By William Coleman
As winter slowly creeps towards we are all faced with preparing our touring homes, with a tear in our eye, for the cold months. Do not fear as there are now a lot more opportunities for winter camping as The Caravan and Camping Club are opening nearly 30 of their sites across the UK over Christmas. Many of the sites will be holding special events for visitors and what’s more there will be a mixture of pitch types available.
To make the Christmas adventures more festive you can have a nice glass of mulled wine and a few mince pies at the Canterbury and Boroughbridge Club Site or get involved in the special merry celebrations at Bellingham Site in the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park. So you really do have a great christmas selection to choose from this year.
The Bellingham Club Site, which boasts an impressive 70-pitch site on the end of the Northumberland National Park, is a top base for walking. The popular Christmas festivities this year, with mulled wine flowing in the recreation room on Christmas Eve, a Christmas Games Night on 28th December and then a New Year Fizz reception to see 2018 roll in in style. Once you have recovered from the New Year’s Eve antics you can spend a nice New Year’s day at the quiz and film night with popular films shown on the big screen.
For those of you who love to venture, or infact live in, Scotland you can travel to Loch Ness Shores Club is their annual Ceilidh on Hogmanay, while campers at Moffat are invited to join an evening of games and quizzes.
Bob Hill, Sites Director at The Camping and Caravanning Club, said: “Modern camping units are well-equipped to make pitching up year-round even easier and more appealing. Our Club Sites have plenty of hardstanding pitches to make the process of arriving and pitching up easier, so campers can get on and enjoy their festive break sooner.
“There’s nothing better than wrapping up in a blanket to do some stargazing, or taking to the countryside for a good walk during the Christmas period. Our Club Sites are a perfect base to start these adventures and explore something new.”
Advance bookings for Christmas and New Year across the site network are up 31 per cent compared to this time in 2016.
The Camping and Caravanning Club continues to invest in its network of UK Club Sites and build more hardstanding pitches, ensuring more of its 750,000-plus members can be accommodated year-round. It plans to invest a record amount of £7.5 million in its site network ahead of the start of the 2018 camping season.
Camping in the Forest, a partnership between the Forestry Commission and The Camping and Caravanning Club, also has four sites open over Christmas, including Bracelands in the Forest of Dean, Setthorns in the New Forest, Glenmore in the Cairngorms National Park and Postern Hill in the Savernake Forest.
For more information on year-round camping with the Club visit: www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/year-round-sites
For inspiration and advice on where to pitch up for a winter touring break visit: www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/festivecamping
To find out what’s happening on a Club Site near where you live, visit the Club’s What’s On listings: www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/whatson.
To search and book campsites, visit: www.siteseeker.co.uk
