Skip the School Holidays: Why May and September Are the Real Motorhome Season

Every summer we watch the same scene play out. A family books the last week of July, pays peak-season rates for a pitch that costs half as much in June, sits in a queue on the A303 for three hours, and arrives at a beach so packed you can see more towels than sand. Then they tell us motorhoming is hard work.

It isn't. They've just picked the wrong month.

Here's our argument, made with some feeling: the best British motorhoming happens in May and September. Everything else is a compromise.

The Case Against July

Let's be honest about high summer. School holidays mean every campsite in the country is at capacity, which means:

• Pitch prices double. A lovely site in Pembrokeshire that charges £28 a night in May wants £60-plus in August. For the same grass.
• The roads are chocablock. The M5, the A303, the A55 — all car parks with a speed limit.
• The weather is a coin flip anyway. We've had glorious Augusts. We've had Augusts where the barbecues floated away. British summer is not a guarantee, so stop paying a premium for it.

If you're tied to school holidays, that's life — go in August rather than the last week of July, book a year ahead, and pick sites with direct beach or footpath access so you can leave the van parked up. But if you have any flexibility at all, use it.

May: The Undisputed Champion

Late May, once the bank holiday crowds have gone home, is about as good as Britain gets. The bluebells are out in the woods, the Lake District fells are green, the light stays until nine, and the midges in Scotland haven't properly clocked in for the season yet.

What to pack: layers, a warm duvet for the nights (it can still dip to single figures), and waterproofs you'll probably only wear once. Sunglasses you'll actually use.

Where to point the van: the NC500 before the midges and the campervan convoys arrive, the Yorkshire Dales, or the Pembrokeshire coast path with the seabirds back in residence.

September: The Insider's Month

September is what people think August will be. The sea is at its warmest (genuinely — it's been heating up since spring), the school-run traffic vanishes overnight, and campsites drop their prices back to something reasonable while the weather often holds through the month.

What to pack: a decent waterproof, a flask for the evening, and a book — the evenings draw in quicker than you'd like by the end of the month.

Where to point the van: Cornwall without the crowds, the Norfolk coast, or Snowdonia when the hills have gone quiet and the sunsets start doing something showing off.

A Quick Month-by-Month Reality Check

• March–April: Cheaper pitches, empty sites, but proper cold nights and mud. Brilliant for hardy types with a good heating system.
• May: The sweet spot. Book the bank holiday week early or skip it.
• June: Excellent — long days, warm, schools mostly still in. Arguably beats May.
• July–August: Peak everything. Doable with planning and deep pockets.
• September: Warm sea, quiet roads, fair prices. Book the first half of the month.
• October: Moody and beautiful; pack for it and it's glorious.
• November–February: For the committed. Cheapest pitches of the year and some of the best walks — but check which sites stay open.

Our Honest Recommendation

If you can swing it, take the last week of May and the first week of June as one trip, or the first fortnight of September. Same country, same coastline, half the traffic, half the cost, and you can actually hear the waves over someone's portable speaker.

The open road doesn't care what month it is. But your holiday will.