Cheeky Stopover On Our Way Home

Having spent six and a half lovely days in Weymouth we weren't quite ready to go home so we stopped off at the Caravan Club site in Morn Hill on the way back just for one night.  We had been there before for one night without the kids but we wanted to see how the kids enjoyed it as this site has no playground and not much to do but the large open grassy areas and the peacefulness of the site has a certain appeal (we think).

The facilities are excellent and kept very clean and we found out that a fish and chip van comes every Friday (just a shame our visit this time fell on a Thursday!)

We were given a choice of three or four pitches as we were the first of the "one-nighters" to arrive and so we chose one right outside the reception/shop and made sure we were facing the right way to try and catch any sunshine that we could and fortunately it did come out for a little while!

We had a lovely BBQ for late lunch while the dogs did some sunbathing.

For dessert we treated the kids to some yummy New Forest ice creams that they sell in the shop onsite.

It wasn't an action packed stay at this sight but we find all the pitches to be nice and spacious and despite being near to a main road it is not as noisy as you would expect.

The kids enjoyed playing some games both inside the Cali and outside and the ice creams went down well.  When asked if they would like to go back to this site there was a resounding yes and I'm sure it won't be long before we are back.

May Half Term Fun - Part 2

We do like to explore a bit on our adventures so having settled nicely into life at East Fleet Farm we decided to venture out of the campsite and enjoy some of the breathtaking views from the top of the hill overlooking the campsite.

Followed by a spot of lunch down by the water...

We also spent one of our days venturing into Weymouth.  It's not a short walk as it is approx 3 miles away but it was good exercise and we had a great day out by the seaside even though the weather wasn't quite as good as it was previously.

True to form, we found a nice pub to have lunch in at the marina called The Ship Inn - it is child and dog friendly and the food and atmosphere was very nice and it was fairly reasonably priced.

There is also an on-site pub at the campsite serving a very nice selection of beers, wines and ciders.  They don't serve food but the added bonus of that is that they don't mind you ordering a take-away and eating it in the pub.  They provide all the plates and cutlery and also do the washing up for you!  

The weather didn't quite hold up as the week went on so we ordered an Indian take-away one evening which we ate in the pub.  There are also on-site fish and chips, pizza and crepe vans  which are open on specific days during the week (with the crepe van serving breakfast also) and although we only ate from the fish and chip van, all the food looked delicious!

On our last day we walked in the other direction into Chickerell (approximately a 20 minute walk) and stumbled across a lovely pub which was serving a mid-week carvery. Everyone's eyes lit up when they saw this and so we whiled away a few hours eating far too much food.

The pub was called The Turks Head Inn and it was a lovely small pub and very inviting.

So we wound up our last day of holiday flying kites in the designated field on the campsite:

We were very sad to leave as we had the most amazing week but we are due to come back in September for another VW Cali Club meet-up and can't wait to visit this amazing place again.

May Half Term Fun - Part 1

For May half term we packed up the Cali with us, the kids, the dogs, plenty of food and drink, clothes and games and set off to East Fleet Farm for 6 nights.  I cannot recommend this place highly enough, it is (so far) the best campsite we have been to with the best facilities and every photo on the website is actually how it looks in real life.

It was the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend when we arrived and the place was extremely busy but somehow it seems to function so well that we didn't really notice.  There are an abundance of showers and toilets (with an extra block that opens up during busy times) and plenty of washing up facilities, a laundry area and family shower rooms.  Everything was kept very clean.

We had a hardstanding pitch with a large grass area next to it where we could play swingball...

...or be an observer while escaping from the sunshine under the parasol with the dogs...

As this was our longest stay so far in the Cali we resurrected some of our old camping gear that we had decided to hold on to and set up a sort of 'base camp':

We found our Outwell kitchen unit to be particularly handy and it was great to have the extra outside space in the awning for food preparation and storage.

Even though we were very close to the fantastic playground, there is a games room near to the reception with all sorts of games and various exercise equipment which the kids very much wanted to explore.  The walkie-talkies that my husband had bought for them turned out to be essential for this sort of thing as it is a fair walk to that area depending on where you are staying in the site.

There is an on-site shop selling all sorts of camping equipment, games and essentials so we purchased a flag pole and windsock - this acted as a great identifier to the kids of where our pitch was so they could always find us (and we managed to find a VW one!) :

We spent the first couple of days getting to know the campsite, playing games and enjoying the start of our holiday.  It was perfect.

Weekend in Bognor

Suitably impressed with the Caravan Club site we visited at Morn Hill, we wanted to try another one of their club sites and so we opted for the Bognor Regis site called Rowan Park.  

The campsite was lovely and very clean with nice facilities.  We booked a hardstanding pitch and once again we were able to choose between a few options available.  I much prefer being able to choose our own pitch, I find it frustrating that the Camping and Caravanning Club Sites don't allow this.

We didn't want to put all of the awning sides up but we needed some shelter as the weather forecast wasn't looking great so we went for this option:

It worked out very nicely and gave us just the right amount of shelter and storage area but it was still quite nice and light inside the van, where we unfortunately had to spend most of the weekend due to the weather.

We did venture into Bognor though for a bit of seaside walking - we went quite early on a Saturday morning and had the place to ourselves.  It was lovely and certainly exercised the dogs nicely!  To walk into the centre of Bognor from the campsite takes about half an hour and there is plenty to do there.  If only the weather had been nicer!

There is a retail park just opposite the entrance to the campsite with a Lidl, Home Bargains, McDonalds etc so food and supplies are never too far away.  We did find it quite noisy at night though with lots of 'boy racers' on the main road outside the campsite.

