Setting the Record Straight

Here are some of the comments I have had relating to our yard space being offered to campervanners and motorhomers to stopover and enjoy the experience of watching the wildlife overnight...

Why pay £15 to park when there are plenty of free places to pull in and stay?

You have no services, why pay money for nothing?

Landowners / site owners are just trying to rip us off, it's daylight robbery.

Money for nothing! I'd rather park for free elsewhere.

Far too expensive for solo travellers.

So, what are you getting for your £15?

First of all, land is expensive, ground works are expensive, drainage and hard standing are expensive, fencing is expensive and so are annual licence fees, annual insurances, monthly service contracts for waste disposal, repairs and maintenance, administrative costs, fire points, our time... Need I go on? 

What you get when staying at Frugaldom is peace of mind that you are on a legally recognised, insured, safe and secure site for the purposes of enjoying nature and, hopefully, photographing the wildlife that can come within meters of your park-up spot.

Some people don't get the opportunity to see the likes of pine martens, badgers, foxes or red squirrels. Some people don't get the opportunity to sit and relax, watching hundreds of wild birds feeding nearby or birds of prey soaring overhead.

Some people have never experienced star-laden skies or witnessed the spectacle of the Milky Way spanning the darkness above us. But for a mere £15, you can come along absolutely any night of the year and could experience all of the above, while also enjoying seeing some unique art in nature created right here for the enjoyment of all.

Ecoart combines recycling and repurposing with environmental artwork, while creating new habitats for wildlife. With over 70 individual sculptures to see here, this alone is like visiting an open air exhibition... Free of charge. Elsewhere, the wildlife feeding stations are kept topped up with bird, squirrel, pine marten and badger food to ensure everything has the best possible chance to thrive on this land.

Until 2024, Frugaldom operated a licensed animal welfare establishment. Although we no longer take in animals, we still have several rescued ponies, goats and the feral / stray cats that have found their way here. We don't mind visitors bringing pets but for very obvious reasons, they need to be well behaved and kept under total control on short leads. Movements are restricted after dark to lessen the chance of ponies being spooked resulting in injuries.

We work on site seven days per week throughout the year, voluntarily, looking after animals, trying out best to raise income to help cover feed costs while also trying to maintain the campervan/motorhome site and the recreational huts.

We may not have modern day luxury services such as electricity, showers, toilets or, indeed, running water, but most campervans and motorhomes are self contained with their own toilets and sinks. Waste from each can be disposed of at the relevant points here, then it is dealt with by a fully licensed waste management company - another of our regular overheads.

On the subject of solo travellers, I have to say that travelling solo does not automatically reduce the footprint of your vehicle. It still takes up a parking space, therefore still costs the same as a vehicle with any other number of occupants. We pay hundreds of pounds each year for insurance in order to be able to offer our premises for stopovers so I consider our pricing structure to be very fair. 

£15 for 1 night

£25 for 2 nights

£10 per night thereafter up to a maximum stay of 28 days. We offer further discounts for anyone looking to stay 28 days and to anyone offering their help while here.

Wildlife Watching 

If you care to check prices elsewhere, you will find that it can cost £100 for access to a wildlife hide for a few hours. Here at Frugaldom, you can see the wildlife from your park-up. We have solar powered cameras that you can log into and see what's at the nearby feeding stations after dark. We have solar lighting that enables you to spot the badgers and the pine martens when they visit. You are welcome to bring your own trail cameras to set up at the feeding stations. For anyone who wants to visit but has no campervan or motorhome, you can park up in your car and have access to a hut at a cost of £50 per night for up to 4 people - hut opportunities will be dealt with in a separate post. We also allow box tents during suitable weather but no ground pegs, generators, BBQs or campfires.

Frugaldom is a rather unique place that offers unique opportunities to experience nature and witness the wonders of wildlife. We are not like a lay-by where you just pull in, cook your meal, sleep and leave. While you are here, you are treated as friends, like part of the project, appreciated for supporting all that we do here and welcome to stay longer, return often and even join our 'Friends of Frugaldom' support group.

I think that answers most of the queries I've been asked and addresses all of the 'why pay for nothing' type comments. If you still feel you aren't getting value for money then Frugaldom is not the place for you. If you genuinely want to visit but honestly cannot afford £15 then email me (Susan) frugaldom@gmail.com and we can discuss how you could swap some of your time helping at Frugaldom in exchange for park-up. Frugal by name, frugal by nature.

Check out Frugaldom on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.

Welcome Back Campervan Friends

Certificate of Exemption issued by the all new Caledonian Touring Club. Huge thank you to Oliver for achieving success in his aims to create a new club. After his own campervan and motorhome site in Aberfeldy, Frugaldom became the second such site to be registered in Scotland. We are open to campervans and motorhomes up to 7.5m from Friday 1st August 2025 and can also welcome folks with small caravans. 

