Exmoor House CC Site Dulverton. Saturday 6th December to Sunday 14th December 2014

Time for our annual trip to Dulverton. We collected the Caravan straight from storage, taking a route from Wapley, where we keep the caravan, down the ring road and out through Keynsham to Wells, where we broke for lunch at one of our favourite Burger Vans,before heading across the Somerset levels towards the motorway at Bridgewater. What a contrast to last year, as this time the Somerset levels were green, with no signs of floodwater.

We reached the site and the best pitch available,would involve a 50 yard reverse, so we drove in forwards, unhitched, and turned the caravan using the mover, positioning it accurately on the peg!  (for those who do not know, on a Caravan Club site, the rear off side or front near side of the caravan goes against a peg. This maintains the required distance between to adhere to fire regulations)
We were soon set up and the caravan was toasty warm!  I do like this computer controlled heating system!  All you need to remember is to get the caravan up to temperature, when it is very cold, to start up on gas,and then switch to electric.

Sunday was Dulverton by Starlight. This is a Christmas fete,which starts at 2.00pm, and has stalls and live performers. It all culminates with a super firework display from the Church Tower at 7.00pm.  We spent the afternoon there, enjoying the stalls and a few bevvies at one of the local hotels.
We then returned to the caravan where I cooked a dinner of Roast Spatchcock Poussin with all the trimmings.
Just as we had finished eating the fireworks started, so we were able to watch them.

We spent Monday Christmas shopping in Dulverton. This little town has many independent shops that are a pleasure to browse, where we found some very different gifts.

Tuesday was again spent shopping,and we had a light lunch in the Bridge Inn. Excellent beers on tap!
bridge inn

The Wednesday dawned fine and clear so we drove over to Porlock Weir for coffee at 'Millers at the Anchor Hotel'. I have to say it was excellent, and the lounge is something special.
None of the nic nacs were screwed down so they must be a very honest lot in West Somerset!

We then drove a circular route up over Porlock Hill, past the old AA box and back to the caravan!

We dove out to Hartland point on the Friday, as I had never been there.

This is just to the West of Hartland Point

As we were clearing upon the Saturday afternoon I had a phone call to say that I had won a prize in the Dulverton by Starlight raffle.  I walked upto thetown to collect it, expecting it to be a bottle of wine! I was very pleasantly suprised to find it was a voucher for £80.00 for a local posh restaurant!   No time limit so we shall use it on a future visit!

We cleared up on the Sunday, and had a pleasant drive home over the Somerset Levels.

We used the mover to pop the caravan back into storage.  So much less stressful than reversing it in!

So ends our caravan expolits for 2014.  We have travelled thousands of miles, and slept in the caravan for 159 nights.

Greenacres CL 16th to 24th November 2014

We fancied a quiet few days away,sowerang Alan at Greenacres Farm CL.just outside Bibury tosee if he had any room. Fortunately hehad one space so on the Sunday morning we set off up the A46 to the site.
When we arrived we opted for pitch 1, which is really well protected from the prevailing winds by very high hedges.
Having had a motor mover fitted a few days previously this was used to manouvere the caravan into position. We were soon set up, and a full Sunday roast was in the oven.
The weather was relativelygood over the next few days,so we spent time in nearby Cirencester, visiting coffe shops, to catch up on emails, ( there is no internet on this site) and to spend time Christmas shopping.


The rest of the time was spent reading, and watching the abundant wild life that inhabits the site.

On the Wednesday afternoon we left the caravan on site and drove back to Chipping Sodbury,asiI had a Towns Lands Charity meeting that evening.

We drove back to site on Thursday to find thecaravan all safe and sound.

Gloucester Quays was holding its traditional Christmas market on the Friday, so we set off over there. Unfortunately theweather was rather poor, so we only spent a few hours there, before returning to the site, for superb dinner of fresh Trout from the Bibury Trout farm.  Yum yum!

The weather was much better on Saturday, so after a frosty start, we went down to Cirencester, for more Christmas shopping.

The vew from our caravan!

Lechlade was the destination for Sunday, where we visited the Christmas Shop.  This shop is open all year round and sells some truly wonderful Christmas decorations. www.christmasdecorations-uk.com  
Well worth a visit at any time of year.

On the Moday morning, after a frosty night,we cleared up and set off home. The caravan was put back into storeage, where we were able to use the moover for the purpose we had really bought it.  It made it so easy, with out any stress to put it away.

So that was another seven nights of our life in the caravan!

PS.  More photos will appear when I work out how to transfer them from my ipad