The Club is looking for possible locations for small caravans and campsites. We take advantage of special exemptions from Natural England to identify small caravan and campsite pitches for our members, meaning you won’t need a planning permit or operating licence from your local authority.
Certified sites can host up to five caravans or motorhomes and 10 tents for 28 consecutive days at a time.
We are the largest and oldest club of its kind covering all camping bureaucracy, so operating a qualified site with us can help you increase your campground occupancy rate. If you own at least part of an acre of flat land and it is not next to a qualified site, you likely qualify for qualified site status. Once the decision to create a site has been made, we accompany you from start to finish and have a committed service at your disposal to assist you from application to operation.
With our expertise and your unused land, you may soon reap the benefits of more successful income. If you would like to apply to start a small caravan and campground, simply download our “Everything You Need to Know Guide” and then fill out the online application form below.
Find out how to get your campsite up and running.
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*Fees are subject to replacement and must be paid prior to certification.
My name is Chris Scott and I am the Certified Site Manager for Horton Common at Lask Edge Farm. My family have lived at Lask Edge Farm since 1950 and we are founded on the Staffordshire moors on the edge of the Peak District National Park.
As well as running Horton Common, I am also self-employed and sell British-made agricultural and renewable energy appliances online for domestic and overseas customers. Freelancing has given me the freedom to manage Horton Common in my online marketing business.
Our assets are located on a hillside with fantastic views of the Staffordshire Moors and Peak Park. I have been traveling in caravans with my parents since I was a child and we had been making plans to create a CS for many years. In 2014, to begin the task and download the mandatory building permits and approval from the Club. The purpose was to share the beautiful perspectives we have with other RVers, contribute to the progress of local tourism and generate an additional source of income that can contribute to the current prices of our house.
We seek to create an exclusive CS with the most productive locations with all the services imaginable. The plan was to offer our visitors a place that required very little work in terms of maintaining drinking water and wastewater. The goal was to ensure that regular site visitors earned a solid annual income.
In 2014, we started working on the design of the site; The year before we spent time designing the site layout and creating a checklist of paints needed. The site required its own cesspool, water and electricity connection and the prices were reasonable. The benefits of this procedure are that the site is its own contained configuration that does not have the amenities provided to the rest of our assets and therefore the CS has its own value.
When we implemented the creation of a CS, we found that the application procedure was very simple, the site manager visited the site and deemed it viable and informed our local government about the proposed CS. It is also worth noting that it is vital to check with the local authority which works do and do not require planning permission. We were surprised to be told we needed approval from the Highways Authority to widen an existing driveway.
As well as a cesspool, water and electricity connection, we have also positioned the front of the site 18m from the road so that visitors can safely move away from the road. After our first year of running the site, we also installed a road and solid pitches to avoid disruption from heavy rain in the winter months.
It’s safe to say that you can do as much or as little as you need to, as long as you meet the fundamental requirements; In reality, it is up to each individual how much they need to spend on their development. I also discovered the site administrators. The visits are very helpful, not only highlighting potential problems, but also providing potential concepts on how to improve the site. I found it helpful to talk to someone who has an intelligent knowledge of other CS and it helped. What spaces do I need? It deserves and deserves not to invest cash.
We have been established for at least 3 years and are very pleased with the outcome of Horton Common, we received wonderful feedback from our visitors and even won the Most Productive CS award in 2015 which was voted for by Club members. We still enjoy running our camping business and the site requires little maintenance – mowing the grass once a week and emptying the bins are the most common tasks.
I would definitely suggest creating a site, but I would advise you to do your studies and think about how much time you have to maintain a site. For example, we have chosen not to install sinks and showers because we don’t have time to maintain them. Therefore, we have made the decision to install full-service presentations in our CS to make it stand out and attract visitors. My recommendation would be to make your site exclusive and don’t forget that service to visitors is key to getting smart reviews and a must-have repeat visitor.