We invite you to book a visit for wildlife watching - £15 for 1 night, £25 for 2 nights and £75 for a full week. Maximum stay is 28 days. 

We provide supplementary feed for the wildlife but you are welcome to bring along fresh eggs, peanuts, monkey nuts, fat balls/blocks, suet blocks, suet pellets, wild bird seed or even peanut butter... All are favourites of the wildlife here.

Space is limited so we will host a maximum of 3 vehicles at any given time. We can accept prepaid bookings, meet-ups are encouraged and we will be hosting small rallies for wildlife and nature enthusiasts.

Frugaldom is off the beaten track, completely off-grid and provides nothing but space to enjoy your stay. Our yard is secure with relatively flat hardstanding for parking. Bay 1 is adjacent to a recently extended wildlife feeding station, which is partially lit by solar lighting at night, allowing watchers to spot pine marten, badgers and, no doubt, one or more if the projects feral cat residents.

Thi one has been named Caramel, the not-so-feral feral feline. She is often seen around the place with Minstrel, Sox or Macaroon.

Get in contact now to book your spot. Submerge yourself in nature within our micro wilderness surrounded by wildlife, over 60 ecoarts sculptures, ponies, goats, cats, birds and even the occasional lizard, adder or slow worm. The latter seldom venture into the yard but we do have designated basking areas they frequent, if you are lucky enough to spot them. 

The Ecoarts project is all about art in nature. Each creation is crafted in wildwood, driftwood or beach debris, making it more environmentally friendly as well as it becoming home to a miriad if insects and even nesting birds.

Frugaldom offers you a unique experience at a fraction of the cost of the more mainstream outdoir activities. Bring your cameras, trail cans, binoculars... You will certainly make memories while here.

Email frugaldom@gmail.com or message via any of our social media pages @frugaldom.

Are There Any Aires in Scotland?

This page is dedicated to campervan and motorhome stopover providers within Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland licensed through CAMpRA Rally Group*.

ARE THERE ANY AIRES IN SCOTLAND?

Yes! At time of writing, there are 162 CAMpRA aires within the UK and around one third of those are in Scotland. Many have their own websites, are pinned on Google maps and/or have social media pages. Frugaldom blog is hosting a free list of some fabulously frugal aires that should be on every campervanner or motorhomer's list.

WHAT IS AN AIRE?

An aire is a simple stopover that can be used by campervans or motorhomes while travelling. These can be service points that offer fresh drinking water, electric hook-up and toilet emptying facilities in exchange for a nominal fee or, in some cases, a donation. Some aires simply provide a safe, secure and legal place to park. The 'no services' aires are handy stop off points and allow you to relax and rest for a day or two without the worry of being moved on, as long as you don't display any camping behaviour. No camping behaviour means no awnings, no BBQs or firepits and no setting out the sunloungers, chairs or picnic tables. Aires provide overnight parking, nothing more. Most expect you to arrive in daylight with everything onboard you require and leave no trace when you go. The usual price for these stopovers is around £5 per night, slightly more if there are services available. The 'CAMpRA' licensed aires are star rated with 3 stars meaning no services, 4 stars have waste facilities and 5 stars can mean electric hook-up is available. Prices vary accordingly but like I said, many are asking for only £5 per night. Aires, unlike many holiday parks and campsites, are open all year round. 

WHO OWNS AIRES?

Aire owners are just ordinary people who want to offer those travelling in campervans or motorhomes an inexpensive alternative to fully serviced campsites that stipulate a minimum stay. Aire owners set their own rules and prices, depending on the facilities available on site. Some will have grass pitches, some will have hardstanding or be based within enclosed yards, all will be for a maximim of 5 vehicles. If you arrive at an aire with 5 vans already parked, move on to the next available stopover site, don't risk losing the aire owner their licence.

FINDING AIRES (The demonstration links here lead to Frugaldom's aire)

Being rural, postcodes and SatNav can often take you the wrong direction. In the countryside, several miles of single track lane may link a number of farms, houses and businesses, all with the same postcode. There isn't always anyone around to ask directions and often mobile signal can be non-existent, so no option to call anyone. For this reason, we always recommend using What3Words or else check for pinned sites on Google Maps. Many sites and apps such as SearchforSites and Park4Night include coordinates for these overnight stops.

