18th trip - St.Ives Cambridge - last of 2011

Our eighteenth trip was to St.Ives in cambridge for 3 nights at the end of October 2011.
The site is pleasantly located near a river and an old mill - Houghton Mill.
We were here to visit our Auntie talkalot, so we ended up doing stuff that pleased her rather than our usual stuff, but we still had a good time.
This was our last trip in 2011

Blue Skies

Houghton website Mill

17th trip - Woodhouse Farm Ripon

Our seventeenth trip was 4 nights at Woodhouse Farm near Ripon in Yorkshire near the end of October 2011.
We holidayed here with our friends Gary and Ann in their caravan, so we can take turns at night hosting the card games and drinks.
We had 2 trips to Fountains abbey one during the day and a wander around the place and a night time visit where the abbey is lit up and they had a choir singing. Brilliant.
We had a great evening out at Fountains Abbey in the dark, shadow boxing. What a fun time but yet so simple. Look at the YouTube video here.....
Shadow boxing Video
Gary and Ann only stayed 3 nights so on the day after they had gone we went to Brimham Rocks, which we really enjoyed. I will definitely come back for another visit.
We nearly had a medical emergency, with one of our kids having severe stomach cramps, but it was nothing in the end, so to speak.

We spent a fun day at Brimham Rocks, here's a quick video on You Tube
Brimham Rocks pothole

Woodhouse caravan site

16th trip - Low Park wood Sedgewick

Our sixteenth trip was for 2 nights at Low Park Wood near Sizergh Castle in October 2011
A very wooded site where each pitch is surrounded by tall trees.
The childrens' play area is very tired and the wooden elements were slimy after all the rain.
We had a wander around Sizergh castle and and went to Sizergh barn cafe and watched the cows being milked.

Our own private pitch

Low Park Wood caravan site

15th trip - Upwood Farm, Haworth

Our fifteenth trip was to Upwood Farm near Haworth for 1 night.
A lovely sunny day and we just sat outside sunbathing. Very relaxing.
The journey to the site for the last 15 miles seems to be all up hill and our car did struggle on the hill starts at traffic lights.
Right next to the site is private airfield where we saw 2 very small planes take off and land which was quite interesting but not disruptive at all.
On site there is a pub and games room, (the kids weren't impressed with the games room).
The was fine and served beer which is what makes it fine by me.

http://www.upwoodpark.co.uk

14th trip - Kneps Farm near Blackpool

Our 14th trip was 2 nights at Kneps farm in Thornton near Blackpool.
This is a site that has won several awards and the prices reflect this!
We stayed here so that we could attend an event in Blackpool and overall this is a top spot, with a decent kids play area, Baths as well as showers, a local wildlife area and bigger park all within close proximity.

http://www.knepsfarm.co.uk/

13th trip - Trewan Hall Newquay

Our thirteenth trip was for 7 nights at Trewan Hall near Newquay in cornwall.
The traffic was horrendous on the trip from Clevedon to Newquay and the whole journey cost over £120 in petrol from 'up north' to Trewan Hall pulling our weeks worth of belongings in the caravan.
The site is massive and has an indoor pool which costs 50p and our kids loved it in there.
We were holidaying with Liz and Sean, who were in their tent.
I have a video of them putting their tent up which I should put online someday, quite funny.
On the site their is a barn where every night there is some form of entertainment, where you can bring your own booze.
The entertainment ranged from a rock band to an orchestra to a choir to a clown to a wild animal show and was very good every night.
We spent a few days at various local beaches and had a pretty good holiday.
I used to live in Newquay as a child and it was interesting to look at my old school and house. Nostalgic!

A You tube video showing Trewan Hall and area


http://www.trewan-hall.co.uk/ Website

12th trip - Yeolands Farm Clevedon

Our twelfth trip was for 1 night at Yeolands Farm in Clevedon, somewhere near Bristol.
We were on our way to Cornwall for a week and wanted to break up the journey because we were leaving straight from work on Friday night and we could get a good start to get into cornwall.
No photos of this place but it was a nice little place quite close to the motorway and very handy to know.
Here is a handy video that I found on Youtube which shows the site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQvRxvtBZZA

11th trip - Gibraltar Farm again

Our eleventh trip was once again to Gibraltar Farm.
This is the 3rd weekend in a row that we came here.
Tv reception is rubbish here, but the steward has a spare aerial if you ask nicely.
He promises that he's going to get some more for sale, but they haven't appeared yet.
Maybe next year. Hopping into my time machine and I know that he doesn't get any next year either!

