Tend to agree with most. Your giving up based on very limited experience. Join a club. Use their sites. With a small child it would be worth it for the peace of mind. Your daughter will accept the different sites [club] and hopefully realise that its not all bad news.
Have to agree with the don't give up group, i know you say your daughter doesn't want to go again and can see why but was this your very first trip? If not and she enjoyed others before then she will enjoy it again, just give her time to try and forget it. In some ways this year hasn't been the best year for new campers to try but please don't let it put you off as it can be fab and cheap, which then gives you more chances to get away then 1 2 week hols in the year.
I spent 10years camping in a tt with my parents as a child and 5 1/2 with my partner in tents and now tt. In my adult camping life we have had one bad experience. Since then we use the resources available to us to find nice sites. We have 2 different camping recomendation books and we use the reviews on this site. We have also decided to go for sites with no club houses. Use the resources available to you in this day and age and you will find fab sights out there. What about including your daughter in on the decission making? That may help her fears.
As we rely on others reviews we have started to post them (only this year and due to getting married next year not been away that much this year) and will continue to do so. Also there are camping and caravan magazines that do sight reviews and will have web sights with even more people for you to ask for opinions on.
Sorry to hear about your camping trip pam,i would give it another go we have always read the reviews on this site because they are normally right try the smaller sites they are normally quieter (good luck)
We had to go away this year on the August bank-holiday weekend as it was the only time we could get away and we ended up on a type of site that we wouldn't usually use; clubhouse, large play area, lots of pitches etc. Perhaps true to form there was a lot of noise all night and a large group of unruly campers on site. People complained, the offenders moved, others of a simillar attitude replaced them and so on. As soon as we could get into our usual site down the road (on the tuesday) we did and found it as peaceful and sedate as ever. The two nights on the first site weren't particularly pleasant, but we only really use our tent as a base for walking so we were able to live with it (given it was all that was available) and moved as soon as we could.
I absolutely dread having my camping holidays spolit by the type of behaviour Pam described and if you regularly read these forums you might come to think that it is becoming inevitable. But it can definitely be avoided by careful selection of site and time of year. We would certainly do all we could in future to avoid the BH weekends. My opinion of camping is that there are sites for everyone; small sites for couples, large sites for families, rowdy sites for youngsters etc. it is just a matter of trying to find the ones that suit you and then sticking to them.
I really hope that you don't give up the camping Pam, if you do then the type of people who disrupted your holiday win; and none of us want that. Perhaps the times are changing and manners etc. are not how they were but remember the famous quote, 'all it takes for evil to triumph is that good people do nothing'. Perhaps a bit over the top but i hope people will see what i mean. Decent, considerate people need to unite to make sure that camping does not become the preserve of the ill-mannered and the inconsiderate; its a tough job but we've got to do it.
If you and your family still genuinely want to camp (and it is a magical experience when it all comes together right), i am sure that the good folks on this site and these forums can guide you to places and people who will restore your faith in the experience. Perhaps even attend one of the site meets to regain your confidence. Whatever you choose, i hope you enjoy your holidays in future in whatever form they may take.
Cheers, John
------------- All differences equal, systems for people - Not the other way around.
(Robb Johnson)
Pam, why not take a look at the 'Swansea and Gower' suggested sites on another thread on the Uk caravan/camping sites. There are some excellent ones recommended on there.
Please dont give up just because of one bad experience, just avoid that site and sites of that sort. Generally we tend to avoid sites with a club/entertainment etc because there is often trouble on them and it makes for an uncomfortable holiday for us too. We find looking at small, family run sites can often be a good indicator of quality once youve checked against site reviews.
In more than 25 years camping as a family and as a child with my parents I can only tell you about 2 or 3 really bad sites/experiences weve had, usually its great.
Do try and give it another go, it would be a shame to give up. You can always ask here if anyones stayed on a site you are interested in,Im sure people will be honest of theyve had problems, even if its not been used in a site review
I agree that Pam shouldn't give up. We only bought our first tent this year after enjoying some Canvas holidays and a couple of short breaks in borrowed tents. Every trip we have had so far has been magical, two of them in West Wales and our 3 nippers, aged 6, 8 and 12, love every minute.
I do take a long time researching sites though and only book if I can be reasonably sure that they will suit our needs, our main need being tranquility. Maybe we have just been lucky. If a site only has one or two reviews, I view it with suspicion, maybe unfairly, but there you go. the last site we went to, after the August bank holiday, had pages of reviews, every one of them excellent, and every one of them true.
