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 Topic: Setting up own campsite
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07/11/2014 at 10:04am
Location: West Wales
Outfit: Pili Pala Pod
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One word MONEY and lots of it whichever way you go.... and be prepared that the return on your investments is NOT a quick one.....
Buying your own land and getting planning and licence is a tricky option and nei on impossible in most counties especially popular tourist destinations where the market is possibly already saturated....
Buying a small site is a 'lifestyle' choice rather than a money earner and is equally as expensive especially if there is any 'potential' attributed to the site.... in reality you are looking at a minimum of £500,000 for a small site with house, planning and licence in a moderate tourist area, bump that up by several hundred thousand in a popular tourist spot...... and unfortunately as much as the government would have you think the country is out of crisis the banks ARE NOT lending to business with pretty rubbish returns.....
We spent several years planning out best way forward and ended up buying an existing site but this is when the banks were lending ( we wouldn't be able to do it in todays world) we have significant investment to put in and the site we purchased orginally had high returns so servicing the silly amount of loan was easy - it is not like that today....
The site we currently own we have owned for 10 yrs in 6 days time - purchased at a reasonable price as a non running business but with planning and licence, we have invested rather a lot to get it to what it is today, myself and my husband are skilled people and can turn our hand to most 'things' however when serving the public you dare not install electric, gas, buildings yourselves without the appropriate authorities involvement and say so - this cost money, lots of money!
The returns are average to begin making a liveable 'profit' we have another 10 or so years to go......be prepared to have a long hard road of work and plenty of money behind you and importantly do LOTS and LOTS of research and understand the true cost rather than the nice 'idea' of it :) good luck
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If you can't beat em, join em, so we did! And then we sold it for a holiday let & Glamping pod instead 😁
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07/11/2014 at 1:35pm
Location: North West England
Outfit: Lunar Apollo 462 Caravan
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Hi Thank you for the website link. Feeble cat; it is a good idea, thank you. The initial idea was to buy land and build from there. Looking at it very deep in detail, it does seem the paperwork, legislations etc will cost a lot. It is definitely for a lifestyle change as opposed to making lots of money. I will look further into buying a current set up sight. I do not want to neccessarily give up at the first hurdle until I know it is completely out of our reach.
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Some men see things as they are and say why, I dream things that never were and say why not.
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07/11/2014 at 3:00pm
Location: West Wales
Outfit: Pili Pala Pod
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Personally I would look at existing sites for sale and ask to see accounts etc to give you an idea of what it costs in reality - to give you a tip we have always worked on market value of site it should be turning over about 10% of that so a site valued at £500,000 should turn over £50,000 expenses run at between 35-50% that does not include any capital investement....
Popular agents are found via a google search:
Edwards and Partners
Fox Leisure
and
Colliers ( used to be Paul and Company)
Finding a site with planning and licenece is not impossible but on a cursory glance appears to be like hens teeth in todays market!!
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If you can't beat em, join em, so we did! And then we sold it for a holiday let & Glamping pod instead 😁
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07/11/2014 at 9:03pm
Location: Northumberland
Outfit: Knaus Sudwind 550 TK
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What about abroad?
Is the 'system' any different there??
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Damned if I do...
Damned if I don't!!!!
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09/11/2014 at 3:27pm
Location: East Sussex
Outfit: None Entered
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Quote: Originally posted by feeblecat on 07/11/2014
Have you thought of buying a small going concern? A small basic campsite in need of TLC (cheapish) which would already have the permissions but one that could be improved and adapted to your own vision.
That's exactly what I would do. It'd avoid the planning issue completely.
Planning is such a minefield. You'd have to consider access to and from the nearest road: is it safe, would the locals kick off at the possible increase in traffic etc. Anyone who owns property nearby would be bound to object because of potential noise issues. You would quite probably need an environmental impact assessment, they cost a lot to get.
If you get something that's already up and running and has planning consent, you wouldn't have to worry about any of that. You could just improve, upgrade and extend at your leisure.
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10/11/2014 at 11:51am
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Why not book in at SomersWood at Meriden in the West Midlands, and ask Angela and Marc how they set up that site.
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19/11/2014 at 7:25pm
Location: None Entered
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As jakers above i would look for an existing site that requires some work and promotion.
starting from scratch and packing in your job, remember you will have no income for most of the year and you would need to make your money, over a very short period of time.
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alpiner
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19/11/2014 at 7:42pm
Location: West Midlands
Outfit: Various tents
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Quote: Originally posted by Budemeadows on 19/11/2014
The Camping & Caravanning Club did have a franchise scheme. Don't know if the scheme is still running but we got useful information from them and if it is still running then that is another route to go down. My understanding is that getting planning for a new site is almost impossible.