I wish I could buy one of these aerials

10th trip - Gibraltar Farm again

Our tenth trip was once again back to Gibraltar Farm for 2 nights. early August 2011
We love it here, it's within an hour from home and is really cheap per night with electric hook up.

9th trip - Gibraltar Farm again

Our ninth trip was again to Gibraltar Farm for 2 nights at the end of July 2011.
We had a walk along the beach and played cards and scrabble.
Nice family time.

8th trip - Cwm Cadnant Caernarfon

Our eighth trip was to Cwm Cadnant Valley in  Caernarfon in North Wales.
We went with Liz and Sean for 3 nights.
A really nice site in a handy location for loads of attractions in the area.
We originally were meant to have Gary and Ann with us but they had to cancel at the last minute.
All 3 of us had paid a non-refundable deposit for our 3 pitches (next to each other) and because Gary and Ann had cancelled so soon to the arrival time they were told they would still have to pay the whole amount, which they had accepted. Upon arrival they asked us for all the money owed including our absent friends'; fair enough, rules are rules. So I said it was ok we could spread out and use Gary and Ann's empty pitch to give us some extra playing area etc. but were told that our original 3 unit space was taken and we can have a 2 unit space because because there was only 2 of us now.
Oh dear, confrontation time!
So I said if we are paying for 3 pitches we must have 3 pitches, they can't rent the same pitch twice! The lady behind the counter couldn't deal with us and my angry face so went to get her husband who took one look at me and said, "no problem sir, 2 pitches 2 fees, have a nice stay." (he said something like that, can't remember precisely) Too right!
The lady owner did get a bit shirty with our kids when they walked mud into her recently cleaned shower room, but apart from that, it's a lovely site.
Locally we went to Caernarfon castle, round the back, not paying those prices. We went crab fishing behind the castle in the little harbour and we spent hours having a great time. The best bait to use is bacon, from a local butchers in the town. After many hours we let all the crabs go.

We also visited a National trust property, Penrhyn castle http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/penrhyn-castle/
We've been several times and it's always a fantastic day out for the family. A bit pricey if you are not members. My sister came to visit us one time when we were there and had to pay full price and she's as careful (tight) with her money as I am.

Penrhyn Castle

We also went to the Slate Museum in Llanberis Slate Museum's website

Cwm Cadnant Valley campsite

7th trip - Gibraltar Farm Silverdale

Our seventh trip was 7 nights at Gibraltar Farm in Silverdale - a superb caravan park which is on Morecambe bay on the very southern edge of The Lake District. This was the end of April until beginning of May 2011.
An area of outstanding beauty.
This was our first outing where we we teamed up with our friends Gary and Ann who also have a caravan and our friends Liz and Sean who have a tent. We have all previously camped together when we all had tents but this was our first caravan holiday as a team.
We spent a fabulous week together which is all a blur now, but it involved bbq's most nights, long walks and geocaching.
This site has been a favourite of ours because of it's location near the sea, but beware  the sands are muddy and treacherous, but it looks good.
The prices are the cheapest that we've come across so far per night and that's always good for us.
Our kids love playing in the trees and the rocks and the onsite natural cave.
Quite a few nights we were amazed by the fantastic sunsets.

Gibraltar Farm Website

Click the photos to view them much bigger.

A panoramic view

Through the caravan window

The Gibraltar farm cave with SPIDERS!!!!!!!

A few chickens wander around the site

6th trip - Delamere Forest

Our sixth trip was to Delamere Forest campsite for 2 nights mid April 2011 which is situated on the very edge of the forest.
On arrival we saw that there was a mobile chippy, was was great news for us all as we starving and didn't feel like cooking. The foods was brilliant but I still wish that I'd ordered chips peas and curry because my wife's plate full looked better than mine.
We had a nice long walk around the forest and lake and ended up back at the forest's cafe for light refreshments. Prices are very high, but we thought it's the only cafe around here and we needed a cup of tea and the kids needed ice cream. On our next trip here in 2013 we discovered the railway station cafe which is much better. Pity our time machine is broken or we could have nipped forward and realised this.

