Is It Worth Joining The Caravan And Motorhome Club?

In life there are many great rivalries, Liverpool and Manchester United, Oasis and Blur, North Korea and South Korea, Cadac and Weber, Brexiters and Remainers, but none much bigger than “The Caravan and Motorhome Club” and the other lot…

Very much like politics above there is no in-between, there is no middle ground and you have to pin your colours to the mast early on and then stick to them through thick and thin, the good and the bad and the ugly.

Since I started camping in my little tent, into my big tent then into my trailer tent I had never pinned my colours to the mast as I didn’t venture to enough sites, I pretty much went the same 6 sites over and over again (very boring). For some reason when I got my caravan I just thought that you should get a membership as my sister did and I just thought that it was one of those things you had to do. Strangely though, no point in doing so as I was on a seasonal pitch. I never understood the value of the membership and to be honest the general feedback I hear on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube is that there is no value in it anymore, only for insurance. The feedback was that the sites were too expensive now and that even with membership it just wasn’t worth it.

We picked up our camper on 29th July and I am delighted to be able to announce that we have used the club sites and I feel I have enough experience to be able to form an opinion for myself and then, in turn, pass that on yourselves.

As we (at the time of writing, mid Lisa MRI, at 09:43 on 26^th August ’22) we had not received our hab check on our vehicle from Spinney so we only had limited use of our Campers abilities, we couldn’t use the gas, use the electric or the electric hook up. So armed only with a handful of campervan accessories we have managed to get some nights under our belt. We did the top 12 beaches of North Wales and then when we came back home did some 1 nighters and these are the ones I want to talk about.

It is worth noting that my experience of the costings of campsites is relatively limited but I would be honest enough to say that I would usually stay at sites that are £40+ a night so I have experienced the upper end of the scale.

The 3 sites we have stayed on have all been accessed via the Caravan and Motorhome Club website. The first site was not far from my home town of Stoke.  We wanted to stay somewhere near to my family so we could show the camper van off as we had not had the ‘van for long.  So, with Lisa being off she was tasked with finding us a site. We ended up on a site called “The Lodge” in Holders End about 15 minutes from Newcastle Under Lyme. A lovely small site off the beaten track with a toilet block, shower, and chemical disposal point. There was a fishing lake on site as well. There were not many other people staying as we were mid-week but as a starting point for a CL we were quite impressed. We wouldn’t be arriving until after 8 and had been allowed to arrive late from the owner which we were grateful for. Upon arrival we went to our pitch and set up our brand new Cadac for pizza for tea. We were on a pitch with no EHU which was what we requested and we had a great night’s sleep, and the thing I love about these sites is just how friendly everyone is. The site was cash only but we didn’t have any so were allowed to do a bank transfer once we had signal, I think we forgot that day but did it the next day and apologised profusely but there wasn’t any texts etc or anything saying “you have not paid etc”.

We have also stayed at another site as well which was based outside of Sheffield but the thing that prompted me to write this blog was an experience we had at another site. To this day one of my favourite sites I have ever been too.

Down on the Farm Willow Tree

A campsite in my opinion is essentially a grass/ hard standing field, what makes campsites so special is the way they make you feel and the experience that the owners and staff give and that is why I would want everyone to go to a site called “Down on the Farm Willow Tree”. This is basically a working farm ran by a couple, Chris being the farmer and Patricia, probably the world’s worst farmer. Chris works on the farm from 6am, in the summer until 10pm at night and sometimes longer. Due to the state of British farming at the moment and to try and make ends meet Pat works 40 hours in the local post office in the Co-Op.

There is a special reason why Pat needs to work in the Post Office, that is because she is the most amazing, incredible, kind, caring, strong and dedicated person in the world. What starts as a farm developed into a rescue centre for a whole range of animals. Ranging from guinea pigs, to geese, to calves, to pigs, to giant rabbits, the list goes on and on and on. Every penny that Pat earns from the caravan site and the post office goes towards caring for these animals. Our stay at Willow tree was £13 with no EHU. When we arrived we were greeted by Chris who came over and introduced himself to us and he advised us that Pat would be over soon.

When Pat came over later on that evening she provided us with an envelope which had some information about the farm, some information about local attractions she also offered to provide on the Sunday a full tour of the farm to tell the story of the farm and the animals. Lisa and I are huge fans of animals and stuff so we were more happy to get the tour. Pat knocked on for us about 11am and there were another 2 residents of the site that came around with us. The tour lasted about 90 minutes and took us around and gave us an insight into the farm. This site didn’t have showers or toilets but the service we received was absolutely fantastic. As part of the pack she brought over 6 eggs as well and it is the little touches that mean so much. The great thing about these small smites is the intimate experience, experiences like the one we got at Willow Tree, you don’t get at your bigger sites and it is somewhere we will absolutely visit again.

Every penny that the camp site generates goes into creating a better environment for the animals that are kept there.

Around where we live there are 100’s of these smaller sites and every experience we have has been brilliant and I don’t believe for a second that these are the only small sites that make their visitors feel like this, and it is because of sites like Willow Tree mean that the Caravan and Motorhome Club Membership is worth it. 100%. Worth Every Penny.

We have made a Vlog about Rich going into more detail about the value of the Club, you can watch below.