I'm a complete newbie, have done some camping with a tent but we will be buying our first caravan in the next few weeks hopefully. But which club to join? The Caravan Club or the Camping & Caravan Club, or both?
We joined both for a while, but personally we preferred the layout of the caravan club sites, the soap in the toilets & separate waste and drinking water points - we may just have been unlucky with the C&CC site we stayed on and it was about 8 years ago, we were going to re join them last year but I was a bit put off by the deposits for booking. When we last went to C&CC site
Pitches were allocated, where as most of the time you can choose on CC sites.
We usually make it to all our bookings - occasionally we have had to delay due to illness and last year we canalled one due to back trouble and lost CL deposit.
If you can afford to and join both to give you more choice.
CC has about 220 of it's own sites and over 2500Cl's ( small 5 five van independant sites of variable standard licensed by the club for members only ) , the standard of it's sites is consistently high over the whole network, it provides every service that a caravanner could need and all the services are comparable with the best of service that you can find anywhere. When you arrive at a club site you book in and pay your fees, no deposits are taken so the whole fee is paid at this time, you are then given information about the site and are told to go go and have a look at the pitches available ( all empty pitches are available ) choose one, set up and then let the wardens know where you have gone. Should you decide for whtever reason that you need to leave before the date that you have paid till, you can inform the wardens that you are leaving and will receive a refund of all fees for the days that you have paid for but will not be staying for.
CCC has about 110 sites of it's own and a network of about 1000 CS's ( like CL's ), the standard of the sites over the whole network is of a more variable standard with the best sites comparing favourably with the CC sites. It also provides a full range of high quality services for the caravanner that are just as good as those provided by the CC. When you arrive at a club site you book in and pay the remainder of your fees ( a deposit will be taken when you book which if you have to cancel for any reason should be available for you to use at some later time in the same year), the warden will decide where you are to pitch and will escort you to it and ensure that you have pitched precisely as he requires. Should you need to leave for any reason the fees that you have paid will be forfeit ( though in some circumstances by special request to head office giving circumstances and doctors notes be placed on account for you to use in the rest of the year )
I have been a member of the CC for 17 years and have never regretted it, I have been a member of the CCC on two occasion in the last four years and have on both occasions resigned it just did not suit me. I know of a lot of people who like and use the CCC so I would suggest that it is worthwhile joining both clubs and seeing which one suits your purpose best
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
I would concur with JS and janus's observations, however there is a further aspect worth taking into account.
Both do rallies and holiday sites and these can be extremely useful at popular times of the year when late booking access to a CC site for a week-end is all but impossible.
For these rallies and holiday meets the C&CC work a much more flexible system rarely requiring any pre-booking or alliance to any sub group.
Given the investment in the van, kit and car then joining both Clubs makes most sense giving the best chance of exploiting your opportunities to get out. If one does not suit you then don't renew; we have been with the C&CC for over 30 years, the CC for 25, for the cost of membership we would not drop either.
We are with the cc&c. The online booking can be a nightmare at busy times as it is very hard to book a site with availability. You have to go onto the site you are wanting to book fill dates in and then find out that there is no availability, you can click on nearby sites but if there is no availability on those then you have run out of nearby sites so have to go right back to the beginning to find there is no availability. That really annoys me and i can't see why you can't put in the dates and pitch you require and it come up with what is available.
I like being taken to my pitch by the cc&c warden as he then points out where everything is and last Friday helped us onto our pitch with his tractor. I am going to try out the cc when it comes to renewing membership in September.
I've been with the C&CC for about 4 or 5 years now and joined the CC for one year as well because they had so many more sites. We found that the CC sites were, on the whole, more picturesque and nicely landscaped, but the facilities weren't a lot different. They were also a lot dearer for us, being over 55 - the C&CC give a discount to over 55s in low and mid season on most of their sites.
As for choosing your pitch, I've found that frequently they will offer a choice of two or three, depending on how full they are, but then I never go in high season so there's usually more space available.
It doesn't bother me having to pay a deposit - it's a nice surprise when I get to the site and only have a few pounds to pay!
We have been members of the C&CC for 5 years now as we had a tent. We are getting a Caravan Next Week so we have joined the CC. We intend to keep both :)
I would agree with those who say try both. The difference is much more one of ambience than of quality: both offer good quality sites and ancillary services. We have belonged to both, but have preferred to remain with the C&CC, partly because we qualify for the over-55s concession, but also because we like the less regimented site lay-out, and also because the deposit system means that sites are not fully booked from the start of the season by people who just think they might want to go away for each and every weekend. Only by trying what each has to offer will you know what best suits your tastes: you may even find you like both equally (or dislike both equally - though I doubt this).
We only have CC so can't comment on C&CC. The CC as previously stated is of a very high standard and I think that the the price is very good for what you get.
We mainly use CC site where possible as it suits us, and on the few times we have used commercial sites I always think that the standards arent quite as good! By this I mean cleanliness of toilet blocks, pitches etc
I have been on my own a couple of times and have always had offers of help when pitching too.
Both myself and hubby are in our 30s with 1 child so it isn't just for retired couples.
While on the subject of clubs you might also like to consider joining the partcular owners club for the brand of caravan you puchase. Most if not all of the major brands have an owners club which will hold rallies and you will be able to access help and advice specific to the make of van you buy. I am a member of the Swift Owners Club and have enjoyed many rallies all over the country and have also had lots of help with my van
------------- hawk
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone"
I have the body of a greek god - its in my freezer
I am member of the camping and caravan club, i have a tent and my friend has a caravan also my mother in law is a member and she has a caravan, we have found the club to be very helpfull in the past and all the club sites are of a high standard. I think you would find joining the club quite usefull and interesting as they also put on lots of activities at various sites throughout the year.
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: Newbie Question: Which Club?