SCOTTISH AIRES

Naturally, I am going to begin with Frugaldom. Overnight parking is provided in the yard so you are fairly sheltered and secluded. The yard is all hardstanding and as level as we can afford to make it for now. Set within the centre of the sanctuary and surrounded by wildlife and wild bird feeding stations, this aire is completely off-grid. Arrival is by daylight only and we have quiet hours between 9pm and 9am. There is no electricity and no fresh running water but we do have grey water waste disposal and a tank for emptying chemical toilets. For use of these facilities, we ask £5. The overnight parking is by donation either by scanning the QR code that links to PayPal or by dropping a few pounds into the donations / honesty box. While here, allowing for weather conditions, you can see the sanctuary ponies, Vincent Van Goat and possibly the badgers, fox, pine marten, adders and various wild birds. We also have our  environmental art project, which now has over 50 sculptures dotted around the site, from wizards and green men to unicorns, woodland creatures and fairy folks. I like to think of Frugaldom as being one of the quirkiest aires you will visit.

AIRES IN UK

I am compiling a list of inexpensive aires for anyone to browse, save, share or take note of for future travels. Aires are the way to go if you are travelling in a campervan or motorhome and in some locations, such as Frugaldom, they are free for those prepared to trade their time volunteering in exchange for safe and secure park-up. This is the link to the list of aires in UK that is currently being developed.

Happy holidays, folks! Frugaldom is about finding affordable options. You are welcome to join us as Happy Hutters or Wildlife Watchers if campervanning isn't your thing. I'm not including camping as there are just too many places in Scotland where you can wildcamp for free. Please remember to observe Scotland's 'right to roam' Outdoor Access code sensibly and respectfully.

* CAMpRA UK Ltd is the Campaign for Real Aires in UK

Things are Changing Around Here in 2024

 

The Internet is becoming more and more of an abyss, what with social media blurring the edges of every website we visit and an assumption that everyone has fabulously fast broadband and mobile phones that can juggle a thousand photos, videos and applications. Sadly, this is not the case for everyone. Some of us live within the small percentage of UK to where such luxuries have not yet arrived. Blogging seems to have become obscured by vlogging and while viewer numbers on our own YouTube channel reflect no need for it to be there, it is still something that I want to do, There are no frills attached, not even voiceovers, just tiny fragments of videos that give our viewers the opportunity to see what we see while we are here. Getting the word out about anything is beyond affordability to the likes of us, despite taking part in local wildlife events and such like.

So here we are, trying to get back into blogging but now from the off-grid huts that sit amidst the wilderness that is Frugaldom. I am relying on an inexpensive 100w solar panel connected to a secondhand leisure battery to power the laptop and I access the internet by tethering the laptop to a mobile phone. This only work if I perch the phone on the edge of the camping stove. Granted, the view from the office window is fabulous on a clear day - fields, forest, Vincent Van Goat calling from his enclosure, rescue ponies frolicking around their track in whatever the weather and all against the backdrop of the Galloway Hills. Not bad, in my book. But that doesn't pay the bills nor does it put food on the table, feed in the buckets or hay in the nets.

AIRES AND SPACES

At just £5 for an overnight stop and a licence that allows for up to five campervans at a time, we have the potential to generate some income. Our yard is fairly level, secluded, enclosed and secure but lends itself better to hosting three motorhomes up to 7.5m so that is the number I am working with for now. We are off the beaten track bu only 4 miles from the main A75, depending on which route you take. We are not on a through road, nor even on a road to anywhere other than a wind farm and forest so only the farmer, forestry folks and windfarm maintenance people pass our gate, plus a few dog walkers who drive their dogs up to the windfarm. Again, this does not lend itself to overnight stops, especially as all around us are alernatives to paying for parking. But wait... could there be a small percentage of campervanners who may just be looking for a safe, secure hideaway to escape the norm? Or might there be the occasional individuals looking to pay £25 per night to have the yard to themselves? Even better!

With 5 spaces at £5 per space, our yard has the potential to generate an absolute maximum aire income of  £9,125 (less transaction fees) per year, but the reality is far different from that. Based on 3 campervans, the income potential is £5,475. Again, the reality is far from actual turnover as the possibulity of having 3 campers in every day of the year is just fantasy. Where we are right now, we are lucky to see an average 1 campervan a month. No point glossing over this fact. I am forever reading comments on socal media about how so many want to pay so little for so much and this is one of the reasons I feel we should move on from offering secure parking and look at alternatives. We are a very quirky project, not your normal run-of-the-mill campsite. We are an aire - a term I had never encountered before opening our yard to the land of campervanners and motorhomers. Indeed, I have never spent a night in either - my preference is hutting in the countryside, surrounded by famiiar landscapes and our regular visits from the badgers, pine marten, fox and yes, even the adders, when the sun decides to shine. 

