I spent some time away this week and saw a few eye-opening things - kids running through awnings, whole families taking shortcuts through people's pitches or tiptoeing over other campers' guys, showers not being mopped after use, and the odd badly-hit ball causing havoc for campers trying to enjoy their barbecue! 🤦♀️
Obviously kids learn from their parents, but that relies on them knowing what to do (or not to do!) How do you gently educate adults who never had the benefit of learning basic camping etiquette from someone more experienced without sounding like you're being a misery-guts?
Choose smaller sites and if you are able adults only.
However, having just returned from a couple of nights away, if one of your neighbours has notifications turned on on their phone hearing constant notification sound isn't half annoying!
One of our favourite sites is adults only. My worry is that if the adults don't know (or care) that it's not the done thing to go tramping right through the middle of someone's pitch when they're sat having their breakfast (it happened to us more than once), it might not make a difference!
A woman came out of the next shower cubicle while I was mopping out, waited for me to step back with the mop, and walked straight out past me, leaving her suds on the floor. I didn't see anyone else use the cloth provided to wipe down the washing up area after they used it in 3 days. It seems that 'leave it nice for the next person' is sadly no longer the norm. 😔
I have started to go to Adult-only sites during school holidays in my van as I am a grumpy old woman who have never liked critters and ankle biters.
As a tenter, I did stop going to one site as the owners allowed kids to play footy in the central area in front of tent pitches, nearly knocked by burning BBQ over!
What bothered me most as a tenter was bubbles and I had to explain to the adults why bubbles were bad for tents so that they would ask their dear little ones to stop blowing them in my direction.
Usually, my evil death stares worked when peeps walked/cycled across my pitch. I used windbreak to stop them doing that when I was a tenter.
Not too bothered about late night noises as I am an owl. It bothers me less now that I have a van. However, I did have issues with noisy kids early in the morning when I was a tenter - ear plugs were my friends!
Nowadays, I would pitch as far away from children's play area as much as I can on non-Adult-only sites from late May to July before the summer school holidays; and adult-only for August.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
My biggest hate when camping is how rude and inconsiderate other campers are. Not cleaning up the shower cubicles, leaving empty bottles in the showers, and leaving the washing up sinks full of bits of manky food. Take a couple of minutes to wash it down and clean the sink out after yourself. My eldest daughter is 13 and she has camped since she was born and she has always been taught the rules we camp by. If it's a mess clean it up after your self. Don't cut across pitches if they are in use. My little boy is 3 and he will learn campsite rules as she did. Dosnt stop them enjoying there holiday.
Cutting across pitches, really annoys me, blowing soapy bubbles around my tent is another rone that annoys me, go and do it around your tent and wreck your own parents tent/awning see how they like it. More than once I have asked someone else's children not to do so and then get abused from the parents. Once I tell them why they back down and say sorry once they realise what damage the mixture dose to tents, more so polycotton like ours.
Rant over.🤣
It's why we always use CLs. We once stayed at a club site for a wedding, never again. That said, we had more trouble with animals when we were tent campers.
I'm a Dinosaur, well it often feels that way, certainly got a few years under the belt, but struggle with the modern attitude of 'entitlement' to do as you please. I had politeness and consideration drummed into me growing up way back in the dark ages of the last century, and absolutely fail to see much wrong with that, it makes the world a better place for all and costs absolutely nothing!
SO many camping tales to tell, but too inclined to bitter rants perhaps, so will seize on a good one and just say, it's nice to hear from someone new to camping with 'old fashioned' values. There used to be a 'camping etiquette', totally unwritten, but something that could be relied upon to make your camping trip enjoyable amongst like minded people, now lost I fear. You are not alone Milady B, but sadly joining a dying breed it seems!
Sad to see on this morning's news that a Car Park (not even a Camp Site!) that I know well, on the west shore of Windermere, was 'littered' with discarded camping gear, BBQ, food etc.! That's not 'camping' as I know it, that's vandalism/fly tipping, it doesn't even fall under the loose description of 'wild camping', and there should be a clear distinction in peoples minds to protect the reputation of decent, principled campers!
To your opening question. Firstly I was brought up with good manners, which set a good starting point, secondly as I camped I guess I observed the 'protocols' of fellow campers (also seemingly well brought up people!), and followed their lead. Of course that all started around 60 years ago! IIRC, campsites didn't have great lists of 'rules' posted up or handed to you on arrival, it was far more of an instinctive thing! Pretty sure no one formally tutored me on camp site etiquette!
I started camping as a nipper, in the Guides, and we had a code of conduct to follow that was mostly just about tidying up after yourself, following the Countryside Code, and not making a nuisance of yourselves to others in the vicinity.
I've really noticed things going downhill on campsites since the pandemic - little things like people taking the dish soap from the washing up area in addition to the things mentioned above. As Monty says I think it used to be that you'd watch what others were doing and mirror their behaviour (mopping the shower, saying hello, keeping the kids off other people's pitches...). I guess if there are more inconsiderate people it's magnified.
I could moan all day, but I'm trying to think how we can all help to reverse the trend... A Camper's Code or something... Maybe I'll start a blog or a tiktok channel and try my luck at being an influencer 😂
Maybe! I'm quite surprised you don't see more posters like that around.
