You are pretty spot on with your thoughts and experiences with both the main clubs. We are members of both too but the cost of membership is more than covered with the discount for one trip across the channel. Pre pandemic we were making up to six crossings by train or ferry a year and the club savings ran into hundreds of pounds. We also found as you have, the CL's are quite relaxing. During the pandemic we used one about thirty minutes from home, often being the only people there during the week and making great friends with the owners. Looking forward to more of your experiences as you travel.
Hi Michael, thank you very much for your lovely comment and your valuable input. We were hoping that people would add their experiences regarding traveling by ferry over the channel as we haven't had that opportunity as yet. Also, as you rightly say, the benefits of the CL sites cannot be underestimated as they open up almost every corner of the UK and beyond and represent great value. I understand that prices for the club stays have increased exponentially the last couple of years, but that can be said of everything currently and if you make use of the savings offered, the membership is a no brainer. 👍
Hi Nick, thanks very much for the kind words and your input. The quality of these sites is without a doubt... Fantastic!! You know exactly what you're going to get and you really don't need to use your onboard resources if you choose not to..... Nice rig by the way, hope you're having a lovely summer with it.
Hi We have been caravanning now for 17 years and we’re introduced to the lifestyle by friends who also owned caravans. We joined the CAMC because we had visited some sites to Join our friends before we had the van and liked them very much. We did join the Caravan and Comping club a little later to visit the Polstead site because it was in the area we wanted to be in and really enjoyed it but unfortunately we didn’t use the club much after that so let the membership lapse. We had some poor experiences of private sites in our first few years so no longer do them but often use Morris Leisure sites which are private but affiliated to the CAMC, they are excellent. We use CL all the time because of either location or price or often both reason. We don’t do district associations but that’s our personal choice and I’m sure there’re very good if you like that sort of holiday. Happy motorhoming.
Hi Stephen, thank you for sharing your experiences of the two clubs so comprehensively. The standards are certainly high when you visit a CAMC site, once you've experienced the facilities and cleanliness etc, it's difficult to experience a lesser site. We stayed at Polstead a couple of weeks ago and it's still a lovely site, although no longer affiliated to the Camping and Caravan Club and the same kind of price as it was to stay, so a relative bargain. We hadn't heard of the Morris leisure sites previously, so thanks for mentioning those, just had a look and the standards look great. They are all quite far from us, so we will have to plan one of our longer stays at one of them ☺️ I think the DA's suit us as beginners as the people are so helpful and friendly and we have learned most of what we know from visiting them. But I do believe that they suit people who like to socialise more than just stay and relax, but it's great we have so many choices. Thanks again for your great input and Happy Travels 👍
My ex partner and myself joined the Camping and caravanning Club way back in 1990. We joined as tent campers and enjoyed many of their sites although we didn't go to any of their DA meets. One of the DA's held a meet called "Feast Of Lanterns" which was held in October i think. I always looked forward to their magazine especially in winter when it brought all the memories back. I'm pleased they do a discount for over 60's as i'm at that funny old age and will probably join again after a 29 year absence
Hi, thank you for your comment and for sharing your experience with the camping and caravan club. You motivated us to look up the festival of lanterns and it appears that it still exists under the guise of " torchlight festival of camping" which will be in Nottingham in August 23, we might have to make that one. We should have made clear today with the over 60's concessions, the extra 25% off pitch fees is for "out of season" bookings, but they do have other offers throughout the year for over 60's. The DA's are certainly good value and a great way to make new friends, although I believe they are only suitable for touring vehicles as opposed to tent campers, apart from some of the rallies. Happy travels
😁 thanks for the kind words! I'm not so sure about the Terry Seymour comparison, but I've been compared to much worse, although you've aged me a few years. 👍😅
Thank you for your honest opinion on these 2 options. I have yet to join (or not) I haven't quite made my mind up, however I shall re-watch your video again to see if it helps sway me.
