Currently camping at my favourite site, namely Birchwood Tourist Park in Bere Regis, near Wareham in Dorset.
I came here almost every year since 2009 and have seen how it evolved through the years.
Last year, at least 2 grass pitches had been converted to a drive on/off Motorhome Service Point.
This year, they have converted at least 8 grass pitches to hardstanding pitches.
When I asked the owners about the conversion, they informed me that there is a greater demand for hardstanding pitches with 16A supply, with or without services (fresh water and grey water disposal).
Although they have lots of hardstanding pitches with or without services already, many of them are seasonal/long-term hires.
In addition, they were getting less demands for tents - allegedly, tenters prefer farm sites with less rules and restrictions.
Hence they converted some of the grass pitches to hardstanding ones.
Not sure about tenters preferring sites with less restrictions and rules, however, I know at least one other site, namely Salisbury C&CC had converted a number of their grass pitches to hardstanding ones in the last couple of years, so that they can open all year round and not just from Easter till November in the past, which makes sense as Salisbury is a popular tourist destination throughout the year.
Has anyone else come across this trend, as in more and more grass pitches being converted to hardstanding ones at campsites?
DK
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There has been a the huge increase in campervans and motorhome ownership in the last few years so they need to be catered for. The relaxation on planning rules for short term campsites has also increased the availability of those for anyone in a tent.
I suppose the trend to HS pitches ties in with the trend towards MHs over other forms of camping!
First noticed a significant MH takeover when I went to my caravan storage site around early March this year to do the usual pre-use checks for the new season – the place was two thirds to three quarters full of MHs, the caravans were in an absolute minority! It wasn't like that last November when I put the caravan to bed for the winter, plenty of caravans then!
Second wake up call was the rescued dog owners rally I co-organise, taking place in Aug, but bookings taken from January. A LOT more MHs booking this year, replacing caravans (we generally only have one regular with a tent anyway)! The campsite hasn't changed (from last 3 years we've been there), as un-serviced (other than EHU) HS anyway with only 3 or 4 smallish grass tent pitches which don't have much scope (small and sloping) for conversion.
Third nudge to change, has been the lack of caravans on the road in general that I've seen, but perhaps noticed more on my way from London to Derbyshire for the rally. Even more noticeable on my journey from Derbyshire to the Lake District as my follow on destination after the rally. Quite a few MHs and campervans on both journeys though.
Got to the CAMC site in the Lake District, all HS with EHU, but no serviced pitches, and yet again a LOT of MHs and relatively few caravans. But was quite surprised to see a number of Roof Tents on the normal Caravan/MH pitches (it's not a site that allows tents). This site has no toilet or shower facilities, so only self sufficient units accepted, so no surprise it was larger MHs and caravans with decent onboard facilities, but surprised CAMC allowed Roof Tents with additional Toilet tents!
Friends with MHs are generally cautious about grass pitch sites, most have had bad experiences of bogging down and getting stuck on wet grass, as the drive wheels can't get enough traction, often needing to be 'rescued', so they seek HS when they can. Can't say I've EVER had a problem on grass with the caravan, but then I Motor Move it to the car to hitch up, so it's wheels are removed from any ruts it may have sunk into. My front wheel drive car has never had a serious problem pulling away with the van on the back, even with driving wheels still on grass.
Not sure how much benefit a fully serviced pitch is to a MH, with onboard fresh water tank and 'dump valves' for drainage from waste water tank! Certainly a benefit with a caravan when I've used a couple, but generally not inclined to pay the premium pitch price for the facility. MHs rather NEED a dedicated service point from what I've seen, and at the Lake District site, there were queues for the single MSP.
You do get the impression some site owners don't do a lot of 'thinking', not even keeping up with trends for bigger caravans and tow cars over the years, now often making access tricky, but the more commercially minded ones may well be catering to changes in the market and finding grass pitches have little demand, so conversion to HS is profitable.
I did edit to include my own experience on Thorpe Hall in East Yorkshire. It did have two touring areas and a dedicated tent field - no EHU.
