Stonehenge to Home

It's been a beautiful day again, not a cloud in the sky and perfect for our first ever visit to Stonehenge. It hasn't been possible to walk among the stones for some time but the new visitor centre with all its facilities, exhibitions and cafe still makes for an interesting and enjoyable experience. There is a shuttle bus every few minutes from the centre to the viewing area over a mile away, or you can walk.

Then there is a walkway with explanatory stations all around the circle, which is both far enough away to get photos without people and in some places close enough to feel the size of the huge stones. There are lots of foreign tourists, over a million a year in fact, so it's a bucket list photo opportunity and Rosemary took some photos for Asian couples on their cameras. The large gift shop and cafe were doing good business.

The entrance fee is quite high too but we got in free with our NT membership and only spent £10 with a nice souvenir guide book and a sticker.
We set off for home at about 3 o'clock and stopped half way at a garden centre for coffee.

Burton Bradstock

The Hive beach cafe served good unpretentious seafood.

Charmouth to Salisbury

We called in to the Fossil museum to see the subject of David Attenborough's Seadragon  before moving down the coast to picturesque Burton Bradstock where the Hive Beach seafood cafe is located. 

After lunch we started to head home stopping off in Salisbury to visit the cathedral. By the time we had parked it was about 5 o'clock and we got into the Cathedral and Magna Carta exhibition for free. Rosemary took some nice photos on her phone.

We drove on towards a Britstop at Cholderton and found it was close to Stonehenge, so resolved to go back and have a proper visit tomorrow. The landlady is a Britstopper herself.

Charmouth

The day dawned sunny with a light wind, what a difference to yesterday. So we decided to just walk the mile down to Charmouth beach and find somewhere for Sunday lunch. It was lovely and clear on the front with views right along to West Bay and Chesil Beach to the east and Lyme Regis in the west. It is remarkably warm and sunny for early October.
Finding Sunday lunch was a bit of a disaster, the recommended cafe was fully booked and the Royal Oak, halfway up the hill, was not serving food due to a kitchen upgrade. There was no way we were going back down the hill, it's a 13% gradient for half a mile, so we continued back to the site and had a snack in the pool cafe.
At least there is time for cream tea on our pitch now!

Duvet Day

The promised heavy rain had arrived by 7:00am and stayed until late afternoon, leaving a strong gusty wind. So today was just a duvet day.
I invested in 24hr site WiFi to download Rosemary's Daily Mail for today and tomorrow while I uploaded and edited my Google photos.
Katie is in Penrith for the weekend enjoying some sunshine!

Lyme Regis

Today we are using our bus pass to go into Lyme Regis for the day. The bus stop is 2 mins away. A weekly pop up curry house is just setting up on the site for tonite.
So we went to Lyme again and walked along the front and to the end of the Cobb where the fishing boats come in. We have been here many times before and nothing changes very much except for the restaurants and coffee houses. We had a light lunch on the new terrace of The Pilot House. It has to be prawns and crab when in Lyme washed down with Chardonnay and Cider.
We caught the 3:30 bus back which was full of school children and pensioners.

The Wood Farm site has some very good facilities including a well stocked shop, pool, games room and fishing lake. The downside is that it is built on both sides of a deep valley. We are on the top level so even a short trip to do washing up or use the facilities is a good cardiovascular workout. We tried some curry from the pop-up which was very fresh and tasty. Tomorrow is going to be wet and windy so we are battened down in readiness.

Lyndhurst to Charmouth

We left the site mid morning in order to go to the coast. The day started damp and drizzly so we went to the New Forest centre and museum at Lyndhurst first. Then off to the corner of the forest where the deer are to be found. The car park is near a viewing platform where we saw a small group of Fallow deer. I walked a little way along one of trails and spotted some antlers in the bracken. Sure enough it was a stag lying on the ground looking around, ears twitching. After a few minutes it stood up and just walked off into the undergrowth.

Mission accomplished and caught on camera we headed to Charmouth stopping briefly in Ringwood for shopping and arrived at the Wood Farm site at 5 o'clock. It's just outside Charmouth and handily placed on the coastal bus route between Axminster and Weymouth.

