Northumberland campsite owners relieved to see surge in summer bookings after a wet spring

Camping and glamping sites have surged in popularity, especially since Covid, as an exciting and more affordable alternative to going abroad.

A prolonged wet spell in March and April left some campsites waterlogged but the recent warmer weather has resulted in bookings picking up.

Katryna Shell from Doxford Farm Camping said: "When the weather is good, there's no better place to be in my opinion than our beautiful Northumberland.

"When the weather forecast’s really good, we have a real increase in bookings. I think it inspires people and gives people that hope that we might have a bit of a summer.

"We tend to find, if there's a good patch of weather, the forward bookings for the rest of the summer also have a bit of an improvement as well.”

Doxford caters to all campers, with their bell tents, caravan site and seven tent pitches, but this year they noticed a difference in demand for each service. After having shut due to waterlogged ground over Easter, the effect is still being felt.

"It was much slower this year, I really noticed the difference in the bookings with the caravans and motorhomes,” Katryna said. “We didn't really get bigger bookings coming in until May, which is much later than normal.”

“We had caravans stuck left, right and centre, and had JCBs attached to them and all sorts. So we made the decision we had to shut for a month, which was quite a hit to us. We're just a small little family-run site, so being shut for a month over the busiest time of Easter was quite unfortunate.

"Because the season is quite short anyway, if a couple of months are removed because of poor weather, we will really see a knock-on effect, because you can only be so full. It's not like you can overbook yourselves so we can’t really make that up. That lost time is gone, you can't claim it back.”

Alan Walker from Coast and Castles Camping, near Alnwick, agrees: “The phone definitely rings a lot more once the sun is out and people who have caravans and tents decide to strike while the iron's hot and try and get away.

"Campers are quite hardy people anyway, so their kids will play out whether it's rain, sleet, snow or sunshine. If they're going to camp, they're just going to get on with it.

"Weekends are pretty much full all year round but you have fair weather campers as well. When the weather picks up, they then decide to try and book.”

It isn’t just the campers who are keeping an eye on the weather forecasts.

Coast and Castles Camping was badly flooded in the spring and now has plans in place to put in field drains.

Alan explained: "Caravans will normally always show up because it's basically a house on wheels, but people that have got a pitch with a big tent won't want to do it in the rain. It doesn't affect us on the actual booking side but what it does affect is the revenue on the bar and if we have food vendors.

"The site's pretty good at draining for the most part. I think the ground just couldn't soak up anymore and that's why we've ended up with a lot of flooding. It's got nowhere to go.”

With campers booking their getaways around the weather, some camp sites are hoping a delayed summer can work in their favour.

According to Claire Gillingham from Walkmill Campsite, near Warkworth, people have moved on from booking well in advance to booking last minute because they’re waiting for the right weather.

Claire said: "We're probably 75 per cent full until the end of August at the moment, and the weather has been obviously a factor this year. After Covid, people were booking well in advance because they were desperate to get out and they wanted to guarantee pitches. Now, they're leaving it to last minute – they're weather watching.

“We go until the end of September and in previous years we have been full then as well. But, at the moment, I haven't got as many advance bookings for September as I would have had previously. We’ll just have to see if the weather's good and if we get an Indian summer. I'm just hopeful that this past week is not our whole summer!”