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Hi All,

We have just got back from 5 nights at this members only caravan club site.

We left Swansea at around 14:00 on Friday and got into the site at about 18:00. We missed Bath and took the next junction along. Going through all the villages at school finishing time was not a great start. Stop, start and lots of roundabouts. From Poole we followed the directions to the site which weren't that clear, I came off a roundabout to soon and ended up in a housing estate with a dead end. It was the next roundabout along, signposts were mostly behind trees so not easy to see. The site really is a bit in the middle of nowhere with only a pub close by. But we knew this before we booked anyway. Upon arrival there is no security barrier, go to fast and you will miss the site. The reception is to the left and plenty of room to stop and others can easily pass. We were checked in quickly and the wardens were really friendly. She gave us a map of the site and gave us a rough idea of what was where. We pitched up on pitch 45, the site is in rows and this row was fairly central. The pitches towards the back were much narrower and had "neighbours" backing on. Even in the centre of the site we were woken early in the mornings by barking dogs from the neighbours backing the site. Wasn't a huge problem though. Also on most of the pitches you are backing on to another van. There is a small hedge between you but very low. The van behind us left 3 children in it while they went off to the pub. Quite loud!! When we pitched up, although it didn't look it the pitch was sloping down quite a bit so levelling blocks are required. Also the TV plugs into the bollard so you will need a coax lead if you don't already have one. Also Orange gets no signal Laughing

That is why I have been so quiet over the last 5 days Laughing

Usually on CC sites you have service points dotted around but the nearest waster/waste was behind the toilet block. Not a long walk from where we were but could be from the back of the site.

There is 2 toilet blocks on the site. Both are a little dated but very clean and plenty of toilets/showers so no queues.

From the site we visited Poole, Sanbanks (wow), Weymouth, Portland, Chesil beach, Lulworth & Durdle door. I don't think the time of the year helped but Portland and Chesil beach were not at all impressive. They were very industrial and looked scruffy. Poole was very nice and a walk along the front was lovely. Sandbanks was also a nice place to walk and we got the chain ferry across to Swanage.

By today we had run out of places to visit. Also I have spent about £20 just on parking in the past few days. Everywhere (even laybys) have parking machines and not cheap either at £2.00 for a couple of hours. On the first day we went on hunt for a supermarket and found a large Sainsburys. There was barriers to get in but you only pushed a button, no money had to be entered Confused

didn't see the point of having it. So I dropped SWMBO off and went back to sit on Poole front whilst she did the shopping. Went back to the car park. Pulled into a space and got out to help put the shopping in the car. In a matter of seconds the parking warden was over giving me a ticket. I explained to the lady I was only collecting but she said tough, I had to buy a ticket now or have a heavy fine!!!!

The site has a woodland walk which was behind a locked gate. It was really muddy and only for summer use. The site also has a selection of grass pitches which were closed this time but they were really quite un even and i'm not sure if I would like to be on one. There was also a Childrens park which looked like it had a lot of things to do. And was also quite new.

There was really no direct route to the site. We went down through Shaftersbury but it was all roundabouts and lights and up hill down hill which didn't do my fuel consumption any good. We were told to go back through Yeovil upto Bristol but only a couple of miles from Bristol the road was closed so we had to divert an extra 10 miles through muddy lanes Evil or Very Mad

I had washed and polished the van in the site and now it looks like it has been rolled through a field.

So to conclude, the site was as expected, although some pitches slightly small. Access was fine if you know your way and the wardens were really helpful. However, there is not much to do in the area. And there are really no direct routes unless you go via Southampton.

Would I visit again, probably not, the site was fine but I wasn't really that keen on the area. And also the time it took to get to the site because of the roads.

Hope this helps.

Ian

pics

Guest

Is that a new awning, Ian?? Very Happy

soozeeg wrote

Is that a new awning, Ian?? Very Happy

He's stunned at your comment sue Laughing

I think my pc is broken or something because when I try to do a reply it says Debug error & general error and takes me back to where I type. Confused

Glad to report awning went well Very Happy

Rain & breezy and we had some sun Shocked

even on a pitch where the wheel was halfway up the leveller the awning was still really tight and reached the ground fine. I give it 10 out of 10 Laughing

I think I made a good choice Laughing

Ian

Hi Ian ......in your report you say you ran out of places to go, so did you miss out "Monkey World" and the "Tank Museum" the most popular tourist spots in Dorset.

I imagine at this time of year, a lot of places were closed.

