UKH

I'm seeing adverts for the 'Nearly Wild Camping Club'  on Facebook. It sounds good but you pay £24.00 to join and to access information to sites etc. The sites are advertised as small, quiet and for tents and vans not caravans. Has anyone experience of them. Is membership worth it. Is it legit? Thanks

Some buggers will attempt to monetize anything.

This has cropped up on UKC before.

As far as I can tell:
* The actual idea isn't bad - essentially "AirBnB but for a quiet field with a portapotty and access to a water tap", or a low-impact way of creating some extra accommodation options in popular areas while funneling a bit of money back to locals.

* The name / framing of it is kind-of annoying, feels like a cash-in on the "wild everything" trend and also gives the (afaict false) impression that they want to monetize (actual) wild camping.

* The setup of not being able to get any details of the locations until you fork out your membership fee seems a bit dodgy - how do I know whether there are any locations signed up to it, where they're based, what they're like etc? It might just be a naive and badly thought out way of doing it rather than a scam, but it could still backfire if you signed up before finding out that it had basically never taken off and there were no locations that you could use.

It seems like a way for owners of non licensed “campsites” to make money for minimum outlay?

Some friends were trying to get planning permission to start up a campsite, it was extremely lengthy and costly and didn't look to be going anywhere. They were then told about the 'Certified Locations' status by a local planning consultant, which you can get from companies like the caravan club and others, which basically allows you to set up a small site without planning permission (seems a bit mad but there you go).

I guess this company are using that process to allow small sites to set up, sounds like its probably legit.

Hi I'm one of the monetizing buggars you mention.I signed up to Nearly wild camping as a campsite several years ago, thinking am I wasting my money, will anyone turn up .

They have, although not many from Nearly Wild. We have a sink and tap with drinking water and some portapotties in the old stables. We have a small flat field  on the side of the Mendips. All sorts of people come and stay. Those who want to try out "wild camping" before disappearing into unknown mountains forever, LEJOGers, people who don't like "organised" sites, cyclists, students etc etc. We do have a "license" (planning permission) so we can open most of the year.

It is very lovely. I meet a lot of people who like being outside like me and I clean toilets.

Thanks for that. That's what I was hoping it was. My main motivation is not to be a lone tent (or two) whose main view is rows of caravans.

I think as from last year you can now open for up to 60 days per year for camping for up to 50 pitches on land with toilets and waste facilities(bins). You do not need a "licence" for this. You just inform your local authority when you are doing it. No caravans though.

I don't understand the negative attitude towards caravans when many motorhomes/ camper vans are considerably larger than some of the dinky caravans you see. is it something to do with the demographic?

Yes, increasing numbers of people(inc families) live in caravans permanently due to the cost of buying housing. Caravan sites are therefore different to camping sites which tend to have a more transient population,Local councils therefore view caravan sites differently to campsites. In our case we live up a road where no one takes caravans so we have only ever planned for tents

But, let's face it, caravans are an absolute menace on the road!

i wasn't questioning your set up, which makes total sense, but the nearly Wild's acceptance of campervans but not caravans.

Realistically is there much difference on the road between a typical 4 berth caravan and a similar capacity motorhome ( I'm not talking about a VW Transporter type vehicle but a couple of levels up, coachbuilt)

Sounds good. That's how so many campsites were 30 plus years ago. Water, single out house fastened to a barn, a field with varying levels of drainage, cow pats and incline! Basic, but not wild and fine for a few days.

Depends, there might be. Maybe when the caravan is upside down as the driver decided too late to go to Torquay on the A380, leaving his caravan headed to Plymouth on the A38? Or another driver does the sat nav thing, and heads to the lanes towing the caravan.  Having never ever reversed it, and then meeting traffic the have to allow a Scout group to unhitch it and push it backwards into a field to allow the 10 vehicles now blocked by it to get by....

Just a couple of true caravan experiences in summer devon...

Here comes summer 😁

If my view from my tent was rows and rows of motor homes I'd feel the same. But generally that doesn't happen but rows and rows of caravans does. An odd caravan is fine.

You are correct.

Point taken. That would probably be me as I've never towed anything in my life. But by the same token I've never reversed anything bigger than a Transit.