We'd like to see the sea please

I should start by emphasising that this story stems from an incident well over ten years ago and we haven’t had any problems with wardens since them, so it’s being told purely for its entertainment value.

We took our German-made A Class motorhome to the CC’s Kessingland Site, which is unusual in having a public road dividing its two pitching areas, one of them directly on the beach and the other one  an inland, gardened area.  We were relative novices and hadn’t been there before, indeed we had probably only stayed on a handful of Club Sites by then.

But we had come directly from another Club Site to Kessingland, where we had been very received in a notably friendly and helpful way, which we had reflected on Customer Survey form we’d been asked to fill in.  It had been “excellent” ticks all the way down the form.

Reception at Kessingland was in the inland camping area and we stopped in the marked spot to book in.  The lady in green was engaged with someone else as I went in and there was clearly some contention about something and she was laying down the law.  When it was my turn her opening remark, when I asked if we could pitch overlooking the beach,  was along the lines of “well you’ll have to park facing inland because your door is on the wrong side”. 

I can’t remember the detail now but the impression was distinctly officious and unhelpful and she was laying down the law, and at some length.  She might have been having a bad day but I also wondered if she had a thing about motorhomes.

But I didn’t take issue and eventually she finished.  She had really irritated me with her officious approach so I politely asked for a customer survey form and ostentatiously ticked “poor” against reception under her nose.

We then drove across to the beach area to find that the pitch we had been allocated was not on the front line, facing the beach, but at the end of the row, aligned with the road on which we were approaching.  It was lower down and would only have an obstructed view but we would be able to glimpse the sea between other units – indeed we would be able to overlook the beach across the two or three vacant pitches at that end of the section if they remained unfilled.  The front row pitches which were in use were all occupied by caravans.

A man in green was doing some weeding nearby and so before pitching I asked which was we were supposed to pitch and were told it didn’t matter.  He was a really nice guy, very friendly and helpful.  In conversation I explained that we’d been allocated the end-on pitch but would it be OK to use one of the vacant front row pitches instead, and which way around would we pitch on them?  No problem, said the Warden, choose any of them you like and pitch facing the sea if you wish, so we did. 

I walked back to reception after we’d settled in, to tell the lady about my chat with the Warden and the change of pitch number.  I wasn’t brave enough to mention that we were also facing the sea.  She didn’t say anything but her facial expression spoke volumes.

A few minutes later she came over to the beach section.  We couldn’t hear the conversation, or rather the monologue, but it was clear from the body language that the Warden, clearly her husband, was getting a serious talking to - and she then disappeared.  I don’t think we saw her again during the couple of days we stayed there.

I did complete the customer survey form and hand it in as we were leaving, ticking the positive boxes and praising the Warden’s flexibility and helpfulness.  The lady wife was manning Reception at the time so somehow I suspect the form didn’t get passed up the line, as presumably it should have been.