roemin around

Mikes new Clubman on Saturday morning We set off East for Sandringham to meet Mike and Margaret at the CC site, on the royal estate, in order to visit the Food and Craft fair. It was also Mikes first trip out with their new Clubman caravan. We arrived in mid afternoon on Friday with a very wintry weekend forecast. Sure enough it was a very cold night and we awoke with 2 or 3 cm of snow on the vans - very picturesque. The craft fair was really big and just up the road from the site. We went in Mikes car to spend a few hours shopping for some xmas presents and partaking of a few samples in the food tent. Margaret ran out of money first so went off with Mike to find a cash machine, while we pondered the purchase of a clock for the mantle piece. Having bought a nice hand turned walnut clock and chatted to some exhibitors from the next village we walked back to the site. It was a bitterly cold night, our fresh water tank froze as did the site taps, but it did not snow again! We bo...

 A large Acer just turning golden at Batsford Spent a couple of nights in the Cotswolds at Moreton in the Marsh. Picnicked at Batsford and then strolled round the garden centre before going to the Caravan Club site at Moreton. There were only 4 pitches left, by the road, so it was a bit of noisey until later on. Tuesday was mostly occupied by walking down to the market and having lunch at ASK (with a discount voucher of course). There was a hail storm in the evening with a flash of lighting thrown in and some heavy rain for about an hour. The sky had cleared overnight and there was a frost with ice on the van the next morning. However it was sunny and crisp with a gentle breeze, ideal for returning to Batsford Arboretum. We had an early lunch in the van then walked the 'golden mile' and bought a piece of original work from a chainsaw artist in the arboretum before getting back to Leicester by the late evening. It was about two weeks too early to see the trees at their ...

Kite flying in Yorkshire was not a great success (see below) but Saturday was nice and breezy back home in Leicestershire, so my birthday kite had its real maiden flight from the top of Croft Hill. There are some more photos of the whole Yorkshire break here on Picasaweb. A lot of running about - but not much flying

A vintage Morgan The fine weather was coming to an end and Mike had exhausted his CPD supplies so it was time to set off for home. We drove back along the Thirsk road stopping off in the small market town of Helmsley for an hour to have a look around. The ladies went to a craft fair while 'the blokes' checked out some the vintage cars in the market square. This seems to be a popular 'half way halt' judging by the number of bikes and bikers in the square. Beningbrough Hall We then drove south avoiding the steep hill at Sutton Bank to spend a few hours and have a late lunch at the NT property of Beningbrough Hall and gardens, just off the A19 near York. The hall is mostly used to display a large portrait exhibition in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. Mike and Margaret headed home, closely followed by ourselves after a short excursion to the adjacent farm shop.

It was another sunny day so I tried to fly my new pocket kite on the site, but there was not enough wind and too many trees. We took the bus into the popular tourist spot of Thornton-le-Dale and walked the half mile out of the village beside the brook to the Overbrook caravan park. This was a very nice site which explained why it was full when we had tried to book a pitch on two occasions. We walked back thru the woods and found a cafe with a sunny courtyard for lunch time snack. Afterwards we took a circular walk around the village while Mike and Margaret went back into Pickering to meet an old friend who does voluntary work on the NYMR. We met them, one hour and one bus later, to return to site. We all walked over to the Black Bull pub opposite the site entrance in the evening where we dined on enormous home-made steak and mushroom pies before staggering back to the vans.

Its a long haul up to Goathland It was my birthday on this day, so after opening the cards and enjoying a full English breakfast we caught the bus into Pickering and then spent the afternoon on the North Yorkshire Moors steam railway. We stopped first at Grosmont and had a rather large 'snack' lunch in the railway cafe while waiting for the return train to take us to Goathland. This picturesque moorland village is also famous as Aidensfield in the TV series Heartbeat. Hogsmeade Station? We walked up into the village, browsed the Heartbeat influenced gift shops and had an ice cream to pass the time, until our return steam train into Pickering. The station and railway at Goathland have featured in many films and TV programs, most famously now in the first Harry Potter film as Hogsmeade station - more here. . We arrived back just after the shops had closed! After another tiring day and lunch out we decided to put off my birthday dinner until the following day.

Mike and Margaret at Haven site  We moved on Sunday to Pickering to be close to the North Yorkshire railway and the moorland villages. We stopped on route to check out a CL at a rather bizarre craft centre before going on to our next site opposite the Black Bull inn a mile south of Pickering. A very nice commercial site with mostly long term caravans and hard standings for tourers like us. We will miss the hog roast later in the week - wrong timing again!