Free camping in the UK

landy · Guru

Free camping in the UK

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Like the Gypsies over there. ? We stayed in B&B's . But many did over there from main Europe ..

Ozzie_Traveller · Senior Member

G'dayLandy

As I understand it, the UK is very UN-friendly towards free-camping activities ... a throwback from the uncontrolled gypsies in paddocks days
Equally as I understand it, the regional caravan clubs own their own campsites - there are few Aussie-style commercial CPs, most CPs are owned by the caravan clubs.
I suggest you get onto Google and start your research so that you can plan your journey ~ You might find that reciprocal membership with the Aussie Caravan Club will give you some benefits over there too :)

Hope this helps
Phil

-- Edited by Ozzie_Traveller on Thursday 27th of October 2016 09:28:57 AM

landy · Guru

Thanks for the reply's.
Phil we will look further into the caravan clubs as you snuggest. A friend and I took an old Triumph Speed Twin and went from Witham (about 100 Ks north of London ) around Scotland and the Isle of Skye and back when I was 18 or so.
In those days you just put up a small tent almost any where once you got out of town and nobody seemed too concerned.
Landy

-- Edited by landy on Thursday 27th of October 2016 12:17:45 PM

kandagal · Guru

A few years ago we bought a motorhome in the UK & travelled around in it for a few months. In that time we only stayed in a caravan park for 4 nights. The rest of the time we free camped. Lots of day use areas which gets the entry gate locked up until next morning but they let us stay at these places. Otherwise we found bird hide places (no one there at night), & some rest areas. If you like I can go into my diary for that trip & give you all the details of where we parked each night. Let me know. By the way we bought the 2nd hand M/H for 5000 pounds & sold it for 6000 pounds before we left. Alice

Gazzburger · Veteran Member

The two main clubs are the caravan club and the camping and caravan club both are very good with good sites the caravan club is a bit more snooty than the camping and caravan club

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

We joined one of the "clubs", but hated the sites and the way they operated. Not cheap either.
In 2014 we used a publication called "Brit Stops". It is a listing of pubs, farm shops etc etc that allow free camping, no strings attached. It was great.

Cheers,
Peter

kandagal · Guru

A lot of caravan parks in the UK charge extra pounds to "put your awning out" Alice

landy · Guru

Alice, we would love to hear a bit more about the bird hide sites is there some sort of publication that you find them from?
We will also do a lot more research into the caravan clubs although when we look at the price of funding this trip the Brit stops might be all we can afford.
The other thing we will be looking at is just hiring a small car and using cheap accommodation as we go. There's pros and cons for both.

kandagal · Guru

Cheap accommodation in the UK is a thing of the past. We found that out when we were there last year. Alice