Our first trip of 2022 took us to the Broadway CMC site in the Cotswolds on 11th March for 3 nights. Broadway is a very attractive village, understandably popular with tourists, full of interesting cottages, shops and cafes, many built from golden coloured Cotswold stone. We were joined by old friends, Jim and Kate and as well as visiting many of the shops and the local museum we also tried out one of the village pubs, The Swan, for an evening meal. For one of our party (i.e. me) a major attraction of the campsite was that it backed on to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway which now runs from Broadway to Cheltenham Race Course. Our visit coincided with their first operating weekend of 2022 which in the end did not go as smoothly as they had hoped. The coal they had chosen to use couldn’t quite keep the boilers on the locomotives hot enough which resulted in breakdowns and significant delays. Nevertheless, I managed a trip halfway down the line to Toddington Station where you can view the engine sheds.

We managed to fit in trip to one more National Trust property – Croome. A house developed in the 18th Century by the 6th Earl of Coventry and garden designed by ‘Capability’ Brown as part of his first ever commission. The house had some interesting art exhibits including art, furniture and especially ceramics but several floors were in the process of renovation so it would be worth revisiting in a few years time. One unusual feature is that part of the grounds during the Second World War became RAF Defford housing over 2000 service personnel and scientists developing Radar systems in top secret. A museum has been created in one of the surviving airbase buildings and was very interesting to see.

On the 11th October we headed off for a 6 night stay at the Fairlight Wood CMC site just to the east of Hastings on the south coast. Set just behind the village of Pett, the site is opposite an entrance to Guestling Wood which is owned by the Woodland Trust and and excellent location for an afternoon’s walk. One of the walks ended up at the village pub, The Two Sawyers, where we had a very good meal one evening.

We took the bus from the village into Hastings. It is an odd mix of a rather unattractive modern section and a much more attractive old town. Even the new half has the major attraction of being on the coast with a good old fashioned pier so it isn’t all that bad. The old town is full of interesting shops and timber beamed building although some of them were shut as it was out of season. We took one of the two (!) funicular railways to the clifftop which revealed spectacular views over the town and coastline. On the beach we found fishing boat and tall black hut used for drying nets. We also had an excellent lunch at Maggie’s Fish and Chips overlooking the shoreline.

The next day we drove the van to Bodiam Castle. We are both keen to visit as many National Trust sites as possible but I’m afraid I was distracted by another opportunity and left Sue to walk around the castle. Just a short walk down the road was the Kent and East Sussex Railway. The steam train goes from Bodiam to Tenterden and is a very pleasant ride indeed.

The following day we took a trip out to Rye, a beautiful small town surrounded by fortification and full of interesting houses and cobbled streets. We would certainly recommend a visit here. In addition the National Trust’s Lamb House, once owned by the author Henry James, is well worth a look.

As we headed home we took a slight diversion to visit yet another National Trust property, Batemans, a jacobean house once owned by another major literary figure – Rudyard Kipling. The 17th house has superb views of the surrounding countryside of the Sussex Weald. There are some formal gardens and a short path takes you down to an old flour mill and pond.

Travelled down the M3 on 1st September to the Hollands Wood Campsite in the middle of the New Forest for 4 nights. This is a ‘Camping in the Forest’ site just outside Brockenhurst – no electricity hook up and pitch up whereever you like under the trees (just watch out for the ponies)! It was very peaceful with some excellent walks through the forest. We took a bus from outside the campsite into the very attractive town of Lymington. The town is situated where the Lymington River meets the Solent. We walked along the river past several marinas and a huge sea water swimming pool. There was plenty of traffic on the river including the car ferry heading for Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. On our last day as a special treat we stopped for lunch at The Pig – we has seen the restaurant featured on a BBC programme and the food did not disappoint!

On 1st August 2021 we were off to spent 3 nights at 30 Slate Drift, a CL near Stamford with Sue and Mark. Although nominally all the pitches were grass, the whole site was very well drained which was fortunate as we had quite a lot of rain! We had a visit from Rachael, Alex and Barney the Bassett and had an excellent meal at a nearby pub, The Fox at Luffenham