The Cotswold Getaway
The Cotswolds. Possibly our favourite part of the west country. And we are so lucky to have this on our doorstep. We decided back in 2015 that we really must make a trip back to the Cotswolds and stay over for a few days. We decided that Moreton-In-Marsh was a great location, far enough away from home to make it feel like a holiday but close enough and familiar enough that we knew where we wanted to visit. Initially we thought that February would be fairly quiet, but upon arrival, nothing could have been further from the truth. The fact was the site was 100% full on the first night meant...
Read MoreUseful apps while camping
The addition of technology has helped in every element of day to day living and my expectation of camping was to depart from the technology for just a few days. I wasn’t expecting, however, to find applications that help with the setting up and overall caravanning experience. But I have. I’ve found some really helpful applications and I thought I would share these with you *We use Apple devices, but there are many applications that provide the same functionality on Android devices too. Doggity Finding a dog friendly pub close by can be quite a challenge, especially when you are...
Read MoreHoo-Too Trip Mate Titan
Caravanning today is a far cry from what it was when I was young. Our entertainment on a wet day was either read a book, play a board game or build a house of cards. Nowadays however it’s a different world. Apart from the caravan being so much better equipped, my children are now glued to their phones or tablets, in fact WiFi is now a serious requirement for many camp sites. But the problem remains, what to do on a wet day? We could watch the TV. With hundreds of channels of programming that no two people want to watch, this would only lead to an argument, boredom and more cabin fever, and...
Read MoreHalogen Ovens
Until recently you would be more likely to find halogen lamp cookers on sale late night on some TV shopping channel than in your high street. But these days halogen cookers are making quite an insurgence into our homes. The promise that the cooking times are quicker, the energy used is lower and that they are now becoming quite popular, I thought it was about time to see if one of these cookers would work in the Caravan. So what is it exactly? Very simply, it’s a halogen lamp. It generates an awful lot of heat and to dissipate that heat a strong fan is used to circulate the hot air. The...
Read More2016 bookings
Our plans for 2016 are now set. A few sites left to book and we are keeping the latter part of the year open and uncommitted. So here is the run down of what we have booked so far. February We visit Morton on the Marsh. We love the Cotswolds and it being right on our doorstep means we rarely visit it or make a special outing to visit our much loved surroundings. So far however we have committed ourselves to revisiting Borton on the Water, the Batsford Arboretum and plenty of tea rooms in between. March We visit again after almost 12 months Sandy Balls n the...
Read MoreWinter checks
Like many other caravan owners, we simply cannot keep our van outside our house. We’d love to, but there is simply no room to put it on the drive. So our caravan is sited at a local caravan storage facility. This means that the caravan is not easily overlooked. It means we cannot simply throw open the curtains and ensure everything is OK. So we visit the caravan at least once a week to make sure that everything is in tip top condition. Our checks on the van are quite basic. They range from a visual inspection of the body work, checking the electrics, a quick damp check and generally ensuring...
Read MoreSnow days.
Picture the scene. I’m sat with my family laughing at the latest Casey Neistat video of him snowboarding through Time Square in New York. After a huge downpour of snow, the US really have it bad right now. It’s a complete white out on the east coast. I recall a few years ago that 2 weeks after a storm hit the US we in the UK suffered its back lash. I know this as I was travelling on the Scillonian ferry from Penzance to the Scilly isles in pretty choppy waters. It wasn’t a great sailing highlight, but I digress. Why am I concerned ? I work from home, the schools are all very close and Angela...
Read More2016. Wet & miserable.
And so here we are. Half way through the first month of 2016. Last year promised so much. Our first year of active holiday making, journeys and adventures in our new caravan. Sadly mid way through the year things didn’t quite turn out that way. With the loss of a dear friend, much loved one and never recovering from that or a £3,000 car bill holidays were cut short in July. We did manage a couple of outings later in the year, but to be completely fair our heart, our passion wasn’t really in it. 2016 however promises to be our time to start again. WE ARE / WE HAVE planned on 9 epic holidays...
Read MoreLongleat Festival of Lights 2015.
We spent some quality time in the caravan over Christmas this year. Stopping off at Longleat again for the festival of light, and then onto some dear friends of ours for Christmas day & Boxing day. We enjoyed the festival of Lights back in 2014, and so we thought we would do it all over again for 2015. The festival was just as amazing as last years. The content was richer and the layout spread over more area to allow better walking access. Below is a video from our trip – it’s a long one im afraid, but it gives you an great idea of the site, the attraction and how much fun we had whilst...
Read MoreThe ultimate staycation
We had planned on visiting Devon this month, but with the passing of a close friend and an unexpected car bill of £3,000 we opted to stay with some good close friends who happen to have a huge section of land that will one day become a small camp site. The location is Somerset, North east Somerset to be more specific, and the location set us up for having some great days away in the city of Bath as tourists. I visit Bath on a weekly basis, but its only when you really try to become a tourist in your local area do you appreciate and reconnect with your surroundings. During the week Angela...
Read MoreFixing a Thetford C250 Cassette indicator
We recently returned from a short break away in Somerset when I discovered to my misfortune that the “tank full” light doesn’t actually work on our toilet. Assuming that the tank really wasn’t that full was to prove my misfortune. Our toilet is the Thetford C250 cassette type. Its common culprit is a dislodged magnet from inside the toilet cassette. – I located a fridge magnet and attempted to track the fault down. I recorded the fault finding and the eventual fix of the indicator LED – this has been quite a popular video on YouTube so far, So I hope you find the video of some use. The...
Read MoreCamping in the forest
We recently spent a short break in the heart of the Forest of Dean. Staying at the Camping in the Forest site “Bracelands” we arranged to have a 4 day getaway with some close friends of ours. Of course, we are the only ones with a caravan everyone else hitched up in a tent. This was convenient as we had mains hook up (essential for blowing up beds, charging of phones, and boiling the kettle). Setting up in a circle we constructed a centrepiece where we had an gazebo, fire pit and a place for us all to sit, chat and eat. On the subject of eating – my pulled pork made its debut for the group....
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