Camping isn’t the only sort of adventure you can have in a van! Last week Nessie hosted an afternoon tea as a birthday treat for a friend. She provided sandwiches, scones, birthday cake & hot tea for the grown ups…and an exciting play space for a little boy! A happy afternoon for everyone!
L
Is camping in November a possibility? Well it turns out if you have a van it is!
I’m not sure this week was typical for November, but I’m still claiming it!! I wasn’t too sure what I thought of camping when the evenings are dark and chilly, so I thought I’d play it safe and try out a campsite that had been recommended to me by the River Thames in Chertsey. It wasn’t that far from home, but it seemed to take longer than I expected to get there, so I didn’t manage to arrive in daylight as I’d hoped. I had to wait until the morning to see where I was and discover the views of the river.
I had a cosy evening with Nessie. I had the stove burning a lot of the time as I made risotto for dinner and then a stove top sponge for pudding and then water for a cuppa and for washing up and for my hot water bottles. The stove kept the van reasonably warm – but what I hadn’t thought of was that with all the doors & windows shut, it also got quite humid with all the steam from the cooking. I took my laptop, but it wouldn’t work in the chilly damp environment (it’s fine again now I’m home, I’m typing on it now!). Even the matches I left out got damp and wouldn’t work!
The facilities at Chertsey are superior – but then you pay a lot for the site, so I’d have been disappointed if they hadn’t been! And I wasn’t the only one camping – there were lots of motorhomes, quite a few campervans and a couple of tents. Busy for a Thursday in November!! I think some people use it as a stop over if they are travelling via the M3 or the M25, but others seemed quite settled and were obviously planning to be there for some time.
After I’d had my breakfast I did my camp chores – the main one being dealing with the condensation in the van. We’ve had several days of still, misty weather. Even at home I’ve noticed my washing has been taking a long time to dry so just opening the doors wasn’t going to acheive anything much. Previously I’d used a microfibre cloth, but I hadn’t been that impressed, so I’d upgraded to one of those cellulose kitchen sponges. That worked pretty well – it was absorbant and I could easily wring it out.
Chores completed, I walked along the river a short way and then into Chertsey. There weren’t that many shops to browse, but I did find a delightful coffee shop called Revive where I treated myself to elevenses.
The camping and caravanning club sites are well run, but they like their rules – one of which is vacate your pitch by 12noon. But then, a brisk walk back to the campsite was probably no bad thing after the large slice of cake I’d had! The deadline also made me efficient with packing away the last bits – and I was home again in time for lunch!
L
Last time we went camping together we were fortunate to manage to pick a dry, sunny weekend – although the nights were a little chilly reminding us it was autumn.
We revisited a favourite campsite – Hale Farm. We hadn’t been for a few years, partly as we have to drive past some of our other favourites to get there, and party because it is often fully booked! The facilities had been improved since we last stayed, so we updated our review.
There are good footpaths for walking straight from the campsite. We had hoped to call in at the nearby cafe & village shop on the way home, but for some reason it shuts early on a Saturday!
It’s a great site for taking children as the farm is open each morning to visit the animals. There is something therapautic about stroking a friendly donkey! The farmer also sells lamb burgers, sausages and eggs – we purchased some burgers, but they are still in the freezer so we can’t give you a proper review of those yet!
What we can review are Martin’s cheesy balls!! You might remember this was a recipe picked up from a fellow camper Martin whilst on a road trip. Well, we’re pleased to report that they turned out to be very tasty! They worked well as a starter while we waited for our main of pulled lamb to slowly cook on the fire.
Here’s the recipe:
Martin’s cheesy balls
Ingredients:
Torn bread, egg, grated cheese, finely chopped garlic
Method:
Mix everything together and leave to soak. Shape into golf balls and fry in oil.
They will be crispy on the outside but soft and squishy inside.
Enjoy!
L & R
Stealth camping is where you sleep in your van but not on a campsite. I wanted to try it out and thought I’d better get on with it before the weather got too autumnal, so the other week I made a plan!
