Off for the weekend with Ruby to the Home Farm CMC CL at Stoke Bruerne. It’s a beautifully positioned site right next to the Grand Union Canal. The ground was too wet to park on the grass but fortunately there was enough hardstanding for 3 or 4 vehicles.

The scenic village is very small and was split in two when the canal was built but we are pleased to report there are two good pubs and an Indian restaurant!

We went for a walk along the canal – watching the rental boats having fun and games getting through the locks!

On our way home we stopped at Stowe. The House, parts of which date back to 1683, looks very impressive and is now used as a private school.  In the 18th century Viscount Cobham spent a huge amount of time, effort and money creating spectacular garden full of lakes, arches and follies.  Over time the grounds became run down and were eventually handed over to the National Trust in 1989.  The trust has done an incredible job restoring the gardens to their former glory and we would certainly recommend a visit.

For our first trip of 2018 we decided on a long weekend trip to the Canterbury CCC site.

We were very lucky with the weather – a rare sunny weekend in between the many snow showers of the winter.

We drove down on Friday (16/2), found the site just to the east of the town centre and found a nice pitch near the entrance.

The site was about 20 mins walk from the town centre or a short bus ride. We wandered in with Ruby and our first stop was at St Martins church , the oldest church in continuous use in the English-speaking world. Parts of the building date back to Roman times.

Canterbury is where Christianity was first established in the UK. It was brought here in the 6th century by a french princess called Bertha who eventually married the Anglo Saxon King Ethelbert. Here are the statues of them keeping an eye on the city:

A few years later Augustine, a monk from Rome arrived, based himself at St Martins and set about spreading the word.  With the support of the King he built the Abbey (almost next door to St Martins) and eventually the Cathedral which is the centrepiece of the city today.

All these building are part of a World Heritage site. Our next stop was at the ruins of the Abbey  now managed by English Heritage (and fortunately dog friendly!).

After this we continued into the town centre which is full of interesting  historic buildings and unusual shops (and pubs!).

We decided that visiting the cathedral itself would be a challenge with Ruby and also quite expensive so we’ll save that for another visit.

The following day we took a walk along the walls of the city which provides some excellent views.

We’d certainly recommend the site and city for a short break and would be happy to go back in the not too distant future.

For a late break we took the van (and Ruby!) to the Sandringham CCC site.

We arrived on Friday 17th November and stayed for two nights. Although the house was closed to visitors there was a large Christmas Fair going on in the grounds a short walk away which we had a look around on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon we were joined on site by Jim & Kate and on the following day they drove us all for an excursion up to Hunstanton for a walk by the sea.

The drive up turned out to be a little more exciting than planned when the car had a flat tyre halfway up the  A149!  I hope it wasn’t caused by the extra weight of two people and a dog in the back seat! Jim did an excellent job of changing the tyre at the roadside while the rest of us helped with important jobs like holding his coat.

I’d be very happy to visit the campsite again, especially in warmer weather when we would also be able to visit the house.  The site seems to have plenty of space in a wooded environment with good facilities (apart from the shop which was tiny!).

We took a walk through woods and appeared to arrive in some strange parallel universe – this was in fact the Caravan and Motorhome Club campsite next door but it was fascinating to be able to compare the two sites.  My own view was that the CMC site was busier and tidier (with a bigger shop!) but the pitches seemed closer together with much less open space.

After all the trauma of recent weeks we have managed to get a long weekend away (with Ruby)on the campsite at the Wellington Country Park just south of Reading.

The park is set around some very attractive lakes with lots of walking trails and plenty of things to do for small children (shame we don’t have any!).

The campsite is set in the woods, fairly basic but with all the facilities you need. The pitches are the biggest we have seen, plenty of room to spread out.  The weather has been very mild for the time of year – we managed to go through the weekend without switching on the heating. It would be good to return in the summer when we could make better use of all the space.

Found a very reasonable pub in walking distance, the Bull at Riseby, where we had lunch on Saturday.

Off to the Peak District for another long weekend in the van. This time we were joined by a surprise guest, our eldest son Michael who really needed a break away from University and the Master’s dissertation he’s trying to finish.  We are now able to confirm the Burstner can sleep 3 adults without too much trouble.

We stayed at the Rivendale Holiday Park, north of Ashbourne.  It’s a perfectly acceptable site but perhaps not one I would rush back to.  It’s main advantage is it’s position so close to some amazing scenery and interesting towns like Buxton and Bakewell.  It also has many different types of accommodation which suited our fellow travellers: Alison and her family who arrived with two tents and Helen & friend who needed a ground floor apartment.

In total we were a group of ten which made it extremely difficult to book a meal at any of the many recommended pubs in the area especially during this holiday period.  We ended up spending more time than expected preparing meals around the van or tents.

Peter went off walking over the dales on Saturday whilst Sue and most of the others went to Bakewell, visiting the Baking Festival.

On Sunday we went to Dovedale, a spectacular valley just south of where we were staying and surely one of the district’s best attractions. We would really love to pay the area another visit soon (although may using a different campsite!).

Just back from a long weekend in Suffolk staying at the CCC site at Polstead.  We went with friends Adrian, Sandra, Debbie & Martin (plus their sons, Ben & Tom) – two tents, one motorhome plus, making her first trip in the new van, our mini Schnauzer, Ruby.

