Alan Rogers Guides
Encyclopedia
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in 1968 by camping enthusiast Alan Rogers. The guides place utmost importance on the quality of the campsite
Campsite
A campsite or camping pitch is a place used for overnight stay in the outdoors. In British English a campsite is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using tents or camper vans or caravans; this British English use of the word is synonymous with the...
s they include; campsite
Campsite
A campsite or camping pitch is a place used for overnight stay in the outdoors. In British English a campsite is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using tents or camper vans or caravans; this British English use of the word is synonymous with the...
s cannot pay to be in the guide. The range now has expanded to six titles covering 27 countries. Alan Rogers guides are also now firmly established in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
How the campsites are chosen
The guides rely on a dedicated team of Site Assessors, all of whom are experienced campers, caravanners or motorcaravanners, to visit and recommend parks. The popularity of the guides is based their impartiality and supported by the enthusiasm, diligence and integrity of the Site Assessors.The most important criteria used when inspecting and selecting parks is quality. The Assessors consider and evaluate:
- The welcome
- The pitches
- The sanitary facilities
- The cleanliness
- The general maintenance
- The location
The guides try to cater for a wide variety of preferences; from those seeking a small peaceful campsite in the heart of the countryside, to visitors looking for an 'all singing, all dancing' park in a popular seaside resort.
History
The first guide (Alan Rogers' selected sites for caravanning and camping in Europe) sold for four shillings (20p). In the introduction to the first guide Alan wrote "I would like to stress that the camps which are included in this book have been chosen entirely on merit and no payment of any sort is made by them for the their inclusion."The Alan Rogers guides continued to expand until 1986 when Alan Rogers decided to seek retirement. The publishing company Deneway Guides and Travel Ltd was purchased by were Clive and Lois Edwards and the guides are now owned by the Mark Hammerton Group
Mark Hammerton Group Ltd
Mark Hammerton Group Ltd is a UK based travel organiser and travel publisher specialising in camping, caravanning, motorhome and mobile home holidays on campsites in France, Spain, Italy and other European countries. The Group publishes the market-leading Alan Rogers campsites guides as well as...
.
Clive Edwards remembers the negotiations with Alan Rogers clearly. "The actual business negotiations were conducted quickly. What Alan was really concerned about was that we would maintain the philosophy and the impartiality of the Guides. Following Alan's retirement we found that he was always willing to offer us advice and guidance".
Success
The guides have been influential in the rise in popularity of camping; for example, drawing attention to the number of overseas sites that were providing mains electricity hook-ups. Alan Rogers suggested that British caravanners and motor caravanners should take advantage of this by having their units wired to take mains electricity; in 1968 no standard British caravan was supplied with mains electricity wiring.One measure of the guides' success is that many of the things he called for in the original guide have now become reality:
- Mains electricity connections in caravans and motor caravans
- Marked pitches of a minimum size
- Hot water freely available in the amenity blocks
- British style toilets on French campsites
- The use of trees and bushes to mark pitches
- Nn end to the practice of over-crowding of sites during the peak summer holiday times
Many of the sites - like Camping du Pavillon at Bidarte in the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
recommended by him in 1968 - are still recommended in the current guides, although all the sites have developed along the lines originally recommended by Alan Rogers.
Trivia
- Each year the Site Assessors travel 100,000 miles around EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
- All six titles are also published in DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
and stocked by over 90% of all DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
bookshops
External links
- AlanRogers.com - Official website for the guides