Our thoughts on touring England, updated in 2022.
Strengths: ย England is a beautiful country to explore. ย Lots of history, castles, stately homes and friendly country villages. ย Everyone speaks english of course. ย Every village has at least one pub and itโs common to find free house pubs in all sorts of odd places. ย As we have relatives scattered about itโs nice to stop and have a chat to cousins here and there when the opportunity arises.
Weeknesses: ย England is not as welcoming to motorhomes as other countries in the EU. ย It seems to us, that like Australia, England was dominated by caravans as a form of holiday travel since the 60’s. ย So there are caravan and camping sites almost everywhere. ย Over the last couple of years we have noticed the shift to special areas within those sites specifically for motorhomes. ย There are 2 major club/organisations that control almost all these campsites. The substantial discount they offer may convince you to join one or the other.
The country D roads can be very narrow and passing oncoming vehicle can be challenging and a little scary at times, so caution is a better part of valour.
Opportunities:ย Wildcamping is not easy, without breaking the law or some local ordinance but it can be done. ย Itโs just a matter of keeping yours eyes open, checking parking databases. ย A little local knowledge goes a long way, so ask other motorhomers.
The larger towns often provide a park’n’ride service from an outlying carpark at reduced rates. So you can catch a bus into town and stay the night in the carpark as well.
Savings can also be made by taking a temporary membership in the National Trust or English Heritage. Apart from discount entry to sites the later in particular allow limited overnight parking at many locations.
Threats:ย Paying to park whilst using a supermarket or some other local carpark is an anathema to the wild camping style of motorhoming we enjoy. ย Finding parking in southern England is particular difficult without spending 5 minutes and a pound at some parking ticket machine. ย There are parking wardens everywhere.
England is an expensive place to tour. ย Beer and wine is expensive even in a supermarket, let alone a pub. ย Eating out even more so, a main course each and a couple of rounds of drinks would average ยฃ70. Supermarket shopping is comparable to Australia except for red meat which is more expensive. ย Attractions are all relatively expensive as well. ย Diesel fuel is still the most expensive in Europe.