SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - View Single Post - AR11 - Ed's proposal - long version

26-10-10, 09:24 PM

4B Detail

The site is both a caravan park and a campsite, about a mile and a half east from the centre of Wem, on the B5065. The site is completely flat. It has a range of facilities, which I have inspected, to include a site shop (sells beer and wine). This is the shop (left) and the office/reception building:

And this is the view up the site towards the fields at the end, where we would be:

Bring your cozzie. There’s a heated outdoors swimming pool:

There’s a bar next door, with a terrace/seating area:

crazy golf:

indoor amusements, and some cash machines – note that these aren’t free, I think it’s £1.50/withdrawal, but there are several normal bank ones in Wem. The site shop is typical of places like this, small and offering basic goods. The Co-op in Wem is easy to get to with loads of free parking, about 5 mins down the road. There’s a decent café on site offering hot food, can take out also. It sits about 40; we would not have exclusive use of it though. I saw what they were cooking, it looked good, and the cost is very reasonable – typically about £5 - £6 for a cooked meal. Wide choice of options, from steak to fish & chips to veggie

Site will put on hog roast if we want, see below. Not sure that they’d use these local residents though – they have hogs and alpacas on site as a visitor attraction:

Similarly there is a large bar, they call it a barn. It’s big, they don’t call it a barn for nothing. There is karaoke in there in high season. We would not have exclusive use however and as the site can get busy it would not be possible to negotiate this. It has the advantage of being immediately next to the field that we would have. From the outside it looks OK, not the most attractive TBH - but inside (I went in a few weeks ago, didn’t have camera with, couldn’t get inside on second trip) it’s perfectly OK with plenty seating for large parties. As you can see, there are tables and chairs outside too:

Drinks are reasonably priced:

The usual problem is how to get everyone to mix. There would probably be some who wanted to sit in the bar, and others who’d want to sit outside a tent. You’ll see from the pic that there are tables and chairs outside the bar, and this would be visible and audible from the field – it’s just to the right of the barn. The field that we would have and the bar are very close to each other, no more than 20 yards apart, so mixing between the two would be easy, and encouraged if there was a group sat outside the bar area.

The site is OK for us to have gazebos or a marquee, and also a camp fire as long as it's off the ground to avoid killing the grass. I'm investigating getting hold of a large fire pit, I know a few farmers who might have something appropriate, even if it’s a JCB bucket. I have plenty wood at home. It’s physically a much smaller place than the Baskerville at AR10, so the relative spaces for people to spread out are not so great. Also, the café is just round the corner from the bar, between the bar and the field. Plus, I’d tempt some with home brew. You can lead a horse to water...

Toilets and showers are well kept, clean and most acceptable. The site is immaculately maintained. There are two loo and shower blocks on the site, A few pics of the sanitary facilities:

Some might find this machine useful

Commercial vehicles – vans in particular – are not allowed on the site. It’s OK if they have passenger windows, there is a guide on their website

I went to talk to the site manager. Bikers do not put them off, quite the contrary - we would be most welcome – they are used to hosting large bike and petrolhead meets. When I went there last month they had a West Midlands Harley owners’ meet, there must have been about 150 tents and camper vans there I would think. We would have a dedicated field that is a short drive away from the caravans, in my opinion they are far enough away for us not to be a problem to them or for them to be a problem to us. The only slight disadvantage is that it’s fairly close to a train line, but this is not a busy line. They are OK with bikes going onto the field, or there is a hard stand nearby. Some pitches have an electric hook up, and they would be OK for a few touring caravans to be on the field also. Here are a few pics of the field. For starters, this is a look back down the spine road of the site to the entrance, as you can see it’s quite a walk:

Here’s the pub (in the above pic it was behind me to my right).

On the right you can see a gate. This leads to these three fields. We would have the first or maybe the second, depends how many we have. Field no 1 currently has sheep on it:

Field no 2 and 3. The fence in the above pic is on the extreme left of this next pic:

Field 3:

The white boxes are leccie hook ups. The three fields are next to each other. I thought that either 1 or 2 would be OK for us, no 3 is huge and we wouldn’t fill it unless we had 200+. This was the field where the Harleys were, there was a great atmosphere there, a tented village. As you can see, all three are level, and some way away from the caravans, so although the site is a little sensitive about noise, I don’t think we’d disturb anyone, not least with a pub in the way. The tarmac road serves all three fields, it is to the right of the field in the above pic.

Dogs are welcome but must (read – supposed to) be kept on a lead and owners are requested to clean up after them. As the field is some distance from the caravans I don’t think it would hurt to have dogs off the lead in the field. There are some sheep nearby so you’d need to be sure that the dogs were OK with livestock. Plus there are a few very tame site cats that wander around, and some of the year-round caravan residents have cats too. But on the main site they should be on a lead, partly because there would be small kids running around who might be afraid of dogs, partly because of the cats, and partly because they have tame alpacas and pigs on the site as a visitor attraction. One of those long extendy things is OK.

