Relaxing Weekend

For our next adventure we decided to try out the Camping and Caravanning Club Site in Chichester.  We have found visiting the club sites to be a fairly safe bet when we have the kids as the facilities are usually excellent and there is usually plenty to do either on site or in the surrounding area.  This site is located in Southbourne with a nice pub and a farm shop within a few minutes walk and the lovely village of Emsworth within a couple of miles.

The site was smaller than we were expecting but really well looked after and so peaceful.  The facilities were spotless and it was nice to have the showers and toilets in separate areas. The hardstanding pitches, although advertised as such, are more grassy than the hardstanding pictures we were used to so if it is particularly wet (as it was when we arrived) then it will get muddy.  

For the first time this year we didn't put the awning sides on and instead just rolled the awning out and laid a groundsheet beneath it.  Our main reason for doing this was so the awning sides wouldn't get muddy but it also saved us about half an hour of setting up time so we were able to enjoy more of the evening together.

On Saturday morning we all woke up refreshed and happy after a very quiet and relaxing night's sleep. Well, apart from the puppy getting into bed with us and then taking up almost the whole bed (while snoring) until one of us put her back on the floor.  Just look at the lovely weather we woke up to though (can you spot the puppy?):

We walked into Emsworth for a look around the the village and it was much larger than we were expecting.  We bought a few snacks for the kids to keep them going and enjoyed the walk.  On the way back we stopped off at farm shop near the campsite to have a look around.  There was lots of lovely fresh fruit and veg as well as a good selection of meats and cheeses.  They did have an advertisement for fresh fish arriving twice a week but unfortunately not on a Saturday.

It wouldn't be a weekend in the camper without a pub lunch so we ventured over to the pub round the corner which is called The Travellers Joy.  It's a Fullers pub so my husband was happy with the beer and we all very much enjoyed the food.  The kids menu was great with lots of choices and their portion sizes were good too.  It's not a gourmet meal but good old fashioned "pub grub".

With the sun shining we played some games outdoors and let the kids burn their excess energy with some (not too noisy) running races around the campsite.  We could see various people sitting outside and enjoying the nice weather and we were no exception.  We should have packed an extra couple of chairs for the kids but we didn't expect the weather to be so good.

As usual the time flew by far too quickly and Sunday morning was upon us.  We didn't have too much packing up to do this time though so we could actually have a bit of a lie in, a few cups of tea and relax.  Why is it that the weather is always so good on 'going home' day? 

I would definitely like to come back to this site now that we know the 'lay of the land' as there seems to be a lot of nice (and fun) places to visit nearby.  When the weather is good and a bit warmer I can see this site coming into its own.  I just hope we have our thermal windscreen back in time for the next adventure - waking up before 5am with the light pouring through the windows (tinted or not) is not the best at the weekend!

Back to Chertsey

We hadn't been away with the kids in the Cali since Henley so we decided to keep it simple and re-visit Chertsey Camping and Caravanning Club Site.  Not too far to drive, everyone is familiar with it and if we're lucky we'll have some nice weather and get a few good walks in.

On our way to the site we stopped off at the nearby Sainsburys and purchased our food for the weekend.  It was great to have the kids with us when doing this as they can pick out the food they want to eat rather than us guessing what they might like.  Also, this is where the size of the Cali comes in quite handy - you can still get into most supermarket car parks and park quite comfortably.

When we arrived at the site there was a fish and chip / breakfast van serving food on Friday and Saturdays - this wasn't there before so must be something new for the summer season.  The kids went off to play pool or air hockey or whatever they fancied in the clubhouse while we did our usual setting up chores.  The only thing we were missing on this trip was our thermal windscreen - we had noticed a tear in it the week before and so we had to send it back to be either repaired or replaced.

The weather wasn't great on arrival and we were all pretty tired but we got our act together and marched off to The Kingfisher over the bridge for drinks and dinner.  This is probably the third time we have eaten in this pub now and the food never disappoints.  The dogs are always well behaved in there too!

We woke up at the crack of dawn due to the amount of light flooding into the van.  This was because we didn't have the thermal windscreen with us and we were instead using the internal "curtains" that come with the van.  Sometimes when you don't have something, you realise how much you rely on it.

It had rained quite a bit through the night and into the morning so we were not too sure about going on our planned walk along the towpath to Shepperton and eating sandwiches by the river but we haven't let the weather stop us yet.  We all donned our waterproof gear and set off.  The weather by some miracle cleared up during the walk and it was dry enough for us all to sit on a nice bench by the river eating our sandwiches for lunch.  Well, it was nice until a goose decided to come and investigate what we were eating.  Time to get up and move on.

