Alan Rogers Guides

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The Alan Rogers Guides were started in Britain in 1968 by camp enthusiast Alan Rogers. The guides place utmost importance on the quality of the campsites they include; campsites 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.

How the campsites are chosen

The guides rely on a dedicated team of Site Assessors, all of whom are experienced cottagers, 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."

Alan Rogers continued to expand until 1986 when Alan Rogers decided to seek weight loss. The publishing company Deneway Guides and Travel Ltd was purchased by were Clive and Lois Edwards and the guides were owned by the Mark Hammerton Group until 2012.

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".

In 2012 the Mark Hammerton Group was acquired by The Caravan Club. The guides continue to recommend campsites based on strict criteria and independent assessments.

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 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 Europe
• All six titles are also published in Dutch and stocked by over 90% of all Dutch bookshops

External links

• AlanRogers.com - Official website for the guides

See also

• Alan Rogers
• Mark Hammerton Group Ltd

References

• Amazon - Alan Rogers guides for sale on Amazon
• Towsure - Alan Rogers Guides information
• Cordee - Britain and Ireland Guide for sale