I've posted elsewhere about my desire to get hold of a s/h trailer tent but campsites are a real mystery to me too.
How easy is it to book sites at relatively short (say a week's) notice?
Are most sites happy to take trailer tents or is there some (un)official pecking order in the camping world?
Any tips on campsite etiquette or on avoiding late night parties keeping the kids awake.

I would like our first trips to be quick overnighters on the south coast - maybe the New Forest to start. I've seen some very pretty sites in the Forest itself but assume that places must be limited to certain types of camper.

Anyway, any help or suggestions would be much appreciated

Simon

Hi Simon

I think it depends very much on what type of site you are looking for and what time of year you are going. There is no way you will get a pitch at the last minute if you want to go on a bank holiday weekend unless you are very lucky and also weekends in July and August tend to get booked up quite a bit in advance at the popular site. However, there are loads of smaller sites which you can usually get onto at short notice. We are members of the c@r@v@n Club and as well as their Club sites which are very nice but quite expensive, they have a large network of CLs (certificated locations) which only accept 5 units. These can be very nice but you need to be careful that they have 'facilities' if you don't want to take your own toilet. The Camping and c@r@v@n Club have a similar network called CSs which I hear are also very good.

As for avoiding noise. Usually sites have strict 'no noise after 10.30pm' rules but some of them do not enforce them very well. We always use the campsite reviews on

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to check out what other people say about a site before we book for the first time.

Also, large commercial sites like the ones belonging to Haven tend to have more of the 'holiday camp' atmosphere and can be noisy. We tend to avoid that sort of site and stick to smaller, more rural sites or c@r@v@n Club sites and we have not had too many problems.

Some of the bigger sites also have a minimum number of nights camping at bank holidays too - some even do this at weekends. I have only twice called in on spec and have been turned away once so always ring ahead now even if its that day. Its usually no problem getting a non EHU pitch on the more out of the way sites at short notice. If I wanted EHU I would definitely book.

Try

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for the New Forest. There is a variety there, from really basic (and quiet) to all singing all dancing.