Comparing costs

The unintentionally anonymous (?) letter in the latest issue (September, p20) which dropped through the letterbox today echoed my thoughts on campsite costs on this island of ours.

So, having many things better to do, I nevertheless wasted some time comparing some random campsite tariffs for a week in mid-August and a week in mid-September.

Evaluating a Caravan and Motorhome Club site, I looked at a commercial site of comparable quality near St Austell Bay in Cornwall and found it to be around £7 per night dearer in August, but £10 cheaper in September.

In the Malvern area of Worcestershire, the Caravan and Motorhome Club was seemingly marginally cheaper than the Camping and Caravanning Club, but the latter offers worthwhile discounts to some age categories of members.

A commercial campsite was, however, £8 cheaper in peak season, and £4 in September.

What to make of that? It was random, and the results tend to show, as I’ve suspected, that it’s cheaper to use commercial sites in low season, but in peak season it depends upon how often you camp, as one has to keep in mind the annual membership fees for the club sites.

That’s if the pennies really do count that much in the choices of where you like to camp when compared to the pennies you spent buying your motorhome or campervan!

One not-so-unrelated matter bugs me more and that is having to pay to meet the costs of included facilities I don’t want or need. Can’t please us all, eh?

Terry Knight

ED Yes, it was unintentionally anonymous, apologies to John Dawson for the error that meant his name was omitted.