New Site Isle of Man

[Burge]

New site in Manx capital opens to overnight motorhome parking

Visitors to the site in Noble's Park can stay for up four nights at a time, Douglas Council says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[1807truckman]

Stayed there with the sidecar team when we were at the TT, this was back in the 70's/80's.

 

[Scotia]

When I was doing the TT in the 90s we sometimes parked on the prom was less of a walk from the Cunard where the sidecar boys drank.

 

[2cv]

It’s positive to get this but sadly it’s no longer allowed to overnight at the Ayres due to the rules on fires and van size being broken. It was an idyllic spot, once again the few spoil it for the many.

Isle of Man Government - Overnight camping withdrawn at Ayres National Nature Reserve

Overnight camping withdrawn at Ayres National Nature Reserve

www.gov.im

 

[iomian]

True, you no longer camp at the Ayres Nature Reserve (commonly known as Smeale beach), you never could in the past without a permit, you can still camp at the Point of Ayre without a permit as you've always been able to. I think at lot of people confuse the two, the Point of Ayre has a light house and massive fog horn (never used now thank goodness).

 

[2cv]

True, you no longer camp at the Ayres Nature Reserve (commonly known as Smeale beach), you never could in the past without a permit, you can still camp at the Point of Ayre without a permit as you've always been able to. I think at lot of people confuse the two, the Point of Ayre has a light house and massive fog horn (never used now thank goodness).

We stayed at the Ayres nature reserve a few times and the rangers just came round with a free permit valid for a year.

 

[iomian]

That's right, the permits were free but limited, in the last few years they were available they ran out fairly early on in the year as more and more people applied for them. Unfortunately they've also changed the permits for Sulby Claddagh and Ramsey Park, both now need £100 permits which allow camping all summer, I think these permits are largely ignored over race periods much to the annoyance of locals who still have to pay the £100. There are still a lot of free camping locations, the Point of Ayre is fantastic but no facilities.
No one really knows the real reason why camping was stopped at Smeale, the government said it was to preserve the nature reserve but that simply doesn't make sense as camping has no more impact than the visitors who still go there and drive over the same areas that were once used to camp on, in fact campers probably helped keep watch on the area over night.