CaravanRamblings – Page 24 – Caravan Ramblings

VW Transporter tour – Day 3

We wrapped up our short visit to Devizes with a nice meal and drinks at the Three Magpies, Seend near Devizes.

Wednesday morning was our first attempt to pack up the Campervan. It was very easy to stow everything away and collapsing the sunroof and bunk bed very straight forward. Everything is nicely balanced with the gas struts. Our sleeping bags are still constantly getting in the way as we haven’t needed anything in addition to the quilt overnight.

The diesel heater soon warms up the space and we have been quite comfortable. The Rib 112 bed still isn’t as comfortable as the one in our caravan, even using the upper foam mattress as topper. If we go this route there’s definitely some work to do to get a great night’s sleep.

Our travels on Wednesday would take us to Tarn House near Skipton (my birthplace). A drive of around 250 miles but with a detour via Hillside leisure in Derby. We have identified Hillside Leisure as one of the companies we would potentially purchase from. We thought it would be really useful to compare our hired campervan with Hillside Leisure’s Birchover Classic – their most popular van conversion.

We had some specific questions:

Location and size of the water tank
Ditto the leisure battery and gas bottle
Porta potty location
Storage

We were met by Ron at Hillside leisure full of doom and gloom. He could show us the conversions but he has nothing to sell. Apparently VW have closed their order book on Transporters until 2022.

Hillside have 257 on order for 2022 with very few confirmed build dates. All the 257 on order are spoken for if they ever arrive…

Still, we have to hope this situation improves so we spent time comparing the Birchover Classic to our OxCampers conversion – Colwyn. Bear in mind that Hillside leisure are a huge conversion company with maybe up to 10 workshop bays whilst OxCampers is a man and wife team.

Overall, both conversions compared very well. The Hillside leisure guy thought our Colwyn was excellent and appeared top quality. There were a few differences between the two, which would probably push us towards the Birchover Classic, assuming similar pricing. I suspect a Colwyn conversion will be less expensive making the choice rather more tricky.

The main points were:

Both conversions were on the VW Transporter Highline so base vehicles were identical
The Birchover Classic comes with two swivel front seats whereas our Colwyn only has the passenger seat rotating. Again this isn’t a clear-cut advantage as you loose height adjustment with the swivel seat and the drivers seat can’t rotate more than 45 degrees due to the location of the cupboards.
Both utilised the top quality SCA extra height pop-top and Rib 112 Rock and Roll bed
Both opted for a Dometic two burner hob and miniature sink unit combined
The Birchover Classic has a 65l water tank and 35l waste tank slung under the van. Our hire van has a 10l on-board container
The Birchover Classic has hot water, so long as you are hooked up to 240v electric
Gas bottles and leisure battery were probably better located in the Birchover but either way, they eat into storage.
Storage solutions were good but slightly different on both vans
The Birchover Classic had a very clever food cupboard which was hinged and latched closed in front of the fridge. We really liked this.
The Birchover classic comes with a Porta Potty stored under the bed. Some loss of storage though.

Overall, the main advantages of the Birchover Classic were the hot and cold water and the underslung tanks. But… you need electric hook-up so are likely to be on a site with hot water facilities and can you really utilise a 65l water container with a miniature sink!

I must also add that we haven’t spoken to OxCampers regarding conversion so some of the differences may be solved with some bespoke customisation.

Here are some internal pictures taken during a prior visit to Hillside leisure.

And a link to a video we took of Colwyn.

VW Transporter Tour – Day 2

Our first night in the Campervan. Neither of us wanted to climb onto the upper bunk so we converted the Rib 112 Rock and Roll bed into a flat small double bed and settled down for the night. The quilt supplied as part of the bedding package was more than adequate to keep us warm. The bed itself is a work in progress.

After a few hours of broken sleep, we rolled out a sleeping bag onto the converted bed and this helped the comfort levels a little bit. Tonight we will use the upper bed foam mattress (that’s stretching things a bit!) as a mattress topper.

Not much else to report on the Campervan. Most of the cupboards are full and with a small conversion like this, space is at a premium and meticulous organisation of paramount importance.

Today we visited Devizes and the Wadworth brewery. Brewery tours are still not in progress due to health and safety issues.

