference) to a site with a ‘strict’ 10.30 curfew (signs all over the place) but at midnight last night i was still listening to next doors shitty music and roaring laughter for night no.2. night before they packed in at 1.30am and kids have been in a grumpy mood through tiredness all day. We are in the end of a run and they are last so we’re the only poor saps being kept awake. Prior to now we’ve had snorers, dog barkers, and the most frequent one late night family packs who jibber jabber and roar with laughter till stupid hours. Even inside their tents or caravans you can hear it all as the windows are open?

I come away for some peace and always with such high hopes and always so dissapointed!

Earplugs fall out and hurt and the kids can’t wear them? They’re just as awake as us at the moment!

I just don’t understand why people can’t realise the noise they are making!!

How does everyone else cope?

I had exactly the same experience. Love camping, was thinking of giving up due to idiots.
I ended up joining the Camping and Caravanning club and it's totally reignited my love for camping.
Its £40 a year and for that, you get well organised, properly run sites that the rules are stuck to. Its family/relaxation focussed and while some think they're a bit snobby (which is what stopped me joining for many years), they're not at all.
If you join, you get massive discounts on the big club sites, and access to all the smaller certified locations, which are for members only. Plenty of sites for around a tenner a night.
I sound like an advert and did sign up to Mumsnet just to write this message, but I was at the end of my tether once and know what it's like.
Don't give up camping because of a few idiots, especially with all the distractions of today I think growing up with camping holidays is very healthy for the young ones.

We went to a site in Cornwall that offered private pitches, with no vehicles on pitches when my dd was 4 months old, so we 1)didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone else and 2)wouldn't be disturbed by anyone else. We checked with 'neighbours' and they hadn't heard anything. The most we heard was some talking books being read by Stephen Fry! The shower and toilets were next to the car park, not anyone's pitches. There's also a beautiful, if very cold, lake for everyone to use.
www.cornishtipiholidays.co.uk/our-site

Last year we had the the misfortune nto be camped next to a large family group celebrating an anniversary, so taking up several pitches. They organised themselves so they had the party at one end and their kids sleeping area at the other... Their karaoke machine was a metre from our kids room. Luckily they sleep through noise. 2am karaoke!

We also had a lovely trip to Denmark. The camping pitches at Legoland Billiund Holiday village are lovely (and still had EHU which we need for medical equipment)

We only go to very basic sites. We’ve never had issues with noisy or inconsiderate people and they’re cheap too. I think they tend to attract a certain sort of back to basics camper that tends to be more laid back (and early to bed!)

And yes to avoiding EHU which to my mind equals the sound of coronation street and fortnite

We have been relatively lucky over the years with only one bad experience (in Masham). We only stayed there because it was closest to a family event we were attending.

Like others with good experiences, we usually stay at sites with minimum facilities and, if possible pick a pitch as far away from other people as possible. Lack of reviews is not always a bad thing.

Sadly, the sites with no cars on pitches are not an option for us as we have a trailer tent.

We are up north (northern England and southern Scotland) so smaller populations and smaller sites but we’ve not had any issue after around 11pm. Most sites require silence from 10:30 and while it takes a bit of time to settle we’ve generally had quiet by 11.

We always have electric hook up but mainly because we take a travel kettle and a small heater!🙈🙈🙈 (i know, i know) but have never considered a tv or gaming stuff.

Back last night from camping hell.
Had stern words with a boy for calling my ds a pedophile. Ds is 4!!
Some twat of a dp had given their dc a whistle!! Who does that?!
Another called my other ds gay for wearing a fortnite t shirt. He is 10.
Ndn sat drinking all day and dc were free range all the holiday. Caught the df kicking a live chicken - and told him I had seen him..same couple had an embarrassing row, wind breaks don't drown sound!
Dd's were apparently show off slags for being able to do well on the trampoline. All dc had cut glass accents not local hillbilly like us! Dc's showering after 10pm while mine tried to sleep. Caught lads 10+yo having a wet sock fight while their dm stood brushing her teeth!
My own bed was sooooo welcome. ..

We've finally admitted to ourselves that camping doesn't work for us and sold our tent.

A combination of all the things people are talking about, but we need really good facilities (toilets and showers) because of DCs' medical needs and have definitely found in recent years that a) often facilities aren't as good as they're advertised to be which causes us problems when we get there and, b) where the facilities are good, the fellow campers often aren't.

We camped for years and I definitely think the noise factor has got worse.

We havent camped since 2007 when Natalie and Steve camped next to us and we were woken around 3am by Natalie screaming
STEVE, YOUVE SHIT YERSELF, OH MY FUCKING LIFE ITS STILL COMING
Put us off for a lifetime and we had been regular campers til then.
It's a shame a small few ruin it

OMG at Steve and Natalie

That’s it! My beloved camping gear will be on eBay by morning!

Lucky for us, our tent is immune to bubbles.

Most nylon tent material has a polyurethane coating on the back so should stay waterproof. What the bubbles could affect is the outer coating that makes the water form droplets and run off. Cotton and silicone impregnated nylon doesn't have the polyurethane coating so bubbles could result in a leak.

The tent material on our trailer tent is a heavy duty pvc material. We cleaned it last week with a pungent solvent based UPVC window frame cleaner.

Coolcamping.com has some nice sites, usually quiet and small. The Caravan and Camping ones that I've been to tend to be the ones with marked pitches all in neat little rows, which I don't like.

I think I might kmow the midge-infested one by a river that a PP mentioned, if it's in the Highlands and is the name of an animal. Gorgeous site but I've never known midges like them; I swear I breathed a few hundered of the fuckers in the one night we were there.

Theore remote and the less facilities the better for me, but I have to compromise with teens and look for ones with wifi.

We tried camping by the sea once: crashing waves kept us awake.

Next we tried by a river: tinkling water.

Woodland: hooting owls.

Moorland: croaking bullfrogs

Swiss mountains: cow bells

And if you think doves are peace loving creatures, just wait till you hear them cooing at five thirty in the morning.

My midgie infested site is in mid Wales and now that I've heard all your sad tales, I'm going to be very nice and tell you that it is called Tyllwyd and is on the mountain road between Rhayader and Aberystwyth (but nowhere near either of them).

But be warned, the midgies are ferocious and abundant. I grew up in Scotland so thought I knew about midgies, but these are hardcore.

Keeping everything crossed that I haven't jinxed it now!

Try this place and ask for "Robin" pitch. You can't even see any other tent. The pitches are a long way apart! www.birdsandbeescampsite.co.uk/

Totally with you OP. We were going to give up on camping due to noisy inconsiderate oiks, but found a site in Pembrokeshire where you can opt for your own field. Sorted

I think I know the one in the Highlands too. If it's the one I'm thinking of I got married there 9 weeks ago. 🙂

I see some sites prohibit amplified music in particular. Does that mean that I couldn't use my Bluetooth speaker but knocking out a few celtic classics on my bagpipes would be OK?