Quote: Originally posted by rexgrant on 10/7/2007
Hi again VK. Hi have been going to Westermill for more years than I can remember.Third field when we are by our selves. Field five when all the family is there.there can be as many as ten tents in the group.I still wash in the river when we go there Rex.
Rex,
Love the pics!
My kids were playing in the river May half term...can't have been more than 50 degrees in there!
------------- 'I liked freezing my n*ts off so much, I bought the company'
We stayed on a site last week that had standard, super and super size pitches, and they were huge!!!!!!!!! including the standard size.
I was still amazed to see two families come and pitch together in huge tents with pods (couldn,t see what they were) and they just about fitted in. We got talking to the warden and he said they are thinking about banning the huge tents because they were finding it very hard to keep within the fire regs and the amount of people that lie about the size of them when they phone.
I can see the appeal of the big tents but i think they need to re-think the designs before to many people get dissapointed and get turned away from sites or sites just stop tents
I can see the appeal of the big tents but i think they need to re-think the designs before to many people get dissapointed and get turned away from sites or sites just stop tents
But it would be so much nicer if the camp owners realised that pitches needed to be bigger, after all, families are now bigger. Gone are mr and Mrs 2.2 kids and the dog.
Mind you, I wouldn't turn up and try and park my large Khyam on a marked pitch site anyway. Perhaps that's the answer, different tents for different occasions/sites
------------- 'I liked freezing my n*ts off so much, I bought the company'
I total agree with you Victor, we have a smaller tent so size is never a problem for us whereever we go, be it marked or not
Without harping back to the good old days, i am one of 4 kids and i remember great holidays in a big frame tent (pre-camper van days) wet weather days included. They still wasn,t the size of some of the tents around now!
But like you said horses for courses, just as long as everyone has a great time thats the main thing
I'd like to see more sites with different sized pitches, priced accordingly. I have a 6 man tent for the 2 of us (it was cheaper than the 5 man!) but am also planning on camping from my pushbike so will then have a small 2 man tent. I won't need the same size pitch as one is about 6 times the size of the other so I would rather not pay the same price.
I think that eventually more sites will come around to this way of thinking as market forces come into play. Once 1 or 2 start catering for big tents and making a profit others will follow. Only a few years back (in my young day!) people didn't really use EHU in tents so campsites didn't offer it for tents. Now even small farm type sites offer some EHU.
Ive just sold my our Hartford Xl due to C&CC site resrictions imposed this year. I am a member of the club and complained bitterley that they didnt let me know, but still took my membership fee even though I couldnt camp on their sites anymore.
It cost me a fortune. £449 for an Outwell Vermont L, which apparently we can use on their sites because it is less than 15ft wide. We have yet to use our new tent (going to the Lake District in 2 weeks) But we put it up in the back garden and, although its a bigger tent overall, it is easier to erect than the Hartford XL.
Quote: Originally posted by Victor Khyam on 11/7/2007
,,,,But it would be so much nicer if the camp owners realised that pitches needed to be bigger, after all, families are now bigger. ....
I'm not sure if that's right. The reason people are having trouble (not) fitting onto marked pitches is more often down to the shape of their tent rather than the size. MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
Fire regulations suggest the following spacing of tents: ...
"Single tents (those not forming part of a group of people known to each other) together with their own car, boat or other equipment should have a clear distance of at least three metres away from any adjacent tent, caravan or ancillary equipment."
Most pitches we book are 10m wide. Our POD tent is 6.5m wide, the car parks in front of the tent.
3 metre seperation. Job done !
My advice is stick with your beloved POD tent, large tents are great when camping for one or two weeks, especially when it's raining.
Quote: Originally posted by Merry Terrier on 11/7/2007
Quote: Originally posted by Victor Khyam on 11/7/2007
,,,,But it would be so much nicer if the camp owners realised that pitches needed to be bigger, after all, families are now bigger. ....
I'm not sure if that's right. The reason people are having trouble (not) fitting onto marked pitches is more often down to the shape of their tent rather than the size. MT
Sorry Merry, what I meant was that campsite owners are making more money now out of the numbers of people in a family anyway (so long as they are charging per head of course)...so can't they afford to be a little more generous with some of the pitches.
------------- 'I liked freezing my n*ts off so much, I bought the company'
Just take our 'big tents' to France..... massive pitches, loadsa room, laid back, chilled out camping.... generally a better climate and cheaper, better sites.
I have done a random check of sites all over France and the average pitch size was between 100-150 square meters, if not bigger...yep, bigger.... NO RESTRICTIONS found on any site...
Oh....and don't forget the cheap booze..
Sod petty campsites... save yer dosh and go abroad.