The caravanning season is well underway. But that’s no reason why you should not keep abreast of the latest news, including site closures, extensions, upgrades, and the lowdown on the favourite destinations of your fellow campers.
Here are some of the latest caravan news headlines from around the UK.
Folkestone Camping and Caravanning Club Site shuts amid ground movement and landslip concerns
If you were thinking of pitching up at a popular beauty spot near Folkestone any time soon, sadly you’ll have to think again. The Camping and Caravanning Club’s site overlooking the attractive beach at Folkestone has had to close for the foreseeable future because of dangerous ground movement and landslides, announced Kent Online on the 16th of April.
Ground movements have caused large cracks along the paved promenade below the campsite and across the access road at the Warren. Responding with an abundance of caution, the Club – as the present leaseholders of the site – have indefinitely closed it and the local authority has proposed no new future tenancies until the current problems have been resolved.
The newspaper reported that a neighbouring campsite, Little Switzerland, remains open and appears to be running normally.
Lake District campers to benefit from 4G upgrades
Although the Camping and Caravanning Club may have had a spot of bad news for its site at Folkestone, it revealed a happily different story on the 21st of May for those visiting pitches throughout the Lake District.
In April, the erection of a new mast near Keswick spread the benefits of 4G internet connections throughout the area.
A government-funded £1 billion programme will see a further 82 such masts erected across the UK so that previously difficult-to-reach areas will be connected through the Shared Rural Network scheme.
The scheme embraces network operations by the big four mobile operators – Three, VMO2, EE, and Vodafone – and will vastly improve the availability and reliability of 4G signals. Although the new mast near Keswick is the first, additional masts will bring stronger connections to an estimated 95% of the UK.
Sussex caravan park to extend season
Winchelsea Caravan Park in East Sussex has successfully applied for local authority permission to extend its operating season from the 1st of March until the following 14th of February, reported the BBC on the 23rd of April.
Previously, the opening times for the site had been limited to the period from the 1st of March until the 31st of October.
The extended season was opposed by some local councillors who argued that the site’s reliance on cesspit sewerage would mean that more tankers would congest the approach roads to the site, resulting in an over-development of the location on Pett Level Road.
The successful counter-argument from the owners of the site accepted that there may be fewer visitors during the winter months but that an extended season granted customers greater freedom of choice.
The UK’s favourite camping destinations revealed
Whatever your chosen recreation, there’s always an interest in “favourites”. The Camping and Caravanning Club has obliged by publishing the favourite camping destinations voted in a poll of 750 members.
The top three favourites will probably come as no surprise to seasoned caravanners – namely, the Lake District, Cornwall, and the Scottish Highlands.
Other well-known tourist destinations complete the top ten of favourite places – the Peak District, Devon, the shores of Loch Ness, the Yorkshire Dales, Lake Windermere, the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, and the Cotswolds.
Included in the Camping and Caravanning Club’s top 20 destinations were places such as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula, and the North York Moors.