BBQs are OK as long as they are off the ground. I have a gas thingy that I could bring if anyone would want to use it.

Because it’s a caravan park, with families using it, and access to the campsite is through the caravan park, there is a very strictly applied site speed limit of 5mph. No wheelies!!!! In fact when I went there I collected the manager from the site office and we drove through the site, he asked me to slow down!!

Camping at £7 per night.

Nearby – several pubs in Wem, a Co-op, and several fast food outlets. And for Manxmatt yes there’s a tyre fitters within walking distance! There’s also a small independent bike shop nearby, http://www.tonymossmotorcycles.co.uk

Here’s the emails that I exchanged with the site manager. I emailed first, then went to inspect, then Robert (site manager) replied.

My email:

Hi, I hope you can help.

My name's Ed Austin. I'm a member of an internet based motorcycle club, www.sv650.org. I live in Baschurch. Every year we have an Annual Ride, this year it was based at the Baskerville Arms Hotel at Clyro, near Hay on Wye. I'm preparing a bid for the committee with a view to holding it in Shropshire next year - date to be decided but likely to be late July/early August.

We would expect about 100 - 130 bikes with about 150 people (as some will not do the ride) - we are not hells angels, all are well behaved normal people!!! And the bikes are all roadworthy!!! Our members come from all over the United Kingdom and would come from pretty well every corner so would expect a quality event. Most people would want to camp but some would want a holiday home or bunkhouse or similar.

What we need is a level field that doesn't flood (motorbikes will sink!!!), a bar and off licence, and well-behaved dogs to be allowed. We'd need catering facilities from Friday evening to Sunday morning. A hog roast or similar would be fantastic. We also need a 'focal point' - whether this is a large marquee or a camp fire, I don't know. If there is a separate field then that would be great. I'd need to park my touring caravan on the field as the Ride HQ.

The idea is that we would arrive Friday (but some of the more distant members would probably arrive Thursday), go for a long ride Saturday, and then have a big social event Saturday evening. Most will leave Sunday but some will stay till Monday.

This is very much outline: I know you're there because I drive past quite often, and your web site says you cater for rallies, so hence the interest. We did have the event at Montford Bridge in 2006 but as the event has grown I'm not sure that The Wingfield Arms is big enough now and besides not all our members would want to go back to the same place.

Please could you let me know whether you offer this sort of event, and if you do then I'd like to come with a colleague and have a site visit to discuss how we could arrange things. My mobile is 07*** ******, or home is 01939 ******.

Thanks a lot

Regards

Edward Austin

Robert’s reply:

Hi Ed

just a quick check list

camping £7 per person per night (if it was out of school hols £5 per person
per night)
holiday home or bunkhouse or similar. We have 5 holiday homes to hire so it
would be first to book. But no bunkhouse or similar.

A level field that doesn't flood (motorbikes will sink!!!) yes the topfield
left hand side that I showed you. (it does not flood but if we have very
heavy rain it will have puddles)

A bar and off licence. Yes bar x 2 and off licence in shop.

A well-behaved dogs to be allowed.Yes as long as on a lead at all times

Catering facilities from Friday evening to Sunday morning. Yes as you saw

A hog roast or similar would be fantastic. Yes we can do a hog roast £350
plain or £400 with salads plus... for 120 to 150 people approx

We also need a 'focal point' - whether this is a large marquee or a campfire, I don't know. Yes large marquee would be allowed but would need to be
in your area (1 x 16amp electric included) A camp fire possibly- it would have to off the ground to not kill the grass.

If there is a separate field then that would be great. Yes as long as the
number is at least 250 nights (eg,125 people for 2 nights) you saw, we could
always manage but not necessarily in a seperate area.

I'd need to park my touring caravan on the field as the Ride HQ. Yes as rally organiser / marshal you would get a free pitch with 16amp electic included (if you could come thursday night or friday morning to sunday when group gone) to sort the group as they come and sort the cleanup as they go.

Robert Shingler

They are very flexible. The main concerns that they would have are not to be too noisy (because there will be families with young children there) and not to ride over the site speed limit – same reason. But they host several bike and car rallies, so it isn’t a problem. It’s a beautiful spot, very peaceful. It’s also got lots of facilities and I have no doubt that it would be a great base. The main meeting area would be the bar in the barn. It’s not an old barn, as you can see it’s much more modern, but still has good atmosphere. It would accommodate about 200 people, and they wouldn’t mind if we spilled outside. As stated, we wouldn’t have exclusive use of it though.

