Cheddar CC Site. 19th to 23rd of March

Only home for a couple of days then off again, this time to Cheddar Caravan club site!  This is a typical Caravan Club site with lots of 'elf and safety' warnings The first is that the access road is difficult as it is narrow and you must not arrive before 1pm.  For goodness sake the entrance road is only 120 paces long, and if you cannot reverse a caravan you should not be towing one.

Anyway I digress.  We drove down, via our favourite Burger van. Rolled on to the site and set up on pitch 8.         One rule during the winter months is always find a south facing pitch. That way you benefit from any sun that may be around.
This really is a very small site, only 65 pitches for which they charge you £18.00 per night.  The only facilities are the ablutions block, dish washing and laundry area.  In fact the facilities were nowhere near as good as Northam Farm,where the charge was £13.00 per night.
Next door was a commercial site that looked very good and only charged £13.00 a night.There is even a CL across the road that is probaly cheaper.

The site is very close to the centre of Cheddar, and the walk into town is via the Strawberry line, (one of Dr Beechings casualties), which is now a Cycle/footpath.  The other way is out of the gate, turn left and wall up the road, that has no footpath into town. Elf an safety rears its head again with CC signs warning you not to go that way!  Guess which way I went?

On my first trip into town for papers I could only find Tesco's!  Got a third degree grilling from the assistant over why I refuse to have a Club Card.  She did not like it when I expressed my opinion of Tesco's.  Soon found a Budgens so that got our support!

Next door to us was a motorhome using an Aus Tent as a Dog kennel!  That sure is a pampered pooch!

On the Thursday we went into Wells, and had coffee at the Bishops Palace Coffee shop. This really is an excellent setting.

 Then it was on to the Cook shop where a new kitchen timer and various other bits and pieces were purchased. This is a lovely little shop which is not overly expensive.  www.kitchenmonger.co.uk

Street was the destination for Friday. We wandered around the retail outlet centre, spending money at Marks and Spencers, and the  Procook shop, knives and things for me. Drove across some of the levels and saw many sandbags piled up still.

Saturday was a lovely day, nearly as good as the previous week.  We went to the market, overpriced and not particularly interesting.  More coffee in the Bishops Palace!  We then drove over the top of the Mendips,and down Cheddar gorge back to camp. Can you spot the mountaineering goat in the photo?

Langostines with salad, followed by Duck pancakes for dinner!  Yum Yum!

Cleared up on Sunday morning and left the site by 12.15.  Probably got a black mark from the CC for leaving late.  Home via our Burger Van again,

Neat site, but not in a hurry to visit it again!

Northam Farm Caravan Site. Brean. 12th-16th of March.

Well we have been sat at home for too long,so we looked round for something different. We settled on Northam Farm at Brean. This is a commercial site, not the sort that we would normally use,but we are looking for somewhere to take Izzy, Freddie and Ami for a long weekend in the summer.  It is also considerably cheaper at £13.00 a night, than a Caravan Club Site at nearly £20.00 per night.
We drove down through Keynsham and Chelwood and over Chew Valley Lake.We had forgotten how narrow Blagdon is to drive through!  A bit like the Kingsbridge Start Bay road.
We got to the site at about 4.00.  The site was easy to find and we were soon set up on the Dog free field, a real bonus! The hardstandings were block paved, so in order to put the awning up the caravan had to be sited right on the edge of the pitch.

The site was very quiet, although there were hundreds of caravans there, mostly empty. There are many fields full of caravans, mostly tourers pitched up for the season, and a few static mobile homes. We soon discovered that the club house, a must when Izzy and Freddie are with us was 600 yards down the road, which is quite busy. Do not think that this site will be suitable for the children as the club house is so far away.

On Thursday it was into Weston Super Mare where we had morning coffee in the very posh restaurant at the end of the pier!  Would reccomend anybody visiting WSM to visit this restaurant. The pier is good fun as well. Bit of retail therapy in WSM, I bought some more cook books, then back to Berrow where we found Morrison for essential supplies. It was such a glorious day that we sat on the beach at Brean for a couple of hours in the warm sunshine watching the Sand Yachts.

We had lost a bolt holding our grill door in place, so a good rummage in my tool box, essential for any caravanner,brought forth a replacement bolt, so all was fixed.

Friday dawned foggy, a real good thick sea mist. we drove to the northern end of Brean beach, to the National Trust shop for coffee. The fog lifted, leaving another bright sunny day. Drove back along the beach and spent more time watching the sand yachts.

When we got back to the site loads more caravans had appeared, and most of the previously empty ones were now occupied!  Our peace was shattered!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny so we set off into WSM to meet Donna and her family for coffee.  Had a wandere alongWSM front in the sun before returning to Brean beach to enjoy the sunshine and the sand yachts.

On the Sunday we did not have to leave the site until late afternoon, unlike CC sites where you must be gone by noon. We did some clearing up, made tea and coffee and put the drinks in our thermos mugs,then armed with the Sunday papers set off for the beach.  Proper Sand Yacht racing today!  Rather exciting as they travel up to 50mph (allegedly)

Quick clear up of the caravan then off home.  A really excellent few days days. May use this site again as it is close to the beach and very cheap