Club Motorhome Bloggers

I imagine a warden's role may vary between different sites and the facilities they offer.

In our case this holiday park is quite spread out (36 acres) and caters for lots of tourers with a choice of grass and hardstanding pitches. There are also static holiday homes and a few luxury lodges. There is a shop/cafe and an outdoor swimming pool. The site has quite a few awards to its credit so its very important to keep standards high.

Our own roles centre on cleaning and maintenance of the facilities and the regular shift hours concentrate on the toilet and shower blocks which are in 2 separate areas of the site plus a motorhome service point, chemical disposal points, laundry room and kitchen.

There are 4 shifts in a day with one of them being the main cleaning session. First shift is an early walk around checking that all is tidy from the night before, anything that needs putting right is done so. Late morning is the main cleanup when the whole facilities are worked through in systematic order. Late afternoon sees another walk around tidying anything as necessary and the late shift is a mini cleanup depending on how it all looks.

We share these shifts so only do two of these shifts each day except when the other couple are on their days off when we do the lot.

Currently updating ourselves courtesy of McDonalds wifi in the suburbs of Copenhagen before setting off across the Oresund to Sweden. Here's an updte on our trip which I prepared earlier.

We set off on Wednesday evening and had a smooth ride to our planned overnight stop near Great Dunmow. In the morning we decided to go into Colchester for a quick look round and to make one last-minute buy – some travel sickness pills, just in case ... That left us plenty of time before the ferry, so we had time for lunch by the sea at Walton-on-the Naze before heading off. The crossing to Esbjerg was rather (no very) rough – we thought, though the crew told us that the storm force 4 winds were “nothing to what we do get”. If that's the case, we would not like to be to be crossing the North Sea when it IS rough!! Glad we went shopping in Colchester!

We have now been 4 nights in Denmark and have had quite a good 'run round', ending up this afternoon in Copenhagen in the City (Motorhome) Camp – which officially doesn't open until 1st June, but which has 6 motorhomes in on reduced facilities (and terms).

Our impressions of Denmark so far are

• The Danes seem to have a relaxed approach to life, no doubt helped by not living in an overcrowded country as we do

We have tried a few setups that would give us some transport when we are parked in one place for a while. Cycles, then a scooter and rack (which was great) but we then acquired our lovely dog and the scooter became rarely used. I wasn't keen to be towing a trailer around with us although I have no problem with towing having had quite a bit of previous experience with lots of different trailers but the storage of it would always be an issue for us whether based at home or visiting friends and family as we do in our motorhome. We also use Aires for most of our European travelling and parking space could sometimes be an issue for motorhome, car and trailer.

The most practical solution for our usage was to use an A-frame. It means that we have a car to use for exploring and other general use - the car can also provide extra useful storage space when travelling as a bonus!

We (I) came up with the bright idea of all this when we were in Spain before returning to the UK for the summer. We had already committed to a start date for our job as campsite wardens and the ferry was booked for a couple of days beforehand so time was a bit tight for actually getting a car and the A-frame. Firstly, I sourced the car I wanted over the internet - sadly it was in Gateshead and we were going to be working in Cornwall! A deal was done over the phone to buy it (I know, I know, but you have to take the odd chance here and there!) and the dealer agreed to deliver it to a location that I would advise later.

Car bought, a 2003 Suzuki Jimny which I had read was a good car to tow (post 2004 models are not however). It is a perfect size for the two of us and Digger, plus as a very light 'proper' 4x4 its great for getting off the beaten track when required.

I then started to research a supplier for the A-frame itself. After much reading about possible regulation changes looming from 2014 I contacted several suppliers via email to enquire about costings and suitability etc. Surprisingly, not all of the companies even answered and others either said the car was too old for them to adapt or, another wanted to sell an A-frame + car package and wasn't interested otherwise!

Well, we've completed our first whole week of work!

