Keith Gooden
In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast…
Matt Sims
Should you pack your kids’ bags and send them off camping? We talked to a campsite that welcomes groups of under 18s adult free.
Keith Gooden
In the news, a new study from the RAC shows eight in 10 drivers are affected by headlight glare.
Matt Sims
And we answer your questions on switching motorhome tyres and what you can do if your pedals are hard to reach.
Keith Gooden
Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans, brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com.
Matt Sims
Now, remember to follow on your favourite podcast app and subscribe on YouTube – sponsored by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
In the news: Is headlight glare a growing problem?
Keith Gooden
In the news, we’ve just come back from the NEC Caravan, Camping and Motorhome show, and we’re pulling together some of the exciting interviews that Matt did at the show for next week’s episode, so stay tuned.
Matt Sims
It was a great week. It was really busy, I have to say. My feet hurt. My voice still hurts. There was me getting over my 100 day cough. It’s back. So forgive me.
Keith Gooden
The RAC are calling on the government to commission an independent study into the issue of headlight glare. You know, you’re going along the motorway in your direction and it’s dark, and somebody comes in the opposite direction, one after another, bang, bang, bang.
It really does tire your eyes out. I have the anti-glare coating on my glasses. I find that works very well. New research has found, however, that 85% of those affected by headlight glare when driving believe the problem is actually getting worse.
Matt Sims
Yes, I think it is. I think it is. A survey of 2,000 drivers found 89% think at least some headlights on cars on the road today are too bright.
Keith Gooden
And there are all sorts of headlights, aren’t there, in cars? There are the old fashioned bulbs. And then we have LEDs and then we have xenon, and they’re all different brightness. And you find some of them very glaring.
Matt Sims
A lot of the xenon ones have a blue hue around the edge, and that’s what catches you out. And of course, cars are getting bigger. They’re getting taller and getting higher up. There are more SUVs on the road than ever, so the headlights are higher.
So if you’re in a low car, you’re going to get blinded really easily. I’ve certainly found this to be true if I’m in one of my old small cars that isn’t broken down. And if it’s working, I’m low to the ground.
So in a BMW Z4, it’s a nightmare at night trying to drive along in that. The number of car headlights that are just higher, and they’re on dipped. I’m sure they’re on dipped. They just blind me. It’s horrible. I hate it.
Keith Gooden
Like I say, the anti-glare coating that you can get if you wear glasses is worth every penny. I remember years ago I used to commute to and from Worcester, and my evening drive home in the dark really would be very tiring with headlight glare. I got the coating the next time I got a prescription pair of glasses, and it did work a treat. It works very well.
Matt Sims
Well, make sure you get that next time. So the other feature… I was given a loan car. It was a Mercedes. Ours was in for a service. I was given this pretty new Mercedes car. It was a really lovely car. And the car drove on main beam all the time.
And this box appeared around the oncoming vehicle to kind of blackout my main beam. So they were surrounded by my light, but this box actually moved and followed them up the road. And I’m sure I’ve seen that happening as I’ve driven toward a Mercedes.
Its box turned on but it takes a split second for it to cover me, and I’m sure that’s why I’m getting this glare. So I’m sure the issue is manifold, really. One issue is the brightness of the lights, the types of bulb that are going in the light and also this technology.
Keith Gooden
The level of automation.
Matt Sims
Yes, and this level of technology that it just isn’t quite there. Do you know what I mean?
Keith Gooden
Yes. We went on holiday to Sicily a couple of years back and we had an SUV. It felt like it was made out of tin foil, but it was packed with these extras and one of them was that full beam.
Matt Sims
It’s very cool.
Keith Gooden
And if you can’t turn it off.
Matt Sims
No.
Keith Gooden
You just can’t turn it off. And the thing is coming on and going off when it thinks it should be doing it. And you just don’t feel 100% in control. But if you’ve got a different view on this, then please get in touch. More details coming up later on.
Matt Sims
Of course, a great function that we are blessed with on a motorhome is the ability to adjust the height of the headlights. So I’d say make sure that you are not one of those people causing that glare.
