We've booked one of Fforest Fields new all weather pitches for next year, Katie tells me they are comfy to walk on and I honestly think, after struggling on very muddy pitches, they are a fantastic idea for both campers and site owners. My question is, would you put any extra protection under your tent for comfort? We already have a tarp and the tent footprint (no SIG) and we use picnic rugs inside. Has anyone else camped on one of these? Any advice gratefully received
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
Hi tracey,we stayed on one of these in july and thought it was brilliant.We were camping in wales and had a lot of rain which just drained instantly and on leaving after 2 weeks pitch was still in tiptop condition(if staying on grass think would have had too cut holiday short).This was a fine pea shingle type and i would definately stay on this again,we bought cheap ground sheets to put under normal groundsheet but probably did not need them.Only thing is have heard there are different types of surfaces used and some are better than others.
Quote: Originally posted by nico13 on 11/7/2009
We camped on an all weather gravel pitch recently nr Tavistock in Devon. The campsite provided a non woven polyester building matting called Terram 4000 (i think). This comes in huge rolls and more than wide enough for our Monty. It was perfect. It evened out all the stones (apart from one Grrrrr!) so much so that you did not notice that you were not on grass.
When it came to packing away it was a wet and drizzly day. Being on the all weather was fine. No mud. No worms. No dead grass. No putrid smell. Footprint was nice and clean too. If they offer Terram 4000 then I would not hesitate to camp on a similar pitch again.
We positioned the tent so that the front opening was 1 foot awat from the grass so that as soon as you stood outside it was just a normal camping experience. We had to use rock pegs as it was a proper hardcore base.
HTH
Nic...
Ring the campsite and ask what they supply to tent campers on their pitches.
It seems Fforest Fields is pea shingle as mentioned by hammy above, so hopefully we won't need anything extra I must say the more I hear about these all weather pitches the more I like the idea, nothing worse than packing away a smelly, muddy groundsheet at the end of your stay, plus you don't feel guilty about killing the grass if you are staying for more than a few nights.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
We moved onto a pea shingle pitch from a very muddy grass one at the site we were at in Woolacombe. It was fantastic and we would book one every time now if they were available.
We put our tent with SIG and footprint groundsheet down and we have carpet. I felt like my feet were being constantly massaged as I walked round the tent!
We stayed on one of the all weather pitches at Fforest Fields in August and thought they were a fantastic idea... It saves having to move your tent halfway through your holiday and is a lot kinder to the grass (and probably saves on lot of re-seeding work in the Autumn)
We just used our footprint groundsheet and have carpets/rugs anyway. TBH it was nice to have firm ground beneath our feet instead of cold squishy mud!!! GREAT IDEA
We have stayed on the all weather pitch in our frame tent at fforest fields same time as 3 madboyz and we put a tarpaulin down then our groundsheet and our carpets that we used(just for luxury lol) and had no problems at all.We did not need rock pegs just used our normal tent pegs.