I did quite a lot of planning. I wanted to stay somewhere I was fairly nearby, so I could drive home in the night if I decided to abort. But I wanted to go far enough away that it felt like an adventure – I didn’t want to sleep round the corner from my house!! I wanted to stay somewhere that was quiet, but not remote from other people. I was thinking a residential street felt safer than a car park, but I wanted to feel I was in the countryside.
In the end I had my dinner on Epsom Downs, with an amazing view of the London skyline. I then drove down to the edge of Epsom Common where there was a quiet residential street, with houses on oneside, but open to the common on the other. I arrived after dark, parked up by a property with a hedge, shut all my curtains and locked myself in. I didn’t pop my top in order to be more stealthy! I had a cosy time with a cuppa and a cake, doing my crochet while listening to a podcast and then I made up my bed and went to sleep!
I slept pretty well, considering, just waking the once. I got up reasonably early, made my morning cuppa and took it with me for a walk. I was curious as I had seen another van the night before and I wondered if I perhaps wasn’t the only person sleeping stealthily! I’m pretty sure I wasn’t – indeed there could have been two others, but I couldn’t quite decide.
I then set off for Horton Country Park where I squeezed under the height barrier and then popped my top and made my breakfast. A quick wash up and I was home in time for the morning church service!!
L
One of our fab followers made this amazing creation for us!
We love it!! Thank you so much.
Only question is which goat is which?!!
L & R
Having survived my first road trip, I set about planning a bigger one – to Keswick in the Lake District.
The first night was a halfway stop over near Lichfield. I stayed in Cosy Nook campsite. It was indeed tucked away in a little nook – effectively in someones back garden! When I arrived, I wasn’t sure I was in the right place and pulled in across the road and rang because I didn’t want to run the risk of actually pulling into someones driveway!!
As I arrived fairly late and I was only there one night, I kept it simple. No awning and I slept up top in the roof bed, so I could have my little Boxio toilet in the downstairs. I had a nice pitch by the gate into the adjoining woods, but given I didn’t know the area I was pleased to be sleeping in Van-nessa and to be able to lock her doors.
The campers next to me were actually very friendly. A couple who lived nearby, but liked to escape in their motorhome. The husband seemed to be a bit of a gourmet and I enjoyed chatting to him about food. He shared with me his recipe for cheesy balls, so I’ll look forward to trying them out some time!
After a morning walk in the woods, I hit the road again. I was unimpressed to have to pay the M6 toll again – not good planning to break my journey halfway down it! Especially as Nessie wasn’t classified as a ‘car’ and had to pay more!!! (I spent most of my first experience on the toll road wondering how it worked and whether I would have to self-select my vehicle type and if so what the classifications were. In someways I was quite relieved that the toll booth decided for me what I had to pay, but shame it decided she was expensive!)
Terrible traffic on the M6, but it was made more fun when I spotted another NV200 with a pop top roof. He’d pass me, then I’d overtake him & he’d overtake me. Entertained me for quite a while! The driving north of Manchester got much more pleasant – quiet roads and nice views.
I arrived at the campsite to discover my ‘super service’ pitch was near the lakeside and have lovely views to the hills. However I hadn’t realised it was a fully hardstanding pitch – and I only had 4 metal pegs with me! Fortunately I’d arrived in time to rush to the nearest camping shop before it closed for a whole box of Gorilla pegs.
The other issue with the gravel hardstanding was that although I had mats down throughout the awning I could still feel the stones through which made kneeling down uncomfortable. I’d planned to sleep in Barry the bedroom so that I didn’t need to put my bed away each morning, but I only had a thin blanket to put over the groundsheet and below my sleeping mat. Then I had a brainwave – the bed boards from the pop up roof are cushioned. I made a little sleeping platform inside the awning and had a lovely soft surface to kneel and sit on.
The weather in Keswick was perfect – warm and sunny every day. The shallows of the lake were the temperature of bath water for paddling in! I’d time my adventure to coincide with the Keswick Convention so I enjoyed attending the evening meetings each day and going to some of the seminars. I had a few friends who were also at the convention that week, and they were all super kind in making sure they included me. What I had expected to be a solo trip was actually pretty sociable! Particularly I enjoyed going on some walks with my friend Helen and her family exploring a bit more of the local area, including a boat ride to walk round the other side of the lake.