A photo of the campsite shop

Delamere forest campsite

5th trip - Windermere

Our fifth trip was to Windermere camping and caravan site for 2 nights near the end of March 2011.
This site is a fab site with a good kids park in the shape of a large fort and a small pub and restaurant.
Strangely, the site isn't actually in Windermere but quite a few miles away.
We found a few geocaches on the approach lane which was handy for a short walk.
We'd visited this site a year before when we had our tent and enjoyed this site both times.
During this trip we went to Beatrix Potter's museum in hawkshead, which was a bit boring actually.
Am I allowed to say that?


Windermere campsite

4th trip - North View near Garstang

Our fourth trip was back to North View near Garstang to pick our caravan back up after having abandoning it there last week, due to car trouble.
The car had been fixed in the week for only £180-ish (extortion, I think they should call it, not mechanics).
We only spent 1 night there due to having a kids' party already organised for one of the kids.
Early in the morning I was watching the birds and squirrels playing in the trees and on the bird feeders (plastic milk bottles) that someone had put up.

3rd trip - North View near Garstang

Our third trip was another two nights at North View near Garstang right at the end of February 2011.
We were still new at caravanning and wanted to get out as much as possible.
We intended to go out for a walk and to have a go at Geocaching.
We found our first geocache after a bit of a hunt, under a bench and didn't realise we had found it because the cache was a micro one which are tiny magnetic cylinders and I thought I'd just found a magnet.
We then decided to drive to a local childrens' open farm. Unfortunately we had car trouble and our fan belt decided to have a look at the scenery as well, which put a stop to our day out.
We called the breakdown company who at first wouldn't send anyone out to us because we had called them out 2 or 3 weeks previously for a wiring fault. The arrogant lady on the phone was suggesting that our broken fanbelt was linked to the wiring fault and therefore wouldn't rescue us twice for the same fault.
Anyway I convinced her that there was a difference between the two faults and they came and put our tow car onto the back of a truck and said they would fix it next week.
So, there we were stuck in Garstang without a way of getting our caravan back home.
My sister kindly came and gave me a lift home so that I could pick up my other car to continue the holiday.
The owner at North View let us leave our caravan on the pitch for a week for £10 and we agreed to come back next weekend. 

2nd trip - North View near Garstang

Our second trip in our caravan was near the end of February 2011.
2 nights at North View near Garstang.
We stayed at the back of the site in the CL section and it is a very pretty looking site and we can easily recommend this site.
The owner was very friendly and made us feel very welcome.
There is a small basic play area and a basket of outdoor toys which our kids seemed to enjoy.
My wife thought the kids were playing in the bin, but it turned out to be toys and not litter.
We bought fresh locally farmed eggs from the onsite shop and had a lovely breakfast in our caravan.

In February it gets dark quite early and we arrived in the dark after a small detour.
Our Sat nav said we had arrived but we couldn't see the site so carried on driving down the narrow-ish country lane at a reasonable speed, which turned out to be too fast to be able to stop in time when I saw the entrance going zipping past on the right.  We drove a few miles looking for somewhere to turn around, but couldn't see anything because it was so very very dark, I've never know night time to be so dark!
I found a farm house which had a bit of a wide bit and thought, yep, I can do a u-turn here.
My wife got out with a torch and to check out the feasibility of making the turn and promptly shone the bright torch into my eyes and nearly blinded me, this happened several times.
A passing motorist stopped behind our caravan and asked if we needed assistance, which was nice. We said our thanks and they drove off.
I managed to do my first caravan u-turn and without damage or incident and felt rather pleased with myself.
Anyway we got back facing the correct way and located the site this time without zipping past.

A view from behind our caravan looking down the site.

North View's website

Our first caravan holiday - Royal Umpire, Croston

We bought our caravan in February 2011
Our first trip in our newly bought caravan was on a Saturday the following weekend and we spent our first night at Royal Umpire, Croston, near Southport.

We only stayed 1 night.
Our memories of this trip are that it was cold, it was February after all.

Our pitch was far away from any other caravan and we didn't see anybody else whilst we were there.
We felt that we were staying on an empty car park. I think we were the only people daft enough to go camping in cold February.
The weather was typical rainy and the ground was nice and muddy.
Our kids found the park which was also incredibly muddy and managed to ruin all their clothes. Of course when you go camping (as newbies) you only pack 1 set of clothes, so our kids spent the afternoon with their clothes caked in mud, whilst we tried to keep our new caravan clean!
All in all we enjoyed our stay in our van and it was a good experience..
This was my first go at towing and it was easy with no concerns at all.

Royal Umpire's website