Fishing, Awning, Mud

We managed to fit in one last camping adventure of the season last year but we needed to be fairly close to home so we returned to Horsley Camping and Caravanning Club site http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/campsites/uk/surrey/easthorsley/horsley  for some fun and fishing.

This was our second visit to Horsley so we were quite familiar with it and the kids were very much looking forward a fun weekend there.  They are especially fond of the playground and the indoor games room.  I was looking forward to it for two reasons: 

1. It was my birthday;

2. My husband had bought me the Outwell awning specifically designed for our tent as a birthday present.

My husband, the kids and the dog were already at the camp site with the tent and awning pitched up by the time I arrived after work.  The pitch was quite muddy though and so everyone was getting quite mucky and as I had the majority of the food and drink in my car everyone was pretty hungry and thirsty too!  We wanted to have an electric hook-up and with the last minute addition of our awning we had to camp in a slightly muddier part of the site than we had originally booked.  However, I quickly unloaded the contents of my car and got stuck into the unpacking.  

The tent was now enormous with the new awning and the extra space inside was fantastic.

After an early night we all awoke feeling much better and decided to do some fishing at the on-site lake.  We caught loads of fish, made some new friends and generally had a great fun day.

It was getting chillier throughout the day so after having hot showers and a nice warming dinner we all cuddled up under blankets in front of the electric heater and watched some television.

All in all a fun weekend but maybe a little too cold and muddy for us to enjoy it as much as did our last visit.  I have no doubt that we will be back though!

Towels are essential

I am a camping addict now. We have recently joined the Camping and Caravanning Club http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/ so we decided to try out one of their club sites not too far away to get a feel for it.  The site we went to http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/campsites/uk/surrey/easthorsley/horsley  was simply amazing. It had a fishing lake, a recreation hall, a playground, a small shop in the reception and plenty of clean  and well-maintained bathroom, shower, washing-up and laundry facilities.

This time I arrived at the camp site with my two step children in the glorious sunshine to find that my husband had already arrived, pitched up and unpacked everything from his car (including the dog.) Happy days for us, maybe not so for him, but we appreciated all the hard work and effort he went to - especially as I had received a phone call from him earlier to say that as I had the water carrier, all he had to drink was beer from the cool-box (not a bad thing) or water from the dog bowl (yuk!) I unpacked the clothes, kitchen equipment and food from my car and we were ready to start having fun.

Our first evening was spent enjoying the evening sunshine, playing card games, exploring the camp site and, of course, eating.  We had pre-made a chilli con carne which we heated up and tucked into, with enough tortilla chips to feed a small village, before the mosquitos chased us inside and we decided to settle in, listen to the radio and play more card games. 

After a great night's sleep I woke at dawn to the sound of the birds chirping and the lovely relaxing noise of the water fountain in the middle of the lake and I felt happy and content with life.  Then I opened my eyes wide and remembered the one thing that I had forgotten.  Towels.  I had forgotten to bring the towels.  I had a tea-towel but that's hardly going to dry a family of four after a shower.  Oh no, this was not good. 

My happy, contented and peaceful morning soon turned into a frantic Google search for the nearest supermarket in an effort to go on a mission to find towels.  As it turned out, we had also forgotten tea bags and milk, so my step daugher (who was awake far too early) and I set off for the nearest large supermarket, in this case, Sainsburys.

With the towels, tea bags and milk purchased, we arrived back at the camp site to the smell of bacon sizzling away and the sound of the kettle whistling...it was breakfast time! We had a very enjoyable morning playing Monopoly Star Wars but soon the temptation of the playground was too much for the kids and it was time to make some new friends.  There was a fishing competition going on at the lake which the boys wished they could have participated in but we didn't think that we would have enough room in the cars for all of their gear.  Still, there's always next time.

We had a lovely BBQ in the late afternoon, danced to some music on the iPod, played Twister, watched the kids chase each other around with water pistols squealing with laughter and before we knew it the sun was setting and the mosquitos were back out.

Needless to say none of us wanted to start packing up the next morning and there were plenty of long faces all around.  Two nights just doesn't seem long enough when you're having so much fun!  

Our two best purchases, which we found the most useful for this weekend were:

1. Our Outwell Drayton Kitchen Table:

The built in washing up bowl is so handy and there is plenty of storage underneath.  My step son even commented that it was like a portable kitchen, which I suppose, in a way, it is.

2. Our RAVPower Portable Battery Charger http://www.amazon.co.uk/RAVPower-16000mAh-Portable-Technology-Generation-Black-x/dp/B00OJXVDAU - this device kept our iPhones and iPads fully charged for the whole weekend.  It's quite heavy but surprisingly compact. 

We have more adventures booked up over the coming weeks so please keep an eye on the blog for more updates.  Happy Camping!