Camping and Caravanning Club
The Camping and Caravanning Club is a not-for-profit group for people who love camping and caravanning in the United Kingdom. It began in 1901 as the Association of Cycle Campers. One of its founders was Thomas Hiram Holding, who also started the Bicycle Touring Club. He wrote The Campers Handbook in 1908. The club opened its first campsite in Weybridge in 1906.
Over the years the club changed its name several times. It became The Camping Club of Great Britain and Ireland in 1919, and later The Camping and Caravanning Club Ltd in 1983. The club grew a lot, reaching 100,000 members in 1967 and more than 300,000 by 2000. Today it has over 600 staff and a turnover above £50 million.
The club is run by the National Council, made up of members and appointed people. It works with a director-general and an executive committee. There are 13 regions across the UK, each with district associations to help members connect. There are also special interest groups, like the Lightweight Campers, Canoe-Camping, Walking and Cycling, and Folk Dance and Song.
The club runs nearly 100 club sites and over 1,100 certificated sites across the UK. Certificated sites are small campsites that can host up to five caravans or motorhomes and up to ten tents, and they are owned by independent landowners but open only to club members. The club is legally allowed to issue certificates to landowners to run these small sites without planning permission under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:18 (CET).