Fairlight Caravan Club Site. 23rd - 30th October

After our last lot of exploits up 'north' we go involved in decorating the hall, stairs and landing and also updating the kitchen.  Well if the house is going to be untidy, you might as well do it properly!

We set off for Fairlight, which is a couple of miles east of Hastings.  M4, and M25 were busy but no problems and we soon found our way onto the sight.
The site is in the middle of Fairlight woods, so as you can imagine, there were rather a lot of trees there. The caravan pitches were in small groups based in clearings in the woods.
Now as it was autumn, the trees were shedding their leaves and they were getting every where!  the wardens, were constantly out sweeping and collecting leaves!
As usual when we got to the site I asked the warden, what he reckoned was the 'best pitch available'?  we were directed to use pitch 5, as although there were trees overhanging it, they were not the sort that were dropping nuts, conkers or acorns.

Whilst we were at Fairlight we visited, the following places:
Bexhill, a town that has certainly seen better days!
Hastings and thoroughly enjoyed wandering round the old fishing area.
Rye, a quaint old town on the edge of the Marshes.
Dungeness where we were able to watch the train travelling across the marsh.
We travelled up to Folkestone on one day so Lizzie could relive old haunts, and then went on to Rainham where we met my cousin Lee for dinner.  It was very good to see her looking so well!

For some reason, probably the inclement weather we took only 4 photos on our week away!  Note to self , take more photos.  I did take this one of Lizzie in Hastings though.

Burrs Country Park, Bury. 8th - 12th September

We decided to get some new passports so that we could venture up north!  The main reason for our trip was that it was Cathy's significant birthday, so we thought that we would make a few days of it.  It took us about three and a half hours to get there. The site was superb, if a little open. Running beside it was the East Lancs Railway, so we were treated to steam trains regularly throughout the day.

We decided that a trip on the train was must, and it was good.  As we went past the site we could see our caravan!

We visited all sorts of places.

The scenery was superb, and we will be back to the area again.  We even experienced the world Black Pudding throwing competition. On the Sunday morning we took the awning down as it was so windy.

It really was good break.  Cathy's party was good fun.  A bit of a nightmare journey home as it was the tail end of  Hurricane Katrina, so the journey back down the Motorway, was a bit of a nightmare, as caravans do not travel well in high winds

Tefi Meadows, Lampeter, Wales 30th August - 4th September

Cathy and Robert invited us to join them at Tefi Meadows for a few days. This was their base for two weeks. It was a beautiful site, chickens running around, fresh eggs and best of all electric hook up, and all for £13.00 per night.  The only downfall was that as we were in Wales it was raining!

We spent two days off roading, and travelled through some amazing countryside.  A small selection of the 250 photos that we took follow!

It was a really amazing few days.  Cathy, Robert, Zak and Ethan are excellent company.  Hopefully we shall be able to do the same again next year.

Land Rover Max Landrover Show. 12th to 14th August

Away again, this time to the Landrover Max show, which was being held at Stoneleigh show ground, near Warwick.

Collected caravan straight from storeage and set off. Straight up the M5 to Tewkesbury and then the A46.  It took us a couple of hours to get there.
We were first to arrive so we set up at the back of our pitch. Soon the rest of the 'Landytown' crew arrived.
For the record it was the Doves, Mal and family, Cainsie, with his two year old daughter and Mat. Keith turned up on the Saturday morning. We soon had the club display set up.

It was a goodish show, with an excellent beer tent.

We ran a Tombola in Aid of Kendal mountain rescue team.  Thorny is one of their members and came with their display

Plenty to see and the weather was good.

Many thanks to Robert Dove, who took the photos as for some reason I did not take any!

Start Bay. 17th July - 7th August

Our second visit here. We camped this time on Pitch 18 which is huge!

As we were going to be on site for three weeks, we took our time over setting up.

This really is a beautiful part of the country, and we are considering moving here at some point.

During our stay we went to Totnes, Hope Cove, Salcombe. Kingsbridge, Brixham, Dartmouth, and so many other places.

Having joined the Scottish National Trust, its half the price of the English one, and get in for free to all National Trust sites, we went to Overbecks.  This a house above Salcombe, which we thought rather overrated.  Compton Fishacre, which is just outside Brixham was far better.

Some of the other things we did was to use my over 60's Travel Pass to go on the double Decker from the site to Kingsbridge, and also to Dartmouth.  It was rather exciting as the road is very narrow, so the bus often has to reverse. Also from the top deck the views are superb over the South Devon Coast and country side.

Halfway through I came home to cut the grass, pick vegetables and to collect Zoe, who was spending ten days with us.

I also bought a Fishing Rod, so spent many happy hours fishing from the beach.

Zoe and I went Sea fishing, and actually caught some Mackerel which we the brought back to sit and cooked.

During the last week we took a boat trip up the Dart Estuary, which was excellent.

On the Last Friday, we hired a motor boat for a couple of hours, and were able to explore the Salcombe Estuary.

Hopefully we will be able spend a long period of time on a site like this again

Heddington and Stockley Steam rally. 1st to 3rd July

A short trip this time, as the rally site was just near Bowood House.  It took us abou forty five minutes to get there. We set up in the top field next to Chunkster's caravan. No electric hookup here!  Emily and Zoe were with is again, so no hair straighteners for them. Mal and family arrived, as did Griff and the Flumps, who put their tents around the two caravans.

As you can see Friday evening became a bit of a party!

As this was a 'Landytown' event we set our stand up. It was a lovely warm day, and there was plenty of interest in our display and the stand in general.  We also ran a 'Help For Heroes' stall.

Saturday evening we had a group BBQ, where everybody cooked on our Cadac.

Sunday was warm again.  There was plenty to see.

This really was an excellent weekend. Hopefully we will be there again next year.

Pembrey Caravan Club Site, South Wales. 24th -28th June

Our second visit here.
Arrived on the Friday, pitch 80, which was against the forest. and guess what it started to pour with rain.

Saturday was misty, with Low cloud and rain, so we set off inland to explore the country side, or at least what we could see of it.  We came across a quaint little railway line so investigated that.

They had a food fair on here that looked interesting.  Unfortunately you had to travel to it by train, as it was at the next station up the line.  The next train was in an hour, and the station where they were holding the fair was inaccesable by road so we gave it a miss.

When we got back to the site, the sun came out! Hooray.

Sunday was areal contrast as the Temperature reached 31 degrees.  We went to investigate the country park and beach next door!

Monday started beautifully, so we went to Mumbles. It was beautiful there, with clear blue skies and it was warm, however we were in Wales, and by lunch time it was raining!

This was our second visit to Pembrey.  Our reason for going was that this was the site we first visited with the caravan.  We are not sure if we will go back there again, as there is so much more of england to see.