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After the summer holiday chaos, we booked a camper van for half term so we could take our kids away for a few days. Originally we were going to meet friends and spend a few days with them in north Wales but that can't happen now and we are now also getting a bit nervous about going anywhere and using shared facilities on a campsite. So - can anyone recommend a nice campsite (in the north of England, anywhere within a few hours reach of Chester and Harrogate) where there is a sound social distancing plan and cleaning regime where we could feel relatively safe?
Also, what are thoughts on 'meeting' our friends (even in smaller groups). We are a family with two 11 yr olds, they are a family with a 11 yr old and a 8 yr old. I was wondering if we could both camp at the same site and do things in smaller groups to keep under the Rule of Six?
What is everyone else doing?
Go to Scotland and the kids wouldn't be included in your head-count and you'd be within the rules.
Not sure how sound a plan this is and there are all kinds of rumours that things are about to change.
Waiting to see if a circuit breaker gets dumped on Scotland and holding our bookings until till our last minute cancellation windo.
Yeah I did wonder about the borders - it's probably the limit to how far we want to travel as we have to get the van back quite early on the final day.
Have a look at any of the caravan and Motorhome club sites, you’d need to join but their protocols are very good. Scotland would be a risk but we should know tomorrow what the likely restrictions are as they will definitely use the Oct hols over the next 2-3 weeks to do ‘something’
Waiting to see if a circuit breaker gets dumped on Scotland and holding our bookings until till our last minute cancellation windo.
Yep, I'm fully expecting travel restrictions. Absolutely gutted after managing to finally get my camper conversion finished we were gonna head west with the kids to Ardnamurchan (after alreading cancelling our trip to Spain) in the tattie hol's. First flipping break since xmas and we'll not be able to go anywhere. I suppose we have our health...
Yeah,it's a bit shite, perfect bleedin timing.
This was our moved Easter break that we had had to cancel.
The annoying thing is that we did and will comply to what gets dished out, but I just know some will not give a toss, I may spend the two weeks shouting out the window at folk in the street 😉
I wouldn't look at scotland, even D&G/Borders. The undercurrent of non-information but do "this" points at a lockdown/travel limitation early/mid Oct.
Have a look at any of the caravan and Motorhome club sites, you’d need to join but their protocols are very good
You don't have to be a member for club sites (but you will pay more). You do have to be a member for CL sites.
We purchase a port-a-potty and have managed to pretty much avoid all shared facilities in our camper van. Just accept showering is off the cards.
Secondhand info from some-one high up in PHE suggests that high infection rate areas of England are also likely to go under a circuit breaker in a similar timescale to Scotland. We have delayed booking anything at the moment.
Yeah, it may end up that we just go for days out in it (to the coast etc) then sleep in it on our drive 🙁
Such a shame because our girls have been asking and asking for a few years if we could do it too 🙁
CMC sites are all very good from the Covid perspective. Regular cleaning of facilities, screens at reception etc. However most of their club sites are already booked up. The Late Availability section of their site is very good and changes almost daily as people cancel bookings.
Definitely CMC sites, we've done a long weekend at Chatsworth and August BH at Coniston and they've got very good systems in place. We did 2.5 weeks in Padstow in the summer and whilst good, not as good as CMC. Over August BH it wasn't crowded even though the site was full, enough loo blocks and plenty of distancing measures. The campsite at Coniston Hall was a very different matter however. In fact we're booked for a week over October half term too, assuming the world doesn't change again as it seems to do each week. We're in a caravan with on board facilities which does lift the pressure on using shared facilities.
We just did a week at a brilliant little CL in the cotswolds with a toilet & shower block - normally they take 5 vans but only opened 2 pitches so each van had their own loo & shower. They let a third van on a couple of nights as long as they didn't use the facilities. Great place to stay, they are around but it's a question of finding them
I'd fill it up with as many supplies as possible and try to reach New Zealand, or Germany at best.
No travel restrictions for Scotland at half term, this from Nicola an hour ago.
I keep hearing that sites are full, i've just looked at 4 CMC sites in Scotland that all have varying availability in the next 2 weeks.
OP: I'd just get on with it , get Googling and get a couple of sites booked. Our experience over about 30 nights away is we've managed to keep away from most people and had a cracking w/e in Garlieston (D&G) the other week. Go for it.
So we have done some more research (read the details on the Wales.gov website and spoken to a campsite) and apparently we can still go to Gwynedd as they don't have the harsher rules that some other places in Wales currently do and because our friends family's kids are 10 and 8, not 11 and 8 as I first thought, we can still meet them inside (as children under 11 don't count for the rule of six in 'safer' parts of Wales). So, seeing as we'd already paid for the camper van hire we thought we'd risk the extra cost of a campsite (just £96 for four nights) and go ahead. Fingers crossed the rules don't change again meaning we can't go!
I get that you want a holiday - we all do. But we all need to act selflessly right now and just stay at home. Don’t go on holiday just because you can.
This is a great little site.
Near to Rutland water for gentle bike rides round the lake.
Personally i have no qualms about safety on campsites as no business owner wants an outbreak on their hands.
Ask before booking what their safety protocols are.
Campsites I've stayed on this summer have all had instructions on the toilet block entrances, sanitizer at the entrance, limited capacity, one way entry/exit systems and one place had even installed red and green sliders on the door of each shower/toilet and above sinks so you only use one thats on green(clean) and after using you slide it to red (dirty) and there is a cleaner constantly working to disinfect each 'dirty' area and slides go back to green. This was a larger more expensive site though.
It amazes me the ingenuity of the human race to adapt and get on with life in difficult and scary times.
No need to stay at home if you don't wish to just follow the rules.
We stay here at least once a year and they're set up for camping, barn or b and b:
https://www.thedragonsback.co.uk/
Having said that, with the age of your kids and the possibility of not brilliant weather, that Rutland Water place would offer a good range of activities.
PS and (so far) Rutland has avoided colossal covid
Dale Farm in the Peak District. Nice site, superbly clean, on the door step of some nice gravel and MTB riding.