Hi there, thank you for your comment and kind words. It is certainly a thin line of difference between both options. The CAMC has twice as many sites, but if they are too expensive or not where you wish to visit, then you may as well visit independent sites. To us, it boils down solely to if we can pay for the memberships with the benefits and savings made by joining, then it is worth it, as soon as that changes, we will not bother. Good luck with your decision and happy travels.
the only reason I origionally joined the Caravan and Motorhome cleb was for the CL's. To be honest those are the jewels in the crown. As for their "savings" on insurance etc. I tried to insure with the C&MHC and they actually quoted me 800 more than from a normal insurance club- and rediculously that was with the insurance company I was already with, and when I challenged why they were dearer than I already paid the same company their answer was "We dont sell many policies with this company so we add a premium on" Neeless to say I did not take up their kind offer. The other thing I have which annoys me -specially the C&MHC, is them expecting us to pay nearly 50 a year membership to pay extprtionate prices for pitches on their sites. I ended up cancelling my membership and finding sites 10-20% cheaper with no membership fee. To some expent the camping and caravan club are similar but their prices are wayyyy cheaper. I think the C&MHC club have become too expensive and elitist and blatently taken advantate of "Covid tax" by hyping their prices so only the people with the most money can afford them. No wonder the camper wildcamping scene has grown. TBH as soon as things getr back to normal and folk can easily go abroad cheaply you will find a lot of these n ow high priced sites are deserted in droves. If I was going to join one- it would be the caravan and camping club. Thanks for this video. Its very informative and should promote conversation on the subject. Bessy regs-Kenny
Hi Kenny, thanks so much for your valuable input. You have expressed the importance of comparing insurance policies, the reason there is so much money to save on policies by shopping around is because of the apathy from some people regarding spending some time comparing. The quote you received from the CAMC is absolutely ridiculous, that amount of savings could pay for a fair few trips away. As always with insurance policies and for anyone reading this, make sure you compare the level of cover and excess charges when comparing insurance for your leisure vehicle and remember that currently the market is valuing vehicles higher. Regarding the clubs to join, we have heard similar regarding the hiking of prices since the pandemic and making use of CL's, CS's and Temporary holiday sites would appear to make financial sense with such high prices. Thanks again for the input and kind words, much appreciated.
The Caravan and Motorhome Club also have the equivalent of the Camping & Caravan Club DA The CAMC area groups that organise rallies all over the uk (and some abroad) as well as holiday rallies some on green field sites and others on commercial sites (often at the beginning or end of main season) exceptional value
Hi Terry. Thank you so much for that useful information that we were not aware of. Just by doing a search, I can find references to some of the rallies, it certainly balances out some of the benefits of both clubs. Would people find their local association on Facebook or a website etc?
The CMMC issue each year on there website a pdf file of all the CAMC rallies for all there centres the year, I was in touch with CAMC last week and the 2023 list will be on the site soon . I believe the 2022 is still there, so you can have a look at the format I stayed on a commercial site with CAMC last spring in Cornwall for I think it was £16.00 per night including electric and full access to the shower block
@@terryrobinson7371 That's great, thanks so much for the information. I've found the PDF for 2022 and there are certainly some great locations on there. I'll update the video description to reflect your input and so others can find the information. Thanks again
When i was a beginner these clubs are great.. But now im seasoned campervanner i dont see the point in being a member.. Pub stopovers/brit stops and search for sites is more us.. Ive found so many campsites and CLs that i dont need a membership fee for.. As i said before when i was new to all this the clubs were great and saved alot of worry.
Hi, Thank you for your comment and useful information. I think in hindsight of the video, we would tend to agree with you that it is not essential to be members of the clubs, but they are useful to beginners to be able to experience decent quality sites in good locations. When you have experience such as yourself, you tend to learn the best locations and great value sites, we have stayed at many that are not affiliated this year.
Hi both, you more or less mirror our own experience. We've not done the DA's though. CAMC are slick but we do feel more relaxed on the Camping & caravanning sites & have used them more, as well as independent sites. Will stay members of both for another year just for the extra choice of locations.