26-10-10, 09:24 PM	#3
Ed Guest Posts: n/a	Re: AR11 - Ed's proposal - long version - image intensive 4B Detail The site is both a caravan park and a campsite, about a mile and a half east from the centre of Wem, on the B5065. The site is completely flat. It has a range of facilities, which I have inspected, to include a site shop (sells beer and wine). This is the shop (left) and the office/reception building: And this is the view up the site towards the fields at the end, where we would be: Bring your cozzie. There’s a heated outdoors swimming pool: There’s a bar next door, with a terrace/seating area: crazy golf: indoor amusements, and some cash machines – note that these aren’t free, I think it’s £1.50/withdrawal, but there are several normal bank ones in Wem. The site shop is typical of places like this, small and offering basic goods. The Co-op in Wem is easy to get to with loads of free parking, about 5 mins down the road. There’s a decent café on site offering hot food, can take out also. It sits about 40; we would not have exclusive use of it though. I saw what they were cooking, it looked good, and the cost is very reasonable – typically about £5 - £6 for a cooked meal. Wide choice of options, from steak to fish & chips to veggie Site will put on hog roast if we want, see below. Not sure that they’d use these local residents though – they have hogs and alpacas on site as a visitor attraction: Similarly there is a large bar, they call it a barn. It’s big, they don’t call it a barn for nothing. There is karaoke in there in high season. We would not have exclusive use however and as the site can get busy it would not be possible to negotiate this. It has the advantage of being immediately next to the field that we would have. From the outside it looks OK, not the most attractive TBH - but inside (I went in a few weeks ago, didn’t have camera with, couldn’t get inside on second trip) it’s perfectly OK with plenty seating for large parties. As you can see, there are tables and chairs outside too: Drinks are reasonably priced: The usual problem is how to get everyone to mix. There would probably be some who wanted to sit in the bar, and others who’d want to sit outside a tent. You’ll see from the pic that there are tables and chairs outside the bar, and this would be visible and audible from the field – it’s just to the right of the barn. The field that we would have and the bar are very close to each other, no more than 20 yards apart, so mixing between the two would be easy, and encouraged if there was a group sat outside the bar area. The site is OK for us to have gazebos or a marquee, and also a camp fire as long as it's off the ground to avoid killing the grass. I'm investigating getting hold of a large fire pit, I know a few farmers who might have something appropriate, even if it’s a JCB bucket. I have plenty wood at home. It’s physically a much smaller place than the Baskerville at AR10, so the relative spaces for people to spread out are not so great. Also, the café is just round the corner from the bar, between the bar and the field. Plus, I’d tempt some with home brew. You can lead a horse to water... Toilets and showers are well kept, clean and most acceptable. The site is immaculately maintained. There are two loo and shower blocks on the site, A few pics of the sanitary facilities: Some might find this machine useful Commercial vehicles – vans in particular – are not allowed on the site. It’s OK if they have passenger windows, there is a guide on their website I went to talk to the site manager. Bikers do not put them off, quite the contrary - we would be most welcome – they are used to hosting large bike and petrolhead meets. When I went there last month they had a West Midlands Harley owners’ meet, there must have been about 150 tents and camper vans there I would think. We would have a dedicated field that is a short drive away from the caravans, in my opinion they are far enough away for us not to be a problem to them or for them to be a problem to us. The only slight disadvantage is that it’s fairly close to a train line, but this is not a busy line. They are OK with bikes going onto the field, or there is a hard stand nearby. Some pitches have an electric hook up, and they would be OK for a few touring caravans to be on the field also. Here are a few pics of the field. For starters, this is a look back down the spine road of the site to the entrance, as you can see it’s quite a walk: Here’s the pub (in the above pic it was behind me to my right). On the right you can see a gate. This leads to these three fields. We would have the first or maybe the second, depends how many we have. Field no 1 currently has sheep on it: Field no 2 and 3. The fence in the above pic is on the extreme left of this next pic: Field 3: The white boxes are leccie hook ups. The three fields are next to each other. I thought that either 1 or 2 would be OK for us, no 3 is huge and we wouldn’t fill it unless we had 200+. This was the field where the Harleys were, there was a great atmosphere there, a tented village. As you can see, all three are level, and some way away from the caravans, so although the site is a little sensitive about noise, I don’t think we’d disturb anyone, not least with a pub in the way. The tarmac road serves all three fields, it is to the right of the field in the above pic. Dogs are welcome but must (read – supposed to) be kept on a lead and owners are requested to clean up after them. As the field is some distance from the caravans I don’t think it would hurt to have dogs off the lead in the field. There are some sheep nearby so you’d need