After sociable 5 night stay in Keswick, I found it really hard to hit the road again on my own. On the last morning the thought of packing everything away on my own felt overwhelming, and the idea of driving off on my own into the hills felt very lonely. It wasn’t helped by the fact that having pack up, I left my bags of rubbish by my van while I popped into town quickly. By the time I was back the seagulls had pulled it all apart and spread it all over my pitch – yuck!!
I took the scenic route south through the Lake District, which was beautiful. I stopped in Ambleside for a coffee, but it was heaving. My learning point for next time is to plan something specific for the way home. That worked well on my first road trip where I visited the cave houses. This time, by the time I was on the road and started thinking of it, I didn’t know where to go nor whether I had enough time to fit it into my journey.
I felt super sleepy on the second part of the drive and I knew I had to stop as soon to keep safe. I pulled off at the next services, but at the junction saw a sign for a nursery, so I went there instead. I parked up in their car park and had an actual snooze followed by an enjoyable mootch round the shop. The cafe looked lovely but I was still feeling full of cake from my last stop. Much nicer than the services would have been, I’m sure.
I learnt from my M6 toll experience last time and had planned a different campsite to break the journey on the way home. I stayed at Springslade Lodge in Cannock Chase. It was a lovely sunny evening and I arrived in good time, so I put just Harry and Harriet up – using Harriet as a mini-bathroom. I was very flattered when the man from the camping group next to me said he’d been impressed how quickly I’d got everything set up!
For the amount I’d had to pay, I wasn’t impressed by the facilities. Sadly the cafe at the site wasn’t open the following morning, so I set off promptly planning to get brunch at my first stop. After the previous day’s success I decided to stop at another garden centre and found Bicester Avenue Garden Centre about the right distance away. This one turned out to be very different to the nursery – it was more of a shopping complex with various other stores as well as a huge garden centre. It made for a proper break though as I wandered round the shops (and made some purchases!) as well as eating in the restaurant.
Then there was just one more leg of driving before arriving home safely after my longest adventure to date!
L
I’ve got a bit behind with my blogging as I haven’t told you all about Nessie’s first road trip!! It involved 3 nights camping and 1 night at a friend’s house.
The first leg was to a drive to near Tewkesbury where I’d booked into the Winchcombe Camping and Caravanning site. Given that it was my first long drive with Nessie, I wanted to book a campsite with good facilities, where I knew what to expect.
The campsite was nice. It has good facilities (even music playing in the toilet block, which confused me at first!!) and is attractively arranged around a fishing lake. My pitch wasn’t by the lake, but it did have views to the hills.
The first challenge was to get the awning up on my own – not helped by the fact that it was pretty windy. Harry was a bit jumpy, but fortunately a kind man in a neighbouring caravan came to my aid. Another friendly camper was chatting to me later and warned me that her new (& expensive) awning had got ruined the previous night. I decided not to take any chances and put the storm-straps on – these are additional guy ropes for Harry and then Harriet had ones that go right over the van and get pegged down on the other side. I was relieved when we all survived the night with no damage.
The following morning I set off on a drive which I thought was going to be a couple of hours long… but 2 hours in, I stopped for lunch, with 2 hours still to go!! Highlight of an otherwise tedious drive was going over the spectacular & relatively new Mersey Gateway Bridge, which I’d not crossed before.
Eventually I got to my friends house where I was able to refuel with a cuppa before setting off with her to our next campsite…which was accessed via crossing a ford! Primrose cottage campsite was a simple site. Nice enough, but with one draw back – you could hear the motorway. It was the sort of sound that became background noise, so it didn’t disturb us, but I was disappointed that I could hear it.
After a good night’s sleep and bacon sandwiches for breakfast, we managed to beat the rain in getting Barry, Larry and Harry down. On our way back we pottered leisurely around via Rufford Old Hall (a National Trust property) and the coast, and that evening I had the luxury of sleeping in the house!