So with a motorhome, the back is loaded up with people and all your kit and caboodle. Then you’re going to point the front in the air. So make sure you adjust the height of the headlights and dip them down to their lowest point. That will be something definitely worth checking out before you head off.
Matt’s product of the week
Keith Gooden
What’s the thatleisureshop.com product of the week then, Matt?
Matt Sims
So we’ve had a week of selling this stuff at the show, Bo-Camp and Crespo. This is some of the Bo-Camp product. I’ve got a box of it here. This is the Orville black tableware set. It’s melamine and it’s just beautiful. We sold loads of this stuff. There’s all sorts of different designs.
This is black. It’s a ribbed bowl, and there’s a whole plate set in the box. They do mugs as well. It’s really lovely. And the prices of this have not gone up this year, which we were convinced they were going to. But we’ve not suffered massive price increases this year.
It’s just really lovely. And if you want to really raise the game on your tableware, then this stuff is definitely worth checking out at www.thatleisureshop.com. Just search the Bo-Camp product range. It’s lovely.
Keith Gooden
So which one is this one? Because the Orville is £65.99. And the Patom is £31.99.
Matt Sims
Yes, the Patom is a different style. It’s grey. This is the Orville stuff, which is black. This is one of our best sellers.
Keith Gooden
And you get 10% off with the code MOTORHOMEMATT as well. Do not forget that. So it’s not £65.99, it’s £65.99 with £6.59 taken off.
Matt Sims
Can you add that up in your head?
Keith Gooden
No.
Matt Sims
10% off. Use the calculator on your phone!
How Matt got his teenager to enjoy a camping trip
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
All brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com. The main part of the podcast this week is, do you want to get rid of the kids?
Matt Sims
Yes, please.
Keith Gooden
This is interesting because this is about allowing young adults and kids to have time with their mates on a campsite but on their own. How does it work, then?
Matt Sims
Unsupervised. Yes, so Reuben is my now 15-year-old son, and he wanted to go camping with his friends. And his idea was he would do it in our front lawn. And we thought, “Blimey, that’s going to be a nightmare.
They’re going to be in and out of the house trudging mud in and out, using the loo, making a mess. We’re going to be consumed with teenagers trying to eat us out of house and home. So Jude found a campsite locally.
Keith Gooden
Your wife Jude.
Matt Sims
We’re not married. She won’t marry me.
Keith Gooden
Smart lady.
Matt Sims
Yes, she’s a smart cookie. Anyway, we call her stepmum. Evil stepmum, she is. So she found this campsite near Cheddar, which is not far from home, called Petruth Paddocks. And they accept groups of underage, so under 18, teenagers without adults.
And we thought, “This is interesting.” So she did some digging and read the reviews. They were rave reviews. And we thought, “This is a really good idea. How does this work?” So we contacted the campsite really, really easily.
And their whole mission is to encourage children to get out of the house and go away with their friends and go and experience the great outdoors. So go and get some fresh air and go and get some life experience on their own without mum, dad or their guardian in close quarters.
Keith Gooden
So are there over 60s sitting on their fold up chairs moaning every time they walk past?
Matt Sims
Well, there could be that, yes! So we sent Reuben on his way with his mates. And we had to pay a behaviour bond. So if any one of them misbehaved in any way – and there are some very strict rules around drink, drugs, behaviour and so on – then they are kicked off the site the following morning, and you lose the bond. Simple as that.
So I’m responsible for the behaviour bond as the group booker. So if either he or his mates played up, I lose that bond. So Reuben was under strict instructions to behave. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really have any doubts that he wouldn’t. And it was brilliant. The onboarding experience I had was super.
And I was engaging with Jules, the campsite owner. And he responded to my email. He said, “We’ll try not to lose him. All the best, Peter Pan.” And it was a brilliant experience. So Reuben went off and had a great time. So we went down to Petruth Paddocks because I thought this was a great idea from a campsite to encourage children to get out of their bedrooms. And I asked them, “Why are you doing it?”
