New Forest campsites - what's with the windbreaks?

[notanumber]

Just returned from Ashurst (lovely) and am confused about the whole windbreak thing. Why did everyone (except us) surround their tent with windbreaks?

Is it a weird English thing, jealously staking out your patch?

Or is it a pony defence (not that it works, I saw one windbreaked-up-to-the-hilt tent being trashed )

And where did everyone get them from? From some special windbreak shop in Hampshire which everyone but me knows about? And how did everyone know to bring them?

We have one stripey windbreak and moved it on the second day to the side where the neighbours were. they could have been very offended. But that's also the direction the cars came from at night, so it meant we weren't sitting there in full beam headlights.

Otherwise, i find them very useful for, well, breaking wind.

Agree it's weird ot have more than one though.

I could have done with one tbh at Holmsely - it was very windy and I needed to cook inside because the wind kept putting the gas out!

I really wanted one just to stop the wind making it hard - impossible - to cook outside, rather than privacy ... I was most put out when everyone around me baracaded themselves in to their circle of tents with every gap covered by blue, yellow and green nylon and I was sat outside it all on my own with my book! I felt it was quite rude!

What happened to chatting to the neighbours a la camping circa 1990s?

Am very confused too - we use ours to stop the wind blowing out the gas stove - oh and also as a make shift washing line!! On a recent trip with my brother he thought people had been given them by the site as they were all exactly the same!!

there were a couple of windbreak stockades when we were at Holmsley too

tbh they just made me more nosy as to what they were hiding inside them

(we were taking it easy in one of their ready-pitched Eurotents so had no neighbours to speak of)

those prepitched ones look nice - are they as comfy as they seem? (are they the ones down the hill from the shop? we were camped up the other side of the hill opposite the loos ... very nice spot)

went to roundhill - was great! they limit windbreaks to 6 poles though with those massive gelert ones this covers lots of ground. also, if you have a gazebo as well as an awning, they do charge you extra.

i quite like them - helps the barbeque be more managaeable, food doesn't blow off the table, it makes shade for kids to play in and means I can boobywhack DS outside without a gale distracting him from his good work. Also, it can stop the dog seeing other dogs and barking at them.

those prepitched ones looked fab - loads of stuff comes with - loungers and all sorts!

the eurotents were utterly fab, they are rock-solid Cabanons with 3 bedrooms and a massive living room, all fully equipped down to corkscrews and dustpans

not cheap but worth it as it was our main holiday this year

but not the ones behind the shop - they flood at the drop of a sandbag - we were up the right turn opposite the playground