Minimum Length of Stay

The minimum length of stay for advance bookings is normally 2 nights (longer for Bank Holidays – see below).  If we have still vacancies close to the arrival date, we might accept 1-night bookings to fill gaps in our calendar.

Bank Holidays

As a Certificated Location, Birch Hill only accepts 5 caravans at a time. Normally, guests may stay for as little as two nights, but our site is so popular on Bank Holidays, that we only take advance bookings from Club members planning to ‘stay for or pay for’ more than just 2 nights over a Bank Holiday period.  This is because many guests use Bank Holidays as part of an extended holiday and would be prevented from doing so if Bank Holidays were reserved by short-stay guests.  The minimum length of stay varies between 3 and 7 nights, depending on the popularity of the Bank Holiday.

Payments, Refunds, Cancellations and Failure to Arrive

Our pitch fee is £20 per outfit per night, including electric hook-up.

• A £25 deposit pitch fee is payable at the time of booking.  Once we confirm your booking, your deposit payment is non-refundable and non-transferable.
• The balance of your pitch fee is payable via our online booking system 21 days before arrival.  We reserve the right to re-let any pitch nights not paid-for in full within 21 days of arrival.   If online payment is a problem, please contact us for alternative payment methods.
• If guests opt to pay more than the £25 deposit and then cancel with more than 21 days’ notice before they were due to arrive, we will refund all except the value of the £25 deposit.
• Fees for pitches cancelled with less than 21 days’ notice are not refundable or transferable.
• If you leave early, your pitch fee is not refundable or transferable (in practice, our experience is the opposite – many people ask to extend their stay here longer than their original booking).
• If you have paid us and WE are required to close our site due to a local (Covid or other) lockdown, we will refund you.
• If YOU are unable to travel here or need to leave early (for whatever reason including being required to self-isolate), there is no right to a refund or postponement, and that becomes a matter for your travel insurance.
• If you fail to arrive by midnight on the day that you are due, and we are unable to contact you, we will assume that you have cancelled your visit and will take steps to re-let your pitch.
• Deposits are to protect us against cancellation and lost income.  If we are able to re-let any of the nights that guests cancel, we refund pro-rata, less our banking costs.  If you do need to cancel your booking please notify us as soon as possible so that we may re-offer the vacancy.

Three or more outfits arriving together will be required to pay the balance of their pitch fee in full 1 month before arrival. This is non-refundable and non-transferable. (Our experience is that large groups are more likely to cancel if one of the group falls ill, and the impact on our business is greater than an individual cancellation.)

Arrival & Departure

Call at the house before siting and we will give you guidance regarding siting, in particular, to show you the hard-standings during wetter months. If we are not at home, our mobile phone numbers are beside the back door – please try ringing us, we might not be far away.

Arrive after 12 noon and vacate your pitch before 12 noon on your day of departure. This is so that we have no more than 5 vans on-site at any one time.  We do not allow earlier arrivals or later departures in order to avoid traffic congestion at our entrance.

Dogs and other animals

We allow a maximum of 2 dogs per outfit. You are required to keep your animal(s) under close control at all times and clean up after them.  Animals are not to be left unattended.

Guests accepting day-visitors

Please note that we do not currently allow our guests to entertain day-visitors.

Cars

CLs are intended for recreational purposes and our expectation is that guests bring one car as the towing vehicle.  Large motorhomes occasionally bring a car as a ‘runaround’ vehicle.  If you wish to bring more than one car, please arrange this with us in advance.  We will require the registration numbers of the additional cars so that we know “who’s who” on site.  We do not allow charging of electric cars as it would not be economic, based on our low nightly pitch-fee.

Electric Supply

We have 16A hookups and charge a flat-rate pitch fee inclusive of ‘reasonable use’ of electricity inside caravans or motorhomes.  We do not permit charging of electric cars or using electricity to heat awnings or use equipment outside the caravan or motorhome as we believe this is not ‘reasonable use’.  Likewise, we only permit one electrical connection per outfit and do not allow electrical ‘splitters’.
For economy and fire safety, switch heaters off unless you are on site.

Wi-Fi

We make no charge for the use of our Wi-Fi, but as we are in a rural area, we cannot guarantee the speed or stability of the internet signal.  If you wish to use our Wi-Fi, please collect an access code from us on arrival.

Behaviour

Guests are to abide by the Caravan Code and the Countryside Code – both are shown in the ‘Sites Directory and Handbook’ that is issued to all Club Members.
The site is to be quiet after 10pm.  It is not suitable for parties or events.
No flying kites, drones, model aircraft etc.
No open fires, noisy fireworks, aerial fireworks or flying lanterns.
In line with Caravan and Motorhome Club rules, we reserve the right to refuse acceptance or to terminate the visit of any person whose conduct, or that of their animals, is detrimental to us or to our other visitors.

Special Needs or Disabilities

We will do our best to accommodate special needs or disabilities. Please explain your needs at our time of booking in case we need to make special arrangements.

Loss & Damage

We will not be held responsible for any loss or damage, however caused, to your property or vehicles or any injury to you or your visitors whilst staying on our CL.

Photographs

We sometimes take photographs of the CL for our Facebook page or website. Please let us know if you would prefer that we don’t include you.

General

Our website and its components are offered for informational purposes only; we shall not be responsible or liable for the accuracy, usefulness or availability of any information transmitted or made available via this site, and shall not be responsible or liable for any error or omissions in that information.