Researching CLs in Derbyshire. There is a review which states "we were only one minute from my house but we could have been anywhere". What's all that about?
I would guess for whatever reason they went caravanning right near home & it is true enough once you are pitched up & sitting outside caravan with a drink in your hand you could be anywhere. Example of that we no longer bother to tow all the way from Essex to Devon & Cornwall because there are plenty of sites only a couple of hours from home in Suffolk & Norfolk which imo is just as nice as Devon & Cornwall.
Yes, but East Anglia is not known for clear seas and rocky coves, 2 reasons why we prefer the beaches of the West Country (and Anglesey and Pembrokeshire)
Personally for most part I want to put a LOT of distance between me and home when picking a campsite! London is a pretty awful place where I DONT want to spend my camping holidays/leisure time!
There have been exceptions, really for someone else's benefit not mine. I did pitch the van for a day on the campsite attached to the storage yard where I keep my van, just outside the M25. A mate had an oldish diesel Landrover, and would have been hit with a £100/day 'penalty' (so £200 bill as staying overnight) if he had driven it inside the M25 emission zone to get to my house, so it was MUCH cheaper just to stay in the caravan nearly on my doorstep!
Maybe me, but I choose campsites carefully, as well as the region it's situated in, I want both the experience of the character of the site as well as the region, so I cant really say 'I could be anywhere', 'cos the sites are often quite distinctive. Never quite grasped the desire of some people, who just want to be 'away at the caravan', hence my total lack of interest in a seasonal pitch! I bought my caravan specifically to explore the different regions of the country, and 'tour', and so far have achieved that to a degree, although still plenty of scope left. Suspect at my age I'm going to run out of time, long before I run out of interesting place to visit! True to say, I do have a bit of an addiction (I think over 50 years of being passionately drawn to it fully qualifies as an addiction!) to the Lake District, and may well return there more than once a year, but not necessarily always to the same campsite. If and when the day comes that towing the caravan is beyond me, then I may have to ponder do I give up the caravan altogether, or do I plonk it on a seasonal pitch - exactly where would be a VERY difficult choice!
I can think of one campsite I chose purely for location, as it was on the doorstep of a significant family celebration, literally a few hundred yards from their house, despite being short listed as CL of the year, I REALLY didn't like it then, and still don't like it over a year on, and would never stay there again unless it was the only choice to attend another family function!
We are incredibly blessed in this country, in as much as there is huge variety to be had in relatively short distances, certainly a day's drive, from almost any home base. The vast empty straight sand beaches and 'big skies' of Lincolnshire are a total contrast to the nooks, crannies and coves of Cornwall's 'tortured' rocky coast. The lush green rolling downs of Sussex make the dramatic fells of Cumbria look like a different planet! Whether you constantly drift towards a particular landscape or explore them all doesn't really matter, there is something for just about everyone. I guess some may be lucky enough to have their favourite on their doorstep, whilst some of us will travel to both escape what we have and seek out what we desire.
I think the closest to home we have camped is Hertford C&CC site just 10 minutes drive away. It wasn't really so much a holiday, more to try out a caravan we had just bought after a break of several years. It was a good job we did, as we found a few minor problems we had to sort out on the caravan, and it was surprising just how many things we had forgotten to bring with us! We now have a comprehensive sheet for things to tick off before we go. Being only 10 minutes drive away meant that is was easy to nip home and pick up those forgotten items and a few tools to do the jobs needed.
Generally though we don't normally go as far from home as we used to. I am the only driver and I tire much quicker than I once did. I can remember a time when I would drive from Norfolk to Edinburgh with only a couple of short breaks. That was when I was a coach driver. We now aim for 2 to 4 hours maximum.
It doesn't escape me that despite my antiquity, I'm fortunate in still being able to do long trips, 300 miles, maybe 8 hours or so driving in one day (with a couple of leg stretches and a bite to eat, and a wee!). Plan and set off with those figures in mind, so not a case of suffering it 'cos it all went belly up somewhere along the way!
Perhaps, to some degree, my car-caravan combo are easy to drive with no particular vices to add stress, and car is comfortable so no 'numb bum' symptoms to be overcome, comfort breaks are planned at caravan friendly places, 300 miles is getting close to max towing range of car fuel tank, so maybe plan a suitable caravan friendly fuel top up to avoid arriving running on fumes and prayers, so overall the journey is a known quantity as far as that is possible, all of which make it far more relaxed and less tiring.
