14th August

Lazy day
Pub lunch; Air Hockey and Pool
Swimming
Nice steak
Walk to see a Sandy Ball!
Lexicon
donnie darko!


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Location:Sandy Balls, New Forest

13th August

Slumdog Millionaire

12th August

This is it! Our main summer holiday has arrived!
OK so it's only 4 days long, but this is a site we have wanted to visit for a long time, and was the first one we booked.

Things got off to a poor start in our bid to leave at 8am, possibly due to Tracey having fallen on Wednesday night and losing the use of her right arm :( - although she insists it is because I am less organised than her.
Anyway, before 11 we were on the road south.















Upon arrival, the place seems large, and the staff very friendly. We setup camp in an awkward corner pitch (nice reversing Rob) and had everything I place by 4pm, including a break for lunch.

We strolled around the site with the dogs, narrowly avoiding contact with a small child cornering at missile speeds. We walked to the Piazza area and found them erecting a stage for the evening's entertainment. Naturally, Rob was keen to attend when it emerged that Katy Perry and Lady Ga-Ga tribute acts would be taking to the stage.

We trundled off to the dog exercise area where Bailey got quite friendly with an English Bull Terrier, then back to the van to get dolled-up for the night.

We returned to the Piazza and went to get Pizza, which turned out to be tasty and well priced. After this we went to watch Katy Perry and Lady Ga-Ga.













































































When we got back to the van, the kids went to bed and Rob wanted to watch Almost Famous (it's on his list of 100 modern classics that he wants to see). Sadly, the DVD was scratched so it was early night for all...


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Location:Sandy Balls, New Forest

31st July

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Location:Sandringham

30th July

Today, we


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Location:Sandringham

29th July

The original plan to leave at lunchtime slipped to 2pm. Add on the 15mins sat in traffic at the Black Cat roundabout (why can't they fix this!?).

Anyway, got here at 4 and kettle on by 5. Nice moussaka (would have been even nicer with mint, eh Tracey?) and a walk with the dogs.

This weekend, we are hoping for nice weather and have not bothered with the awning. We have my Mum along for this trip, so that means we also have Grace with us as well as Bailey. They wind each other up, which winds me up!




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Location:Sandringham

24th July

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Location:Scarborough

23rd July

Today we went to Whitby. We bought a lovely green teapot for the caravan, watched people fishing for Crabs. We didn't branch having a go though in case bit us!

We went over the bridge and walked 197 steps up to the Abbey ruins... Well, some of us did! Nanny, Grandad and Mum stayed at the bottom and had a cup of tea!

In the evening we had THE most delicious fillet steak; it was like meaty velvet! Amazing, thank you to the farm shop in Cardington. All washed down with a selection of fine ales too... Lovely!


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Location:Whitby

22nd July

We're off again, and this is the furthest from home that we are taking the caravan this year; a mighty 4 hour journey!
Jake has left school early to keep me company, and the rest of the group will set off around 6pm (about the time Jake and I should arrive).

On the agenda for the weekend is a curry tonight, Whitby tomorrow, Scarborough sometime, along with perhaps just a little relaxing and some over-indulging on food and drink!

Work was pretty hectic on the run up to this one, so the van hasn't had the outside washed as was planned. It's still spotless inside though thanks to Tracey's Sterling efforts (see what I did there... It's a
Sterling caravan!)

Anyway, will update over the weekend...


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Location:Pickering, North Yorkshire

19th June

Leaving today, but the van is staying here so that Rob can use it during the week for work. Will be strange staying in the van without the family, but at least our journey home today will be quicker!


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Location:Hurley Riverside Park

18th June

Snoring!

Full English, Rain, Long Walk, Rain, Shopping in Henley, Rain, BBQ,












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Location:Hurley Riverside Park

17th June

What miserable weather!
Traffic jam on the M25, torrential rain, child with sickness, and a tent to pitch when we get there... Why?












This weekend we're off with the in laws (parents and sister). Five kids and six adults in a caravan and a tent.



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Location:Hurley Riverside Park

4th June

By Sophie & Megan.

We went to Hastings today and look at the stoney beach. It took forever to get there.




After we got there we look in a shop and went in the sea and brought some shells. For tea we went to a pub called the ewe and lamb. The food was great! For pudding we chocolate fudge cake, lemon meringue, chocolate ice cream flake chocolate sauce with a cone. After all that we all felt sick!(but it was nice)



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Location:Tanner Farm Park

3rd June

Today we woke to the smell of croissants cooking in the oven at 8:00am, which I think personally is too early but hey ho, got a warm croissant out of it.

