Members-only small sites
CL sites and Certificated Sites
Roughly 2,000–2,200 CLs · both clubs contradict themselves on the count
Five vans, a tap and a chemical disposal point, for a few pounds a night. The two clubs run near-identical schemes under different names, and the differences that matter are not the ones usually written about.
A Certificated Location is a private landowner's field, paddock or orchard, certified by the Caravan and Motorhome Club to take up to five vans without a local authority site licence. The Camping and Caravanning Club runs the same idea under the name Certificated Site. Both rest on the same exemption in Schedule 1 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960.
What follows is taken from the two clubs' own currently-published pages. Where they contradict themselves, which on site counts they both do, this page says so rather than repeating whichever number reads best.
CL and CS side by side
The naming difference is trivial. The tent rule is not.
| Certificated Location | Certificated Site | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | Caravan and Motorhome Club | Camping and Caravanning Club |
| Called | Certificated Location (CL) | Certificated Site (CS) |
| How many | The club says “over 2,000” on its CL page and “more than 2,200” on its own blog | The club says “over 1,300” on one page and “over 800” on another; its dedicated facts page gives no total |
| Caravans and motorhomes | Five at a time | Five at a time |
| Ordinary tents | Not permitted at all | Up to ten, alongside the five vans, or more by express permission |
| Membership needed | Yes, members only | Yes, members only — non-members must join before camping |
| Annual membership | £69 by Direct Debit, or £79 first year by card including a £10 joining fee | £56.95 digital, £59.95 with printed magazine and directory |
| Nightly price the club quotes | From £2.50, described as the minimum | From £10 per unit, covering two adults and two children |
| Booking | Direct with the owner by phone, email or their own website | Through SiteSeeker and each site's own contact route; the club never says “phone the owner” as plainly |
Figures as published by each club and checked on 9 August 2026. Membership prices reprice most years.
The two different 28-day rules
The single most confused point about small sites in the UK.
The club rule
How long you may stay
No unit may stay on the same CL or CS for more than 28 days at a time. The Caravan and Motorhome Club lists it as Rule 2 in its guide for site owners and labels it explicitly a club rule, not a statutory one. Both clubs place the duty on the owner to enforce it.
The planning rule
How long a site may open
A separate permitted-development right lets any landowner, with no club and no exemption certificate, run unlicensed camping for up to 28 days in a calendar year. It caps the site's operating days, not your stay. It has nothing to do with the CL and CS schemes, and the two are constantly conflated online.
What is actually guaranteed
Three things. Everything else is site by site.
Drinking water
On every CL and CS. On a CS the supply must be within 100 metres of the pitches.
Chemical disposal
A point for emptying toilet cassettes and waste water.
Dry rubbish disposal
A bin, emptied regularly.
Toilets, showers, electric hook-up and hardstanding are all optional. The Camping and Caravanning Club states outright that toilets and showers do not form part of the basic requirements for establishing a Certificated Site, and that hardstanding is only recommended for sites wanting to open year-round.
The Caravan and Motorhome Club publishes the useful numbers: electric hook-up on over 80% of CLs, some hardstanding and toilets on over 900 of them, showers on approximately 540. Against a network of two thousand-odd sites, that puts a shower on roughly a quarter. Arriving expecting one is the most common first-timer mistake, closely followed by turning up with a tent.
Finding and booking one
There is no central booking system for either scheme.
The Caravan and Motorhome Club is explicit: find a CL in the members' directory, then book it directly with the owner by phone, email or their own website, with your membership number to hand. Nothing goes through the club.
The Camping and Caravanning Club is vaguer. It points members at SiteSeeker and its printed guidebook, which carries QR codes for club sites and Certificated Sites alike, implying each site handles its own bookings — but it never spells out the direct-to-owner route the way the other club does.
Both clubs' directories are behind a membership login, which is why no independent site — this one included — lists the full CL or CS network. Anyone claiming to is republishing data they are not licensed to hold.
Where the full club sites are
If you want facilities rather than a field, the clubs' larger sites are the other half of the network.
The longer read on where the five-van exemption comes from is in Certificated Locations and Certificated Sites explained, and the membership comparison is in which UK caravan club should you join.
Common questions
What is a CL site?+
A Certificated Location is a small campsite of up to five caravans or motorhomes, run by a private landowner under an exemption certificate issued by the Caravan and Motorhome Club. The exemption comes from Schedule 1 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, which lets an approved organisation certify land for caravans without the owner needing a local authority site licence. CLs are open to club members only.
What does CL stand for in caravan sites?+
Certificated Location. The Camping and Caravanning Club runs an equivalent scheme under a different name, Certificated Sites, usually shortened to CS.
How many caravans are on a CL site?+
Five at any one time. The Caravan and Motorhome Club counts caravans, motorhomes, campervans, roof tents, tailgate or hitch tents and trailer tents towards that five. Its own operator guide calls the five-unit cap the most important condition of holding a certificate, and exceeding it forfeits CL status.
Who can use CL sites?+
Members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club only. One membership covers the member, a partner and children under 18 in the same household; an extra adult costs £10 a year. Certificated Sites work the same way for Camping and Caravanning Club members, and that club states plainly that non-members must join before camping on one.
Can you camp in a tent on a CL?+
No. The Caravan and Motorhome Club states that tent camping is not permitted at its CLs. This is the clearest practical difference between the two schemes: the Camping and Caravanning Club allows up to ten tents on a Certificated Site alongside the five caravans or motorhomes.
Do CL sites have toilets and showers?+
Not necessarily. Only three things are guaranteed on every CL: drinking water, a chemical waste disposal point and dry rubbish disposal. The club's own figures put electric hook-up on over 80% of CLs, some hardstanding and toilets on over 900 of them, and showers on roughly 540 — so a shower is the exception rather than the rule.
How much does a CL cost per night?+
Neither club publishes a typical price or an upper limit. The Caravan and Motorhome Club quotes CLs “from as little as £2.50 per night” and says in its own FAQ that this is the minimum you can expect to pay and may vary through the year. The Camping and Caravanning Club quotes Certificated Sites from £10 per unit per night. Any specific typical range quoted elsewhere is not something either club states.
What is the 28-day rule for CL sites?+
It caps a single visit: no one unit may stay on the same CL or CS for more than 28 days at a time. Both clubs frame it as an obligation on the site owner to enforce. It is not the same thing as the general planning exemption that lets any landowner run unlicensed camping for up to 28 days per calendar year — that rule limits how long a site may operate, not how long you may stay, and the two are constantly confused.
Sources
- Caravan and Motorhome Club — Certificated Locations
- Caravan and Motorhome Club — membership
- Camping and Caravanning Club — Certificated Sites
- Camping and Caravanning Club — membership
- Camping and Caravanning Club — Certificated and Listed Site pricing policy
Checked 9 August 2026. Both clubs reprice membership most years and both publish inconsistent site counts across their own pages; figures here are quoted as the clubs state them.