New Forest

Walked in to Brockenhurst today over the heath, spotting Highland cows and Shetland ponies - wee must be in Scottish quarter. Livestock all over the roads every house has a cattle grid or a big gate.
It was an ideal day for a walk, warm, sunny and a gentle breeze. Passed numerous horses, ponies and donkeys before hitting the high street. Stopped for coffee, bought some lunch from the excellent bakery to have a picnic on the heath and some venison steak to grill tonight. Easily got our 14000 paces in and it's not even 4 o'clock.
Now sitting by the van with a clear blue sky topping up the tan. Well somebody's got to do it. The venison was really good.

Milford on Sea and Brockenhurst

We started the day by parking near the sea at nearby Milford for a bracing walk along the shingle front, it was a bit breezy and overcast. The Needles were just visible on the murk across the Solent.
By now it was after noon so we headed straight for a two day stop at the Black Knowl CMC site in the heart of the New Forest near Brockenhurst. A lazy afternoon is planned with just a short stroll to see the ponies when it brightens up.

Beaulieu and Lymington

Straight to the New Forest from our Britstop counting ponies, 20 already. Visit to Beaulieu for the house and motor museum. Its a lovely sunny day again visiting the estate.

We spent most of the day at Beaulieu looking round the purpose built National motor museum with its numerous exhibits from the very earliest days of motoring to the present day. The old cars were in immaculate  condition with gleaming  brass fittings and huge  headlights particularly striking. There were well known motors from TV and films, Chitty chitty bang bang to Dell boys yellow Reliant Robin. There was a separate show of the mad cars from Top Gear including the amphibious Triumph Herald with its Mirror dinghy sails and the old people's car.

Then we walked back to look at the remaining parts of the first Cistertian in England Abbey. It's mostly ruined but the old refectory is now the village parish church and the lay lodgings are the abbey museum. The gardens have a wonderful topiary scene of the mad hatter's tea party. The original girl who inspired Alice is believed to be from nearby Lymington.
We are staying one night in Lymington on the coast, on a cheap commercial site, before moving to Brockenhurst in the new forest tomorrow.

We took a ride on the vintage bus to view the palace which is no longer occupied by the Montagu family and actually had the first motor museum  in its front rooms.The present Lord now lives in a 12 bedroom lodge on the estate apparently.

Sweetcorn and Cowes

After a quality stay at Southland CMC site we headed for nearby Arreton for the only event taking place on the IOW this weekend - The Sweetcorn Festival. Basically a big village fete in a sweetcorn field beside a craft centre. I had  a massive BBQ sweetcorn and put a £1 bet on the snail race, mine came last out of 6! Lots of pet animals and sweetcorn themed events. Rosemary bought a few bits at the farm shop for later and we left the car park, on a sweet corn field of course, early afternoon. The only IOW Waitrose is right by the Red Funnel terminal and so we popped in for our free coffee and some  snacks. We parked on the esplanade to eat our late lunch and watch the yachts in the Solent until the 4:30 ferry back to the mainland was ready for boarding.
We enjoyed our brief stay on the island and now we are at a Britstop again tonite on the edge of the New Forest near Hythe.

Ryde and Shanklin

We left the CCC site to meet Rosemary's school friend Geoff Dolby and his wife at the Bartlett's Farm tea shop just outside Ryde. We chatted for about an hour over coffee and crumpets and took some photos before going to the nearby Rosemary Vineyard. I watched the video, which had some useful pruning tips while Rosemary did some tastings. We came away with a bottle of red and one of white and some cider.



Then back down to the esplanade at Shanklin to have a paddle and some fish and chips. We then made for the CMC site 5 miles away just for the night. A lot more on this site than CCC but then it doesn't close till early November. Full sun today, we are still getting our paces in, nice sunset.

