Camper Newbie

[Combehatter]

Hi all,

We have had our camper for about 6 months and have had a few trips away but with no awning. After deciding that was ok for one or maybe two nights we took the plunge and bought one a few weeks ago. We decided that this weekend would be a good opportunity to test it out and have been looking at campsites, most of which charge extra for awnings...

This is my question/point!

What is the difference between a car and tent combo and a camper / awning? They both take up the same space!! I can understand when you are a shed dragger and you want a caravan, awning and car - more space needed but why are we lumped in with them??

I know it isn't much extra in most cases but it has just got my goat! am I alone in this or are there good tactics / arguments that can be put forward and if so anybody been successful?

Cheers

Dave

[penfold118]

Agreed, I think once you've paid for a pitch and x amount of people you should be able to configure how you want (within reason).

Some sites are getting really expensive +£25 a night before hook-up, we have started to wild camp a bit more and use very basic sites, which in all honesty I prefer as there less regimented (and cheaper )

[penfold118]

Starting to get me of Carry on Camping...

£1 for this, £1 for that !

[Combehatter]

Yeah, we are luck in as much as we are close to the North Devon coast but the prices around here are getting ridiculous!

I suppose that I can console myself that I use less liquid gold getting to the site in the first place!

[a1winchester]

Most sites around here (except the posh ones) don't charge anything for the awning. They are just pleased to have you use their site.
They only charge £10 to £12 per night. I wouldn't mind paying a quid or two on top for the awning, but they throw it in for free.

[Louey]

Just stick the awning up and then see if they charge you

[Combehatter]

Just stick the awning up and then see if they charge you

That's what I'm gonna do! Then ask for a decent reason to differentiate between a car and a tent and a camper with an awning.

Before I moved from the dark side of canvas I had a massive tent all packed in a Mondeo, it had a much larger footprint than my new setup!

[Louey]

[Combehatter]

Found a great little site, no charge for awnings on campers! I'll be coming back here

[Miss Syd]

I agree with Louie - I don't tell them about the awning and just put it up. No-one's ever queried it and charged me (yet!). If I was to be questioned about it, I'll just blag it and say I changed my mind and offer to pay if they get tricky.

[Smooting]

Just book your tent/awning

After all your camper is alo your car

[Tinium]

Just book your tent/awning

We've done this a few times now, as the awning is bigger than the van, so we've just booked a tent pitch Also because we're normally after a grass pitch too - we've booked a "camper van and awning" pitch in the past and ended up on some hard standing pitch that we've got no chance of getting awning pegs through... not naming any names, but one campsite near us in Devon told us "We don't allow campervans on the grass" When the site owners left, the nice lady in reception said that we could move now no one was around to say otherwise, but even so, that's a bit odd!