Fishing for Carp

I decided to have a few hours fishing before we left and moved the van down to the lake. It was a lovely day and a very nice lake with some big carp. I only landed one small roach but lost a big carp diving into the reeds. I was not alone in having a blank day and spent most of the time trying to stop a very smart chicken from stealing my bait. I didn't realise chickens went mad for Spam!

We packed up about 4pm, stopped at Whitchurch for coffee and cake and arrived home at 7:30.

Speech House Food Festival

We parked the van at Speech House and used our pre-booked tickets to walk straight in to the festival which was even bigger than last year. It is now mostly food and drink from local businesses and we were spoilt for choice picking something for lunch. 

We had pulled pork tacos which were delicious, bought some cheese and were given some apples and cake (which we had with coffee in the car park).

We were hoping to have a homemade  pizza from the bar when we returned but the last orders are at lunch time Sunday.

We were almost on our own by the time we returned.

Forest of Dean

We are going to the Forest Festival at Speech House again and are stopping 2 nights at Broadstone Park. It's a quirky site right on the England Wales boundary with a fishing lake and a lot of rescue animals including a turkey, donkey, Shetland pony and lots of chickens. We pitched in the Wales field but the facilities are in England and electricity is metered.

Epilog

 We booked 4 nights at the show site and intended to visit the Pedlars while we in Malvern. However we stayed at home on Thursday, the first night, so that Katherine would have some company. We discovered that the Pedlars were away camping in Snowdonia over the weekend so the visit did not happen. As Katherine was away for the weekend Chippy would be on his own for 3  nights, so we came back a day early too. Our 4 night break turned into a 2 night break but it was a nice break with warm suuny weather in a picturescue setting.   

Lionesses

 

The Lionesses ladies football team reached the final of the World Cup and after adorning the van with bunting we watched the match after breakfast. Spain were the better team on the day and we were beaten 1:0.  After the match I went down to the arena to see one of the re-enactments of the Wild West. These had been taking place over the weekend and punctuated the sounds of the show with burst of gunfire. We had an Indian lunch and bought some samasosas before we left and drove home via Evesham and the A46. Arrived at M and S foodhall just outside Coventry as they were closing at 4:30 and were back home before 6:00pm.

Showtime

 The overnight rain was not as bad as forecast and we awoke to the promised sunny warm weekend. There were no EHU on our part of the site so we are off piste for two nights. After breakfast we spent the day wandering around the show, we bought a new strip of carpet, some gas cylinders for the Jamie and a new latch to replace the temporary repair I did on the stable dor many years ago. The food court had a good selection from hog roast, to fish and chips, to Indian, with a big long tent nearby to eat in if it rained. We had coffees from the spendid conververted Rolls Royce and snacked from the excellent Indian takeaway van. We grilled steak for dinner and went to listen to some of the Country and Westerm music in the evening.    

Malvern Western Show

 We decided to have a weekend at a Motorhome and Caravan Show organised by Warners and having a country and western music theme. We left home on a day which was promising a lot of rain so timed our journey to miss the worse and arrive before the site become too wet. 

Arrived about 2.00 pm at the Three Counties showground and were directed to a pitch on hard standing very close to the west entrance so very convenient for the toilet block and show entrance. We were next to a friendly Irish couple who gave me two cans of cider. We had an exploratory tour of the show sales area and food area, then cooked a prawn linguine before hunkering down for the rain to start.   

Parking for the Bard

We packed up after breakfast and left site to park the van for the afternoon in order to go to the RSC. This proved to be easier said than done. Neither the river side parking or the park and ride accepted motorhomes so it was as an hour before we were parked in the leisure centre just 5 mins away from site!

We only had time for a snack before taking our seats at the back of the stalls for the matinee performance of As You Like It. It was a modern setting of a cut down version of the original play, taking place in a mock rehearsal room with a cast of geriatric actors. The premise was that the actors were recreating the play that they had all appeared in together 40 years before. It was a bit wierd with a pop group descending from above and an Elvis lookalike appearing to end the 1st Act. The play finished with a big reveal of a forest with floor to ceiling pine trees behind the reheasal room wall. 

It was an interesting experience and I would go to the RSC again. Its Macbeth in October.

Boat to Stratford

After breakfast we took the electric boat down the Avon past all the posh houses on the riverside. 

It now moors on the other side of the river opposite the RSC and has gone up to £3 per trip. The weather was much better so wandered around town in shorts before going to All Bar One for lunch. We had a Wowcher for cocktails and tapas which were excellent. We had coffee at M&S and took the bus back to site to avoid queuing for the boat.

Chatted to neighbours who were new to motor homes and had steak and mushrooms. Warmer and only a brief shower today.

Stratford and the Bard

We are going to Stratford tomorrow for a couple of days by the river Avon. We have a tapas voucher for lunch on one day and tickets to see 'As You Like It' at the RSC on Thursday.