Then we went to Bodiam castle and saw a trebuchet (catapult) being fired.








After that we decided to go have lunch which was delicious because it was fresh bread from the campsite. After that we decided it was to late to go to Hastings so I think we will go there tomorrow instead. We came back home after this and had a barbecue which was particularly rubbish because it took 5 minutes just to light it,but when we did finally light it was not a very strong flame so we decided to cook in the oven!












So, dinner aside, it was shower night :-( I tried to get out of having one but I didn't win I had to have one. So all in all It was a pretty eventful day.

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2nd June

Today, I had the journey from hell after choosing the 'wrong' 7:59 train from Tonbridge to London Bridge. Rather than moan, I'll hand you over to Sophie and Megan for todays blog:

After Dad disturbed us getting up for work (he claims it was Mum snoring), we laid in until about 8:30.
We had Krispies for breakfast (we were hoping for a fry up!), then we walked the dogs. After that it was time to go and feed the lambs, they went ma-a-a-a-a-ad for their bottles of milk. They were quite greedy!









We went back to the caravan and played Barbies, went to the park, did some sticker books and arts & crafts.



For lunch we had some of the bread that is cooked onsite. It was lovely!
In the afternoon we watched Tangled which was good but the screen was too small (we need a TV in the caravan, Dad!). Aftter that we sat on the beds playing with our DS games and some more stickers were stuck.
We had another walk with the dogs. Sophie thinks even Grace is too strong for her!?!


We walked up to the shop to order bread for tomorrow, then waited for Dad to come back. He gave us a lift back to the van in the back of the Land Rover which was fun!



Tomorrow we will visit a castle.

Bye for now!

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Location:Tanner Farm Park (and London!)

1st June

This time, the kids are writing this blog...
First, Jake:

So after the loud, long and frankly deafening ride down, we are in Kent. We are at Tanner Farm Park with my sister's friend Sophie.



Today we stayed round the caravan. We also found out that we can feed lambs on the farm and there's fresh bread on sale in the shop too :-) well that's pretty much it so far.







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Location:Tanner Farm Park, Kent

30th May

Last day and we're grateful we packed up the awning last night as there is light drizzle this morning.




It's been a great weekend with our camping buddies the Dickos... Here's to many more!


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Location:Hollands Wood

29th May

After a lazy start, I couldn't face another full-English so I settled for bacon & egg on toast.

Today's efforts included a walk, where the kids insisted on taking their bikes only to wimp out a the first sniff of a slope and leave the adults to push (or attempt to ride) them.




A spot of tree climbing "help, I can't get down".



And an attempt at tossing the caber.




Back at the field, the girls went searching for the up to now elusive New Forest ponies, and the lads (including Bailey) settled into a decent game of cricket.



In the evening we all traipsed off to the pub for a thoroughly filling dinner.


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Location:New Forest

28th May

Today we took a tour along the coast. We stopped at Milford on Sea but decided the storm force winds powering the sea were a little fresh for our group. We moved on to Mudeford Quay where we were after fresh fish for the BBQ.

In the afternoon we visited Lyndhurst to check out the Ferraris... I mean, to get some supplies. Great camping store there were I stocked up on spares for the awning and bought other things I never knew I needed.




Back to camp, BBQ on and very tasty Cajun spiced shark steak for me, with Sea Bass and Bream for the others. The kids also tried to toast bread, then after marshmallows, cherries, lemon and Cheese Puffs!




Sarah managed to persuade herself out of going for a run, Tracey managed to persuade herself to not even consider running.








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Location:Hollands Wood

27th May

We're back in the van and this time we're slumming it... No, not a reference to sharing the pitch with tent people, I mean we are without electric!

I'm religiously turning off lights to make sure then battery lasts all weekend, but others in my family are not so diligent.

We pitched up earlier and found a nice spot. Awning up, and dinner now eaten.




We've even sung Happy Birthday to Jake again, as this is his Birthday Weekend.


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Location:Hollands Wood, New Forest

1st May

Started the day with a full English fry-up, which means we are now all lying around like well-fed lions.






Trying to decide what to do... We chose a picnic in the field next to the Thames - just watching the world (and some rather lovely boats) go by. Washed down with cider, beer and followed by Champagne & Strawberries.






