Question: Campervan & tent versus campervan & awning.

Totally agree. Never had a problem in France and other Countries on the Continent, the only thing they take notice of is how many persons/animals are on the pitch. You can generally park anywhere on the pitch, have an awning and a stand alone tent without any problems. In the UK they will usually grumble if you are in the wrong place on the pitch and say they need to know whether you are going to use an awning or stand alone tent, (Generally at an additional cost). I can never quite understand why as they can easily check how many people are on the site if they doubt you.

In years gone by, we had a compact coachbuilt camper with a stand alone tent awning. We only used Caravan Club sites and CL's and never encountered any difficulties when we drove off leaving our "tent" behind. Now we have a different camper with a roll-out awning and have had no problems provided we book a pitch designated for "caravan plus awning".

I suspect that a campervan and tent on the same pitch with daylight between them look like two separate units sharing one pitch and avoiding having to pay for two.

Maybe a glass half full rather than a glass half empty approach would see the situation interpreted as a favour on the part of a tolerant campsite warden rather than as a threat to personal liberty.

It is worthwhile bearing in mind that whilst you may be upfront and honest about why you want a camper and tent together on one pitch, others may sieze the opportunity to sneak another family onto their pitch in their "kids' tent" simply to save a few bob!

Hi - we can only add our agreement to the difference between UK and European sites in terms of so many of the UK sites being very fussy about the vehicles and sleeping equipment you are using while the Europeans go with the flow.

We have a VW T5 - full conversion, looks very similar to the VW cali so not a home 'bodged' job - but find that because it is not a big white box with a satellite dish and hanging baskets some places (esp CC/C&CC) do treat you like second class residents. If we then happen to say we'd like to be in pitch where we can erect our stand-alone drive away awning...."eek, we've got hippies trying to stay!" Goodness knows the reaction if we just had a tent, so we sympathise.

I don't know if this site gets site owners looking at it but if so, please loosen up a bit and stop making all your sites like little bits of suburbia, and take a leaf out of the europeans book where a nice eclectic mix is far more interesting than a uniform row of white boxes and satellite dishes. There should be a place for anyone and so long as they do not disturb others they should be welcomed regardless of vehicle and/or tent.

Perhaps this site needs a 'small campervan liked here' section for those more laid back campsites?

Hi Catherine,we have had the same problem too on English sites !! was ok on the Camping and caravaning c s.s (small sites) but on bigger ones the moaned.
We have a Aouto Sleeper Peugeot van conversion and it is only 6 mtres long,same as some of the larger 4x4 vehicles.
The motorhome awning/tent is 2mtr x 2 mtr and we use it when staying longer than a weekend as our lounge where we can eat/drink ect when weather allows and of course we can leave things in it when we go exploring with the van.
Over the last 10 years we have done this in most countries in Europe with nothing said at all !,you pay for the pitch and you can put what you like on it !! sorted but once you come of the ferry and stop at an English site you get some grieff do not know why you just do..
In my opinion both the big UK clubs are the worst,but because we know that we tend to avoid them anyway.
Off to Salou in June for 7 weeks,site is great as is the site owners,cant reccomend them enough. btw it is call Camping La Siesta and is in the centre of town and barely 10 mins from the beach !!