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SimonFa

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Me North Dorset. Venezia in Portland.
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I suspect these are fairly easy.

We've just had a couple of nights away "wild camping" in our motorhome.

First picture was Saturday evening then on Sunday we moved to the second location and the second picture is Sunday evening and the third Monday morning.

cornwall (1 of 5).jpgcornwall (3 of 5).jpgcornwall (5 of 5) - Copy.jpg

For those not in the know wild camping in a motorhome just means avoiding camp sites. On Saturday we found a car park where we could stay overnight for £5 and on Sunday we were parked on the road. You can just make us out as a silver dot above boats in the second photo.
 
Cornishwesterly said:
Sunny Corner. I live there! Which van were you in?
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A silver Fiat Ducato with NEO on the side.

You live in a lovely spot and nice to see such a community project. We'll be back and next time you'll see my wive out oil painting. This time she did a water colour from inside.

PS When I wild camp I like to try and do something in return, usually a bit of litter picking and in your location some lads had left a few beer bottles and the box lying around so I popped them in the bin.
 
SimonFa said:
A silver Fiat Ducato with NEO on the side.

You live in a lovely spot and nice to see such a community project. We'll be back and next time you'll see my wive out oil painting. This time she did a water colour from inside.

PS When I wild camp I like to try and do something in return, usually a bit of litter picking and in your location some lads had left a few beer bottles and the box lying around so I popped them in the bin.
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That very good of you Simon, thanks indeed.

We had an issue years back with a select few who would BBQ and drink late into the early mornings and leave all their rubbish behind. Does not happen much anymore.

There are quite a few campers who visit the corner, they too leave no foot prints behind so the local council leave them be for short stays. The council did ask what we thought of charging visitors for car parking! We agreed to disagree with them.... Hopefully it wont raise its head again but you never know

Give me bell next time and Ill bring some fresh milk down for a cuppa (y)
 
Thanks for the offer, I drink mine black and my wife uses horrible cartoned milk but do come and see us, there's always a few beers and bottles of wine on the van :)

On the issue of motor homers using places like that,looking at the various sites most of us appreciate we are guests and don't want to rock the boat. I think most would also be willing to make a voluntary contribution but honesty boxes don't seem to last long nowadays.

I'd be more than happy to see more continental sites in UK. Most small towns an villages have an area where you can freely dispose of gray and chemical waste and then pay for fresh water and electricity on a PAYG basis and they charge around 5 Euro to stay the night. The advantage is that they are usually in the town so more likely to use local facilities. In this country campsites are expensive and tucked away miles form anywhere, which is why we like to use places like yours.
 
We had a problem in our car park, we run it as a charity to finance local public toilets, and have a bit of surplus for good causes. Because we allowed local van owners to store their campers others thought it was a 'thing'. OK we turned a blind eye to the occasional overnighter, we aren't allowed camping under terms of the lease, but then we got some who set up over ten days, two vans, awnings, bbqs, furniture, and declined to pay the £2 daily charge. Also was abundantly obvious they had no toilets aboard. The wild camping site quickly removed this 'secret location' when I asked them. Below is a spot I recommended for them. Out of season is good, too many caravan sites nearby for high summer, we run the toilets which are visible in the distant view about 300 yards away. The field is not normally taped off, the owner seems unconcerned about overnighters, so far. He owns a cafe which provides breakfast further down.
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Sorry to read that you're hospitality was abused in such a way. One of the rules of responsible wild camping is no awnings, no furniture and no BBQs, unless they are specifically allowed, a;though sometimes my wife gets her easel and paints out if its a good view.

There's a car park in Fowey (the one above the ferry car park) that has a sign saying that you can park overnight but if you sleep in the vehicle that's camping and there's a £100 penalty. They're a big company with cctv so its probably worth their while enforcing it.
 
We've also 'wild camped' in our motorhome, both in Wales and Scotland but only where it's permitted, also in pub carparks, where we ask and of course patronise the pub - never had a problem.
 
I expect you know about Britstops? Haven't used it yet, but others recommended it.
Welcome to Brit Stops - Free Motorhome stopovers all over Britain

One tip: we stopped in the car park at Calstock for the Jazz festival, and went down the far end, as you do. 3am, wife sitting bolt upright, whispers frantically: "There's a car next door!"
"Yeah, OK. Drug dealers?....... doggers?"
"They've got their interior lights on"
"Isn't that sort of the point?"
I waggled my eyebrows suggestively...
"Go back to sleep!"

....so maybe better to park under the lights at the top of the car park.

PS I do know that, for instance, Appledore and Westward Ho! allow campers at £5 a pop, so it maybe that others in the same area do.
 
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My family caravanned in a farm near Portmellon, Mevagissey in the 1930s. I have a few snippets of cine film of them in a field. It seems a great pity that the world has moved on and this kind of freedom is no longer possible, no doubt for good reason.

While on the subject of caravans and Mevagissey, my family were witness to an entertaining episode there before I was born. A woman was driving a car towing a caravan up the narrow road out of Meva towards Portmellon. Unfortunately, the nearside wheel of the caravan ran into a gully at the side of the road which led the caravan up to the corner of a substantial garage, with the result that part of the side of the caravan was torn off. In the resulting confusion one of the driver's family was heard to call out "don't fluster, Mumsie". This became a catch phrase in my family for all untoward events. The channel at the side of the road and the garage are still there, so take care if driving that way. The garage and gully were always known as 'Mumsie's Corner'.
 
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fisherman said:
I expect you know about Britstops? Haven't used it yet, but others recommended it.
Welcome to Brit Stops - Free Motorhome stopovers all over Britain

One tip: we stopped in the car park at Calstock for the Jazz festival, and went down the far end, as you do. 3am, wife sitting bolt upright, whispers frantically: "There's a car next door!"
"Yeah, OK. Drug dealers?....... doggers?"
"They've got their interior lights on"
"Isn't that sort of the point?"
I waggled my eyebrows suggestively...
"Go back to sleep!"

....so maybe better to park under the lights at the top of the car park.

PS I do know that, for instance, Appledore and Westward Ho! allow campers at £5 a pop, so it maybe that others in the same area do.
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Yes, we've been members of Brit Stops for a while, although I probably won't renew this year as most of the pubs are on Park4Night.

We've also done Appledore and yes it was £5 for the night, nice place and some decent pubs. The next morning I moved on to the the nature reserve and then walked the coastline down to level with Bideford, across to Bideford and back round. It was a good walk.

We ended up by a reservoir in the Brecon Beacons one night and a car pulled up and sat with lights on and engine running for a couple of hours. As it was two youngish guys I assumed the were selling drugs.

And what's that old saying - don't come a knocking when the caravan's a rocking :)
 
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