What is Petruth Paddocks?
Jules Sayer
Well, Petruth Paddocks is really all about opening up the outdoors to all walks of life. We’ve seen our children who are now 30 and 32 – who now run the campsite with us – at age 9, 10, 11, 12 bring their friends here, have fun here, chill out, take some risks and have some adventure in their lives.
That’s something that’s missing from so many young people’s lives today. They’re closeted. And we want to take the cotton wool away, introduce a little bit of risk and adventure and just enjoy the outdoors. A bit of independence and a bit of responsibility for themselves. That’s what it’s all about.
Matt Sims
Reuben absolutely loved it. And we’re going to hear from him. You were saying earlier that that’s what this is all about, really. It’s about building memories for these children.
Jules Sayer
Yes, it is. And it’s creating an environment where those memories can just come alive, where they can go out for the day if they want to and explore. Or they can just chill around a campfire and chat and relax and just be trusted to be able to do that and given some responsibility to look after the place and to be conscious of other people nearby. There’ll be similar people.
The way we work the fields is that people next to you will be doing a similar thing to you. You won’t have a family next to you if you’re a group of young lads. You’ll have other young people doing a similar sort of thing to you. Maybe some older people doing a similar sort of thing. But it won’t be families, or it won’t be older people who want peace and quiet. We’ve got special fields – different folks, different strokes!
Matt Sims
And this is a big campsite. How many acres is it here?
Jules Sayer
It’s 35 acres in all. It’s divided into six different fields. As I say, there’s a quiet field, a group field for families, a group field for singles and for couples and separate areas specifically for young people and adults to get together and be trusted, I suppose, to just have a great time.
How do they allow kids to camp on their own without adults
Matt Sims
Now, tell me about the behaviour bond, because I love this.
Jules Sayer
I mean, that trust is supported by behaviour bond. The way that works is that the organiser of the group pays us £150, and so long as nobody lets the group down, they walk away and they get that back as they walk out the door.
If one person decides to let the group down… and letting the group down means making excessive noise or disturbing other campers at any time of day or night, really, or just being foolish and upsetting people, which does happen from time to time. With 18,000 people here in a year, there will be about 1% that will let us down.
And some of those may be young people, but it’s very unusual that it’s the under 18s who let us down. It’s usually the 50- or 60-year-old people in the expensive motorhomes or campervans who have too much to drink. And those are the ones I have trouble with, not so much the under 18s!
Matt Sims
So I was going to ask you, how often do you keep that behaviour bond?
Jules Sayer
So we have about 300 groups a year who pay it. I think we keep back about 1%. Three or four bonds a year are kept back. And it’s very clear, and they expect them to be kept back the following morning. There’s never a surprise the following morning when they’re not getting it back.
Matt Sims
Someone said to me about your campsite, “It must be full of kids running riot and running amok. I’m not going there!” But that’s not the case at all, is it?
Jules Sayer
We’ve learned over 21 years of doing this that you need to give young people, children, the four, five, six, seven, eight-year-olds, the freedom to go and meet new friends around the play area. But when it’s dark, they need to be back with their parents.
What we won’t let them do – and we will round them up – is slap a head torch on and start running around. That is not appropriate. And the parents are told that’s not appropriate. And we help to encourage that behaviour to be reined in.
And so we patrol until 12 o’clock at night, every night in the summer, making sure that children are back with their parents and other people are generally behaving and being considerate to people on site. It’s really important to us.
What age of children are welcome at Petruth Paddocks?
Matt Sims
So what age of children are welcome here, then, without their parents?
Jules Sayer
Under 18s are welcome from probably 14 upwards, we’d say. That’s a reasonable age. And we’ve had some lovely, lovely young people come here who give the impression of wanting to help people and be a part of something that we’ve created here, rather than destroying it. That for us is what it’s all about. Give young people the opportunity. Usually they don’t disappoint.
Matt Sims
And what feedback have you had? I mean, your reviews are fantastic, Jules, I have to say. But what’s the biggest feedback you get from the kids, and then also from their parents, who of course aren’t here?
