Sandy Balls Holiday Village. 25th January - 1st February 2015

Well this was something very different for us as we had booked into a holiday complex,with chalets, static caravans and tourers. There is also two bars and restaurants, swimming pool and a Nisa supermarket.

We had a pleasant run down through Bath, despite the traffic congestion, before heading towards Warminster and on to Salisbury, thence on to Fordingbridge and Sandy Balls! We pulled into reception, and were handed our welcome pack including a map of where to find our pitch, no 47.
We found the pitch easily. It was spacious with a concrete pad for the caravan, with a gravel base for the awning.
We set up the caravan and awning. Whilst we were doing this we discovered that there was a drain underneath the caravan for the waste water!  Fortunately we carry plenty of waste pipe so we were soon plumbed into that.  The water tap was also directly behind the caravan, so not far to carry the water.

Our pitch!

Then it was time to go and investigate the site, so a short walk revealed the village square, which was surrounded by the two restaurants and bars, the swimming pool, activity shops, and the supermarket plus activity rooms for the children. Daily papers were ordered from the supermarket. I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised at the supermarket prices, as they we extremely reasonable.

Whilst browsing in the Hub, an activity gear shop, I discovered that we could hire an Aqua Roll mains adaptor for £5.00, so one was hired as it meant we would not have to fill the Aqua Rolls daily.  It proved so useful that we have now purchased one, so that next time we have an adjacent tap we can use it to keep the Aqua Roll topped up!

The Village square!  This was taken at 8.00am which explains why it was so quiet!

Over the next few days we just enjoyed time around the site. The weather although cold was fine. Each day we went up to the restaurant for morning coffee and some afternoons we went to the bar for a few drinks.  The restaurant and the bar were also the only places that we could get Internet access.
On the Wednesday it was our wedding anniversary, so we went up to the restaurant for dinner which was surprisingly good and not too expensive.

Unfortunately on the Wednesday afternoon it got extremely windy, and one of our awning poles broke.  I used Lizzie's broom handle to effect a temporary repair, but that soon buckled again,  so we had to take the awning down.  Moral of this is do not mix aluminium and steel poles!

On the Thursday we made our only trip out from the site heading for an awning dealers where we hoped to get a replacement pole.  Fortunately they found us one, for the very reasonable cost of £2.00!
Next to the awning dealers was Lidl, with a Sainsburys across the road so shopping was soon completed..

Once back on site the awning was soon erected again

The site was very busy for the time of year with caravans and motor homes departing all the time.  Not surprised it was so busy as the nightly fee was only £10.00 per night.  On the Friday it really filled up with very few empty spaces on the field we were on. Two families turned up in a motor home and a caravan and soon recognised us, as they were families that I used to teach.

This shows just how busy it was in January!

We cleared up and left on the Sunday after an extremely restful and pleasant week.  As luck was have it, the two families from Chipping Sodbury followed us out of site and we had a small convoy much of the way home,until they headed in the Westbury direction, and we went down through Bath.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week, and will probably stay there again, although it will be out of season. We imagine that it could be a very busy and noisy site during school holidays and at weekends and the warmer months!  It also costs an eye watering £45.00 a night in the warmer months.