By Emma Dodd
Caravan owners have been waiting for the green light from the governments in England, Scotland and Wales for parks to reopen, but not all sites will reopen fully straight away.
Despite July 4th, July 10th and July 13th being confirmed by the individual governments respectively, caravan enthusiasts should not assume all parks are open to capacity from these dates.
A number of rules will be implemented to make sites safer for staff and visitors, with one of these being strict adherence to the spacing between pitches.
In some cases, this will mean a reduced capacity, making booking ahead even more important than usual.
With demand high and the need to introduce and enforce new hygiene rules, the pressure is on staff to manage the situation correctly.
This has led to a number of caravan parks deciding to have a soft opening in order to test procedures before moving to full occupancy.
One such site is Skelwith Ford Caravan Park in the Lake District, which will initially welcome its first visitors on July 4th, but will not allow touring caravans and motorhomes onto the site until July 15th.
Henry Wild, owner of the park, said: “Aspects such as contactless check-ins, monitoring certain communal areas, and the deep-cleaning of accommodation between visits will all take getting used to.
“By giving everyone a dry run with only around half of our 450 pitches occupied, we can closely monitor what’s happening, and fine-tune our procedures if necessary.”
The Caravan and Motorhome Club is taking a phased approach to reopening its parks and has highlighted that even when sites are open they may not be offering all facilities.
For example, many caravan parks in Scotland will welcome back visitors from July 10th, but toilet blocks will not be accessible until July 15th.
No shared facilities including toilet blocks will open on Welsh sites until further notice, because the Welsh government has not yet given the go ahead.
A number of caravan sites will not reopen at all in 2020, such as Plymouth Sound, Aberbran and Kinlochewe.
