A rally is a cheap and social way of camping. It’s not for everyone as sometimes facilities are somewhat limited. Very limited! But the rewards can be great.

Rallies are organised by clubs. They can take place almost anywhere, on a regular campsite, a school field, a car park. I’ve even known a rally to take place in a hospital grounds.

The reason that this is allowed is the clubs posses an “Exemption Certificate” issued by the government to organised clubs. The exemption certificate is an exemption to planning permission, rather a temporary exemption. There are strict rules to be followed but basically it allows you to camp just about anywhere with the land owners permission.

Facilities are usually limited. Usually a tap for drinking water and a suitable place to empty the loo, known as an Elsan Point. That may be just a lifted manhole cover to access the drains.

In short you use your own sanitation facilities. So the shower and the loo in your van will be used for what it was intended. It’s quite funny sometimes reading on facebook caravanning forums the number of people who have never used their shower and use it for storage, and never ever use the loo for anything other than an occasional pee.

We tent to rally with the Camping & Caravanning Club where they prefer to call them “meets” the Caravan & Motorhome Club also organise rallies. Both clubs organise rallies via their local centres or District Associations.

Our local CAMC Section is the Cheshire Centre booking onto their rallies requires downloading and completing a booking form and returning it with payment to whoever is organising that rally.

Our local C&CC District Association is NECDA North East Cheshire District Association. attending their meets is more straight forward and not as formal. In most cases just turn up. It will be stated if there is a requirement to pre book. Booking is easy, just email the address given and await a reply to tell you you’re booked in.

With both clubs as long as you are a member you can attend any rally run by any centre or DA. Once onsite things tend to be pretty much the same usually involving some kind of social gathering in the evening maybe an organised activity during the day. Of course neither of which you are required to attend, indeed some people use the rally as a convenient base to visit family or some place of interest and don’t interact at all. That’s just fine, nobody gets offended if you don’t fancy joining in.

Cheap. Most rallies tend to be around £10 a night some more, some less. But that is the fee for the unit. No extra costs for an awning, extra kids, dogs etc.. So it’s a cheap way to camp.
The C&CC make no distinction between tents, caravans, campervans & motorhomes it’s all the same.

Rallies can be in some fab locations. Close to somewhere of interest, beauty or convenient.
A normal rally will be a weekend, Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. A Bank holiday weekend will be an extra night or two. Then there is a THS (Temporary Holiday Site) these can last for up to 28 days and can be in some great locations. The Cheshire Centre even have one in the Loire Valley this year. NECDA have 2 THS’s one in Bala, Wales right by the lake and one in Anglesey. Other DA’s have THS’s in Cornwall and when you compare the cost of a regular campsite in Cornwall a THS makes a Very Attractive proposition.

I’m a little biased I suppose because I’m on the committee of NECDA I am their Sites Officer. It’s my job to find and book the sites for their rallies.  

Rallying is an Off Grid Camping experience. No power! Not true, all caravans are equipped with a 12V electrical system. Caravans are designed to be used Off Grid. Cooking, Heating, Hot water & refrigeration all work by gas. Lights and water pumps work on 12V electricity We even have 12V Televisions to watch. Most caravans are capable of spending a couple of nights disconnected from mains power or the car’s electrics. The 12V Leisure battery powers lights mainly and most modern caravans use low wattage LED lights to conserve battery power. It’s a good idea to invest in a solar panel and charge controller to recharge your battery for free, free after the initial cost that is. The sun is capable of recharging your battery even in winter in the UK, which is surprising but we did attend a rally in January this year to celebrate Burns Night and had no shortage of power. True you do need to be sensible and not leave all the lights on! The use of generators is allowed but only usually for a maximum of 2 hours a day and not at night. However a generator is quite expensive and costs every time you start it up and with the cost of petrol these days it’s quite expensive.

Rallying creates some great friendships. It’s a social activity and always fun. Even in the depths of winter when the field gets muddy and everyone needs a tow to get off the field to get home. Even the LandRover drivers get stuck sometimes. It is said that you have to get stuck at least once to know the true rallying experience.

These is always someone to help!

So have I peaked your interest?
Fancy giving rallying a try?
If you are a member of the C&CC look at the back of your membership card. This will tell you which DA you are already a member of, they will probably run rallies pretty close to you. For a full list of rallies click Here to search the Out & About Database. Give it a go… Kids will love it.