Whilst the kids and I were playing boules, a passing walker asked if the chocolate lab was mine. "No", I said, "He belongs to my friend", pointing in the direction of our picnic blanket were I noticed Roger was straddled Anne; presumably in some advanced Pilates pose. The woman, unfazed, began to quiz Roger on the breeding of his hound but for some reason Roger's mind went blank and it took a while to get the story from him, during which he discreetly slipped down to lay beside his wife. I tried not to laugh but failed miserably.

Tracey surprised us joining in with the alcohol, quaffing very nearly a pint of pear cider during the afternoon. Then came the kite flying which was hilarious; Anne and Tracey flouncing across the field shouting "It's up!"... We ended with a challenging game of one-batting-over cricket, which Megan won with a total of 5 runs not out!






Shame there was no umpire!






As we cleared up, Roger gave his impression of a big fat gypsy wedding dress...

Back at camp, we took down the awnings to avoid the morning dew, and set about BBQing steak, burger, salmon and sausage. I created a monster BBQ from a recycled tray, which got so hot it cooked steaks in a couple of minutes... Just a pity I left them on there for 10.

Going home tomorrow, sadly. Had a great weekend with great friends, and we must do it again soon.




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Location:Hurley

30th April

Todays highlights included another sat nav situation (that almost saw us gatecrash a very posh wedding), a long walk along the Thames, a cream tea, laying in the sunshine, an semi-successful gas refill hunt, a puncture repair, and a nice fish BBQ to round things off.








How the other half live.



Time for tea.



A particularly nice boat!




Patriotic pudding.

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Location:Henley & Hurley

Location:Frogmill,,United Kingdom

29th April - the Royal Wedding

Away again this weekend, and our first trip with good friends...
The Jordan's, experienced caravanners, have been educating us on the way to relax into this lifestyle. This mostly involves alcohol, it seems, which is fine by me.






Our royal wedding experience, despite us being close the Queens official home at Windsor, was actually limited to listening to the lead up to the ceremony on the radio. During the ceremony itself, I was racing Roger to get my awning up first; I won, but it didn't look as good as his despite Anne offering "Do you need a hand getting it up?"!

After the awning came the search for provisions at the Tescos superstore in Henley. Nice place, Henley. We saw most parts of it on our search for the shop before driving to Reading when I mistakenly entered RG4 9AH instead of RG9 4AH in the sat nav! Still, we finally made it and bought the essential three B's; Bread, Booze and Beconase (all you need for a long weekend in hay fever season).

We all decided on a quick walk with the labradors to build our appetite for supper, and the destination was the nearby pub. On the way, Anne told us to "Mind the dog" when a runner approached; I thought that was a bit harsh as no one looks their best when running on a hot day. At the pub, we sampled a couple of pints of Ferrymans Gold and had a quick chat with the locals before making our way back to light the BBQs.

Once well fed, we hopped online to check out the photo's of Kate's wedding dress before retiring for the night at least 30 minutes ahead of the 10:30 site curfew.

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Location:Hurley Riverside Park

25th April

We all hate packing up, but me more than most, so I tried to extend our stay with a late checkout. No chance! Busy week for camping at the Wild Duck.

So, off the pitch by 10am meant we were home for lunch and had the van cleaned then tucked away in storage by mid afternoon.

Cracking weekend in the glorious sunshine!


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Location:Going Home

24th April, Meg's Birthday / Easter Sunday

Woken at 7:45 by Meg jumping on the bed... "Do you know what day it is?"
I think we can guess

She was thoroughly spoiled with cards and pressies, and we all decided that today we wouldn't be going anywhere. Full English, swimming, 4-person pedal cars and a roast dinner were the targets for the day.

And I can report that all were achieved (the roast dinner, including Yorkshire puddings, most magnificent amongst them). We also met up with Rick & Wendy, my adoptive parents who have the static home at the Wild Duck.

Photos of this weekend to follow...



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Location:Wild Duck, Belton

23rd April

Today we awoke and readied ourselves for a trip to the beach. Great Yarmouth, about 4 miles and about 30 minutes away due to the traffic!

Stopped at Asda to fill up with diesel... £111!!!

Had a leisurely stroll along the promenade, and a walk along the sea front before heading to the beach (where Bailey chose the most embarrassing location for a toilet break).

I must say, we were quite unprepared for the sights of Yarmouth; so much tattooed flesh on so few women... I guess you can paint a bigger picture on a larger canvas!

