Sandringham 10-13 Aug 12



Sandringham House



We do not usually go away during the school holidays as the prices go up and the sites are full of screaming kids. However, the forecast was good and the Camping Club had a sale on, so we booked a last minute weekend away on the Camping Club site on the Sandringham Estate. As ever, the Caravan Club, with their stupid no deposit booking system, had no spaces. This really is swaying our decision as to which club to remain with (plus we met the chairman of the caravan club at Peterborough and were not overly impressed with that particular pompous little Napoleon).  Anyway, I digress....

Outside St Mary Magdalene Church

Sandringham Grounds

Sandringham is only an hour up the road so Debs did her usual working on board and we arrived at 1800hrs, to be met by yet another bonkers site assistant (the CC obviously breed them - they are great) who showed us to our pitch under the trees and, within minutes, the beers were opened and we settled down to watch a bit of Da Limpiks.


On Saturday it was up early, breakfast under the trees, then a cycle ride to Sandringham House to visit Her Majesty's gaff. We had a great time touring the house and grounds and I was very taken with St Mary Magdalene church, which you only usually see in shots of the Royal Family at Christmas. It has an absolutely stunning interior and well worth a visit. We toured Sandringham House (very nice) then had our packed lunch on her back lawn (I am sure she wouldn't mind). The Queen, my bike and I had a close encounter many years ago so I was pleased that she wasn't around this time! We then had a pootle around the local area before returning to the site for dinner, wine and a wander around the massive camp site. People comment on how big motorhomes are but some of the canvas monstrosities, and the accompanying detritus, that people had established have to be seen to be believed. Great huge nylon hangars surrounded by windshields of Berlin wall proportions with BBQs, chairs, toys, flags, bikes etc scattered everywhere. There is a lot to be said in growing up with a sense of camping discipline, where everything was neat and tidy and stowed under cover.

Getting ready to Doff my hat to the Royal Family, should they appear.





James Bond Aston Martin DB5 electric toy car made for Prince Charles





Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble & Grubb



OK - but not quite as comfortable as Tom



Holkham, very busy
on a hot August weekend




Holkham Car Park



The gang arrive

On Sunday we drove to Holkham beach, parked up early before the rush started, and had breakfast in the bus watching the cars and crowds arriving for a day on the beach. We cycled behind the beach for about half a mile and set up our beach shelter in a deserted spot out of the wind. Even pitching a simple shelter reminded me of the hassle of putting up a tent! Later on, George, Karen, Emily and Vicky eventually found us (after walking the whole length of the Norfolk Coast). The girls and Debs stayed on the dune, where Debs gave the girls a damn good listening-to whilst George, Karen and I set off for a walk along the beach. The sea was gorgeous and we paddled along the beach, albeit it was a bit surreal carrying on a conversation whilst surrounded by nudes. I would also suggest that, from the predominantly male population of this particular weird species, that the sea is rather cold. Similarly, the sight of one bending over right in front of us was almost enough to spoil our day. Anyway, enough of cockles and winkles and it was back to the bus as one young member of the party refused to relieve herself in the sea or dunes and the need was becoming most urgent. A glass of wine later and we all headed back to Sandringham for a delightful evening sitting outside for a BBQ kindly supplied by George and Karen.



I tried to stay awake for the closing ceremony, but failed.

Monday, up early, packed and I drove around to the service point whilst Debs was still in bed. She appeared none too impressed as the speed hump aided her getting up......

Karen trying to hide behind a cookie

  

Sandringham camp site - huge, but very nice. It is pleasant to be parked up in a higgledy-piggledy way rather than in neat rows and access and egress is very easy. Even full there wasn't too much noise and we will definitely use it again.

Oldbury Hill 3-6 Aug 12

It's hard to believe that we've had this bus for nearly a year and that the in-laws have not seen it yet. Accordingly, we arranged a weekend near their house, but it is quite hard finding a site in "sarf-east Larndarn", especially with the Olympics in full flow,  so we headed for a suitable Camping and Caravanning Club site at Oldbury Hill near Sevenoaks.

The journey down on Friday was horrendous, with slow traffic on the M11 due to people rubbernecking (plonkers) and a 5 mile tailback to get over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge. You would think that with such massive tailbacks they would open the tollgates to ease the flow, but the opportunity for money grabbing  means much, much more than that. Pah!

Oldbury Hill is a very pleasant location near the site of an Iron age fort. It is surrounded by very attractive towns and lovely views, albeit the site itself is on quite a slope. The site staff, however, have this slope well managed and have wooden chocks to level each unit. The staff are all barking mad though, which made for an very entertaining set up!  

Parking across the slope

On Saturday, due to Father in Law being not fit enough to travel, we walked the mile or so to Kemsing station to catch a train to Bromley to visit them. We walked along very narrow lanes past numerous delightful cottages converted oast houses, watching out for the ever present threat of getting a good soaking from this drought ridden summer.  Kemsing is an unmanned station with just one machine providing a permit to travel to prevent being fined for travelling without a ticket. This machine swallowed our two pounds. There was a help point nearby and, pressing the button gets you through to the the South East Railway help desk - IN INDIA!! They were bloody useless. I am not sure they even knew where Kent was, let alone Kemsing, so we boarded the train and expected a fine from the inspector. She was, however, charming, and obviously well used to the problems associated with unmanned stations, broken machines and Indian call centres. Time to watch the Titfield Thunderbolt again to see how railways should be run!


After a heavy downpour, the sun comes out


Sunday, father in law still not fit enough, but Andrew and Michelle descended to eat us out of ice cream. On Sunday evening we had a pleasant walk around the fort (well, I did anyway. There was the usual moans about mud, hills, horse manure, flies etc (see previous posts)) before retiring to the local pub for a well earned pint and watch a bit of Da Lympics on the large screen TV.

Visitors

On Monday Debbie had to work, so it was pack up in bright sunshine and a drive to Bromley to enable the in-laws to inspect the vehicle at home. Weekend target achieved!

Our bit of support for Team GB