Hi there and happy New year to you! Thank you for sharing your experiences of the two main UK clubs. Agreed that it's worth staying with both clubs, especially if you can make the membership costs back through savings on stays or the extra benefits. If you get a chance to join your local District association, it's well worth it, especially as many weekends we do not want to travel far and they offer many local sites, representing great value. Happy travels to you
We did a similar thing. We'd been to the NEC show just before getting our CV40. We decided to join CAMC at the show which gave us one free night. We like the CAMC site a lot; we've done three now and this last weekend stayed at Concierge Camping which was good also. Not sure if we'll join the other club.
The quality of the CAMC sites are superb and you know what to expect when you turn up on site. Some people appear to have issues with the way the club is run, but being new, I guess we know no different. The camping and caravan club sites are also of good quality, generally slightly smaller pitches, but the District association assured and rallies are it's best feature to us. Just had a look at Concierge in Chichester, it looks amazing, thanks for the heads up, that's now on our list of places to stay 👍
We only use CAMC 5 van CL sites now the children don't come with us. They are good value for money and most have electric hook ups etc. We have been CAMC members for over 36 years (32 years caravan and the last 4 in a MH) and have been happy.
Hi Jim, thank you for your constructive comment. We are certainly in agreement with you on the benefits of the CL sites. We sometimes are a little jealous when we are on site of the people with the caravans, just due to the extra space and the ability to take your car out separately, but it's great to see that people have successfully transitioned the other way. I'm guessing the benefits are mostly convenience due to less work when you pitch up on site? And you are certainly a great advocate for the CAMC, that's an amazing length of time to continue membership.
We are members of both and been for a few years find them good but we also use searchforsites and britstops as well and find them all very useful . just found you and enjoyed it and subscribed
Hi, glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the sub. Good shout with "Britstops" we haven't joined yet, but have heard good things about it and the unique places you can stay. 👍
Please tell us your experiences of being a member of any of the camping or motorhome clubs in the UK?
You are pretty spot on with your thoughts and experiences with both the main clubs.
We are members of both too but the cost of membership is more than covered with the discount for one trip across the channel. Pre pandemic we were making up to six crossings by train or ferry a year and the club savings ran into hundreds of pounds.
We also found as you have, the CL's are quite relaxing. During the pandemic we used one about thirty minutes from home, often being the only people there during the week and making great friends with the owners.
Looking forward to more of your experiences as you travel.
Hi Michael, thank you very much for your lovely comment and your valuable input. We were hoping that people would add their experiences regarding traveling by ferry over the channel as we haven't had that opportunity as yet. Also, as you rightly say, the benefits of the CL sites cannot be underestimated as they open up almost every corner of the UK and beyond and represent great value. I understand that prices for the club stays have increased exponentially the last couple of years, but that can be said of everything currently and if you make use of the savings offered, the membership is a no brainer. 👍
Great videos, we use caravan and motorhome, great sites, great value and we can nearly always get our swift kontiki black 669 on them.
Hi Nick, thanks very much for the kind words and your input. The quality of these sites is without a doubt... Fantastic!! You know exactly what you're going to get and you really don't need to use your onboard resources if you choose not to..... Nice rig by the way, hope you're having a lovely summer with it.
Hi
We have been caravanning now for 17 years and we’re introduced to the lifestyle by friends who also owned caravans. We joined the CAMC because we had visited some sites to Join our friends before we had the van and liked them very much. We did join the Caravan and Comping club a little later to visit the Polstead site because it was in the area we wanted to be in and really enjoyed it but unfortunately we didn’t use the club much after that so let the membership lapse. We had some poor experiences of private sites in our first few years so no longer do them but often use Morris Leisure sites which are private but affiliated to the CAMC, they are excellent. We use CL all the time because of either location or price or often both reason. We don’t do district associations but that’s our personal choice and I’m sure there’re very good if you like that sort of holiday. Happy motorhoming.
Hi Stephen, thank you for sharing your experiences of the two clubs so comprehensively. The standards are certainly high when you visit a CAMC site, once you've experienced the facilities and cleanliness etc, it's difficult to experience a lesser site.