We accept PayPal payments to Frugaldom either direct via the QR code posted at the gate or by email to frugaldom@gmail.com but we also use honesty and donation boxes for those who prefer to pay cash. On occasion, we will barter for goods, services or a little bit of help from visiting campervanners. It all helps when running a voluntary project with no regular source of income generation on site. So what is our niche?

HUTS AND WILDLIFE

Most nights, we are visited by pine marten, badgers and fox. As members of our regular support group, which costs from as little as £5 per month, you can visit anytime and watch for the wildlife. 

Bring some peanuts and you're sure to attract some animal attention, even if it is just a visit from Vincent Van Goat, who is one of our rescued residents living at the Frugaldom sanctuary.

We are special, we are quirky, we are affordable, we are niche, we are at Frugaldom. We will hold the ampervan aire open until the end of the year then assess the situation from there.

Free Campervan and Motorhome Overnight Parking at Frugaldom in Dumfries and Galloway Frugaldom

 

During the Covid pandemic, our yard got registered and licensed through Dumfries and Galloway Council Planning Department to allow us to offer overnight parking for fully self-contained campervans and motorhomes (up to a maximum length of 7.5m). As time progressed and the pandemic fizzled out, it was suggested that we continue offering park-up space, so we were able to transfer our licence through CAMpRA UK to MotorhomeFun. We became known as an aire, a term used more in France for service points or overnight parking areas. Come and enjoy some fresh air at the Frugaldom aire, where parking is free but we do expect a small contribution towards the upkeep of the yard and driveway because gravel costs a fortune to get it delivered and laid when we have no machinery and few volunteers volunteer to do that job.

In 2021/22 we applied to CAMpRA for some funding to help us afford a waste disposal point but this was refused. (I haven't found out, yet, who benefited from the £13,000+ funds that were raised, perhaps it's on their own website.) For now, we have a very frugal solution, thanks to WC in Fields donating us a black waste tank, which costs over £100 each time we need them back out to empty it. They also provided us with a portable toilet cubicle at a reduced price, delivering and installing it as well as regularly servicing it - service costs £30 each time and this needs done roughly every two weeks, depending on how many visitors have visited.

For 2024/25 our licence was again transferred, this time to CAMpRA's own licensing group, a new division known as CAMpRA Rally Group. We are listed on  SearchforSites and several other apps, sites and directories but we aren't on a main route, nor are we on the road to anywhere. In fact, I'm considering rebranding, as it seems to be a trendy thing to do... Frugaldom, the road to nowhere campervan stopover site. It's quiet apart from the sounds of wildlife, birds and the occasional neighs from the sanctuary ponies. If Vincent Van Goat hears you, he will call back in the hope that you go to see him. 

We are quite remote, possibly too remote for some, but being less than 5 miles from the main A75 with a hardstanding yard, it is possible to park here overnight at any time of the year and in all weathers. You will be surrounded by the sounds of nature. We do have neighbours, by way of the cottage at the crossroads and you may hear the calls of the nearby farmer moving his sheep - it's more of a whooping and yelling sound if the woolly jumpers get over the wall and escape into the adjoining forest. Our next nearest neighbour is working forest land and then Airies Wind farm. The road to our gate is not signposted other than to say it's a dead end but it actually ends well over a miles past Frugaldom, at the far side of the windfarm before turning into a dirt track leading to the to farmland, fells and some ancient cairns.

What services can we offer? Black and grey water waste by way of the tank and the soakaway drain. No nasty chemicals to go down the soakaway drain. We do have a chemical toilet on site but that is for the exclusive use of the volunteer workforce. Campervans and motorhomes stopping over at Frugaldom need to be fully contained with their own toilets and water storage on board as we have no running water here, nor do we have bins, electricity or superfast broadband. We are sometimes lucky enough to have mobile signal but even that seems to depend on the weather. Perhaps our rebranding should be something like 'the secret hideaway' or 'the forgotten corner'.

We are a sanctuary for the animals who live here, we are a sanctuary for some of the people who visit here and we are a sanctuary for all wildlife that lives within our boundaries. We dont mind people bringing their pets so long as all pets are kept on short leads and under control at all times - plus, you clean up after them. We have ground nesting birds, an active community of adders - Britain's only venomous snake - plus several feral cats, the badger clan and pine marten, to name but a few. We have three huts on site that are used by members of our group for retreat space, wildlife watching and quiet passtimes such as art and writing or else as off-grid accommodation while volunteering. There is also a horsedrawn bowtop wagon parked by the yard, although that may be sold to raise some extra funds for Frugaldom. 

If you would like to support this worthwhile project, you can do so as Friends of Frugaldom and from each £5 per month subscription, we get about £1 per week towards the cost of feeding all the animals and looking after the project.