The people were all very nice and friendly on the campsite and we met lots of other dogs too.  We made good use of our new wi-fi gadget by watching the rugby and having a few beers in the van.

We would love to come back to this site in nicer weather so we could see a bit more of Bognor but we had a nice relaxing weekend so all was not lost.

Caravan Club and a New Gadget

With this new camper van addiction of ours slowly taking over, we decided to join the Caravan Club to give us more options of places to stay.  Our first Caravan Club site experience was at Morn Hill and it did not disappoint.  This is a lovely campsite - it's by and large quite peaceful but some of the pitches are adjacent to a main road so I can imagine it getting rather noisy during peak times.  

There is a lovely shop on site selling all the essentials and (more importantly) ice cream. Also, you get to choose your own pitch - even if you are staying for one night!  OK, so during busy times they do reserve the right to allocate a pitch to you for a one night stopover but it wasn't busy on this occasion so we drove around the campsite and chose our pitch.

It was perfect for us and the sun came out to play so we had a lovely day BBQ-ing in the sunshine and enjoying life.



We also tried out our new gadget - an EE Osprey 2 Mini-Mobile Hotspot.  This beauty gives us 50GB of data to use every month for just £30 per month (it was a half price when we signed the contract - usually £60 per month!) The 4G speeds are quick and it allows us to watch TV on our computer without eating into our personal data plans on our mobile phones.  This will come in handy when the football is on!

Thorney Island

We are now firmly in the we-want-to-go-away-every-weekend-in-the-camper-van zone so after our lovely time in Corfe Castle we headed down to Chichester for the weekend.  The weather forecast was good and we wanted to be by the sea.

We really like this campsite as it is so peaceful and quiet and there is a lovely local pub and farm shop within just a few minutes walk.  

Half way through our first evening we started chatting to one of the other campers (or rather motorhome-ers) and he mentioned a long walk that they had been on a few days before and it sounded quite appealing so we decided to brave it with the dogs the next day.  The walk was approximately 10 miles around Thorney Island and was very enjoyable.  There was a lovely sandy beach about half way around which we could have stayed at for the day and beautiful scenery to admire.

After several bottles of water, a few snacks and some fairly nasty insect bites we had every intention of walking around Emsworth and exploring the town a bit.  



However, the weather was nice and we fancied getting back to the camper van, getting changed and strolling over  to the nearby pub for a nice lunch outside in the sunshine (also I think the dogs had had enough!).  

Over lunch we decided that next time we should try to walk to Hayling Island - that could be another adventure for another sunny day maybe.

Even though we have enjoyed the Cali in the colder months, we are really starting to appreciate how amazing it is when the weather is nice.  We can set up the table and chairs, get the Cadac out and relax, eat, drink and be merry.

Castles and Cider

Bank holiday weekend with no kids...it's off to Corfe Castle we go.  This was to be our longest stay in the campervan since we bought it - three whole nights and we were so excited about it.  We booked the Corfe Castle Camping and Caravanning Club site.  It looked pretty in the pictures and it was somewhere we had never been before.  When we arrived we were totally overwhelmed by the beauty of the place.

The site itself was quite small and hilly, our nicely secluded hard standing pitch was about half way up the hill but had been levelled out well and the weather was promising to be quite good so no need for the awning sides either.  We just rolled out the awning, put the Cali topper and thermal windscreen on and we were ready to start our holiday.

The facilities were very clean and all contained in one block which was at the bottom of the hill so they were a bit of a walk from our pitch but as the campsite was quite small it wasn't too bad. Imagine our delight when the fish and chip van arrived at 6pm - it was just what we needed after the long drive and it was delicious.

We didn't get much of a lie in the next morning as the sun was shining and it seemed like too good an opportunity to go for a run and explore the area.  The hills were quite challenging (it was a bit like running on the spot in some places) but the views made it worthwhile and hey, it's all good exercise!

We took the dogs for a walk up Bucknowle Hill which overlooked the campsite and the town of Corfe (and most of the surrounding areas) - we could see the sea from up there and it felt like we were on top of the world.  Looking down at Corfe Castle was pretty spectacular as well and we noticed that there was a special Viking event happening there for the weekend.  Great fun. 

It took about 15 minutes to walk along the footpath into the town of Corfe from the campsite. 



It is a lovely and very picturesque town and it was buzzing with lots of bank holiday activity including a beer and cider festival at The Greyhound Inn with live music.  There were some lovely unique shops which we enjoyed browsing and a convenience store where you can purchase the essentials.  Needless to say we parked ourselves at the beer festival for a few hours enjoying the atmosphere (and lunch!) and sampling the local ciders.  When we went back the next day it was extremely busy so we tried a different pub and we weren't disappointed - it was called The Castle Inn and is well worth a visit.  If you're feeling brave have a pint of Old Rosie cider in the lovely beer garden.



As usual we learned a bit more about our Cali and how best to enjoy it:

- You can strap the interior table to the headrest of the bench seat and turn it into an extra work-top, like this:



- We don't need to set up a 'base camp' when the weather is nice - it's perfectly acceptable to simply roll the awning out as and when you need it and not bother with the awning sides.

- It's nice to have the fridge stocked with lots of food and drink but it's also nice to appreciate the local food and drink and take advantage of the yummy fish and chip van (where available) and the pizza van (although we managed to restrain ourselves from that one!) 

We really took our time, relaxed and enjoyed the camper van - we also met two other Cali owners at this site so it was nice to hear about their adventures.  It was the perfect relaxing weekend we were hoping for and we would love to go back to this campsite and explore the surrounding area further.