Jules Sayer
There’s a feeling of being in a safe environment that we enable, not interfering with them, allowing them to get on and do what they want to do, but being there in the background should they need us.
Occasionally the very young children on the play area will have issues where older children are causing a problem for them. We’ll be brought into that situation and we’ll work with them to find a solution that works for both, because we want our play area to be open to five- and six-year-olds to feel comfortable as long as 11- and 12-year-olds. They need to mix. It can present problems. We’re there to make sure those problems are resolved straightaway.
What is the feedback of allowing kids to camp on their own?
Matt Sims
But what feedback do you get from the parents, so those who aren’t here on the weekend when the kids are here?
Jules Sayer
Fantastic feedback. They come and pick their children up and they are delighted with the way in which the young people have just gelled together and had a fabulous time making friends with people at a deeper level.
A lot of their friendships are on a virtual basis, a low-level sort of friendship. But when they come away, having spent time around a campfire with the music on in the background chatting, that friendship is so much deeper. And that’s because it’s such a buzz. It’s brilliant.
Matt Sims
And occasionally I hear you put them to work with the hay bales. Tell me more.
Jules Sayer
Just after we bought the land, our son would have been 10 – he’s now 30, so 20-odd years ago. He had his 10th birthday party here, and all his friends came from the local village, around 20 guests.
The parents dropped them all off on a summer’s day. It happened to coincide with having to get the hay in. And so the hay bales had been left in the field and needed to be moved into the barn. And so the activity for the afternoon was doing just that! And they were absolutely exhausted, but they loved it.
Matt Sims
It’s very tiring shifting a field full of hay into a barn. I’ve had to do it my myself.
Find out more about Petruth Paddocks
Matt Sims
So Jules, where can people find out more about Petruth Paddocks and come and experience it for themselves?
Jules Sayer
I mean, we’ve got a great Facebook page. We’ve got a lovely website. People love our website. We tried and tried and tried over the years and we think we’ve pretty much done it to make our website demonstrate what we’re really all about.
You shouldn’t come here having seen our website with the wrong expectation. That means that we can always beat your level of expectation because we keep some things in reserve to make sure that you have a lovely time.
And it might be helping you put your tent up. It could be making sure that your autistic child is looked after in a sensitive way. Those things added on top. But we try and make sure that what you see on the can is what we deliver.
Matt Sims
And what is your website?
Jules Sayer
So it’s www.petruthpaddocks.co.uk. That comes from Peter and Ruth, my late parents, whose small inheritance enabled us to first of all put a deposit on the land 22 years ago. So I think they’d be proud of what we’ve achieved.
What Reuben has to say about his adult-free camping trip
Matt Sims
Now, I’ve been joined in the studio by my 15-year-old son. This is Reuben. Now, you wanted to come to the studio, didn’t you, to see Dad’s workplace?
Reuben Sims
Of course, of course. It feels weird being on this side of the camera.
Matt Sims
I want to talk to you about your trip to Petruth Paddocks with no parents. How was it? How did it feel?
Reuben Sims
It felt refreshing. There was a lot of freedom that we had. We felt responsible and mature for the first time.
Matt Sims
For the first time. Yes, that’d be fair. Brilliant. And what did you get up to while you were there?
Reuben Sims
We did a few things. So we played frisbee with one of our plates.
Matt Sims
The broken one. Yes.
Reuben Sims
We went down to Cheddar Gorge and went into a few shops.
Matt Sims
So you were allowed to leave the campsite, then?
Reuben Sims
Yes, within reason. So if it was 10pm, you couldn’t leave, obviously. But during the day we went to have a walk around Cheddar. We went to Lidl to buy some food.
Matt Sims
And you had a barbecue?
Reuben Sims
Yes. We had a barbecue. I was cooking all the food for my friends. They said it was delicious.
Matt Sims
Good.
Reuben Sims
I hope they weren’t lying.