Godshill and The Needles

We had a day out driving over to the western extremity of the Island. We stopped at Godshill, elegedly the prettiest village on the island. We walked up to the church on the hill to light a candle and photograph the cottages and church. The village is a bit of a tourist trap with spaces for about a dozen tour busses and coffee shops to cope with them.
We continued on the military road along the southern coast which is a short switch back of cliffs and bays to Freshwater. It was lunch time so we had our first seafood of the holiday at The Hut on Colwell Bay. A bit upmarket with lots of boaty types, a nice spot overlooking the bay and nice food.
After lunch we drove up to The Needles. Rosemary said we could park at the NT old battery car park, but the road sign said - no cars. We followed a shuttle bus up the single track steep windy road taking people from the car park up to the battery. There were 5 staff cars and one motorhome (us) at the top - perhaps Rosemary was wrong!
After a brief wander round and a walk down the path to a photo opportunity we waited for the bus to follow back down. There is a cable car from the car park at the top of the colourful Alum Bay cliffs down to the beach. However it appears to have finished for the winter. There is a monument to commemorate the first radio station built by Marconi here too.
We returned via Yarmouth where I had sailed with Auriga many years ago. Then on to Newport shopping centre where we did a bit of shopping at the Island's only M&S. We arrived back on site just in time to miss the red sunset.

Isle of Wight day 1

After a peaceful night at the Britstop we made our way to Southampton to catch the Red Funnel ferry to East Cowes on the IOW. We set off to find a camp site for a couple of nights stopping at the viewpoint on Brading Down for a late sandwich. We looked at Park Dean site over looking Bembridge Harbour except is was actually miles away and decided against it. Finally ended up at CCC site near Sandown. It is closing for the end of season on Sunday. It's a massive site with 270 pitches but there are only about 15 vans at the moment.
There was a German couple, who met 6 weeks ago on the internet, in an old motorhome. Obviously smitten although she had 3 husbands and was still married. Very weird, but very chatty.
We were entertained by low flying flocks of geese migrating west into the sunset. Rosemary was startled by a pheasant while walking by the river. Warm sunny days and cool nights for the next week we hope. Made contact with an old school friend of Rosemary who we are going to meet for coffee on Saturday.

Red House Pub

We have stopped at a delightful thatched pub between Newbury and Hungerford for the night. It's a Britstop so they deserve us having a nice meal here in return for a free night stay.

It was nice too, steak and kidney pudding to die for.

South for 10 days

We are going away in the van for about 10 days to the south coast while there is a bit of autumn left.

Heading Home

On the road again taking in the Ludlow craft centre, more food purchases and a NT house on the way home.

Stopped at Wightwell House the Victorian home of the Mangers paint family near to Wolverhampton. It was rather gloomy wood paneled house not helped by the low lighting.

We arrived home at 5:30pm.

Ludlow Food Festival

We drove to the temporary park and ride at Ludlow racecourse, £5 to park,  to find there were about 3 bus loads of people waiting and only one bus every 30mins. So not a lot of happy people and some gave up, but we caught the second bus after a 50 minute wait.

We spent the afternoon tasting  samples, watching a chef demo and eating some Japanese street food for lunch. It remained dry and everyone seemed to be enjoying the afternoon out, helped by lots of gin, craft beer and cider stalls. I tried my first Christmas pudding and mince pie samples of the year and enjoyed the rhubarb cider. We resisted the temptation to buy stuff we did not really need and arrived back at the campsite around 5:30. Rosemary chatted up the site owner and we picked three great bags of apples from the trees around the site and a small bag of very ripe plums to take home.

It remained dry and there is a nice sunset tonight over the Shropshire hills.

Halfpenny Green, Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock

Popped in the shop to buy a bottle of wine and a few posh chocolates before driving off to Bridgnorth. Its a nice old town on two levels either side of the river Severn. There's a Saturday market around the 16th century town hall where we shopped for a sandwich lunch to eat in the van

Next stop was at the best butcher in England at Much Wenlock for some meat for tonite. There was a fete in the church where we had coffee and cake and Rosemary won a bottle of Italian red wine for £1. It will go nicely with the steak. Outside in the church yard there was a dog show going on. Very progressive use of a church.
It's rained on and off all day and doesn't sound much better tomorrow. We are staying at Greenway for two nights, a quiet adults only site on Wenlock edge about 10 miles from Ludlow.