We stayed at Polstead a couple of weeks ago and it's still a lovely site, although no longer affiliated to the Camping and Caravan Club and the same kind of price as it was to stay, so a relative bargain.
We hadn't heard of the Morris leisure sites previously, so thanks for mentioning those, just had a look and the standards look great. They are all quite far from us, so we will have to plan one of our longer stays at one of them ☺️
I think the DA's suit us as beginners as the people are so helpful and friendly and we have learned most of what we know from visiting them. But I do believe that they suit people who like to socialise more than just stay and relax, but it's great we have so many choices. Thanks again for your great input and Happy Travels 👍
My ex partner and myself joined the Camping and caravanning Club way back in 1990. We joined as tent campers and enjoyed many of their sites although we didn't go to any of their DA meets. One of the DA's held a meet called "Feast Of Lanterns" which was held in October i think. I always looked forward to their magazine especially in winter when it brought all the memories back. I'm pleased they do a discount for over 60's as i'm at that funny old age and will probably join again after a 29 year absence
Hi, thank you for your comment and for sharing your experience with the camping and caravan club. You motivated us to look up the festival of lanterns and it appears that it still exists under the guise of " torchlight festival of camping" which will be in Nottingham in August 23, we might have to make that one. We should have made clear today with the over 60's concessions, the extra 25% off pitch fees is for "out of season" bookings, but they do have other offers throughout the year for over 60's.
The DA's are certainly good value and a great way to make new friends, although I believe they are only suitable for touring vehicles as opposed to tent campers, apart from some of the rallies. Happy travels
Great video you remind me of the metal detecting club chairman in the TV series Detectorists
😁 thanks for the kind words! I'm not so sure about the Terry Seymour comparison, but I've been compared to much worse, although you've aged me a few years. 👍😅
I’m glad to hear they now ask for a deposit when you book a pitch 👍🏼
Yes, it's certainly given everyone a chance of booking the most popular sites.
Thank you for your honest opinion on these 2 options. I have yet to join (or not) I haven't quite made my mind up, however I shall re-watch your video again to see if it helps sway me.
Hi there, thank you for your comment and kind words. It is certainly a thin line of difference between both options. The CAMC has twice as many sites, but if they are too expensive or not where you wish to visit, then you may as well visit independent sites. To us, it boils down solely to if we can pay for the memberships with the benefits and savings made by joining, then it is worth it, as soon as that changes, we will not bother. Good luck with your decision and happy travels.
the only reason I origionally joined the Caravan and Motorhome cleb was for the CL's. To be honest those are the jewels in the crown. As for their "savings" on insurance etc. I tried to insure with the C&MHC and they actually quoted me 800 more than from a normal insurance club- and rediculously that was with the insurance company I was already with, and when I challenged why they were dearer than I already paid the same company their answer was "We dont sell many policies with this company so we add a premium on"
Neeless to say I did not take up their kind offer. The other thing I have which annoys me -specially the C&MHC, is them expecting us to pay nearly 50 a year membership to pay extprtionate prices for pitches on their sites. I ended up cancelling my membership and finding sites 10-20% cheaper with no membership fee. To some expent the camping and caravan club are similar but their prices are wayyyy cheaper. I think the C&MHC club have become too expensive and elitist and blatently taken advantate of "Covid tax" by hyping their prices so only the people with the most money can afford them. No wonder the camper wildcamping scene has grown. TBH as soon as things getr back to normal and folk can easily go abroad cheaply you will find a lot of these n ow high priced sites are deserted in droves. If I was going to join one- it would be the caravan and camping club. Thanks for this video. Its very informative and should promote conversation on the subject. Bessy regs-Kenny
Hi Kenny, thanks so much for your valuable input. You have expressed the importance of comparing insurance policies, the reason there is so much money to save on policies by shopping around is because of the apathy from some people regarding spending some time comparing. The quote you received from the CAMC is absolutely ridiculous, that amount of savings could pay for a fair few trips away. As always with insurance policies and for anyone reading this, make sure you compare the level of cover and excess charges when comparing insurance for your leisure vehicle and remember that currently the market is valuing vehicles higher. Regarding the clubs to join, we have heard similar regarding the hiking of prices since the pandemic and making use of CL's, CS's and Temporary holiday sites would appear to make financial sense with such high prices. Thanks again for the input and kind words, much appreciated.