Matt Sims
I’m sure they weren’t. And what were the people around the campsite? Did you meet them?
Reuben Sims
Yes. So the other people who were staying in caravans were quite nice. And then the people who run the campsite were very friendly. They gave us a tour of the campsite and showed us our field and the bathrooms.
Matt Sims
And I heard you have more than one shower over a weekend.
Reuben Sims
Twice a day.
Matt Sims
Twice a day? Teenage boys showering twice a day? What was going on?
Reuben Sims
It was a refreshing shower, actually. We thought the showers were going to be cold because most campsites have cold showers.
Matt Sims
Just the ones I’ve taken you to! So the showers were that good?
Reuben Sims
Yeah, yeah. Twice a day.
Matt Sims
Cleanest boys in Cheddar. And tell me about the behaviour bond. They gave you a bit of a pep talk, I understand, on behaviour. What was that all about?
Reuben Sims
So that was about if teenagers – because teenagers being teenagers – do underage drinking or bring alcohol and do drugs, you get kicked off the campsite. And it’d be £150 that they take from you. Or if we broke something, then they take some money out.
Matt Sims
Okay, and are you going again?
Reuben Sims
Hopefully yes, this year in August, in summer when it’s warm.
Matt Sims
Okay, and you want to go for longer this time?
Reuben Sims
Yes. Hopefully, we’re going to go for about five nights.
Matt Sims
Okay. Look at Jules, he’s coming back! And what would you say to someone, maybe someone your age, who’s thinking of doing this but maybe they’re a bit worried about it? What would you say to them?
Reuben Sims
Definitely do it. It’s a wonderful experience. You get a lot of free space. You can do whatever you want within reason. I loved it and my friends loved it. We’re going again because it was such an amazing experience.
Matt Sims
Thank you for letting me get my bond back and being well-behaved!
Keith Gooden
So there you have it here on the Motorhome Matt podcast. That’s Reuben, Matt’s son, who stayed at Petruth Paddocks with his friends. Before that we heard from the owner at Petruth Paddocks, Jules Sayer. All in all a great idea, Matt, and it seems that Reuben had a fantastic time!
Matt Sims
He’s set to go again, he can’t wait. So I think he’ll want to do more and more. The best bit about it, as Jules said, is that it’s just a great way of getting children to be independent and get some life experience dealing with stuff. I mean, Reuben chose not to buy the logs because he’s tight. He didn’t want to spend the £20.
Keith Gooden
They’ve always got to plan for money, young people.
Matt Sims
Yes, absolutely. If they’d found a gym, they would have gone and spent their money there. But they were in Cheddar! There isn’t a gym in Cheddar that they could find. But it’s also about learning about each other, so building friendships that are based on that conversation around the campfire.
Really good. Great life experience. And I would encourage you, if you’re a campsite owner listening to this, to have a look at Jules’ model. Talk to him about it. I’m sure he would love to help you consider doing this. I think it’s a great idea. And as a parent, getting him that life experience is really important to me. So I’d encourage you to go for it.
Audience Q&A
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
It’s brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. It’s time for our Q&A, our questions and answers. You ask the questions and Motorhome Matt Sims, he tries to answer them. And if he can’t answer it himself, he always gets an expert to do it for him. It’s a great job you’ve got there, isn’t it?
Matt Sims
We’ve got a few friends I can ask. You make it sound like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Can I phone a friend?
Can you recommend a good value tyre brand for year round use?
Keith Gooden
Steve Ball’s in Newton Abbot. He says, “I’m looking at purchasing a Burstner 821, which has sat for a while and we will want to be doing quite a lot of miles, so I will replace the six tires Can you recommend a brand that are good value and which tread pattern is best for all year use? Keep up the good work,” says Steve in Newton Abbott.
Matt Sims
Thank you, Steve. Now Steve, you know there’s a way you can check the age of the tyres. If it’s been stood around, it’s probably good idea to replace them. But look for that little pill which has the week and year. Remember we talked about this before?