We went to that nice pub we had visited on one of our previous visits called The Thames Court for a couple of pints for us and a soft drink or two for the kids.  My husband bought the kids some chips as a treat and we all enjoyed laughing and chatting for a little while.  When we spied the sun shining through the window we packed our waterproofs into my bag and walked back to the campsite in some lovely weather.

We all headed over to the clubhouse to play some pool and air hockey as a bjt of family fun. The evening turned out to be wonderful and so we got the Cadac out and started making some food for dinner.



The kids had hot dogs and then settled down to watch some TV while we started making our dinner.  



On Sunday morning we discovered the kids favourite not-so-good-for-them camping breakfast.  Pot noodles.  I'm fairly sure that they would choose them over bacon rolls.  We all laughed about it and let them enjoy them as a treat.  Thinking about it though, why didn't we have things like pot noodles in our storage cupboard in the van all the time?  They're great for when you want to go away at late notice and don't want to worry about bringing food or cooking on site.

As the weather was so much better we made the most of it and walked along the towpath to the Three Horseshoes in Laleham for a bite to eat.  This is in the opposite direction from Shepperton and also a lovely walk.  Lunch was fantastic, we brought the dogs with us and sat in the garden.  

On the way back we stopped off at Laleham Park so the kids could have a run around and then strolled off back to the campsite.

We were thinking that maybe next time we come to Chertsey, we should stay from Friday night until Monday morning so that we get to enjoy the whole of Sunday there.  Maybe next time.

Bye Bye Tent...Hello Driveway Camping!

Ever since we bought the Cali we have been debating about whether we still need our tent or whether we want to sell it and fully commit to the camper.  Unfortunately drawing up a pro/con list wasn't working out too well for the tent as the only pro to keeping it was that it would give us more space on a longer holiday with the kids.  

It became more and more apparent that we were just hanging onto it for sentimental reasons.  After all, it was with the purchase of that tent that I learned to love camping and the great outdoors in general.

So, up it went on eBay and we also sold a whole bunch of other camping gear that we no longer needed and that was it.  Bye bye tent.  You gave us some great times but we are official addicted to our Cali now and hope to have some even better times ahead.

An enormous sense of relief washed over us knowing that we had finally made a decision and our tent camping era was behind us.  

Almost as an affirmation of this decision, a few days after we sold the tent we were contacted us by some friends asking if we had plans for that evening.  They had recently bought a new house in the countryside and did we want to come over, go out for a pub dinner and stay over?  

Having woken up in the morning to an "accident" on the kitchen floor from our puppy we were unsure about how well behaved she would be in this new house but no need to panic, we could stay in the Cali on their driveway.

Perfect, we had a smashing evening, the dogs were extremely well-behaved and we could have stayed in their house but we stayed in the Cali to be on the safe side...or is it because we are slightly addicted?

April VW Cali Club Meet-up

When we bought our Cali and joined the VW California Club in January, one of the first things we did was buy our ticket for their first Cali Club meet up of the year in April.  We had been looking forward to this for months and as it had been three weeks since our last adventure in the van we were really excited about this weekend.

We arrived at Lower Lode Inn near Tewkesbury at around 4pm on the Friday and there were already some other Calis there getting settled in.  The campsite was in the grounds of a pub on the banks of the River Severn

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It was peaceful and quite pretty but the facilities were very basic.  The toilets ran out of toilet paper regularly and there were reports of the showers being cold but possibly the most inconvenient was the lack of washing-up facilities.  Not a major problem, just an inconvenience.  Nothing to stop us from enjoying the weekend though :-) 

The weather wasn't the finest (it had been raining all day) and as we were all on grass fields there was a little bit of slipping and sliding going on as we manoeuvred our vans into place.  It was also a little bit cramped as there seemed to have been some sort of mis-communication from the venue regarding how many vehicles they could accommodate on site but we all got on with it and everyone seemed happy enough.  We started getting to know our neighbours as we were setting up and it was fun to see all the other Calis arriving.   



Once we were set up we grabbed the dogs and headed into the pub for a pint (or two). We soon started chatting to another couple who were pitched quite close by to us and it was fun to exchange stories about our adventures so far.  We could have stayed there for the evening but we had food ready to eat in the van so we wandered back and settled in for the night. 

After a fairly wet and windy night (thank goodness for the Cali topper) we woke up to a beautiful morning.  We weren't disturbed too much by the weather in the night as we had decided to sleep downstairs with the roof up.  We got up and enjoyed an early walk around the campsite and surrounding country lanes.  It was fun to check out all the other Calis and to see how everyone had personalised them.



It was lunchtime before we knew it and we wanted to see the Comfortz Leisure people (who were selling products at the meet-up) so we set off to find them.  We wanted to get the waterproof mattress cover for the upstairs bed to match the covers that we have on the seats and we also wanted to find out about mattress topper options for the downstairs bed as it was not the most comfortable bed to sleep in and both of our backs will vouch for that.  We had heard good things about the ZoneSleep but unfortunately there were none in stock and the cheaper option available seemed to be quite big and bulky when folded up so we agreed to go away and think about it.

