Message Forums

I don't see how you could appeal to both the "want peace and quiet, get away from it all, bed at 1030" group AND the "make as much noise as we like, all night" group all at the same time and in the same location........?

From my own perspective the idea of "no rules, make as much noise as you like" would kill any inkling of interest I might have had, stone dead! 

Quote: Originally posted by Dawn200 on 20/10/2010

---

I don't see how you could appeal to both the "want peace and quiet, get away from it all, bed at 1030" group AND the "make as much noise as we like, all night" group all at the same time and in the same location........?

---

The thing is though Dawn200 you don't have those two groups of people at the same time or at the same place -you only have your party -  that's the beauty of this idea and I wish tobylerone every success.

We go camping with at least two other families - there were 28 of us at Shell Island last time we went  - we are not loud music and party into the early hours types but we do like to have a laugh and a drink around the fire in the evening (even after 11pm!!).

My wish is for another place like Shell Island where the kids can disappear into the woods for hours and make dens or play in streams- I know there's no beaches where the OP is targeting so OH's sea fishing would be out of the window but I will certainly be having a look at the website.

Finally and it's a but,  it costs less than £400 for 28 of us to go to Shell Island for 2 nights and if you can get a quiet spot there then it's pretty much close to wild camping so I don't know if a weekend would be within our budget - a week at £750 might be, because we'll be spending over £35 a night for 5 of us to go to Cornwall next year.

I think it's a good idea but problematic in terms of 'facilities'.  Judging by many of the posts here, you may get into trouble for not supplying EHU for those who are unable to camp without TVs, DSs, hair straighteners, ipods etc etc.

I have camped in farmers fields which is great except where sourcing drinking water.  Under current Legionella regs, taking a tank of water may not be compliant (unless you have some impressive temperature control system) - how do you intend to supply water?

noise and disturbance is our greatest concern and a great deal of effort goes towards ensuring that this is kept within reasonable levels.

 nearby residents are given contact details and are encouraged to contact us immediately should they feel the disturbance is too much.

No noisy neighbours! ... Unless of course you are those noisy neighbours ... in which case there will be no killjoy complaining neighbours!!

I cut and pasted the above from your website.  I think your idea IS a good one and the first page of the website makes it sound very inviting, but scrolling through the pages there is a lot about "noise" and "disturbance" and how you are going to do everything to minimise these.  By mentioning them so often, I feel you are inadvertently giving the impression that you are expecting there to BE a lot of noise and disturbance, which is quite off-putting, I think.  I appreciate that the impression you are probably trying to achieve is one of a free and easy camp with lots of fun and people having a whale of a time, but I think you need to be careful not to give the impression that one of your camps is more like a rave, for example.

In your shoes I would re-write some of the above and try and emphasise the fun aspect rather than the noise aspect. 

I think you also need to try and identify your target market -- you say groups of 10-15 people -- to be honest, I cannot think of that many groups of 10-15 people who might routinely get together and go camping.  Families is the obvious one of course, but in any family group you are going to get a mix of fuddy duddies/ravers/kids so you need to be able to appeal to all of them together at the same camp.  Hen parties - umm no, can't see it.....  Corporate - possibly.  Groups of uni students - definitely, but they are generally poor so you'd have to price it low.  Groups of schoolkids - possibly, but the health and safety regs would probably be a nightmare.  Scout and guide groups - I think they would love it but again you'd have to price it low.

To be honest, I am struggling to see who your main market would actually really be.

I am sorry if this is all negative, it is not meant to be!  But you asked for opinions and this is mine

Well done that man 

Nice to hear from you and pleased to hear that it's off the ground 

What I would do is

remove the 15 people limit, could give any one with more or less people the wrong impression. Group is a word that works fine 

Split the web pages up so that lively  groups  ( takes the noise problem away )

 and the peaceful section are in no doubt that they are separate.

Family friendly page,  go forth and google and  match a couple of your locations with local interests,  for family fun  ( keeping the family amused is a must so a couple of trips out is a necessity ).

Weddings etc.  Any of the locations got a suitable church or nearby Hotel with wedding licence.  Offer a hog-roast back at campsite  for the evening  ( no I don't know why weddings and hog-roasts go together, but most of the UKCS weddings have included one    )

Now, normal campers what like we are     umm.......       I would pick one of your locations and invite units for a pre-set price.   Like the rallies that you see on the meets pages. 

So for instance spring bank holiday,    X  number of units to private field,  for peace and seclusion.   Uncommercialised location 

feel free to ignore  any or all of these musings,  because you have already  got what it takes to make a success of it 

i think it's a great idea - we love quiet family camping, BUT we also love family group camping, we struggle to find campsites to accomodate the growing numbers of our camping friends, we currently have 10-12 families but we can only seem to go in groups of 6 families, so it's a first come first served basis which is ashame, our kids all go to bed by 7:30pm and we like to have adult time after that esp round a campfire (safely) undoubtedly we try to limit noise as we are considerate campers, but it would be so nice to be able to have a sing song round the fire, and relax with friends, also not worry if the kids woke early - as they could just be allowed to go play and be happy rather than being sat on!!

we will only camp for a min of 3 nights and sorry but gotta have my EHU!!

thats my opinion! - best of luck