I recently bought a new little caravan and joined the CC club, seemed to be a requirement of my insurance that I was in some kind of club. Looking on their website at sites, I don't see the little icons that show they have showers, and some without toilets facilities. The pricing seemed bazaar with charges for each adult and pitching fees, some of which are as high as £19. This seems a bit expensive when I thought I would be getting £7 off to pay for the joining fee in the first place. Could somebody please tell me different and give me a bit of faith.
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Thanks Alan haven't got round to reading the mag yet it only came today. It must have been just the sites available for the time I wanted to go. I have delved a bit deeper now and looked on their website plus the CCC site but was also just as confused there. It had fees from A to Z or X not sure. I didn't have a clue what that was all about. Is that something to do with the dates or size of the caravan.
In your big sites guide there is an insert (I think) that explains the tariffs, so the site will be (say) band D and E and that will (say) £7 to £9, depending on season and the insert tells you that as well.
You can look on Siteseeker on the C&CC website and when you click on a site if you look at the tab that says address contact details and map you can look at the site location on Googlemaps.
Club sites will have facilities, but Certified Sites may well not have facilities. The website lists the facilities for each site. Linky
------------- Piglet
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We are in the Camping & Caravan club & their system works like this. If you are booking a club site you can do it online & it will give you all the details & prices when you book, but for a smaller cs you will need to ring the site owners & ask, the prices shown for the cs sites are only a guide. The club sites are usually a very high standard where the cs are a little more basic but we find better value, most sites charge off peak (out of season) & peak prices. I don't know about the caravan club but i think they will have a simular set up.
You can also find good cheap non cc sites by doing a search on this website & reading the reviews left by others
Although I have been a member of the CC for about 28 years I still think they have too many price bands although recently they seem to have reduced the bands from 5 to 4. The pricing structure is as follows, its per person, one price for adults and a lower one for children plus the pitch fee so at this time of year for 2 adults and a pitch prices can be around £20 a night, as I found out myself on Monday when I booked two sites! The CC has a few sites with no toilet or shower facilities although the do have water, waste water and toilet disposal and electric connections and the prices tend to be a little cheaper. There is a further category of site but there are only 6 or 7 of them which are run by volunteers and you pay an all in price of £8 a night including the pitch and 2 adults and I think up to 4 children and these are a real bargain if you don't mind using your own facilities. I think most pricing structures can seem complicated until you spend some time working everything out. If you book on line it will work out the total cost for your stay.
David
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Thank you for all the replies, I am a member of the CC but I did also mention that the C&CC sites were confusing in the amount of prices shown online from A-X so no need to apologise Pigletandtiger. I can't really imagine sites without toilet facilities, although as I said I do have a cassette toilet in the caravan. I have used the sites for camping on here and so far found both of them excellent. I get my new van on the 20th of this month so looking forward to a bit more comfort. Just had a look at your post Pigletandtiger and have now made sense of the A-X pricing and they look quite reasonable.
When looking on line for toilet/showers you will see a woman and a man with a line between them meaning facilities on site.
Some sites and you need to look at the front of the Site Directory and Handbook gives you details of various pitch deals they have and in what season..... for example we are visiting Blackwall Plantation, Derbyshire in July (peak season) and pitch fees from Mon - Thur nights are half price..... there are other sites offering discounts too......on line click on 'Planning your trip' at the top of the page and then click on Midweek Discounts and it will list all the sites and when the deals are.
Yeah Barmer, just to reiterate and build on really what others have said. For the most part, one of the big benefits of the two big clubs are that the facilities on their main sites are normally of a very high standard, normally clean, modern, heated, showers and toilets, washing up areas etc. Organised tidy pitches, good access. It is now rare for them not to have those facilities.
The smaller CL sites (or CS in the C&CC) are basically independent sites usually attached to a farm or large house with grounds or pub etc. They may just be a field with chem disposal point and drinking water which are the minimum standards allowed. Obviously many are much better then that as well - some exceptionally so.
I am surprised at your insurance implication though, that is a first for me and I wonder if they are just implying it's a good thing to join?.
We are in the CC. We have been away for 9 weeks so far this year since April, and are averaging just under £15 per night for 2 adults.
There is a pitch fee (sometimes discounted as said above) and a charge per person, so the more people the bigger the total. As a member you do not get a discount, on sites where non members are allowed, a non member will pay an extra fee of about £7.
For your site fee you get EHU, there is no extra charge for anything, and the facilities are always good and well maintained.
There are several "no facilities" sites, you just use your own, that's what they are for. If you like quiet sites then these are usually quiet. And they are a bit cheaper too.
If you can avoid the peak holiday periods it does reduce the cost significantly.