Camping-Car Park Continues to Expand

Not necessarily, as SteveL mentions, some Aires DO have access to an adjoined site with full use of facilities just at a lower price than on the campsite itself. We have used this type of arrangement several times.

none of this precludes our similar liking for full fat French 'destination' sites, a couple of which we will be using in September, both are €22 a night ....sites which we mix with other forms of stopover and which would shock most club members with the range, cleanliness and modernity of the features/services on offer..a mile away from a typical €44+ club site.

Isn't that rather patronising?😕  I'm sure folk will cope flying solo as many do already. 

Forgot about this CCP we stopped on in late June. Village with shops etc a few hundred metres behind the camera and a nice sandy beach for kids to play on and swimming permitted, just behind those benches in the distance. It’s about 30 km south of Le Mans.

Tin Wheeler. I speak to many people when touring overseas and it's a common theme that at lot of folk want a bit of certainty, handholding and security as they venture for the first time. My point was this CCP system allows folk to get some of that with the knowledge of a booked pitch.

certainly not patronising, merely a reflection of my experiences when meeting folk camping abroad. Perhaps you had a different feel when you conversed with vanners on French sites?

Also, how did you find the CCP system/sites? Easy to use? and of a decent standard?

Ah, now you say "first time" it throws a slightly different light on things but I do find your phrasing rather unfortunate - only my view of course.

I find most folk like to book the first night for when they roll off the ferry and I’m with them on that but, given that folk frequently bewail the need to book and plan their trips in this country, I think the majority welcome the freedom of flying free without the constraints imposed by too many vanners vying for too few pitches that we see in the UK.

I think the CCP system and sites are great and have no complaints at all. It would be good to see them operate in the UK but I just don’t see it happening on any great scale. It’s good news though that some councils are waking up to the need, especially north of the Border.

Ah, yes...you definitely seem to have read far too much into my post.
As you seem to be quite knowledgeable regarding continental travellers, it would be good to have such a wealth of, hopefully recent, experience in this section of the forum. 
im finding we are limited to just a few folk.

which CCP site was your favourite? Do you use them exclusively or do you use a mix of sites? Any particular Channel crossing good for you?

Wow, I’m enjoying this! 

I have to leave the recent experiences to you as I’ve reached the age of not wanting to gad around Euroland any more but you have plenty of company in this section, far more than "a few". It would not be fair for me to muddy the waters with out of date info but that doesn’t stop me following discussions and reading constructive posts and I’m sure you’ll regale us with your tales and photos in due course.

I'm not so sure, we have met many folk on our travels who much prefer to book ahead. 

Remember Camping Cheques, we met one couple we only used sites that accepted them, they bought thousand's of pounds of cheques and then booked ahead. They said they preferred to do it that way as they believed the quality of sites were better and more what they were used to back home.

Our friends also prefer to book ahead rather than wing it, it took us going on holiday with them, to show them the ropes, to get a bit of confidence in not booking (he still phones ahead though) 😁

I agree with SL and YT that booking ahead with CCP is not really required and could sometimes be a bad choice, unless you know that site. We turned up at one that looked to be just what we were after, on getting there and looking around we changed our mind and went to another near by.  That's the reason why we love touring over there. So much choice. 

First I've been to many Italian sites that have far more stringent rules and regimentation than club sites. You're also making it sound as if club site users need some help in booking abroad for some reason?