The Brewery site is a Grade II listed building and it’s a real shame that it’s destined to become apartments once the brewery relocates to a new site across town.

Our friends had requested the talk to be given by their favourite host, Jim and he entertained us for something like two hours with tastings of the Wadworth beers and general chit-chat about beer. It proved to be a great way to spend a Tuesday lunchtime. At the end of the tasting and included in the price is a very tasty pie of your choice.

A 3.5 mile walk back along the Kennet and Avon canal rounded off the daytime entertainment, with a coffee at the cafe on the locks. Presided over by this little guy.

Tonight’s entertainment will be dinner at the Three Magpies…

VW Transporter Tour – Day 1

The journey to drop of the caravan at Swindon Caravans was quick and uneventful. We then headed for OxCampers just a 20 minute drive away.

We have rented “Colwyn” for the week and Kyja spent nearly an hour with us running through how everything works.

The VW Transporter is a six speed manual version, probably the 150PS engine. It’s got an infotainment system which immediately connected to my Android smartphone and projected Google maps onto the display. It has aircon and lots of controls on the steering wheel. It looks pretty sophisticated for essentially a “white van”.

The conversion includes an SCA pop-top with integrated bed, rated we believe at 200 – 300 kgs. This has a thin foam mattress on top.

The main seat / bed is a Rib outfit which cleverly converts to a small double bed. During the day time, there is ample storage behind these seats.

We have a fridge, small gas cannister, 10l water container, a 3-burner hob and small sink (cold water only). For heating there is an on-board diesel heater.

We rented also a bedding pack which means perhaps we should have left our sleeping bags behind.

After the tour, literally deposited everything onto the van floor and set off for Devizes. We’ll sort everything out when we arrive!

Our temporary load space in the campervan

The drive to Devizes Caravanning and Camping club site took around an hour and the VW Transporter drives beautifully. Just like a quality car. Responsive and comfortable.

We would have no concerns over the driving aspect of this campervan as a Towcar.

On arrival at Devizes, we set everything up, tested the upper bed before heading off to see our friends in Melksham.

Most of the clothes fit into a side locker but we had pre-packed them in small clothes storage bags. Two draws under the seats have been filled with food and household essentials. The bedding will sit in the boot space during the day and we’ll probably make up the bed at night time only.

Here’s some pictures of us pitched up.

Colwyn at Devizes Camping and Caravanning club

VW Transporter – Preview

We have been toying for a while about using a converted VW Transporter as a towcar. This would allow us to pull the caravan and then when on-site, stay overnight at nearby places using the van as its own accommodation. It would also be useful for short trips around Blighty.

We feel this could offer the best of all combinations – Campervan & Caravan versus Car & Caravan versus Motorhome & Towcar.

The VW Transporter should fit inside a standard car parking space and the pop-top roof should nullify height barriers.

It’s probably not something we would want to reside in for more than few days or the odd week, but who knows?

Tomorrow our Caravan goes to Swindon for its annual service. We have hired a VW converted campervan for the week. We will be heading to the artic tundra of North Yorkshire, my birthplace long abandoned for the warmer climate of the South coast.

Follow our experiences with the campervan over the next week…

September Tour 2021 – Trip summary

Date	Location	Duration
10th September 2021	Woodbury
10th September 2021	Huntisbeare CL Site	5 miles / 20 mins
12th September 2021	Devizes Camping and Caravanning club	87 miles / 2.5 hrs
19th September 2021	Henley Four Oaks CMC	82 miles / 2.5 hrs
27th September	Woodbury	176 miles / 4.0 hrs

Devizes Wrap-up

Saturday and tomorrow is time to move on from Devizes. We have had a good time here, the site is at a stunning location.

One final evening out – our first visit to the “Brewery Inn”. Head west along the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath and at the Barge Inn, it’s 200m along the road towards Seend.

The Brewery Inn Seend.

We had booked a pod for the evening. The landlady was welcoming and whilst the food was perhaps a little basic, it was traditional pub grub. Washed down with a couple of pints of Inndependence American Pale Ale from the Plains brewery.

Sunday was a mid-morning departure, destination Oxfordshire.

