Which club?

We are members of the Camping and Caravanning Club. It’s a legacy of having been tent campers for a long time.  We notice though that very few the club sites are open all year. One aspect we like about the club is how inexpensive the sites are when there is only one of us especially as we are both seniors.

I have been looking at the other club, Caravan and Motorhome. They seem to have more sites open but look much more expensive. What is the experience of members of this forum and which club, on the whole, is the most popular.

We don’t find certificated site much use. Most are just abysmal and some are a health hazard. We have only found one that is really good. Are CMC certificated sites any better?

We are in both major clubs. C&CC have their oldies rates and CAMC have midweek discounts on many sites , so by looking at both you can find reasonable priced pitches. We rarely use C&CC CS's as like you have found, many are pretty poor unlike CAMC CL's which almost always have hook ups as they were geared towards caravans. Obviously this is just our findings, others may feel differently.

Like Paul , we belong to both clubs.  One big difference between their certificated sites is that the C&MC are licensed for 5 vans only whereas the C&CC allow up to 10 tents as well as 5 vans which can make it very crowded.

I am in both and have been for many years, there are good in both clubs, but I like the CL`s etc. after all we are self sufficient. I only use my van shower.

C& MC have more sites open all year and more hard standings. I tend to go with them more. some private sites are good and the electric where you have a card and only pay for what you use is the best in my view.

best to try both and then decide if you only want to belong to one.

C&CC have RAC Arrival which Is why I am really into that club, plus some insurance companies give you extra discount if you are in a MH club / forum.

I'm in the C&CC, don't bother with C&MC as their sites are usually over priced and can be a bit snooty IMO.

One thing to remember if you use the benefits fully is some of them pretty well pay for themselves too.

I get insurance reduction and also we shop routinely at Go Outdoors, which gives 10% off with a C&CC card and you can get 15% off at Blacks and Millets.  The savings over a year add up and I'm usually quids in from the discounts it gives.

If you want solar panels you can get 10% off at photonic universe too which I think is a recent one.

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With C&MC if you do your shopping in Sainsburys you can get 4% off by pre loading a gift card, doesn't work on fuel unfortunately. Easily covers the cost of membership if you are a regular shopper in JS.

Just to offer an alternative view, we've been members of both in the past but now are members of neither.

Lots of perfectly good independent sites around.

Tommy.

Thanks everyone. Perhaps we should try the CMC for a season and see how it goes. It seems to have more sites open in the off-season.

 In terms of independent sites, I agree there are some good ones but mostly more expensive. They almost always charge for a minimum of two people and I am frequently solo. It’s also the uncertainty. With the club sites most are good. The only site I have been to in the CCC that is bad is Minehead, it’s just minging. Boroughbridge is weird too, great facilities but appalling noise problems and prone to flooding.

Greyhound wrote:I'm in the C&CC, don't bother with C&MC as their sites are usually over priced and can be a bit snooty IMO.

One thing to remember if you use the benefits fully is some of them pretty well pay for themselves too.

I get insurance reduction and also we shop routinely at Go Outdoors, which gives 10% off with a C&CC card and you can get 15% off at Blacks and Millets.  The savings over a year add up and I'm usually quids in from the discounts it gives.

If you want solar panels you can get 10% off at photonic universe too which I think is a recent one.

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Damm! just bought my wife some new walking boots at Blacks in Chichester today, didn't know about 15% discount, but I suppose it would have been disallowed as we got boots at reduced price + extra 15% for October, also socks at 1/2 price.
We also got there free, as I was dragged onto a bus with my pass Only the 2nd time I have used it in 7 years.

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Richard

Mountain Warehouse give 15% off to both clubs and include reduced priced goods as well. Ignore the full prices though as these always seem artificially inflated.

Paulmold wrote:Mountain Warehouse give 15% off to both clubs and include reduced priced goods as well. Ignore the full prices though as these always seem artificially inflated.

Yeah that can be the issue with Go Outdoors too.  Sometimes the discounted price is about what you'd expect to pay for the item anyway, but usually it's a decent little discount.

The card discount usually still works even on sale items too though, so that's where you can really be quids in.