We had pre-booked a table for lunch at the pub and found the food (and beer) to be excellent. 



It set us up nicely for a walk into Tewkesbury.  We loved the walk into town by the river and found the town itself to be lovely.  



On the way back we found a nice pub garden to enjoy a cold pint and some more sunshine.

When we arrived back at the campsite everyone had their tables and chairs out and some were firing up their BBQs so we decided that now would be a good time to try out our table and chairs too.  We tethered the dogs so they could be outside with us and we all enjoyed our first taste of summer camping.  This really was the life!



We started chatting to one of our neighbours who was showing us the shelves and covers he makes for the Cali tables and interior surfaces.  We decided to buy a shelf which now sits above our cooker and is so handy for storing little things that would normally get lost in the cupboard.  It's also a very handy kitchen roll holder!

The smell of burgers and sausages on the surrounding BBQs made us decide that we would much rather have that than any of the food we had brought with us so we decided to pop over to the pub for a quick burger and a dog walk before the evening entertainment started.  We spent about 10 minutes trying to get the chairs back into their storage area in the boot.  We felt like a couple of amateurs - we actually had to ask somebody in the end as were scared that we might break them!  

The event organisers had booked a live band for the evening and there was a bar, a dancefloor and plenty of tables and chairs if you fancied a break from the dancing ;-) We started chatting to the people who were in the Cali next to us and had a lovely, fun evening.  
Going home on Sunday was the usual feeling of morose that the fun was over but we met some great people, swapped lots of stories and learnt lots of little tips and tricks from everybody.  

Bye bye Lower Lode - we'll see you at the next one...

Singing in the Showers

After much searching and discussion of which campsite we should try next, we found this nice place in Henley-on-Thames called Swiss Farm.  We wanted to go somewhere with good facilities, good dog walking and a nearby pub. As soon as we arrived we knew we were in for a treat, the campsite was clean and seemed well-organised with an onsite bar and restaurant. Also, Henley town centre was only a short walk away.  The price included wi-fi which was of a decent speed with good signal quality and a TV connection was also included for those with TVs in their units.  We noticed straight away that there were a lot of large units at this site including some spectacular RVs. 

As soon as we arrived, the kids raced off to play in the playground which had a good range of equipment for all ages and certainly kept them well entertained.  The pitches were all spaced out nicely and we were in a little section containing around 8 units. It didn't take us long to get set up and the weather was quite nice but we were all pretty tired so it was early to bed for us that night.  

In the morning, we had a wander around the campsite looking at all the different units and pitches.  There are two pretty large fields that looked nice for the tent campers during the warmer months.  The shower and toilet block was immaculate and nicely heated.  As an added extra they play music inside the block 24 hours a day.  I found this to be a nice touch and the music wasn't loud enough to hear outside so it wasn't a disturbance.  My step-daughter loved singing along in the shower (not sure how everyone else felt about that though) and we all agreed that it put a smile on our faces.  It also made those late night trips to the toilet when it's pitch black outside a bit less scary.  The washing up area was also labelled as a veg prep area (nice idea) and it was kept very clean and tidy.

My husband took the kids to the onsite restaurant for breakfast as a treat and then we all went for a lovely long walk through Henley town centre and then along the River Thames before deciding on a place to go for lunch.  



There were so many lovely looking pubs but having the dogs with us does limit our choices somewhat.  We decided to go to a pub called The Little Angel which was situated near to the river.  This turned out to be a great choice with delicious food for us and a great kids menu (the selection of wine wasn't bad either!)  The portions were enormous and the quality of food was very good. 

The weather was getting warmer and warmer so we walked back to the campsite and enjoyed a few drinks in the sunshine at the onsite bar while the kids enjoyed themselves in the playground.  We even managed to watch a bit of the Rugby!

There were some fields overlooking the campsite where we discovered we could walk the dogs and so the kids and the dogs had a good run-around there before bed.  There were also some pigs kept there and you could get pretty close to them so we all enjoyed saying hello (even the dogs!)  We thought this was a lovely feature and took the dogs there for another run-around the next morning even though the weather was pretty miserable and markedly different from the day before.



Packing up took no time at all and we were soon on our way home.  The camping experience this time felt really relaxed and enjoyable and we didn't feel like such complete amateurs. 

It was lovely to have an onsite bar and restaurant but we found ourselves not doing so much (if any) cooking so we returned home with a whole load of leftover food that we had brought with us and few less notes in our wallets!  

We will definitely be back to this site but can see it being very busy here during peak times.