My first Aires - Broughshane

nice photo.

Wouldn't you think they would have a more permanent sign and maybe in more languages.

The Aires in Broughshane was installed in June 2003 and was the first outside mainland Europe, it is on private ground owned by the village and was paid for by the village with no council input, only recently a small cost of £5 per night was introduced to help pay for the maintaince, a new token unit was fitted recently and new tokens were needed as well and like everywhere else at the minute ,funds are in short supply I felt it important that users understand that so we can continue with the roll out of Aires, much has been done recently and hugh progress has been made, once planning is completed the one in Donaghadee should be installed. there is others coming as well,I cannot stress how important it is that we all play our part unfortunatly there are always some who by by splitting the electric, refusing to pay even the small charge etc, set back what we have been working on for the last 11 years.
The Aire in Broughshane has been a hugh success and the Village do appreciate the motorhomes coming, the residents of the Fold that overlooks the Aires enjoy seeing all the travellers from all over the world coming to the village, and we hope it will continue, because without this Village taking the step into the unknown and spending close to £8000 as well, Aires outside of mainland Europe would still be a long way off. The reports are due soon from the all Ireland study on motorhome tourism that has been ongoing this year let us hope it is positive and we will soon see Aires all over this island.

You are welcome, think that your site is very useful, motorhoming here is a growing hobby,but hardly any facilities, The National Trust allow a stopover at Pattersons Spade Mill £5 per night, a few of us stayed there to help kick it off, would be useful for visitors, bus into into Belfast at the gate, again there is lots of potential there as they have a lot of carparks, it is up to us, if it is used then it will encourage them to include more NT properties. The campsite at Dondonald icebowl off season is available as an Aires, last year it was closed because of work on the site but we stayed there the year before, it was £8 per night with electric. it might be worthwile having a proper section in your website with proper legal stopovers, Northern Ireland is well ahead in this and now some are appearing in the South as well, such as Askeaton, the laws on camping and stopovers are immense and some councils have voted to change them, this is all very good stuff for us. If you wild camp you need to understand that you may need to move before the morning, I have done it but was unable to sleep well, heard every noise all night, while a land owner can allow one vechicle to stop this is only allowed for a limited number of nights each year, in Northern Ireland there is now a Grant to cover 75% of the cost of installing an Aire and a futher grant from the local council covering the other 25% this is available to communities with a suitable site, so there is a lot going on that many motorhomers are unaware of behind the scenes Aires do not just happen, but I for one is convinced they are needed, and will play a big part in Tourism on this island.

Is this avaiable to private individuals?