Hi Everyone
              We are members of the CMC and we find that they are expensive but the sites are good, We now use more CL's to keep the price down and mostly find them very good. You must remember it is not a club it is a business.
Regards
Alan

Just got an email from CMC saying a "small" increase in UK club site prices from 12th November.
Most bookings made prior to the 12th remain the same, that's nice of them!
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Richard

we dont use CLs much  as with the 'wrinkly discount' its nearly as cheap to use a club site where you know what you are getting (we avoid the July -August high season)

We’ve been in both for years. There is so much to be had in the way of discounts and offers that make the annual fee worth paying.

Nora

This thing about the CMC being snooty is a bit of an urban, or should that be a camping, myth. I'm not sure who is supposed to be 'snooty', is it the wardens or the other members? Maybe decades and decades back, when the CC was much smaller there were some snooty wardens but those days disappeared with gas lighting. As to the members, now the club's are such a size, they are a total cross section of UK society. Sadly the myth is slightly perpetuated by the C&CC branding itself as the 'friendly club's, which sort of implies that it's competitors are unfriendly, reinforcing a stereotype.
In truth there is little to choose between them. Personally I prefer to find my own pitch, rather than have one allocated as the C&CC do and I find C&CC sites can be noisier, mainly because they have more tenters, and canvas let's more noise out than caravans. That said, most caravans use awnings, which are a form of tent.

We were members of the camping and caravanning club. We wanted to book a pitch on their Oban site, a frame tent, for one week. They refused "we don't allow frame tents, they kill the grass". I thought, yeah, okay, fair enough I suppose. So we booked on a site down from the ferry terminal, said to him about if he was worried about his grass... "It grows back. If you're that worried, move your tent after a few days..."

Went to the c&cc site that week, to pay it a visit. The warden had a caravan and an awning, with a groundsheet. There were several other large 'vans with awnings. Surely awnings kill grass too?

I rang the club and said about it... Got such a snotty response I told them to stuff their club where the sun don't shine, cut my membership cards up, and sent every bit of paper they had sent me back to them with a letter of complaint. Which they ignored. They wouldn't refund my membership fees either.

What did amuse me though, the assistant warden on the site (well snotty that one) shortened their title to "* Inappropriate Word * Warden". How appropriate.

Haha.. Inappropriate word! Okay, not a mule, not a donkey but a begins with 'a', ends in 's' and has an 's' in the middle, and has nothing whatsoever to do with derrieres. :)

We are in both clubs and find the c&mc more friendly.
we booked for one night (Thursday) on the Canterbury c&cc site, very busy but a nice site, next day (Friday) wanted to book one night at Chertsey c &cc site to be told, you can't book for one night at the weekend we could book a grass non electric pitch and might have a upgrade when we get there.
firstly, when did Friday become the weekend? also, as we were booking on the very same day, if they had the type of pitch required at 2pm when we phoned why not let us book it?
Pete

I've been looking this morning for somewhere to go in January. At this time of year we need hook up so looked at clubsites that are open at this time of year. One such site is Moreton on Marsh. £24 per night in January! So out of interest I checked price in August, £35 per night, same at Broadway site. C&CC aren't much better, Winchcombe £32 per night. I checked Old Oaks in Glastonbury, one of the country's best sites (in my opinion) and the price there in August is £35 . If the club's want to charge the same price as top commercial sites, then they need to match facilities.
So I'll be making more use of CL and CS sites and temporary holiday sites of C&CC and try to get on ASOC rallies instead. 
As for January, I've found an adult only site within ten minute walk of small town with excellent reviews at £18.

We Have booked York CMC for next New Year 2020. The price is a few pence short of £40 per night. Think we'll probably stay at home if we can't find a better deal.

For accuracy, Old Oaks, Glastonbury in August is £32 during the week and £35.50 at weekends and Bank Holiday. That's for a Standard Pitch and it's £2.25 extra per dog, which the CMC don't charge extra for.

There are only 8 Standard pitches left on the park, with 64 Super pitches and 11 Premier pitches. Roughly speaking the Super pitches cost around £4 per night more and the Premier a further £2.50. 

An average August week, without dogs would cost £230 on a Standard and it's more likely you'd pay £260 as there are so many Super pitches and so few cheaper ones.

7 nights in August at CMC Moreton-i-M will cost £253.

If you have two dogs, as we do, then you need to add another £31.50 to the TOO bill.

So you're saying that (without dogs) Moreton is actually dearer than Old Oaks for same standard of pitch. And have you read the most recent reviews of Moreton on the CAMC website? I know where I would rather go except for the close proximity to Moreton town.