May i also add that we are only planning to develop 18 of our pitches to AWPs, we will still have 20 grass pitches with hook up and 50 without hook up.
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Sorry if anyone got the wrong idea from my post. AWPs make a lot of sense and I'm impressed that Jasmine_Park has asked its' customers and potential customers their views - just how many major businesses do that???
OK, I have a two person pop-up - that means crawling/bum-shuffling around the tent and kneeling on pea gravel if you don't have several layers between you and it frankly doesn't make for comfort. (Sorry, did a lot of work on Roman sites on digs and pea gravel is oftern found above tesselated pavements and it doesn't do a lot for your knees!
If you can do a lot of camping, then the additional expense for such layers would be worth it but, if like me, you can only get away for a couple of nights at a time maybe 9 max weekends a year, such additional protection (plus possibly rock pegs) is going to be an issue both in terms of outlay/recouping the expense, time (and because I am tied to ferries this can be a critical factor) and convenience as well as comfort. On the subject of comfort, I can imagine a deep layer of pea gravel might actually offer the restless sleeper on a sim a better night's sleep than unyielding grass, though not sure about the noise. when turning over !.
Primarily, campsites have to pay their way and if AWPs are the answer to keeping sites viable, then it will happen. What concerns me is that a site (not referring to the OP as their intentions stated on here) advertizes AWPs but does not say what type; charges a fee for groundsheet hire or for the AWP itself and if a tenter is faced with angular material and hasn't been told that when booking and refuses the pitch, loses all monies paid out.
You don't have to leave pitches unoccupied in order to use a rotation system. Many of the campsites I have been on have a bare patch in the middle of the pitch where everyone is requested to erect their tent. Either side is usually a nice grassy area. So why not just work a system whereby the tents are erected to one side or the other giving the grass in the middle chance to recover. If this system was used regularly then there wouldn't be a bare patch. Even after a week grass isn't dead. It becomes yellow, but if left for a few days in daylight it recovers.
I agree that huge tents can cause problems especially if used for a week or more. However, you then make sure that the next few tents on those pitches are smaller giving the surrounding grass time to recover. Many campers only camp for a weekend anyway so the grass shouldn't really get that damaged if it was managed properly.
In my experience few campsites manage to fill every pitch every day of the year so it is really down the the wardens/owners to keep an eye on which pitches are being over-used and make sure they don't keep using the same pitches for the same type/size of unit over and over again.
With regards to campsite owners asking potential customers what they want. This is excellent practice but if every time someone comes up with a positive response it is accepted without question and a negative response is argued against then one tends to get the impression the decision has already been made.
It would take alot to put us off Jasmine Park, but in honesty we have used AWP's and aren't keen. We have SIG on our tent and also use a footprint under that and what was disappointing was that where the legs of our campbeds went the friction between the pea gravel underneath and the bed leg had caused some damage to both the footprint and the SIG causing a worn patch, we've since had to put a patch on it. On the positive side you avoid muddy pitches but on the negative they are not as warm or comfortable underfoot.
We did see astroturf being used on pitches at a site we visited earlier this year, never seen that before but seemed like a good idea.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
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Tracey - What park was it that you have seen the astroturf on? Hopefully we won't put you off the park, as you know when we do these developments we do it to a high standard and we are trying to contemplate all options and how to make the pitch as good as possible. They will probably be a similar size to the new super pitches but with a gravel more suitable for tents.
Bob - I think i must be reading a different thread to you. I dont think any comments on the AWPs have been disregarded or argued against. My initial post was asking for peoples experiences on the pitch both good and bad. We have decided on developing the pitches, the thread was posted to help choose what type of pitch to develop.
Your idea of pitch rotation has been i admit, but it is simply not a feasible idea. The only way it could possibly work is if all tents were the same size, shape and everybody arrived and departed on the same day otherwise tents would either get too close, they would have to be moved mid stay or the pitches are so large they are not realistic for a viable business.
It was at Fforest Fields and it certainly wouldn't put us off going back, as it wouldn't with Jasmine Park as we love both sites, but personally I just prefer grass pitches having had experience of both.
I fully understand your reasons for considering it though.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
We camped on one once with pea gravel & never again. I found it so uncomfortable. I must admit I won't go to any site with just hard standing.
Don't know about Astroturf though.
------------- Lyn xxx
Harbury Fields March
Moreton in the Marsh March/April
Hawthorn Cottage April
Lamb Cottage April
Somers Wood May
Maxstoke Hall June
Houghton Mill June
Lamb Cottage August
Somers Wood September
The Meadows, October
One more camper against any stone or shingle AWP. I always check before booking to ensure I am not being given one of these. It damages the tent and it ain't comfortable.
Astroturf is a novel idea. How will it react to having tent pegs driven through it?
we trialled some of this stuff ( it's very expensive for the area you need to cover!) and as the grass dies off you end up with a tent pitched on a 'plastic grid filled with mud' supremely uncomfortable under your sig and more likely to do damage that a rounded gravel - we dumped the idea and luckily had only invested in a little amount of stuff.
We have found our AWPs ( for no additional charge incidentially) to have become extremely popular and of course we can camp each of these type of pitches time and time again with only the need to 'refresh' between campers. We did opt to keep a few grassed pitches for the sceptical camper and have had no reports of damage to groundsheets or otherwise on AWPs, they are of course extremely well draining a HUGE plus point for those of our regular campers allowing them a far more pleasant experience than camping on wet smelly mud. We did have a complaint that the gravel 'walks into the tent' but then we balanced that with if the pitch was muddy that did/would most definitely walk in and be far more offensive than a bit of gravel that has to be swept out!
We have also had reports that it is actually warmer that camping on grass, not sure how that works but it was a seasoned camper who commended the 'under pitch heating' - he was thrilled through what was a miserable and cold summer!!!
Thats useful info Jakers. We are contemplating putting in 4 or 5 AWP's. What is the pea shingle laid on? is it a base of hardcore or something? Did you need planning permission for these and could you recommend a contractor? Sorry about all the questions! :)
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As a caravan user a AWP is my number one priority every time.
We have had enough of muddy pitches or pitches with dead grass killed off by ground sheets etc.
Everywhere i go its the all weather pitches that gets taken first, every time, and i am disappointed when i do not get one.
We are now on a gravel seasonal pitch and at the end of the season and when the awning comes down after 6 months.you would not know anyone had been on that pitch
All the grass pitches around the site by this time look a mess and have to be re-seeded
As a suggestion when using gravel they would be better edged in weatherproof boarding and compacted with rollers
stops the gravel migrating.
This might not sound important to the site owner but to the caravan owner it is??
When you cut the grass any gravel that migrates outside the AWP area is fired out of the mower like a bullet out of a gun and causes damage to customers caravans and cars
I have loads of dents, getting to look like the van has been attacked by a shotgun????
The all weather pitch should not be a concern to the tent camper if you use micro pea gravel , in my experience this should not damage ground sheets and is far better than walking mud into your tent.
other observations on AWPs over the years is that some site owners do it on the cheap and lay gravel directly into grass cleared pitches and the gravel eventually sinks into the ground ending up as muddy gravel.
As a seasoned caravan user i used to tour all year round so if you do not have seasonal pitches i would not be visiting your site out of season
As a tip to other all weather pitch users , buy extra long pegs because on gravel ect the peg only goes half wat into the actual ground, the other half is in gravel??
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Topic: All Weather Pitches - Opinions Wanted!!