English Wine?

We are on our way to the Ludlow Food Festival and have stopped one night at a Britstop. 

It's Halfpenny Green vineyard in Staffordshire. We arrived at 4 o'clock to find they have no gas in the restaurant, so no cooked breakfast tomorrow morning! 

There are lots of crafty places on site for tomorrow and an opportunity to try and buy some English wine. We are on our own in the car park as usual.

Starting Again

This is the first trip out after getting our motorhome back from the garage following the theft from our drive on 5th July.

 It's taken 2 months and we have missed the hottest summer on record, but here we go again.

Three nights in the west midlands to check everything out and do a seasonal food festival.

Ledbury

Swallow with chicks in phone booth

We had a lazy start, it's hot again, to head for the nearby town of Ledbury, but not before taking a photo of the swallows nest on the site facilities block. Ledbury is a very old town with lots of character and black and white architecture to photograph. We were lucky to get free parking in the short stay park as the machines were being upgraded. Coffee and cakes in the old chapel were good value. There's no Costa, McDonald's or other fast food outlet to challenge the local businesses except for a Greggs which was one of the first in the country apparently and keeps a low profile!

The only church is unusual in that it has a separate bell tower and is built from a mixture of different local stones. It also has one very modern full sized stained glass window dedicated to a local couple, described by the church warden as the marmite window, you either love it or hate it. Rosemary did the charity shops looking for a straw hat for me but failed and bought a blouse instead. I replaced some of my fishing gear with some new hooks from the excellent fishing tackle shop and Rosemary found a nice Geranium plant from the local growers selling plants for the Chapel funds.

We did a bit more sight seeing in Ledbury and then drove home via the Malvern Hills with a shopping break at the Stratford on Avon Waitrose to use the last 20% off voucher.

Fishing in Herefordshire

The Hereford CCC site has a large well stocked but very popular fishing lake which is why we were here. Many campers fish for weeks after the 15lb+ carp in the lake. I found a nice shady spot away from the carpers, to catch the silver fish and lost count of the roach, rudd and skimmer bream that we (yes Rosemary had a go too) caught. The only carp I caught was not in very good condition.
It was a very hot day.
I fished all day while Rosemary did house/van work, had some 'me' time and made my lunch.
Later on I grilled the chicken, after Rosemary had done all the prep.
Then I did all the washing up and made up our bed.
The End.

Croome Park

After a quiet night on the Severn we headed for Croome Park near Worcester on our way south. It's a strange NT place being a mix of RAF museum and country estate. The park was used to develop much of our WW2 airborne radar capabilities and still has the remains of a 2000yd runway. Most of the RAF Dufford buildings have disappeared now except for  the hospital which is converted to a 40's style canteen. The house was the first stately home to be landscaped by Laurence Capability Brown for the then trendy 6th Earl of Coventry and is now being restored  by the National  Trust. It was a good walk in the hot sun, passing the rotunda on the way to the house so the Lipton Tea samples from Sunday Foodies show came in very useful. We had sandwiches and crisps in the basement coffee shop before walking back up the hill to the car park.
We stopped at a farm shop near Upton on Severn for some massive pork chops, strawberries and chicken for the BBQ later. The GPS took us over the top of the Malvern Hills to the CCC site at Hereford  for a two night stay to do some fishing.

Lenchford Inn

We are having a short break in the sun this week. We started by going to the Foodies Festival in Birmingham at Cannon Hill park. It was a nightmare trying to park the van, we heard all of the second half of the England World cup match against Panama looking for a space. England won 6:1 and the Foodies show was rather poor as it was more like a music festival with upmarket fast food outlets and a few chef demonstrations. The free goody bag was excellent and contained plenty of drink samples.
We spent the night in a Britstop on the banks of the River Severn at Lenchford Inn between  Worcester and Kidderminster. It was a very nice spot on the River for a beef sandwich and cool shandy, with a nice sunset after a very warm day.