Visiting Devon in your Motor Home
The County welcomes visitors no matter how you get here. When visiting in your motor home we would encourage you to use official campsites for your stay but accept that on occasion this may not be possible. We would also encourage you to consider overnight opportunities offered by our District, Borough and City Councils as an alternative to parking overnight at the road side.
What is a Motor Home?
In our Regulating Order we’ve used the definition of a motor caravan as stated in Regulation 2(1) of the Motor Vehicles (Type Approval) (Great Britain) Regulations 1984 which defines a motor home as:
“a motor vehicle which is constructed or adapted for the carriage of passengers and their effects and which contains, as permanently installed equipment, the facilities which are reasonably necessary for enabling the vehicle to provide mobile living accommodation for its users”
Where should I park?
If you are intending to stay overnight we would recommend you use an official campsite. Where that is not possible, we would advise you to consider overnight opportunities offered by our District Borough and City Councils as an alternative.
The following Authorities make specific provision for visitors staying in motor homes:
- North Devon District Council
- South Hams District Council
- West Devon Borough Council – please note no option to stay overnight is offered by West Devon Borough Council
- Exeter City Council
- East Devon District Council
- Torridge District Council
- Torbay Council
General information on car park facilities are available for other Devon Authorities here:
Staying overnight on the highway
If there is no option but to stay overnight on highway we would ask that:
- you comply with the parking restrictions at your chosen location to avoid receiving a Penalty Charge Notice. All our parking restrictions can be viewed here: Traffic Orders (traffweb.app)
There are restrictions in place in some of our communities to prevent overnight stays in motorhomes following complaints from residents:
– Exmouth (Queens Drive) – Prohibition of Motor Caravans At Any Time
– Exmouth (Imperial Road, Maer Road & Queens Drive (Eastern Spur)) – Prohibition of Motor Caravans 8pm-8am
– Dartmouth (North Embankment & South Embankment) – Prohibition of Motor Caravans 6pm-9am
- you are considerate to your new neighbours. Please consider our residents and make your stay a quiet one.
- you do not deposit waste into any highway drainage systems at any time.
- you do not place equipment such as chairs, tables or barbeques in the carriageway, footway or other parking spaces.
- that your vehicle is parked wholly within the space and does not over hang any part of a footpath, or parked on a footpath to ensure your motor home is level or on ramps placed on the footpath or road to level off your home for the night.