We've just a returned from a fabulous week staying at Heligan Gardens in Cornwall followed by a horrendous week at Damage Barton near Woolacombe in Devon!
Whilst the Damage site has the most wonderful sea views and large pitches, when it is windy boy is it windy!! We survived 2 nights of 50mph winds which I have to say was the worst experience of our caravanning experiences. Whilst I was feeling seasick due to the caravan rocking and swaying with every gust, the caravan behind us was actually lifted off its blocks and pushed backwards tearing its awning at the same time We saw numerous other awnings that were down due to snapped poles and had been ripped. We were fortunate that ours survived on its maiden voyage with extra storm straps, pegs and putting our landrover discovery across it to try and block the wind.
After 3 days of the wind, rain and then on the 3rd morning fog we gave up and came home a day early feeling not like we'd been on a holiday but a survival course!!
Glad you made it with everything intact. Weve been camping in cornwall when the winds pick up which I dont want to repeat - you get paranoid cat sleep end up walking round with a mallet at 3am knocking in anything that looks loose!
What sort of winds will caravans stand? Not knowing any better, on our first ever towing trip last year (Flookborough, Haven site) the winds were horrendous, awnings ripped to shreds, tents bailing out etc etc; the van rocked a bit (not due to me and `er lol) . . . but we love it wild and windy! Especially by the sea . . . . Can`t wait to take the dog on the shore!! . . . We must be crazy
------------- Peripheral people don`t have as much excitement but they sure live longer
We were on the same site and must admit it was not nice. I really was worried and mentioned finding a hotel at one point. One thing that hubby pointed out though was that the weather forecast wasn't updated in the reception area to warn campers. We heard on the TV so tried to prepare.
------------- Are you sure you've read the instructions?
We stayed at damage Barton early July , lovely site and area but boy is it windy,we had put our awning up for the first time and then spent 2 days and nights getting rocked all over the place,luckily when we decided it was just to windy to leave it up any longer a couple a few vans away helped us take it down
We also were on Damage Barton in late July/early August and also had high winds, rain and fog. Sounds like the weather has not been too good down there all summer.
When the sun did come out (eventually) it was a beautiful site but really when it's windy, I would say it is probably best to take down awnings - even the best couldn't stand up to gales like that. Our lightweight awning was bending inwards but as the poles were flexible, seemed to stand up to the wind better than some full canvas awnings.
Our lightweight awning has steel poles which have bent very badly, on the day we arrived the weather was quite good or we wouldn't have bothered putting it up. We saw one lightweight in shreds as the owner tried to erect it, beats me why they even attempted it!
------------- Are you sure you've read the instructions?
*phew* glad to know we weren't alone in how we felt about it !! We thought we were being a bit paranoid to start with and that everyone was looking at us thinking that we had put the awning up wrong. The windier it got, the more more we rocked and the less we slept we were so worried it was going to come down in the night!! One of the poor families across from us in a very large tent sat in their car for a couple of hours to take shelter and on one of the nights the guy said that he got up every half hour from 10pm till 3am checking guy ropes.
I have to agree that the site staff didn't put any warnings out and when we said about it in the shop they didn't seem overly worried. It was a lovely site but we won't be going again.
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: Well, we survived!
We saw numerous other awnings that were down due to snapped poles and had been ripped. We were fortunate that ours survived on its maiden voyage with extra storm straps, pegs and putting our landrover discovery across it to try and block the wind.