Yes, it seems to be still running - link.
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19/11/2014 at 11:21pm
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Outfit: Wynnster Eagle 6 & super old static
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The static site I'm on has just come on the market - 34 old but well maintained statics, 7 month season, 4 bed bungalow, extra land could maybe used for camping/tourers with permission. There is nothing on site (shop/clubhouse) but the setting is superb. It's in north Northumberland.
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Marilyn
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07/10/2016 at 1:30pm
Location: London
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Quote: Originally posted by Jakers on 07/11/2014
One word MONEY and lots of it whichever way you go.... and be prepared that the return on your investments is NOT a quick one.....
Buying your own land and getting planning and licence is a tricky option and nei on impossible in most counties especially popular tourist destinations where the market is possibly already saturated....
Buying a small site is a 'lifestyle' choice rather than a money earner and is equally as expensive especially if there is any 'potential' attributed to the site.... in reality you are looking at a minimum of £500,000 for a small site with house, planning and licence in a moderate tourist area, bump that up by several hundred thousand in a popular tourist spot...... and unfortunately as much as the government would have you think the country is out of crisis the banks ARE NOT lending to business with pretty rubbish returns.....
We spent several years planning out best way forward and ended up buying an existing site but this is when the banks were lending ( we wouldn't be able to do it in todays world) we have significant investment to put in and the site we purchased orginally had high returns so servicing the silly amount of loan was easy - it is not like that today....
The site we currently own we have owned for 10 yrs in 6 days time - purchased at a reasonable price as a non running business but with planning and licence, we have invested rather a lot to get it to what it is today, myself and my husband are skilled people and can turn our hand to most 'things' however when serving the public you dare not install electric, gas, buildings yourselves without the appropriate authorities involvement and say so - this cost money, lots of money!
The returns are average to begin making a liveable 'profit' we have another 10 or so years to go......be prepared to have a long hard road of work and plenty of money behind you and importantly do LOTS and LOTS of research and understand the true cost rather than the nice 'idea' of it :) good luck
I'm rehashing an old thread here...I guess the last paragraph of Jakers sums it up..Lots and Lots of research starts here in order to ascertain the true costs rather than the nice idea..
Hopefully responses will be created and just maybe research will pop me out of the minefield at the other end where an idea comes to fruition.
So the research so far...minimal and naive at best..
Idea is as the thread title suggests..setting up a campsite.
I live in London, partner and I have been working in Social Work too long. Just turned 50. Fit and ready to exit London.
I'm from the North West and the '70's, Thatcher's Britain..holidays were camping, cycling and camping, walking and camping then a weekend with friends dragging them off..camping. Recently horseriding and camping..gone up market!
So setting up a campsite..what with Brexit fallout on the pound and all..abroad for UK based folk is now an increasingly expensive option..so presumably folks will stay home (plus folks outside will visit..cheaper for them..frankly "a bargain").
£300k possibly buys a smallholding (many in West Wales Jakers)with potential to set up a campsite...(that's my flat in London...crazy price rise since I bought it..key thing to do is buy where there literally is gun fire and then arrange the Olympics to be staged a couple of streets away).
Looking at the idea of starting off small.
I checked out the Freedom Camping Club being a fully certified exempted organisation and have legal powers to licence any piece of land deemed suitable for camping and caravaning to operate as a campsite.
Am I being naive..but that exemption, combined with land seems to get me started? or have I missed something obvious? Doesn't that get you established and then able to develop from there? Many are in Pembrokeshire and, as Jakers points out..saturation?..planning restrictions?
If it does get me started.. it clearly isn't a get rich quick scheme but...I'd be started, (living off rabbit soup and whatever pops up at the 7.30 pm Tesco run):
5 all year caravan pitches, unlimited tent camping pitches, unlimited rally pitches and unlimited member only rally pitches for upto 5 days.
???I might be able to buy a place to live, with land and then start a small campsite (with clearly limiting factors). Or am I completely wide of the mark..missing the polar bear in the snow storm before "aargh" ..too late?
I don't want to waffle on so I guess that's enough for now...metaphorically speaking, the boat's out there in the water ready for torpedoes.
Thanks in advance for replies.
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07/10/2016 at 6:01pm
Location: North West
Outfit: campervan
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If you are thinking of going the CL/CS route It is worth looking at the caravan club and camping and caravanning clubs as I would think they will have a bigger customer base, I haven't heard of the Freedom club, but assume it is quite small. The motorhome club are also a certified exempted organisation.
Facilities needed are minimal, but so will be fee's, unless you add extra's like EHU, WC etc, and with only 5 pitches plus rallies not a huge potential income, although you can have more than one CL on a site, say in different names, yours and partners.
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