On the way back along the sea front, we flagged down a horse and cart for a return trip. Upon hearing that dogs are welcome aboard, the four of us and two dogs hopped on. I tried to stop Bailey from panic-barking every passing person by feeding him treats, but he mistook the end of my thumb for a tasty snack and I spent the rest of the journey feeling faint and dangling my dripping bloody thumb outside the carriage.

After our earlier dipping of toes/paws in the surf, we had stopped for cockles and crab sticks and asked where the nearest proper fishmonger's was... "Lowestoft" came the reply! So it was off to Tescos to get some fish for a BBQ. Sea Bass & Trout with Langoustines was delicious; food is obviously a big part of our caravan adventures as it was with camping.




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Location:Great Yarmouth

22nd April

We're back at the Wild Duck site which is a historic location for us. My mate's parents have had a static van here for ages, and we visited before we had kids.
It was also the first place we went camping with children. Megan was crawling, but had sprained her wrist in a fall before we left and wasn't able to move. That was fun!
It was also the first place we camped with Tracey's cousin, and we've had many happy trips with her family since then...

So now we're back, and the weekend weather forecast is glorious!

After a slight delay packing the van (over 2 hours, so much for hitch and go!) we set off and despite the stereotype, we weren't the ones holding up the traffic... You should see driver's faces when a land rover with caravan in tow overtakes them!

We pitched up, bodged the awning, had a cuppa, re-bodged the awning, went for a walk to see how other people setup their awnings, had another cuppa and gave up on the awning for the night.

I made a pretty reasonable one-pot moussaka, then we played chess until almost midnight.

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Location:Wild Duck (Haven), Norfolk

April 8th to 10th - "We can squeeze another break in here..."

A lovely Camping & Carvan club site in the forest. This was our first weekend where we spent a two consecutive nights in the caravan, but it nearly didn't happen...

"I'm just looking for the address on the booking confirmation, but I don't have it because... We haven't booked yet!" I said at 4pm on Friday the 8th!

Luckily, we got in and had a great weekend. No awning this time as then weather was terrific.




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Location:Thetford Forest

Planning of our trips...

Since the whole justification for the caravan was that we could have weekends away without me having to take time off work (unpaid), we set about planning at least 10 such trips for 2011.

We wanted to go away with family and friends so organising dates and locations was not going to be easy. On top of this, leaving after work on a Friday means only places within about a 2 hour radius can be considered.

So far our list looks like this;
Bainlands, Lincolnshire - Done!
Wild Duck, near Great Yarmouth (this is for Megan's birthday)
Hurley Riverside Park, near Windsor castle
Hollands Wood (family favourite for Jake's birthday), New Forest
Tanner Farm Park, Kent
Spiers House (another forest holidays site), North York Moors
Sandy Balls, New Forest
Callow Top Park, Derbyshire

There is a few other places we like the look of, and more folks we want to go away with, so I fully expect we'll reach at least 10. And at an average of 3 days each that makes a whole month of holidays this year... Can't wait!

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Location:Home

5th & 6th March - The first adventure!

We chose this as our first trip as we knew the site had great facilities; we'd been there a few years before as tent campers with friends. We also thought it wasn't that far away, but it is...

The weather was cold, although no rain was forecast (it still made an appearance) and the sat nav proved it was out of date by driving us through a new one-way estate in the middle of Peterborough. A great introduction to towing!

The pitch was fully serviced (water and drains, as well as the electric), so the weekend was a doddle and we challenged ourselves by attempting to erect the awning WITHOUT THE INSTRUCTIONS! It was only once fully up that we found a diagram label sewn on the inside...

We think we did ok, but as soon as it was done it was time to come home (we'd only booked Saturday night away). A quick game of crazy golf to round it off, and we were on our way again.

Can't wait for the next trip!




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Location:Bainland, Lincolnshire

February 21st to 25th - Hunt for a tow car

Now that we had the caravan, the need for a tow car was even more pressing... There was no way the neighbours would stand for us holidaying on the driveway every other weekend.

Luckily, we had a budget for this vehicle, but those who know us will not be surprised that we eventually spent over three times this budget on our 2007 Land Rover Discovery 3!!!

In it's favour, it will not be bullied by anything it pulls, and I've always wanted one. Plus Tracey is very happy to be back in a seven seater, and even the kids like it...





The day we collected the Disco from our friends at Rogers of Bedford.

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Location:Rogers of Bedford