Bladon Chains - another lost site?

😂 In another life, a good few years ago, I was Area Manager for Watersports Centres at both RVCP and Thrybergh Country Park, so I know both places well. Good to hear Council are on the ball still with customer care! Agree, Rotherham Valley is excellent for a one base family activity holiday, all those watersports, fishing, walking, cycling, (not sure if craft centre is still there?) Close to Crystal Peaks as well for Cinema and retail therapy if required. 

So many folks underestimate South York’s, such a lot to see and do👍

the acknowledgement of the considerable benefits it has brought to both Blenheim Palace and the local community.

Which will include being able to show in the planning application that a caravan site has run there for many years with little in the way of problems.  And, of course, these "lodges" are just caravans that don't go touring.

TDA has mentioned some of the things to do and see in the South Pennine district,to which I could add:Wentworth and Wentworth Woodhouse,Elsecar Heritage Centre,the TPT from Wharnclife Crags to Dunford Bridge,Wortley  Top Forge,Cannon Hall CP and Farm(C5 Friday on the Farm)and Yorkshire Sculpture Park and then you may head westwards  to Holmfirth and "Summer Wine" territory.This is not an exhaustive list...

The M1 is very close to this area as it leads drivers between  Sheffield and Leeds.A site in the area would make a convenient North /South stop-over.

Of course there is some industry but it is adjacent to stunning scenery- that is what the North is like.Perhaps the CMC should look look at the potential for in this "undiscovered" area?

Quite right Ttda.

But, this is a recurring theme and the club has done nothing to address the blind spots, at least in those areas seriously deprived of a club site. Essex has zero sites, Suffolk just 1, right on its most northern point. These are counties and regions that deserve better. 

Here in North Wales there is not a single club site or affiliate within 15 miles of the coast for the stretch between Queensferry and Nefyn, over 80 miles of fine tourist rich prospects. It's been that way since the owners kicked the club off the site at Caernarfon decades ago.

Yes South Yorkshire is missing a site but the club is more than well represented in the county with 15 of them. The club needs to address those areas missing sites first before adding yet another Yorkshire site. 

I'm all for finding a site in a new area too. 

I don't join in with those who want Club sites to fill gaps near their home. The Club has eight sites of its own here in Cornwall, but after living here for 40 years I confess I have only stayed at two of them - there are so many other sites to choose from, and so many other places to visit. 

Ken, Wentworth Woodhouse, the village, all the monuments, the industrial heritage, etc.... have the potential for World Heritage recognition. It already has an iconic cycling heritage, superb (and at times scary) walking country, as bleak and challenging as lots of other places, if not as high. 

Yorkshire does have quite a few Sites, but again they are lumped close together. Primarily along East Coast, and in Dales/ North York’s. Our closest Sites aren’t in Yorkshire but in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Lots of gaps, getting worse as a Sites are lost☹️

You misunderstand the point I was making. I do not necessarily want sites in North Wales so that I can go rather that others may enjoy it in the same way I would like a club site in Essex to visit or somewhere near Southwold or Woodbridge in Suffolk. Anyway neither Essex or Suffolk can be described as near my home.

If there was a site on the North Wales coast I might very well stay there if it gave me access to my hobbies, say near Conwy. 

Yes, have to agree, North Wales is another huge gap. We always use CLs or private sites. 

The point about Bladon Chains is that the Club know they have a customer base that likes to use the site. I would suggest people, in the main,  use the site because of its proximity to Blenheim/Oxford. I am not sure people visit the site because it's the best one on the network! So if the club can't replace it with similar nearby it will lose a slice of that cohort of customers. 

Of course it would be nice to have more sites in under represented parts of the Country and I am sure the Club keep this under review all the time. However I would guess that the creation of green field sites will become more difficult as times go by. Didn't the Club try and build a site in Essex a few years ago but lost the planning appeal? The best way forward is probably the acquisition of existing campsites like they did with Bingham Grange and Cayton Village. Perhaps when things get back to normal and Club finances are more certain they will once again may buy the odd site here and there. The problem is likely to be that as we fill the bucket at the top we lose water (sites) at the other end as the owners of the lease decide that they can more profitably use the land as is the case with Bladon Chains.

David