to be sure that the dogs were OK with livestock. Plus there are a few very tame site cats that wander around, and some of the year-round caravan residents have cats too. But on the main site they should be on a lead, partly because there would be small kids running around who might be afraid of dogs, partly because of the cats, and partly because they have tame alpacas and pigs on the site as a visitor attraction. One of those long extendy things is OK. BBQs are OK as long as they are off the ground. I have a gas thingy that I could bring if anyone would want to use it. Because it’s a caravan park, with families using it, and access to the campsite is through the caravan park, there is a very strictly applied site speed limit of 5mph. No wheelies!!!! In fact when I went there I collected the manager from the site office and we drove through the site, he asked me to slow down!! Camping at £7 per night. Nearby – several pubs in Wem, a Co-op, and several fast food outlets. And for Manxmatt yes there’s a tyre fitters within walking distance! There’s also a small independent bike shop nearby, http://www.tonymossmotorcycles.co.uk Here’s the emails that I exchanged with the site manager. I emailed first, then went to inspect, then Robert (site manager) replied. My email: Hi, I hope you can help. My name's Ed Austin. I'm a member of an internet based motorcycle club, www.sv650.org. I live in Baschurch. Every year we have an Annual Ride, this year it was based at the Baskerville Arms Hotel at Clyro, near Hay on Wye. I'm preparing a bid for the committee with a view to holding it in Shropshire next year - date to be decided but likely to be late July/early August. We would expect about 100 - 130 bikes with about 150 people (as some will not do the ride) - we are not hells angels, all are well behaved normal people!!! And the bikes are all roadworthy!!! Our members come from all over the United Kingdom and would come from pretty well every corner so would expect a quality event. Most people would want to camp but some would want a holiday home or bunkhouse or similar. What we need is a level field that doesn't flood (motorbikes will sink!!!), a bar and off licence, and well-behaved dogs to be allowed. We'd need catering facilities from Friday evening to Sunday morning. A hog roast or similar would be fantastic. We also need a 'focal point' - whether this is a large marquee or a camp fire, I don't know. If there is a separate field then that would be great. I'd need to park my touring caravan on the field as the Ride HQ. The idea is that we would arrive Friday (but some of the more distant members would probably arrive Thursday), go for a long ride Saturday, and then have a big social event Saturday evening. Most will leave Sunday but some will stay till Monday. This is very much outline: I know you're there because I drive past quite often, and your web site says you cater for rallies, so hence the interest. We did have the event at Montford Bridge in 2006 but as the event has grown I'm not sure that The Wingfield Arms is big enough now and besides not all our members would want to go back to the same place. Please could you let me know whether you offer this sort of event, and if you do then I'd like to come with a colleague and have a site visit to discuss how we could arrange things. My mobile is 07* **, or home is 01939 **. Thanks a lot Regards Edward Austin Robert’s reply:** Hi Ed just a quick check list camping £7 per person per night (if it was out of school hols £5 per person per night) holiday home or bunkhouse or similar. We have 5 holiday homes to hire so it would be first to book. But no bunkhouse or similar. A level field that doesn't flood (motorbikes will sink!!!) yes the topfield left hand side that I showed you. (it does not flood but if we have very heavy rain it will have puddles) A bar and off licence. Yes bar x 2 and off licence in shop. A well-behaved dogs to be allowed.Yes as long as on a lead at all times Catering facilities from Friday evening to Sunday morning. Yes as you saw A hog roast or similar would be fantastic. Yes we can do a hog roast £350 plain or £400 with salads plus... for 120 to 150 people approx We also need a 'focal point' - whether this is a large marquee or a campfire, I don't know. Yes large marquee would be allowed but would need to be in your area (1 x 16amp electric included) A camp fire possibly- it would have to off the ground to not kill the grass. If there is a separate field then that would be great. Yes as long as the number is at least 250 nights (eg,125 people for 2 nights) you saw, we could always manage but not necessarily in a seperate area. I'd need to park my touring caravan on the field as the Ride HQ. Yes as rally organiser / marshal you would get a free pitch with 16amp electic included (if you could come thursday night or friday morning to sunday when group gone) to sort the group as they come and sort the cleanup as they go. Robert Shingler They are very flexible. The main concerns that they would have are not to be too noisy (because there will be families with young children there) and not to ride over the site speed limit – same reason. But they host several bike and car rallies, so it isn’t a problem. It’s a beautiful spot, very peaceful. It’s also got lots of facilities and I have no doubt that it would be a great base. The main meeting area would be the bar in the barn. It’s not an old barn, as you can see it’s much more modern, but still has good atmosphere. It would accommodate about 200 people, and they wouldn’t mind if we spilled outside. As stated, we wouldn’t have exclusive use of it though.