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I'd. love to hear from people about what you look for when chosing a caravan park.  We arr in Sept for our dream 12 mth motorhome holiday around the UK and Europe.  We'd appreciate any advise on the dos and don'ts when looking for a suitable place to stay overnight, for a few days or even for a week or two. 

Thanks, Bev and Mick from Australia

Hi Both !

For the £40 odd it costs,it may be worth you looking at joining one of the main clubs..( Caravan Club or Camping &Caravan Club),as these would give you access to hundreds of sites...

The Caravan Club sites tend to be of a high standard(clean,well kept,well ordered etc),although some may find them a little..well..shall we say "stuffy"..and as with most things,not particularly cheap if you happen to clash with school holidays...

Although the CC does also offer discounts on things like ferries etc,so you may find something that will come in handy for you...

Both clubs have loads of cheap,basic,5 van max,sites(Caravan Club-CLs,Camping & Caravan Club- CSs),which are usually something  along the lines of a quiet corner of a farmers field or similar.These CLs & CSs usually just have EHU,a standpipe and somewhere to empty your loo,although some do have slighty more in the way of facilities.

The UK isn't very MH friendly though I'm afraid,as many carparks have height barriers and "Wildcamping" over here is pretty much frowned upon(..unless you're somewhere like up in the depths of Scotland...)and even at some of the campsites,they look at you daft if you turn up without booking before hand..

Although we use a mix of club and commercial sites,we do tend to steer clear of the large "family orientated" commercial sites(..those with a pool,club house,play areas etc)..

We usually use this website's campsite listings,along with the site reviews..

Hope some of my ramlings help... 

We look for local transport ie trains ans buses, or sites near enough to towns to be able to cycle or walk in, although you may be hiring a car.  As pepe63 says we are not very motorhome friendly over here and parking can be difficult if you have reasonable sized motorhome..  If you do have a car it's far cheaper to stay on the 5 van sites, which are usually further away from towns but look at the information carefully as they only have to have clean and waste water. 

Enjoy your holiday and our beautiful country.

Jean

Thanks everyone for all your help. We'll take your advice and join the cavan clubs.  I'm sort of hoping that once we get to the UK we will get savy about finding appropriate camping places along the way.  I have no idea how it will all pan out but I'm sure it will be an experience.  We we learn as we go along.  If you see an Aussie flag in the window of a motor home - it could be us so say hi.

Cheers - Bev and Mick.

1.  Quiet location (always check where the site is on google earth)

2. Dog walk/field onsite

3. Small park, spacious pitches (we tend to go for sites with fewer pitches)

Research  - I always take my time in researching the perfect site.  Don't always assume the ones with the most reviews are the bees knees.  We've slipped up on here a couple of times in going for the ones with the glowing reviews and find it's not our cup of tea at all !!    Go with what YOU want and check that the site meets your needs.

Simple answer on finding campsites. Assuming you will have a laptop with you just use the campsite search on map search as steveiem says above. you will be able to set your criteria and see all the sites in a locality. 

I am not a fan of the clubs at all.