Our normal weekly hours are around 16-20 but with all the extra preparations to areas on the site we've clocked up 80 between us - and we're pretty shattered.

The new rotas have been issued now, so from now on we will will be working to a shift pattern shared with the other warden couple. There are 4 shifts in a day - each couple working 2 of them except for when a couple has their 2 days off a week when the other couple covers all 4.

We don't do our own shifts until later this afternoon so we have most of the day to ourselves and the weather is lovely!

The remodelled swimming pool opened yesterday, just in time for the mass influx of holiday makers and very popular its proving too :)

Our first work tasks have been to help get the seasonal parts of the site into top condition for the start of the main holiday period which starts this May bank holiday weekend. Preparations have included lots of extra cleaning of toilet, shower and kitchen facilities.

Today we've moved up a gear incorporating grass strimming and pool accessory cleaning - at this point we are well on schedule for the mass influx of campers at the weekend.

Cleaned, mown and strimmed

So we are off tomorrow on our Scandinavia Baltic tour!!  After what seems a long wait for summer to arrive (has it?!) we are now all packed and ready to go.  Lots of lists have been made and jobs have been crossed off as they are completed, and now there is only one list left - the jobs to do before we lock the door tomorrow.

Sally (2) is well laden with clothes to cover every climate from cold and wet inside the Arctic Circle to the heat of a continental summer (well, you have to travel hopefully, don't you!).  And most of all, a considerable amount of food (very pleased to have the bigger fridge/freezer) as a hedge against the high prices in Scandinavia in general and the reportedly exhorbitant prices in Norway in particular.

Hopefully we've done our planning OK, and we're looking forward to our Scandinavia Baltic tour 

A slight change of direction for my blog....

This summer caromac and I have become..... campsite wardens!

We normally spend a lot of each year touring in our motorhome and a lot of the year is spent in Spain but there's always an annual trip to the UK for MOT and service etc (and to visit family and friends of course) which avoids the hottest times when in southern areas. Well this year we decided to spend the whole of the summer in the UK and thought we would try incorporating our motorhome interests into this plan.

I thought I would blog about our experience because we have found out by friends' reactions to our plans, that a lot of people seem to think it would be an ideal occupation for them too but not many actually progress to doing it - so I'll tell it how it is, to offer encouragement (or discouragement) to others  .

A couple of months ago Caromac drafted a suitable CV for us as a couple and emailed it to all the campsite job vacancies that we could find - we ignored the ones that offered just a free pitch in return for work, we intended to actually earn a living while doing this!

Off for the weekend to Moreton in Marsh for a 'National' meet of our walking group.

Here we are on the site, which is 5 minutes walk into the town, with the new Cotswold local hospital behind

The weather was glorious and we enjoyed some good walks.  A picture below of one of the many lovely houses in the area

2013

April 18th

Went to collect our new (to us) motorhome today.  After much considertion, she is to be known as Sally 2 - but generally called Sally, for short.  Well, you can't Sally Forth in a motorhome which isnot  called Sally,can you?  And that is what we continue to do. It was rather sad leaving Sally 1 - silly really as she is only a vehicle, but one which holds so many good memories for us, that perhaps it would be stranger not to feel anything.

Sally 2 is an Autosleeper Worcester - long bench seats, rear washroom/shower on a Mercedes base with autobox.

2013

April 20th

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Romsey Motorhome Show with the idea that we would see what was out there, and what we might get if we decided to trade Sally in for a new model.  Well we soon spotted an example which fitted out criteria - all the things we were looking for when we bought Sally, plus must have an auto gearbox and desirably a bigger fridge/freezer.  Well, it wasn't long before we saw one meeting our aspirations.  A brief discussion showed that there might be room for negotation.  After looking at some more stands and a few more discussions we decided we would see if a deal could be made.  Well, of course, it was, or I wouldn't be writing this!!

So this weekend we took our last trip in Sally at Dummer Down Farm near Basingstoke for a rally.