Worst drive I've suffered was the 'short route' from London to Lake District about 4/5 years back, circa 275 miles via the 'never again M6' that took 10.5 hours, now that WAS exhausting, in no short part from the stress of the risk of, then certainty of missing the latest arrival time at the camp site (thankfully they had late arrivals bays, but no guaranty they wouldn't be occupied already!), and frustration of sitting stationary for hours at various hold ups on M6, it was also one of the hottest days of the year, so needed to keep engine running for A/C to stop me and the dog from roasting in the tin box, one stop was just a couple of hundred yards from the exit I wanted to take! The year before had been a dire 10 hour journey for the same trip, and I thought that was grim! - hence the NEVER AGAIN M6! If nothing else, it proved my durability, and tested my vocabulary to it's foulest limits expressing my frustrations at the ineptitude of current road traffic management that renders major roads unusable! - good management could have kept delays to a minimum and traffic flowing to some degree rather than hours of stationary holding!
I'm enjoying my capabilities whilst I can, but mindful that they may not last too much longer.
Last time we went to the Lake District was when our oldest daughter was still in a carry cot, and she turned 50 in August. We were in a tent and it rained every day! That's not the reason we haven't been back, it simply hasn't happened and I don't really know why. I suppose it is just that we have always tended to head south rather than north, apart from last year, and even then the furthest we went was north Lincolnshire.
Regarding routes, I suppose its a hangover from my coach driving days but wherever I am going, either locally or long distance, I always tend to take the route which I know will enable me to keep to a constant speed, or as close to it as possible. It doesn't always work, but sometimes although it may be more miles, it can still work out quicker. This probably stems from the fact that although I have only had automatic cars for decades, several of the coaches I used to drive had heavy clutches and crash gearboxes. Lots of stopping and starting and frequent gear-changes were to be avoided if at all possible. I found that a near-constant 40 - 50mph will often get you somewhere quicker than lots of stopping and starting through towns or in motorway hold-ups, interspersed with bursts of 70mph, even if it is slightly longer.
Our route from north of Manchester to Folkestone is usually M62 A1 M25 Dartford crossing. On our last return the satnav directed us to use the M1 M6 but the Toll for the van is class 2, extortionate. The non-toll route was at a standstill.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 12/10/2025
Monty, which route do you take? We always use M1/M6.
I've taken to going up the A1, then across Yorkshire via A59/A65 for southern Lakes or A66 for northern Lakes. It's longer and theoretically slower route than M1-M6, but I've found it to be a far more enjoyable drive, and maybe tempting fate, but never sat in anything like the diabolical holds ups experienced on the M1/M6! If anything, driving A roads takes some of the tedium out of slogging along a motorway at 50/60mph, so less tendency to nod off from boredom!
The journey starts better as van is stored just off the A1, and I can almost immediately be making good progress from the off, trying to get to the M1 can be a slow crawl for an hour before getting up any speed, TBH, that start can be disheartening in itself!
Not sure it's a route that would suit you Mrs B, bit slow getting from Luton to A1.
I've tried every variation of picking up the M6 and they've all gone horribly wrong once on the M6, so it's pretty much 'banned' now!
The closest I have camped from home was 6 miles down the road at Devizes C&CC during winter, twice when I was a tenter.
I wanted to stay close to home in case someone went wrong, and also to pop back to check on the cat.
Something did go wrong for the first trip over Christmas in that the trusted double airbed developed a leak. It was quite funny to watch the dog slowing sinking on the airbed.
So I popped back home to get the spare single airbed so that I could continue with the trip.
I switched to camp bed plus SIM after that trip and could not recommend that highly enough.
I also went there for a couple of nights as a test trip with the new puppy shortly after I got him to make sure he was OK with camping.
DK
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The only problem accessing the A1 is the Black Cat roundabout. It should be ok when it's finished. There is a great CL just north of Grantham which I can recommend. Called Happy Trails, Manthorpe
When our children were older teenagers we sometimes used to have weekends away (without them) at a nice CL site about 15 minutes from home - close enough to get home quickly if needed but still be away. Also, as we were both working, it meant we didn't have to spend much of our precious weekend time travelling.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
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via mobile 12/10/2025 at 10:09am
