Crystal Palace 13-16 Nov 14

Back down to Crystal Palace for a weekend visiting family, but managed to get in a trip to the revamped Imperial War Museum (although the bus journey on the No 3 took forever). It was sad to see one of the Harriers that were so active at Cottesmore and Wittering hanging up and collecting dust. Great museum though and well worth a look, although the Holocaust exhibit is harrowing.

Whilst having breakfast on site I sat and watched the next door caravan owner feeding the squirrels (I'm not a great lover of the invading grey squirrel) but was surprised to see the squirrels and birds chased away by a number of large rats. I suppose that is nature, but not a pleasant way to eat breakfast watching these creatures scurrying around the van in broad daylight, bold as brass.

The Cotswolds 23-26 Oct 14

A long weekend away to celebrate a big birthday. We drove across to the Broadway Caravan Club Site on Thursday, set up quickly and walked the short distance into the lovely town of Broadway for a mooch about before stopping at a very friendly local for a pint or two. On Friday the weather forecast wasn't good, so we took the bus into Stratford-upon-Avon where we bumped in Giles Brandreth filming outside Shakespeare's birthplace and avoided the hideous funfair set up in the middle of town (why do we still entertain the monstrous, noisy, expensive, crap things! They are not "fairs" in the truest sense). Dodging the rain, we went into the RSC theatre where they had an excellent Bruce Bairnsfather exhibition, before retiring to the pub for a light lunch, then bus back to Broadway, changed, and then had a superb dinner in an excellent restaurant in town.

After the long day on Friday we decided to have a relaxing walk on Saturday, so we set off to walk up Broadway Tower, enjoyed the views, went down into the nuclear bunker (no views), had a snack in the tea rooms (noisy and full of kids), took an alternate route back following the Cotswold way and ended up with a relaxing day turning into a 10 mile hike! Still, there was a superb pizza stall set up on camp and the pizza went down very well.

On Sunday it was up early to park in Bourton on the Water, a few photos in town before the tourists arrived, another walk into Lower Slaughter, cream tea and the drive back home.

Broadway is a great site and will be even better when they finish the heritage railway that will run alongside the site.

"You can dance, you can jive
Having the time of your life, ooh
See that girl, watch that scene
Digging the Dancing Queen"

Stamford 10-12 Oct 14

Just a short little trip-ette to the Stamford Caravan Club site (which is about 7 miles from Stamford) in Fineshade Woods. A very pleasant little site which has no facilities, although there is a forest centre with a cycle shop, café and loo next door.  We completed the half an hour drive on the Friday evening, which was a very civilised journey. On Saturday we took the van up to Boundary Mills in Grantham for her ladyship to do loads of shopping, then onto Brownhills to look at motorhomes (nothing much grabbed us there, as ever) and then onto another local dealer, SMC Motorhomes, where we saw the most amazing Frankia, but at £79k a bit out of our price range! On Sunday we took to the bikes and followed the trails around Fineshade woods, got lost, got muddy and ended up in King's Cliffe where we had a pub lunch.  Great little site in a very picturesque area close to home - well worth another visit.

Denham, Bucks 19-22 Sep 14

Another trip to test a site near to London, the Wyatts Covert Caravan Club site is fairly easily accessible from home and in quite a nice area, albeit it is a bit of a hike to the station.

Again I flew solo down to this small, friendly site and set up quickly before heading off for a bit of a walk, which ended up as a marathon hike all around the area. Eventually I met Debs at the station and returned to the bus for the evening. On Saturday we were up early and travelled the long, expensive and convoluted bus route via Heathrow airport to The Stoop to watch Quins beat Wasps and then enjoyed the similarly long journey back, just missing the bus at Heathrow and therefore having to hang around the airport for a while.

On Sunday we went for a long walk along to the Grand Union Canal, had excellent tea and cake by Denham Deep Lock, mooched around the very attractive Denham Village, had a pint and wandered back, exhausted, to the site for dinner. Debs went into work on Monday morning and I headed for home with the motorhome hitting 20,000 miles on the clock en route. Taking the van back to storage I found that the car wouldn't start, so had to use the motorhome to collect Debs from the station and to attend evening classes the following evening. Just as good as the car - and probably more economical!

As for Wyatts Covert - a nice little site but probably a little too far from the station to make it a viable London stop. Now, if we had a scooter........

Sussex 4-8 Sep 14

It has been a few weeks since we have been away in the bus, mainly because of work in the kitchen and garden, but we finally arranged a long weekend away, mainly to trade in the vineyard tour voucher that we had been presented with last Christmas.

Once again, I drove down to a site near a station where Debs could travel to straight from work - Brakes Coppice Farm, near Battle in Sussex. This a great little site - quiet, picturesque and close to the station. I took the train into Battle for a mooch around and ended up catching the same train that Debs was on back to Crowhurst,  and we then enjoyed a pleasant evening in the bus with a  glass or two of wine. On Friday we packed up and made the short drive to the Carr Taylor vineyard where we had a very pleasant few hours on a tour, tasting and lunch and then settled down for the afternoon to enjoy a very nice bottle of their sparkling rose "not allowed to call it champagne". There is a lot to be said for English wine as they have improved no end over the years and the wines produced here are no exception. Delicious! Aided by Bacchus we had a good night's kip in the silent vineyard.

Battle Abbey

Tea Room in Battle

On Saturday we were up and out early to head to the National Trust Bodiam Castle and had a very interesting pootle around, followed by lunch in the car park before moving on to our next site - Park Farm Camping near Bodiam. What a place! Certainly not what we are used to! Huge fields packed full of tents pitched haphazardly, with open fires actively encouraged and about 5 loos for the  large numbers of campers. With all the fires it was like camping on an Indian Reservation. We went for a walk along the river back to Bodiam and had a nice meal in the pub before heading back to the reservation to sit outside the bus drinking wine and people watch.   

Bodiam Castle

Park Farm Camping

On Sunday we headed home via Sissinghurst Castle and ended up buying a set of garden furniture which we somehow managed to load into the bus for the journey home.