The following morning was Sunday so we went to Christ Church Liverpool for the morning service and then, after lunch, I hit the road again. Once more, problems on the roads led to me being re-routed. Around 4.30 I needed to be somewhere with wifi to make a video call – and I saw a sign to an Ice Cream Farm . I was expecting a farm shop, maybe some cows – but I appeared to have entered what looked like a teletubby world of adventure play and ice cream parlours! A very strange place to stumble across, but I enjoyed a pistachio ice-cream while I called my familly.
The rest of the drive to Wolverley Campsite was nice, but quite tiring. I was at my end when I arrived and couldn’t cope with the simple decisions the nice campsite man wanted me to make about which pitch and which way round I wanted to park etc! Fortunately he was kind and patient. It was another nice site and a sunny evening, so once I’d got set up I enjoyed a relaxing time eating my dinner and enjoying a glass of wine.
The site is right by a canal, so the following morning I took my mug of tea for a stroll along the bank. I then packed up and went on a mission to find the cave houses at Kniver, which a colleague had recommended to me. I enjoyed taking a look round, learning about the lives of the people who used to live there, tucking into a scone & cream and listening to the bird song in the woodland.
And then it was back on the road again! I stopped for a break at some services on the M40 – and I couldn’t resist parking next to another little campervan. Turned out to be another female solo camper, so we had a fun chat exchanging stories and tips.
This road trip is the most driving I’ve ever done in my life! But having survived, I’ll look forward to telling you about more of Nessie’s adventures soon!
L
Last post we introduced you to Harry, Barry & Larry, but mustn’t forget Harriet – the tunnel that connects Harry to the van!
Like the pods she zips in, but she also attaches to the van’s C rail. We bought an additional driveway kit, a joining strip between Harriet & the van, so she can be unattached enabling Nessie the van to go off out for the day, without having to pack everything away.
The driveaway is a little bit fiddly, but hopefully with practise we’ll get the hang of it!
L & R
The sad demise of Gary (the gazebo) coincided with the imminent arrival of Vanessa so it seemed sensible to replace him with something that could also be used as a van awning. With a bit of research we settled on just the thing – a dometic hub.
When we tried it out back in May some of you helped suggest names for the new addition to our camping family. And after some consideration we settled on suggestion of Harry the Hub. Why? Well, Harry has two pods (or techically annexes) which have been named Barry & Larry!
The pods just zip onto the central hub/gazebo meaning you can have whatever arrangement you prefer, including the option of a wall/door/window. On this occasion, which was the first van trip with both goats, both Barry the Bedroom & Larry the Lavatory were in use!!
The hub is 2.5 m square, so Barry is plenty big enough for even the tall goat to sleep comfortably in. The pod roof slopes quite steeply so we weren’t sure Larry was going to be tall enough to work as a bathroom, but it worked out fine.
With Harry, Barry & Larry, the Nessie set-up goes from petite to spacious! We are looking forward to more trips to try them out!
L & R
Recently I braved my first solo trip with Nessie. I took the opportunity to work out of the office in Basingstoke & afterwards stayed a night camping near Micheldever.
I’d forgotten how long things like checking tyre pressure can take on a new vehicle, but important to be safe. Fortunately the traffic was good & I wasn’t late for work. And I enjoyed showing her off to my colleague at lunchtime!!
The campsite wasn’t as hard to find as the instructions implied and it was a quiet site with just one other camping party. The site overlooked a stream & water meadow, so when I arrived I enjoyed relaxing with an after-work cider while watching the bird life.
I set up the inflatable awning just as the drizzle started and then tried a new recipe for dinner of beef barley. For pudding I attempted a stove top cake. (I’ll share the recipes once they are perfected).
The evening soon disappeared & it was time for bed. My plan had been to sleep in the roof and have the new toilet downstairs …but the new toilet didn’t arrive in time! Fortunately there was a flush toilets on site not too far from my van, so it wasn’t a disaster.
I decided to sleep up top anyway to try out the bed boards and I slept fairly well up there.
In the morning I went for a pretty walk to Stoke Charity past a lake & some former watercress beds.
I had a coffee back at the van before it was time to pack up. I was relieved to discover I could pack down the awning by myself without too much difficulty. Bonus treat, the campsite owner kindly packed me off with some rhubarb from his garden.
Here’s where I stayed Winchester Watermeadow and here’s my review.
L
Embrace your inner goat 