Holidays

What do you think of this:-

I have just been reading about John Mclarens fishing holiday on the Wye at Goodrich on which he rented a cottage, and it struck me that it might be a good idea if we on fishingmagic had our own "Where to stay" section.

It would need only places that were of an acceptable nature and with a bit of info on the fishing, prices, phone numbers etc. Perhaps they could be categorised by counties to make it easier to find. Most of us have had fishing holidays at some time or other and could recommend nice places to stay.

Is it practical to do this Graham? More to the point, is it a good idea or not?

I like the idea, Iv'e had fishing holidays in the UK for the last ten years and would be willing to give out info. Hopefully, receive some new places to holiday also.

Mind you cannot guarantee anyone to catch a fish.....

What a stonking idea. I've stayed at some good places and some bad, and it would be magic if we could persuade Graham and team to offer a county listing under which we could file our fishing/accommodation 'reviews' in the same way it's done on the absolutely superb holidaysuncovered.co.uk

I suppose it would be nice to stay somewhere other than me bivvy on me holidays?

Sounds like a good idea, recommended places are always first port of call.

One problem perhaps: what if my idea of heaven is your idea of hell on earth - will we have the spectacle of FM members sueing each other or featuring members accommodation suggestions on one of those TV shows???

Good idea Graham.
As you know there have been a few accommodation threads this summer on FM.

Don't I just Peter, but its the sort of information thats vital if you are visiting a place that you are not too familiar with.

John, I was thinking more about the accommodation side rather than a list of where to fish. Obviously there would have to be some mention of the type of fishing to be had but only God can guarantee if its good or not.

Graham, I meant the accommodation - but it was tongue in cheek.

Yup - good idea. Graham had his own problem with accomodation, s it should work both ways.

Mind you, if I was Graham I may want to think the commercial aspects of plugging someones place, after all FM does have to make money !

Gents, might I suggest you give some consideration to getting a caravan? It doesn't necessarily have to be expensive as there are pleny of second-hand ones aroud (just don't have anything to do with one if it has damp). You'd have no worries about accommodation them because you'd be towing it and it would contain everything you wanted or needed. These days (with most sites having mains hook-up) you can have TV, radio, CD/DVD, hot & cold running water, onboard toilet and shower, oven and cooker etc etc). There are literally thousands of caravan sites in UK, wherever you want to fish there'll be a site nearby (a lot of sites are on, or very near, their own ponds or stretches of river).
From what I can gather (from a very brief search for fishing chalets in uk) they seem to cost between ?200 and ?500 per week, depending on the season and size of the chalet/static caravan. Whereas the cost to pitch a touring caravan varies between ?4 a night (on some farmer's field) and ?25 a night (on an all-singing, all-dancing family site with clubhouse, swimming pool etc).
This year, in the caravan, I've had a fortnight in France on the Dordogne (cost about ?600 including site fees, towcar fuel and ferry crossing) and a total of about 28 other days fishing at UK sites (average pitch cost ?12 per day).
If anyone is interested and has questions I'll be glad to answer them.

I have often said to my wife that I would love to own a caravanette, but not a caravan, and having a dog it would solve all of our problems. Problem is I havn't got room to park it unless I want to look at it through the bay windows (thats a no no). I love the thought of just getting up in the morning and going for a couple of days fishing whenever and wherever it suits me.

Graham, There are plenty of small caravans around. Also folding caravans and tent trailers (which expand to family sized accommodation. We usually take our two dogs with us. As for storage, we can't keep the caravan at home as there's no room. We store it at a caravan site (costs us around ?300 a year but costs vary depending on area, level of security etc). If we want a weekend away with no towing we just turn up, get the caravan from the compound and tow it 200 yards to the pitch. Then, depending on the pitch we get, I'm only between 20 and 200 yards from the banks of the river Lea at Dobbs Weir.