Find out how old the tyres are. But the key thing to look for on a motorhome tyre is the CP mark on the sidewall, which means camper. The tread pattern on a camper tyre is a different design. So it’s designed to withstand a higher pressure. And also the sidewalls are thicker.
So it’s designed to stand around and withstand a permanent weight. So unlike a van, which is one and a half tonnes and then fully loaded at three and a half tonnes and then back to one and a half tonnes because all the deliveries were done, a motorhome sits at full weight most of the time.
So the tyres are designed to cope with that. The brands to look for, to answer your question, are Continental, who make a Vanco camper, the Michelin Agilis range do a camping tyre and Pirelli do a Chrono camping tyre as well. So those are the three main manufacturers in the market.
Keith Gooden
I hope that’s been of help for you, Steve.
My wife can’t reach the pedals, what can we do?
Keith Gooden
Abd’ur-Rahman Stevens is in Harrow. And he says, “Hi, Matt. My wife would also like to drive our motorhome, but she finds the pedals are a bit too hard to reach. Are you aware of any device that is available to help alleviate this issue?” Apart from wooden blocks tied to your shoes!
Matt Sims
Best practice is that a driver should be around 10 inches from the airbag for your safety. So if the airbag was to go off, you’re not going to suffer a load of burns from it inflating really fast. You can buy something called pedal extenders, and as far as I can tell, they are legal to use in the UK.
Now, there are rules about what you wear on your feet. So driving barefoot is not recommended. Driving in flip-flops is also not recommended. You’re meant to be safe and able to drive securely so your feet don’t slip off the pedal.
Keith Gooden
Hasn’t the flip flop or all been introduced in the Highway Code this year? It’s actually illegal now to drive in flip-flops.
Matt Sims
That’s right. Yes, you have to be in appropriate footwear. But I did some Googling. They’re called pedal extenders, and that’s what you need to search for. I found some for £80 for a clutch and brake. There’s a brilliant skit on Top Gear where Warwick Davis goes on and they get him to go around the track.
Keith Gooden
He’s of a smaller stature.
Matt Sims
Smaller stature. He’s a very famous, talented actor. And Richard Hammond decides it would be good idea to make his own pedal extenders and so gaffer tapes a Pringles pot onto the clutch. So Warwick gets in and it works! It’s kind of stable enough… kind of.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t raise the seat so he can’t see over the steering wheel. It’s very funny. It’s on YouTube. It made me laugh when I was Googling and I came across it. So I mean, Warwick’s the ultimate challenge, I suppose, isn’t he? But you can buy them.
The key is, I would get them professionally fitted, if you want to be sure that they’re safe. But they just clamp around the pedal. They’re a really innovative idea. And you can adjust the angle of them as well.
So you can get them safe and secure. And of course, vehicles like this are adapted all the time. So you could go to a vehicle adaptation and mobility company that will be able to do this for you. Or if you felt brave enough, you could do it yourself. I’ll be honest, I would feel brave enough to do it for my other half, if she couldn’t reach the pedals.
Keith Gooden
Or for anybody who’s vertically challenged. There you are, Abd’ur-Rahman Stevens in Harrow. Hope that has been of help to you. And you could always get yourself a taller wife.
Matt Sims
You could always get yourself… but don’t do the Pringles thing! Don’t follow Richard’s example.
Ask Matt your questions
Keith Gooden
Okay, then. Well, thanks for your questions. If you want to get in touch and ask, Matt, what should people do?
Matt Sims
Dead easy. Go to mhmp.info/askmatt. And I guarantee… I always say this. If you ask the question, I guarantee 100 other people are listening who go, “That’s a great question. I thought that too.”
Keith Gooden
That’s mhmp.info/askmatt.
Matt Sims
You can subscribe on YouTube. Just click the little bell and hit the subscribe button. And it’s sponsored by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
Keith Gooden
Or you can share this episode with a friend, can’t you, Matt?
Matt Sims
You can. We would love it if you did. If you think you know somebody who might find the content useful or maybe even entertaining, then give it a share. We would love you to spread the word of the podcast!