It appears the tent field has now been turned over to more touring pitches with EHU and tents are accommodated wherever they have space. They also now look to have the other recent concept of glamping pods.
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Concur with the sentiment about seeing more MHs than caravans on the roads.
Where I am now, the 100 or so long term hires (it is a big site) are caravans taking up their existing hardstanding pitches, with no many to spare for MHs on demand. Hence they needed to convert some of the grass pitches to hardstanding ones, even though the EHU would only be 10A which is better than 6A!
I am also seeing more solo female MHers in the last couple of years with only 1 solo caravanner.
Roof tents are definitely on the increase too, however, mostly for those who are younger and more agile, and nearly all of them had some form of tent extension.
There had been some comments on CAMC's FB page about why tents are not allow on hardstanding pitches without grass, whereas they allow roof tents, and the enquirer has no clue about the pitfalls of pitching a tent on a normal hardstanding pitch with sharp stones (not an AWP with pea gravels) without adequate protection against damages that could be made to the sewn-in groundsheet of an expensive tent! I gave up arguing when I realised he/she had not had much camping experience.
I am currently on a service pitch with grey water drainage and a fresh water tap as it is near to their reception with good site Wi-Fi as the mobile phone signal for all 4 major networks is very poor, being in the middle of a forest. The grey water drainage is not used except to rinse up the French press in the morning and the fresh water tap is handy. I am paying extra to be on a service pitch for the Wi-Fi for work purposes.
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!
I looks like the it has been covered but I will add my opinion anyway!
Adding hard standing increases the season availability, especially on sites with soft ground, so extends the amount of time money is coming in for the owner. I am guessing they may charge extra for hard standing also.
A more grey area would be site upkeep, it could be argued that a hard standing despite an initial outlay for construction will be easier to maintain and saves money in the long run.
Quote: Originally posted by RainMagnet on 02/9/2025
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A more grey area would be site upkeep, it could be argued that a hard standing despite an initial outlay for construction will be easier to maintain and saves money in the long run.
Maybe not entirely convinced on a blanket HS less maintenance than grass situation! Stayed on a variety of Hard Standings over the years, and the caravan is stored in a yard with course stone HS, what I've seen/encountered is 1) grass and weed encroachment on the HS area, often with boundary edge ill defined as grass overgrowth seriously 'fuzzies' the edge. 2) deep rutting/sinkage/pot holes with loose stones. 3) Significant migration of HS stone onto surrounding grass area - a problem if using an awning and you don't enjoy rocks underfoot! - don't suppose the owner's mower is improved any by hitting hidden rocks in the grass either!
Used a CAMC CL site last year with DEEP Pea Gravel as the HS surface! It was a right PITA all round! Caravan sank deeply into it, making the Motor Movers work really hard as a wedge of stones built up behind tyres making it difficult to get the van to traverse evenly, and the jockey wheel just sank so deep up to it's axle it didn't rotate, it just ploughed! - with much alarming flexing of the A frame!!!!! By the time I came to leave, the pitch resembled a badly ploughed field! Noticed the owner out with a rake levelling other pitches after people had vacated - hardly low maintenance!
On my storage site, whenever I move my van, I have to go 'kick' the stones back into the ruts the wheels have caused, otherwise eventually I'd be parking up on tyre deep ruts!
The 'right' HS can be a benefit to users and site owners, the 'wrong' one can be a nightmare for all!
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I’d be more than a little concerned if my jockey wheel was ploughing pea gravel and it was making my A frame flex!!!!!!!
A quick rake over some plough ruts would hardly be considered hard work.
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Quote: Originally posted by blueexpo97 on 02/9/2025
I’d be more than a little concerned if my jockey wheel was ploughing pea gravel and it was making my A frame flex!!!!!!!
A quick rake over some plough ruts would hardly be considered hard work.
The owner pushes hard for CL awards! Personally, I felt it fell far short! The owner is a (large!) MH owner, and has a different outlook to caravan owners! I'm not impressed by having my caravan chassis stressed to extremes with sinking wheels and 'flexing' A frames!
