Have you too noticed a huge increase in the cost of pitches for motorhomes? We certainly have seen big increases in prices, at the time of writing [May 2022] it’s hard to find an overnight stop on a grass pitch for less than £20 and many are asking £30 upwards.

I know the price of electricity has risen substantially, but that doesn’t account for a rise in the cost of grass pitches. Maybe it’s increased demand because less people are going to Europe in their motorhomes.

Useful websites that help with finding and booking motorhome camping are few, I am not going to name them here but will produce evaluations and reviews of the ones I’ve used. The main problem I find is checking the facilities. That does depend of what is important to you when staying in your motorhome. For Gill and I the main things we want are . . .

• a level or nearly level surface, so we don’t have to use levelling ramps or blocks
• a hardstanding or firm group, so our motorhome does not sink into the ground and become difficult to move
• a drive-over grey water drain
• easy access to the cassette emptying point
• on-site toilets, useful but not essential
• short grass that has not been mowed recently, otherwise the cuttings get into our motorhome and make a mess

Things that we are not bothered about . . .

• electric hook up, our motorhome has a big solar panel plus 2 large leisure batteries, our fridge freezer is powered by gas, 12v or 240v and our hot water and heating are gas powered.
• toilets, useful but not essential because we have our own
• pitch size, as long as we are reasonably spaced

We are no longer members of the two large organisations that provide their members with caravan and motorhome sites, why you may ask? Cost and being treated as a cash cow is the simple answer. Neither do we want to be told which way round to park our motorhome and asked to move it over 20 centimetres and back or forward 20 centimetres. Usually we are staying one or two nights then moving on. What we really want is what the French and Spanish aires provide for free and rarely more than €7 or €8.

Motorhomes and caravans are fundamentally different and attract different kinds of people. I’ll expand on that in another post.