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Hi Suzanne and I  are doing our first trip abroad next year to Brittnay.Got a quote from campimg cheques to ask how they work ect,31st may till 15th june, 15 nites at "L' Atlantique campsite and Plymouth to Roscoff and return ferries for the 2 of us £569 which i think is brilliant and they will pre book the site for you.

Floydfan i fully understand were your coming from but mybe you smaller sites could do the same as the big boys like make your own web site maybe or something.

In trying to organise this trip next year we have done nothing but surf the net trying to get details of whats the best to do and the big names like camping cheque ,c&cc,cc ect always come up.If you had your own web site people,like us would have a far chance of finding you.Or maybe the ukcampsite could do a small site bit with a map of were you all are

Quote: Originally posted by David Klyne on 29/10/2008

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The best option is to use some of each but don't be a slave.

David

We have not tried either of these schemes before, but intend to get the ACSI card for next year.

We are crossing Dover/Dunkirk March 24th, heading south through France, fancy taking a look at Monaco and Andorra, then down into Spain travelling clockwise round the coast, taking in Portugal too, and a few side trips inland.  Then back up the Atlantic coast for our 16th June crossing back to UK. 

So 12 weeks in total, maybe 9 in Spain/Portugal and 3 in France.

We thought we would also get some Camping Cheques, but are not sure how many to buy.  We do not want to be too tied to CC sites by "having" to use the CCs up, could any of you expert CC users suggest how many CCs it would be sensible to buy?

The Caravan Club has them available still at 2008 prices, but if we get those we will only have 2009 in which to use them.

Quote: Originally posted by Gary404 on 29/10/2008

Hi Suzanne and I  are doing our first trip abroad next year to Brittnay.Got a quote from campimg cheques to ask how they work ect,31st may till 15th june, 15 nites at "L' Atlantique campsite and Plymouth to Roscoff and return ferries for the 2 of us £569 which i think is brilliant and they will pre book the site for you.

Floydfan i fully understand were your coming from but mybe you smaller sites could do the same as the big boys like make your own web site maybe or something.

In trying to organise this trip next year we have done nothing but surf the net trying to get details of whats the best to do and the big names like camping cheque ,c&cc,cc ect always come up.If you had your own web site people,like us would have a far chance of finding you.Or maybe the ukcampsite could do a small site bit with a map of were you all are

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Post last edited on 29/10/2008 17:35:43

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Gary.

Take a look at www.loire-gites.com, or search through the listings on ukcs? It's all there waiting for you.

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Floydmail

Floydsite




Stu.

Quote: Originally posted by jennifernn on 29/10/2008

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We do not want to be too tied to CC sites by "having" to use the CCs up, could any of you expert CC users suggest how many CCs it would be sensible to buy?

The Caravan Club has them available still at 2008 prices, but if we get those we will only have 2009 in which to use them.

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Thanks Ina.  I will take a look at the CC website and see what sites are open in the areas we will be in before deciding.   As you say, it is a fair outlay up front, so that has also to be taken into account. 

We want to have as much choice as possible as we realise many sites will not be open the first few weeks we are there.  Other than the ACSI book, the CC book and the C Club Europe site book, do you recommend any other site books?

For French sites take a print out from the campsite search on this website.  Use the 'advanced search' facility,  select 'open all year' and a list comes up, listing sites, and indicating the area of France.  If there are any that take your fancy then you can get more details.

We also use the green Michelin campsite guide - but I know others have mentioned a book produced by Motorpresse and sold only in France, which lists all the 11,000 odd campsites in France.  This might be worth buying whilst you're there.

We have the Caravan Club book which also lists a huge number of sites and gives a one sentence critique. We bought the 2007 one in 2008 for half price - things don't change that much in a year. That and the Michelin guide seem to cover the ground pretty well between them.