Raking over the pitch is not hard work, until you have to do it for EVERY visitor! Other sites choose better HS materials that need little or no frequent maintenance!
The trend nowadays is the younger ones are moving away from camping and if you look on sites the majority of people are middle age or retired. Years ago we were happy with grass pitch and just a hookup point. But now in our 80’s we only ever use Hard standing fully serviced pitches, which allows us to continue Caravanning. Lots of people that are getting on in years as we are,tend to use these types of pitch. Most sites we use the Grass sites are regularly unoccupied.
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Quote: Originally posted by Bernie47 on 03/9/2025
Converting grass pitches to hard standing results in a considerable saving by not having to pay someone to cut the grass almost every day.
Had to chuckle to myself. A site owner I've got to know quite well over a number of years would 'put you right' on that view! As with most sites, the HS plot (roughly only caravan/MH width) is surrounded by grass, which still does need frequent cutting! The edge of the HS needs frequent 'redefining', as grass and weeds encroach and overgrow it. TBH, he probably spends MORE time driving his mower around the HS than a couple of passes over the equivalent size grass would take! ... and the 'weeding' of the overgrowth is a sore point and not something he looks forward to!
The purpose of the HS is to avoid rutted/muddy grass, and to extend the season, in his case open all year round. It can make upkeep more work than a weekly trim with a motor mower.
Can't think of too many sites that I've been on that didn't have HS for the vehicle and grass for the awning space. Even the CAMC site I was on a couple of weeks back, although the entire car-caravan-awning surface was HS, the division between pitches was well kept grass.
Grass around the HS definitely needs cutting from time to time, therefore, not completely maintenance free!
I don't like to camp on grass pitches after camping on one in the first season in the van in 2021.
I sold all my foam mats from my tenting days before I got my van - big mistake as it was a mud bath after heavy rain!
No more grass pitches after that and I carry an outdoor rubber mat all the time nowadays.
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 few years ago we were on a site in Devon with HS pitches and we watched two wardens on their hands and knees spend about 30 minutes each day removing weeds from one or two HS pitches. They just did a different couple of pitches every day on rotation. The lower part of the site was all grass pitches and this was mowed in a matter of minutes on their large ride on mower. I would say the HS pitches took a lot more upkeep. However, for us, we always choose HS for fear of getting bogged down in the mud.
There's no camping tradition in my family so I really only came to it via the caravan that my husband and I bought for stopovers at horse shows, and then used for holidays as well. We had the classic air awning set up, so always favoured grass pitches which were the commonest at the time. We've since gone to a motorhome, but II'm still not a fan of the car park style pitch or regimented rows of hardstandings - except for a one night stopover, in which case the compensating factor is usually the proximity of a pub or village centre if it's an aire.
Indeed, on the CLs that we use as members of CAMC, I find it a rather sterile experience and not relaxing to be pitched in regimented rows !
I do think that the loss of grass pitches is due in part to the demand for all year caravanning, or the sites being unable to be financially viable without being open all year. Once site owners see the demand for their hardstanding pitches they are likely to convert more grass plots.
There are obviously parts of the UK where grass pitches are unusable in the winter months; we've also had some very wet springs recently.
We're not big rally goers but did enjoy a Chausson gathering at Stratford Racecourse, at the end of April, at which our organisers requested that everyone used grass mats to access the pitches. They look like a good solution - within reason - for those that prefer grass pitches and they are a fixture in our moho garage now; we also thought they might be useful on some of the sandy pitches in France.
Where the location, views etc persuade us to use hardstanding pitches, a good selection of roll up mats makes the underfoot conditions bearable - again they are also handy to keep the sand/dust out of the moho abroad ! We used to buy expensive, heavy camping brands, until our neighbours at the Stratford rally all made a beeline for the local B&M which yielded a selection of reasonably priced, light mats which spruce up with a hose off at the end of the season !
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: Growing Trend?
via mobile 02/9/2025 at 6:32pm
hard work. 