The site we went to last does have some posters up, mostly about using the facilities - leaving them nice for the next person and not letting your kids leave a mess. They also have quite strict noise rules, which are adhered to buy the vast majority. It does seems to be those more unwritten rules that people are missing.
A lot of the sites we go to the majority of other campers all keep to the "in writing rules" just the odd view that's dosnt. And most of them are adults who shouldn't know better, this then sets a bad example for the younger campers/children.
Late nite noise/music is not nice. More than once w heave called security as there is loud music gone 1130 at nite!!
Sadly, even CAMC sites which do have rather a long list of rules (which I'm not against in principle) and generally efficient wardens, don't bother enforcing them when they should/could!
For past few years, I've noticed a marked decline in 'standards' re noise at one of my favourite sites in the Lake District. Each year it gets worse it seems, and the once stunningly tranquil setting is now lost to inconsiderate campers! Over that period, it's had numerous changes of warden, so not just down to any particularly slack resident warden.
Last time there was particularly bad with many incidents. There was a woman with 3 Collies, only a hundred yards from my pitch, who on more than one occasion stood outside her van for 20-40 minutes talking whilst these dogs barked incessantly (out of frustration of not moving I suspect!), and not once did she make any attempt to silence them! I've got a dog, and it's a Collie, she's not a great barker anyway, but wouldn't get more than a couple of woofs before being silenced in consideration of my neighbours! I organise an annual rescue dog camping weekend rally (all Collies, many with behavioural issues from poor original owners!), we can have up to 40 dogs on neighbouring pitches as we take over the camp site, yet they don't bark incessantly, every site we've used for 12 years has said "we didn't know you were there, your dogs were wonderful, you are more than welcomed to come again" - if we can do it, anyone can! Current site we use is behind a pub, when we pile into the pub (with perhaps 15 or more of the friendlier well behaved dogs), people (regulars) say "where have you lot come from?", when we say we're on the camp site out back, they are astounded and comment they had no idea we were there en masse because they hadn't heard a peep from the dogs! We don't elevate ourselves to some miracle worker status, we are just considerate to others!
In the case of people walking up and down on their phones! Some numpty at 2am was audible across most of the site! - he was outside the reception (presumably using the site Wi-Fi), phone at arms length (video call?) seemingly angrily SHOUTING into it for a good 15 minutes or more! He was clearly audible from hundreds of yards away (you could get the gist of his conversation!) when I took the dog for a pre-bed walk, he was still shouting when I got back to my van! Not only was he outside reception, he was right outside the accommodation of 3 sets of site wardens - how could they have failed to hear him, and worse, WHY didn't they silence him!
People on the neighbouring pitch liked to sit in their awning having LOUD discussions well into early hours of the morning, every night! Does it totally escape these people how noise travels in the (otherwise!) near silence of the night in an isolated campsite!
Contrast was a father, his young kids were running around making a bit of noise, he pulled them up, pointed out to them where they were, and not everyone wanted to hear them, and to think of others - so refreshing that some care. Saw them again, but don't think I heard them!
Thankfully, I use the facilities in my van, so generally have no idea of what state the communal facilities are like on most sites! At least CAMC sites have regular cleaning, and always appears thorough, but do hear reports/reviews of some sites that sound pretty grim.
Long time ago now, when I was still tenting (using site facilities), and again on one of our rescue dog rallies, we decided to find a new venue for subsequent years as the communal toilet/showers were not well maintained by the site, we speculated not attended to for days at a time, and could be pretty poor. And that was a CCC CS site!
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 24/6/2025
Contrast was a father, his young kids were running around making a bit of noise, he pulled them up, pointed out to them where they were, and not everyone wanted to hear them, and to think of others - so refreshing that some care. Saw them again, but don't think I heard them!
I love this! It's all about letting kids be kids but with consideration for others in the space, so everyone gets to enjoy their holiday.
Where we were last week is great for noise rules and the like, but parents essentially letting their kids out of the car to play across everyone else's pitches all day isn't necessarily something that the site can do much about to a point. One kid I asked to go round instead of through our pitch (we were eating and they wandered through the middle of us all) was perfectly pleasant and didn't come back through, so it's not as if they were badly behaved - they just didn't know not to do it! Not surprising as the adults in the group apparently didn't know not to take shortcuts by stepping over guylines.
One site we used to go to regularly would go round the site reminding people to keep the noise down, which was great, but during the day we've had children ride between pitches so close to the tent they've gone over our guy ropes. Interestingly these kids didn't seem to do it in the area their tent was pitched. Thankfully we discovered adult only and never looked back!
I actually don't recall anyone instilling any rules or etiquette into me, it's just common sense and courtesy isn't it?
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
Quote: Originally posted by TraceyD on 25/6/2025
I actually don't recall anyone instilling any rules or etiquette into me, it's just common sense and courtesy isn't it?
Sadly, common sense and courtesy have given way to 'me, me, me' mentality IMHO.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: New campers and `learning the rules`
via mobile 22/6/2025 at 5:30pm