Am personally undecided about the cheques as we prefer small quiet sites that are off the beaten track (proper Britophobic when on holiday.) As they tend to be cheaper to start with, they tend not to accept the various reductions. But next year will be our first summer as retired teachers, so we might buy a few just for the pure JOY of saving some money by going off-season. But we are actually pondering Ireland - expensive ferries (even though the terminal is 10 minutes from our house) and rain are causing us to pause for thought on that one.

Alan

Alan - one thing you'll find when you're able to go outside peak season is that many sites have no Brits on at all.  Although Camping Cheques appear to be well-used by several of us on this forum, there don't actually seem to be that many others and you hardly every meet them on site!   When we holiday (May/June and end August/September) we like the fact that there are many Dutch caravanners, some French, some German, occasional Danes and Swedes, and perhaps the odd Brit on some sites!  It's not at all like high-season caravanning.  We've been on some sites where we've been the only outfit of any nationality on one section of the site!   However, we do find it nice to have a bar we can wander to at night, a restaurant for the occasional meal out without driving, and a nice pool complex - quite often completely empty of people in low season!

Never been to Ireland - OH goes with his work and we've thought about it, but we like our sunshine too much at the moment!

Quote: Originally posted by jennifernn on 30/10/2008

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Thanks Ina. I will take a look at the CC website and see what sites are open in the areas we will be in before deciding.   As you say, it is a fair outlay up front, so that has also to be taken into account.

We want to have as much choice as possible as we realise many sites will not be open the first few weeks we are there. Other than the ACSI book, the CC book and the C Club Europe site book, do you recommend any other site books?

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Like Ina, I was very surprised by our most recent Alan Rogers guide.  Initially (and we bought one of the first ones to be produced) they really did tell it 'warts and all'.  In the most recent addition I've noticed that it seems less 'independent' than it did - and more related to the larger commercial sites - with some of the municipal sites no longer featuring.  It's very hard now, to find a bad review - and some of the site inspections and comments bear no resemblance to our impressions of some of the sites inspected.

They still insist on their website that inspections are independent, and that no-one can pay to be in the guide, but........ ???

Quote: Originally posted by Val A on 31/10/2008

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Like Ina, I was very surprised by our most recent Alan Rogers guide. Initially (and we bought one of the first ones to be produced) they really did tell it 'warts and all'. In the most recent addition I've noticed that it seems less 'independent' than it did - and more related to the larger commercial sites - with some of the municipal sites no longer featuring. It's very hard now, to find a bad review - and some of the site inspections and comments bear no resemblance to our impressions of some of the sites inspected.

They still insist on their website that inspections are independent, and that no-one can pay to be in the guide, but........ ???

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the caravan club european sites book contains members comments - warts an all - & there are forms in the back of it for sending in comments .  It is interesting that nobody posting here seems to have used the camping & caravanning clubs freedom of camping   vouchers  which like the acsi ones are not prepaid - has anybody found them to be useful. useless or whatever.Several Individuals that I have spokent o on french sites  seem to like them

george

Agree totally about the Alan Rogers guide. It used to be the one you looked at for something special, sites a bit different and with honest reviews. It also covered far more smaller or more out of the way sites than it does now. It used to be much more selective but its hard to tell it from any other standard guide now.

Carol

Quote: Originally posted by georgegarside on 31/10/2008

It is interesting that nobody posting here seems to have used the camping & caravanning clubs freedom of camping   vouchers which like the acsi ones are not prepaid - has anybody found them to be useful. useless or whatever.Several Individuals that I have spokent o on french sites seem to like them

george

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But people HAVE replied to this question already, only you don't seem to have read any of them. You have mentioned this twice now, once on page 1 of this thread, where I replied, see:
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=7&TopicID=166816&PagePosition=1
And this is the thread you originally started, which I referred you to:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=7&TopicID=166580&PagePosition=3

When you post a thread, tick the box underneath it, which says 'E-mail Notify me of replies'. That way, every time somebody posts in a thread you have posted in, you get notified, and you can click on the link in your email.

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Ina