if your joining the Caravan Club (which I recommend) don't forget to join your local centre. They run some good rally weekends with various activities laid on, it's generally cheap and good fun.
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 04/5/2014
We have been with the Camping & Caravanning Club for the past 9 years but never been a member of the Caravan Club so cannot comment on the latter but we may change this year and give it a try and see for ourselves. To join both clubs would be around £85 so it has to be one or the other for us as there would be no benefit of joining both. Previous posts have covered just about everything except what hasn't been mentioned is that the Camping & Caravanning Club have stewards to run temporary holiday sites (THS) all over the UK, some for up to three weeks at a time whereas the Caravan Club doesn't. Basically it's a holiday rally but a lot of people use them for cheap holidays at an average cost of around £8.00 per unit per night which is ideal for those who can't afford to stay at the club sites. If like us you have all onboard facilities then you don't need to use their toilet and shower blocks so a big saving can be made which means having to spend less on site fees thus spending more days away on holiday.
Yes, excellent value, and not all THSs are "ownsanitation essential" - quite a few are held on rally fields adjacent to commercial sites and allow access to the facilities.
Discounted Insurance Quotes for UKCampsite.co.uk visitors! Up to 12.5% off!
Members of the cc can get mayday breakdown cover for £62 a year, the membership costs around £42, the aa breakdown cover is £119 first year then £144 a year, mayday cover is far better than the aa cover, so cc and mayday just over £100, aa breakdown £144
They both have good sites and offer discounts on insurance etc. They also do ferries and foreign sites. Both have a network of small inexpensive sites called CSs and CLs.
C&CC sites will have a mixture of tents and caravans so they look less samey. In our experience their facilities are less good than the CC.
CC sites tend to have very good facilities. But the wardens can be uptight about lining up your caravan to the corner of your pitch. They can look very boring with all the vans lined up like tombstones in a row.
C&CC magazine has improved beyond all recognition over the last couple of years. The CC magazine still looks very 1950s in layout and could do with a makeover.
I would have a look at their websites and see where their sites are located. That might help you if you don't want to travel far, or if you have favourites parts of the country.
I am involved with The Caravan Club so I am biased towards it but what does it for me is the fact that the Club has 200 sites so there is quite a bit of choice - as well as all those five van Cls which are entirely independent but which you can stay on as a result of Club membership.
Also, the Club offers a huge raft of other services at competitive prices. Breakdown, travel, insurance for houses, cars and possibly its most famous product - the 5C caravan insurance. And the list goes on.
I think the decision about joining either or both clubs very much depends on what you want from your caravanning. If you want to stay on CL/CS type sites or want to go on rallies/meets etc.they are very worthwhile, if your preference is for more commercial, family oriented type sites with children's play area's, swimming pools, entertainment etc. then they're probably less so. A lot of people also join to take advantage of the breakdown recovery services, which were discussed here recently or for their caravan insurance.