At the end of October last year, we spent a long weekend away in Burford. Staying at the Caravan & Motorhome club site we said farewell to our favourite wardens, Ray and Penny, who were leaving the site at the beginning of November.
The site itself is just on the outskirts of Burford, opposite the Cotswold Wildlife Park, which is a fantastic day out. The site is one of our favourites and gives us a quick break away without travelling too far. We have stayed here countless times before and it really is a gem in the Cotswolds and is highly recommended from us.
We decided that I would take the caravan and hitch up in the afternoon of the Thursday, then I’d collect Angela from work later that evening and end the day going food shopping. That was the plan, admittedly it didn’t quite go as we intended, as I broke the car… but that is another story.
I arrived just after 1pm, found a good location and in one move reversed straight onto the pitch. Again, no one watched so I have no way of validating this. As I was on my own, it took me around 30mins to set the van up and get the heating on. Within minutes of setting up my close friend Damian arrived and set up on the very next pitch, he took even less time to set up, with his fancy auto levelling and motor movers. The site was surprisingly empty at this point, although it was still half term the site was still emptying with late departures.
Although I said I was alone, I did have Chloe and the dog – but they don’t help with set up. In fact, Chloe got out the car, walked into the caravan and immediately set herself up with a sandwich, a cup of coffee and YouTube. The caravan quickly became a warm and cosy space to be in and we both started to relax that afternoon.
Once Angela arrived in borrowed car, we went shopping at the local Aldi, for the next 2 days’ worth of food. On the way back we popped into Burford Road Fish bar in Carterton for a takeaway Fish supper. which, I must say, really ticked the box !
Our goal for the weekend was simply to relax, do little and take in the last gasp of the autumn colours. So, the very next day I set about repairing our very sick car, and sorting a replacement for the weekend that could tow. The car had a broken turbo, the fact that most of the turbo was down the exhaust pipe and embedded in the DPF filter. After several conversations with our garage and some rudimental bodges, I set about taking the car to the garage. Followed by Angela.
After a stressful 30mins we dropped off the car and set about heading back to the caravan to finally begin our break. Once back we immediately set off for a walk around Burford. If you’ve never visited Burford, it is a lovely town with some awesome independent shops. If you love your food, the cheese shop and the butcher (next door to each other) is a great place to browse for yummy, premium foods. However, Burford is not short of pubs, restaurants and cafes. In fact, we had to have an afternoon cup of tea with cake, before I was told we needed to visit the sweet shop.
Cake consumed, tea guzzled, we headed off back to the caravan, and not a moment too soon, the daylight was fading fast and the traffic building too. That evening we treated ourselves to a jacket potato and some pulled pork followed by a healthy game of “Cards against Humanity” which you can clearly imagine Chloe won outright…
Saturday morning started with a bacon sandwich, gallon of coffee and a listen to the doom and gloom on the radio, Our PM was to give an announcement later that day on the current state of play with the COVID outbreak. So, to celebrate the decline in travel and the leisure industry, we headed off to look at some decommissioned Boeing 747s at a local airfield.
The 747s were the last of the British Airways fleet and had only arrived a few days beforehand. There were so many in various states of decommissioning. Most of the engines had gone, and it was great to spend some time in the company of an airline pilot who could give me some insight into the workings of these mammoth aircraft.
That afternoon we decided to head off to the Diddly Squat farm shop, run by a rather famous car journalist and caravan hater, A certain Mr Jeremy Clarkson. The shop although small is packed with expensive yet yummy farm shop fodder. I must say the sausage rolls, honey and danishes were rather nice. The farm shop is right next door to the Chipping Norton Camping and Caravan site which is handy if you have run out of cow juice.
Back at the caravan and armed with a glass of red wine, the cheese from the farm shop and a small pot of £4.50 caramelised onion chutney, we sat and waited for our Prime Minister to announce the upcoming 4-week Lockdown. It was at this point we realised that this was going to be the last time we used the caravan this year. We decided that it would not be fair, nor right for us to continue using the caravan during the Christmas break. Instead we decided to stay home and have a very different Christmas on our own.
Sunday morning came around way too quickly again and it was time to say our farewells to Ray & Penny ( the site wardens) give a fond farewell to Damian, who has had the worst year in so many ways, but really glad we spent some quality time with him. It was also an opportunity to say hello to one of our subscribers, chat about “bloody cars” and his rather lovely, Discovery and Lunar caravan. It was a pleasure to meet you Stuart!
An extended weekend, but still a quick break away in the caravan, which was a welcome distraction to all the events around us. The site we stayed in was immaculate, the trees were just losing their leaves but looked so majestic in the morning dew. It was wonderful being out and about in the last few days of autumn, possibly my new favourite time of year, a 45minute drive home, park the caravan and start with the 1st load of washing.