The Caravan and Motorhome Club also have the equivalent of the Camping & Caravan Club DA
The CAMC area groups that organise rallies all over the uk (and some abroad) as well as holiday rallies some on green field sites and others on commercial sites (often at the beginning or end of main season) exceptional value
Hi Terry. Thank you so much for that useful information that we were not aware of. Just by doing a search, I can find references to some of the rallies, it certainly balances out some of the benefits of both clubs. Would people find their local association on Facebook or a website etc?
The CMMC issue each year on there website a pdf file of all the CAMC rallies for all there centres the year, I was in touch with CAMC last week and the 2023 list will be on the site soon .
I believe the 2022 is still there, so you can have a look at the format
I stayed on a commercial site with CAMC last spring in Cornwall for I think it was £16.00 per night including electric and full access to the shower block
@@terryrobinson7371 That's great, thanks so much for the information. I've found the PDF for 2022 and there are certainly some great locations on there. I'll update the video description to reflect your input and so others can find the information. Thanks again
When i was a beginner these clubs are great..
But now im seasoned campervanner i dont see the point in being a member..
Pub stopovers/brit stops and search for sites is more us..
Ive found so many campsites and CLs that i dont need a membership fee for..
As i said before when i was new to all this the clubs were great and saved alot of worry.
Hi, Thank you for your comment and useful information. I think in hindsight of the video, we would tend to agree with you that it is not essential to be members of the clubs, but they are useful to beginners to be able to experience decent quality sites in good locations. When you have experience such as yourself, you tend to learn the best locations and great value sites, we have stayed at many that are not affiliated this year.
Hi both, you more or less mirror our own experience. We've not done the DA's though. CAMC are slick but we do feel more relaxed on the Camping & caravanning sites & have used them more, as well as independent sites. Will stay members of both for another year just for the extra choice of locations.
Hi there and happy New year to you! Thank you for sharing your experiences of the two main UK clubs. Agreed that it's worth staying with both clubs, especially if you can make the membership costs back through savings on stays or the extra benefits. If you get a chance to join your local District association, it's well worth it, especially as many weekends we do not want to travel far and they offer many local sites, representing great value. Happy travels to you
We did a similar thing. We'd been to the NEC show just before getting our CV40. We decided to join CAMC at the show which gave us one free night. We like the CAMC site a lot; we've done three now and this last weekend stayed at Concierge Camping which was good also. Not sure if we'll join the other club.
The quality of the CAMC sites are superb and you know what to expect when you turn up on site. Some people appear to have issues with the way the club is run, but being new, I guess we know no different. The camping and caravan club sites are also of good quality, generally slightly smaller pitches, but the District association assured and rallies are it's best feature to us. Just had a look at Concierge in Chichester, it looks amazing, thanks for the heads up, that's now on our list of places to stay 👍
We only use CAMC 5 van CL sites now the children don't come with us. They are good value for money and most have electric hook ups etc. We have been CAMC members for over 36 years (32 years caravan and the last 4 in a MH) and have been happy.
Hi Jim, thank you for your constructive comment. We are certainly in agreement with you on the benefits of the CL sites. We sometimes are a little jealous when we are on site of the people with the caravans, just due to the extra space and the ability to take your car out separately, but it's great to see that people have successfully transitioned the other way. I'm guessing the benefits are mostly convenience due to less work when you pitch up on site? And you are certainly a great advocate for the CAMC, that's an amazing length of time to continue membership.
CL = Certificated Locations
Hi D C S. Thank you for the clarification. I believe we did state what CL's are during the CAMC features and benefits.
We are members of both and been for a few years find them good but we also use searchforsites and britstops as well and find them all
very useful . just found you and enjoyed it and subscribed
Hi, glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the sub. Good shout with "Britstops" we haven't joined yet, but have heard good things about it and the unique places you can stay. 👍