Good to see you're advertising CCC on your A Frame!! Laughing

Lol didn't notice that Laughing

we had the cover with the van and the dealer is also called ccc caravans Laughing

I did see signs for Monkey world but places like that really don't do anything for me. Also we spoke to people who had been to the tank museum and they said because of the time of year they weren't open long and it wasnt as good as it used to be.

I imagine that in the summer it could be different, with plenty of places to visit.

Ian

more pics

Excellent pictures Ian

Lovely pictures they remind me of how much I love it down there Smile

Did you go to the village that I mentioned in another posting Question

Nice pictures Ian, you say you got the ferry across to Swanage, you forgot to mention that the ferry actually lands at Studland (Part of which is a nudist beach) Wink

then a drive to Swanage via Corfe Castle) Very Happy

Guest

They are good pics Ian, I particularly like the one of the river. I thought Lulworth Cove was very over-commercialised, and the cafe nearest the sea front served the most revolting coffee I've ever tasted!! Shocked

Sorry Liz, I did put Swanage, but in fact it does land at Studland and you do drive on a long, long, long road to Swanage. I couldn't believe how long the road was, people actually used the ferry even at the end of such a long road Laughing

Yes Sue, I know the exact cafe you mean, because we also experienced the "odd" taste. It was also very commercialised. I know I am going on but parking everywhere was stupid, we paid nearly £3 in Lulworth for 2 hours. We walked down to the stoney sort of view area and were not at all impressed. There were loads of people there, we wondered if they knew of something there that we hadn't seen Laughing

We also visited Marquis motorhomes while we were in the area. I think less said about that the better Laughing

The "sales team" I think were from another country and they didn't quite get the grasp of "separate shower". Laughing

Poole was definitely a nice place to visit though. We went back there about 5 times in the stay.

Ian

Interestingly the horrendous parking fees were the one thing I did remember about Dorset the last time we went which must have been about 15 years ago when we previously had a caravan and young children, so things haven't changed much. We decided to go to Studland for a day out at the sea and nearly died when we saw the car park prices, so drove along the road and came to an area where there were cars parked along the road for free. Looking at the OS map I could see there was a footpath running through the scrub and sand dunes eventually arriving at the beach. So we loaded up and proceeded along the path which I guess was a mile or so long. Just before we got to the beach there was a sign warning us that we may see nudists Shocked

and as we emerged onto the beach, we did Exclamation

. Helen, who was about 13/14 years old, was horrified by all these naked bodies, but Matthew wasn't that bothered (he was younger) or thought it was funny. We decided not to join in and walked along to the 'dressed' area. Both the children have never forgotten that day, but at least we didn't pay any parking fees Laughing

Wait until Colin Bridgend see this post he is always going on about Studland Laughing

We had a similar experience in France many years ago in the Vendee, Shocked

We often go cycling to Pembrey and sometimes even take the caravan to the CC site for a couple of nights just to relax and not have the huge fuel bills to get there. Last time we were there, friends came down to come cycling as well. Normally I know the route well but as there was 10 of us and we were chatting away we got lost and ended up in the middle of a woods with no phone signal and the sun going down Laughing

We had the option of trying to go back the way we came or by using the sun as a pin point. The tide was quite high so we could hear the surf. Eventually after trying to cycle through sand dunes we got to the beach, only to find that we were about 2 miles further down the beach than imagined and had cycled straight into the nudist section of the beach Laughing

None of us could control our laughter and SWMBO was horified lol We eventually made it back to the campsite, 3 hours later than expected and all very tired after what was meant to be an hour long cycle!

Plotter wrote

Wait until Colin Bridgend see this post he is always going on about Studland Laughing

We had a similar experience in France many years ago in the Vendee, Shocked

We also came across that beach in the Vendee Mr P, we were cycling and decided to stop on that particular beach but had quite a shock Shocked

needless to say we didn't stop there long Laughing

the kids thought it quite amusing though Laughing

Yes it was a bit of a shock to be confronted with all those young naked women,so much so I had to stay there all day to get over the shock Laughing

Plotter wrote

Yes it was a bit of a shock to be confronted with all those young naked women,so much so I had to stay there all day to get over the shock Laughing

Thought you might somehow Laughing

Guess where I'm booking our next pitch!! Very Happy

There are a couple of Muni's by there at less than £10

Great review and photos Ian.

Exorbitant parking prices are my bugbear too so I will bear it in mind when we go to Dorset in June.