So I agree with others, read the reviews and if you want peace and quiet, avoid sites with clubhouses.
Pam I thought you were staying at cold blow? don't give up there are a lot of lovely sites in the south wales area, you're bound to come across one or two along the way that are not very nice ( mind you from the sound of it the place you were was like my worst nightmare) but I would not stop camping, have a drive around, that's what me and hubby do we go and have a look at sites and their facilities, you generally get a good idea by talking to people on site. go on give it another go cos like I said earlier there are a lot of LOVELY sites in south wales
And one of the loveliest is Pencelli, just outside of Brecon. We stayed there last month. Peaceful, set in beautiful countryside, with immaculate shower and toilet blocks, coat and boot drying room, fridges and freezers for campers use and a no noise rule - no radios allowed at all and no noise of any description between 10PM and 8AM. The meadow, for tents only, is a huge field where you are allowed to pitch wherever you like and there is always loads of space between tents. If you decide to give it another go Pam, you could not do better than this place.
Goodness me, what a namby pamby nation we are....no one is prepared to kick up a fuss if we arnt happy with product or service, "they were very welcoming"!!!!! so what, would you buy dented beans, squashed bread and mouldy potatoes from your local Asda? I bet you wouldnt...
And the regular moan on here is "they were drunk and noisy" or "they had been drinking and were swearing" for goodness sake, you must all lead very sheltered lives, my kids could swear for twenty minutes in three languages without repeating themselves about a week after starting school...its all part of lifes...etc etc
Live and let live I say, and if the yobs get restless ask them to settle down, but remember not everyone finds living like a monk their ideal way to relax.
Quote: Originally posted by BigGraeme on 23/9/2007
Goodness me, what a namby pamby nation we are....no one is prepared to kick up a fuss if we arnt happy with product or service, "they were very welcoming"!!!!! so what, would you buy dented beans, squashed bread and mouldy potatoes from your local Asda? I bet you wouldnt...
And the regular moan on here is "they were drunk and noisy" or "they had been drinking and were swearing" for goodness sake, you must all lead very sheltered lives, my kids could swear for twenty minutes in three languages without repeating themselves about a week after starting school...its all part of lifes...etc etc
Live and let live I say, and if the yobs get restless ask them to settle down, but remember not everyone finds living like a monk their ideal way to relax.
G...
am a bit like yourself live an let live,but you dont expect the yobs to do what they are told do you,probably get your tent set on fire,i like a swally same as the next man but i also have respect and consideration for other people on the site
I am a bit inbetween all this really, I stayed at a campsite a couple of weeks ago with my 2 kids (8 and 4) while hubby was working and couldn't get to sleep as there were groups drinking and laughing and playing music until the small hours, BUT the kids slept like the dead and as I'm 34yrs old, it's not too long ago that I used to do that myself with my friends so although I didn't get much sleep I did realise that we all need to have a bit more respect for people in general
Don't get me wrong, if campers are being abusive and their behaviour is downright dangerous then that is something else but as much as I want early nights now and peace and quiet, I respect the fact there are other campers who want to have a laugh and a good time (makes me sound boring doesn't it?)
At the end of the day I just think that if you are going to camp in tent you have to expect and accept that the other people you are camping with maybe noisier than you'd like for various reasons and if you don't like it, stay in a b&b
I always try to keep my kids under control when camping so they don't disturb others but appreciate there are many parents out there that don't, and at the end of the day children are children, I'm not saying they are wrong and I'm right as has someone else has pointed out, you can go abroad and be sitting around a pool with someone elses kids causing havoc so its not limited to camping
I have only been camping 3 times so far this year and thoroughly enjoy it, I don't expect it to be a lap of luxury and go with the expectation I'm not going to have the best nights sleep etc, but know that when I get home back to my bed I can catch up on the sleep I've missed
I do think sometimes we brits expect too much and forget what camping is all about, we're not very tolerant of people that lead a different lifestyle to ourselves, during the trip I mentioned above, I spent the first hour pitching the tent screaming at the kids cos I was stressed trying to get the tent up before it got dark, the kids were running around other peoples tents and I was trying to stop them but my shouting may have disturbed other people more!
I guess we have to remember that when we're camping we're all there to have a good time in our own way, whether thats by drinking, relaxing or whatever and should try and tolerate each other a bit more but do complain if things get out of hand
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.
Topic: We Quit Camping!!