The site is very attractive with some excellent woodland walks nearby. On Monday we took the recommended route through the countryside to the village of Polstead (about 45 mins), the village pub came with plenty of recommendations.  After a very pretty walk on a hot day we arrived to find the pub was closed every Monday! Seriously – who shuts a pub on a Monday?  We pressed on to the next village, Stoke-by-Nayland, but by now Ruby, not the puppy anymore, was flagging in the heat.  We even tried carrying her for a while but that really wasn’t practical. We eventually made it to The Angel pub with severe doubts that Ruby would make it back.  But thanks to the wonder of pub wifi we found a bus route back for Ruby and, because she didn’t have any pockets for the change, the two of us had to catch the bus with her!

It’s a site we’d go back to again, well kept and attractive with lots of lovely small Suffolk towns nearby like Lavenham.

We are building up to a taking the van to a music festival one day but in the meantime this is the next best thing!

We had booked tickets to see Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott perform at Thetford Forest. Following links on the Forestry Commission website we found a nearby campsite that also provided transport to and from the concert site – ideal!

Little Lodge Farm is normally a Caravan Club CL with additional holiday cottages for hire. They have extensive facilities for horses and specialise  in holidays for horse owners who don’t want to leave their horses behind!  During the annual concerts at Thetford however they open up two additional fields, one for tents, one for motorhomes/caravans. Throughout the early evening a coach shuttle is provided which takes you to the concert drop-off point and after the music has finished you are collected from the same point.

This was the first time we had used the van ‘off-grid’ but it coped very well – who needs EHU when you’ve got solar panels?  It was also quite pleasant to open the blinds in the morning and find horses trotting past the window.

It all worked very smoothly and we’d recommend the set-up to anyone who plans to go to the concert – no worry about drinking or the long drive home.

Needless to say Paul & Jacqui were fantastic. We would certainly return and are waiting to see who will be appearing at the concerts next year.

The ‘firm bed’ problem was addressed by replacing the very thin liner under the mattress with a Froli Star system.  It’s all very clever made of lots of small base pieces that click together like a double bed sized Lego model.  Into each base piece fits a plastic spring which can move independently with a lot more ‘give’ than the previous liner – with the mattress sitting on top of these springs you end up with much more comfortable bed! I’d certainly recommend it.

The only (slight) disadvantage it that the system adds about 4 cm to the height of the bed.  This means when the bed is in the raised position you lose a few cms of headroom around the dining table – we don’t think this is a major problem and the benefits of a good night’s sleep far outweigh the loss of a very  small amount of headroom.

One other change to the bed had to the made. when I (Peter) broke it! – but more on that later….

A busy couple of weeks followed the van was booked into Vanbitz to get an Alarm and a Gaslow refillable gas system fitted.  Immediately afterwards it was booked in to the dealers to get a few teething problems fixed.  After that Peter was off on a diving trip to the Red Sea.

It was agreed that Peter would embark on a solo road trip and on Saturday 12 June he set off to Gosport to visit his parents.  On Sunday afternoon he drove from Gosport to the Cornish Farm campsite owned by Vanbitz just outside Taunton in Somerset.

Cornish Farm is a small, very well run campsite not far from from the M4 and adjacent to the Vanbitz workshops. On the Monday morning I moved the van the short distance to the workshops and had a lengthy discussion with the staff about my requirements and exactly what work would be required. Vanbitz have a deservedly good reputation with Motorhome owners and they certainly fit the best quality alarm – the Strikeback – on the market.

I met a couple also leaving their van for some work.  Gerri and Ron turned out to be keen members of the MotorhomeFun forum that I had been following for advice and guidance. Vanbitz gave us all a lift into Taunton while the work was being done and we also shared a taxi back at the end of the day.  It was good to talk to more experienced motorhome owners to pick up as many hints and tips as possible!

Taunton is an interesting town with plenty of history. Gerri and Ron also introduced me to an excellent old fashioned cafe that served excellent breakfasts.  In addition, I managed to find a St Austell pub serving my favourite beers – another good reason for future trips to the west country!

Back at Cornish Farm with all work completed on the van I tried to settle in for a second night.  I was experimenting with the bed lifting mechanism, raising it to it’s highest position when it stopped working!  The electric motor was trying to lift the bed into it’s top position where a microswitch normally hits a small plate on the wall which switched off the motor.  The extra height of the Froli springs, however, was just preventing the switch from reaching the plate – the motor did its best but in the end gave up and blew the fuse!

So next challenge – where was I going to sleep that night?  The bed had a small handle that could manually move it in an emergency.  I gave this a go but it was clear it would a long, long time to lower it significantly so this was an ideal opportunity to try out the second bed which is formed by lowering the table and arranging cushions across it and the settee base.  Fortunately this turned out to be very comfortable!

The following morning I set off for the dealers, Cranhams in deepest Essex. As well the existing list of minor fixes required – broken LEDs, loose door handle etc. – We now had a fuse that needed replacing.  In addition, Cranhams lowered the wall plate a few cms which will now stop the bed a few cms lower and prevent more fuse burnout.

Sue picked me up from Cranhams on the Tuesday afternoon and we returned to collect the van after my Red Sea trip on the 26th June.

Well after what seemed like an eternity after placing the order at the NEC show last October we finally collected the new motorhome on Sunday from the dealer in Upminster.  A quick drive around the M25 and here it is parked in the driveway – a perfect fit (just)!
It’s a Burstner Sovereign Ixeo Time it590, a snappy little model name I know. Maybe we need to give it our own name – lots of owners do but I’m not entirely convinced.

The frustrating thing is finding a slot when we can take it out for a day or too – hopefully fairly soon.

In the meantime we are trying out all the gadgets (there are lots!) and deciding what should go in which cupboard (there are lots!).

No major faults found so far – two led lights need sorting but we can live with that. We are waiting for a call back from the dealer to book a slot for the remedial work.

We’ll post more photos soon.  More importantly hopefully we get some trips booked soon!