Message Forums

Quote: Originally posted by sasamax on 02/7/2010

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I think camping is classless personally - different sites attract different sorts.

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I think that's very true. You probably don't get many Guardian readers at a Haven site, but I've been to sites where you can't move for them!

Quote: Originally posted by fran1000 on 03/7/2010

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Quote: Originally posted by gracieharry on 28/6/2010

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We were recommended a site (by the OH's dad) that would have cost us £30 per night!  No distinction between caravans and tents nor how many people in the party, it was £30 per night per pitch - not great for 2 people.  Looked like a lovely area but the price was very off putting.

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When there are just two of you, it's often cheaper at sites that charge per person, rather than per pitch. If you joined the C&CC, the members' rate is rarely more than £10 pppn, even in high season and the most popular sites. Some sites are much less.

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Quote: Originally posted by frome on 03/7/2010

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ie...a bit weird lol.....

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Ooh it's a can of worms.

In my opinion it's the more discerning camper (middle class or whatever) who goes in a tent and SOMETIMES (dare I say...) the caravanners can be at the lower end of whatever spectrum we're talkng about.

Sorry, don't mean to offend anyone, just 20 years of experience have taught me that the noisiest sites with the messiest toilets & loudest kids etc are those with caravans.

I'm just a snob really & some of my best friends are caravan owners....

Camping is inherently democratic: anyone can do it, which is what camping is all about. However, like many such pursuits, camping is being invaded by the chattering classes, with their 4X4s, endless gadgets, (ranges with 8 burners and 4 gas bottles, huge picnic tables, wine coolers, armchairs etc. I kid you not.) All of this paraphernalia seems to mock the spirit of camping altogether. These dreadful people then proceed to build small villages of tents surrounded by windbreaks which spread out to occupy up to an eighth of the campsite and preclude anyone else camping within thirty yards of them, and finally subject everyone else to their braying RP dialects, talking endlessly about how their "main" holiday is 4 weeks in Bali.

The problem with this is that prices are then driven up and a culture of exclusivity begins to creep into camping, as it does with every other pursuit these people move into. Witness books like Cool Camping and sites like Wowo and Blueberry Woods with their yurts, teepees and eco-camping, all at prices which rival those of a week in Spain with easyjet.

Like everyone else, I enjoy the peace of camping. Stick to the basics and don't buy into the "up-market" trends.

I'm not sure I know what it is to be "Middle Class" these days but I understand the sentiment that is being expressed.

I also agree that it is the recent "idyllic" notion of camping being peddled in the media that seems to portray camping as a Middle Class activity and it no doubt means that camping now appeals more people from that walk of life. They like the idea of taking their children camping in a Famous Five kind of idealised way - probably complete with picnic hampers filled with ginger beer.

But my own personal experience is that campsites are filled with a whole range of different people, they are as diverse as society itself and that can only be a good thing.

Quote: Originally posted by camp chaos on 04/7/2010

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Ooh it's a can of worms.

In my opinion it's the more discerning camper (middle class or whatever) who goes in a tent and SOMETIMES (dare I say...) the caravanners can be at the lower end of whatever spectrum we're talkng about.

Sorry, don't mean to offend anyone, just 20 years of experience have taught me that the noisiest sites with the messiest toilets & loudest kids etc are those with caravans.

I'm just a snob really & some of my best friends are caravan owners....

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If you don't want to offend - don't write it. I am offended. I think you will find just as many slobs as snobs in tents or caravans or motorhomes.