Devizes and The Courts Garden

Thursday morning and we caught the bus departing close by the campsite, destination Devizes. There were a large number of campers from our site waiting for the bus which on arrival, was standing room only. Not ideal given most of the passengers would have received their Covid jabs much earlier in the year. Out of 20+ who boarded the bus at Seend, Moe and I were the only two who paid! We figured maybe one other person on the bus was of an age where free transport wasn’t provided.

Once in Devizes, we realised it was market day, hence the full to capacity bus.

We headed for the Wadworth’s brewery, hoping for a tour,

Lunch was at the Black Horse which is pretty much at the top of Caen locks – 29 locks in total over a distance of 2 miles and a change in altitude of 237 feet. We spoke to someone leaving the upper lock and she said the fastest she has been through the locks was 2 hours and 20 minutes but every lock was in the correct position. Otherwise it can be the best part of a day.

We walked the 4 or so miles back to the campsite from Devizes, capturing a number of pictures along the way.

Caen Locks – long boat starting to descend

Friday we returned to the National Trust “The Courts Garden” at Holt near Bradford-on-Avon. This classic early 20th century garden is laid out in a series of yew-hedged “rooms” with a neo-Georgian temple and conservatory. We strolled through the shade and tranquility of the arboretum before finding the tea-room.

Topiary known as the Bears – The Courts Garden

Dinner will be at the Three Magpies – again!!

Great Chalfield, Bradford-on-Avon

Wednesday morning and it’s a stunning day. Weather is forecast to be sunny with temperatures in the early 20s. We set off for a visit to The Courts Gardens (National Trust) in Holt near Bradford-on-Avon. We have subsequently learnt that this quintessential English country garden is open every day of the week, except Wednesdays.

Plan B (which was originally Part II of Plan A) was to visit the manor and gardens at Great Chalfield Manor which is a couple of miles walk from Holt. Actual distance was 3 or 4 miles as we performed endless detours to avoid the roaming cattle!

Great Chalfield Manor is a medieval manor built around 1465 by Thomas Tropenell, a wealthy business man who built and acquired several large estates around this time. In 1905, Major Robert Fuller restored and refurnished the house to its former glory and in 1943, gave the house and gardens to the National Trust to care for it and his grandson and family still live in the manor.

Chalfield Manor, with its church on the left

Over the years various films and TV shows have been filmed at Great Chalfield, including ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, ‘Tess of the d’Ubervilles’ and ‘Wolf Hall’ (where it starred as Austin Friars, Thomas Cromwell’s house).

Great Chalfield Manor has an ever-evolving romantic garden with an orchard, pond, unique yew houses and a variety of flowers, plants, colours and styles.

There are some exquisite pieces of Topiary.

We rounded the afternoon off with a drive to Bradford-on-Avon. This is a pretty town with its canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants making it a popular tourist destination. The history of the town can be traced back to Roman origins.

Bradford-on-Avon is also home to St Laurence’s Church which is one of very few surviving Anglo-Saxon churches in England, that does not show later medieval alteration or rebuilding.

Documentary sources suggest it may have been founded by Saint Aldhelm around 700, although the architectural style suggests a 10th- or 11th-century date.

It is the most complete Anglo-Saxon survival from this period, and follows what seems to have been a typical monastic plan at the time, though in miniature. In particular the decoration including fragments of large reliefs gives a hint of richness seen in monastic churches. Although the existing church seems all or almost all Anglo-Saxon, it has clearly been altered in a number of ways, apart from the modern restoration, which included removing the stairs inside and filling in windows.

Horizontal flying angels at St Laurence’s church

St. Laurence’s stands on rising ground close to the Norman parish church of the Holy Trinity.

This larger church also bears similarities with the church of its namesake in my hometown of Skipton, North Yorkshire.

For dinner, we headed to the Three Magpies which is situated just outside our campsite. This is another Wadworth’s pub of which there are many in the area – the main brewery is based just along the road in Devizes. The food and service was excellent.

Henley-on-Thames

We arrived on Sunday for a few days at Henley-on-Thames. The weather has remained remarkably settled, dry and warm for all of this trip and this theme continued throughout our stay at Henley.

It was warm enough for the “boys” to meet up at the Alehouse in Reading and enjoy a long lunch, outside, at the London Street Brasserie.

Moe and I visited the National Trust property at Greys court for lunch in the gardens. It’s a few years since our last visit but we remembered pristinely kept typical English gardens and finely mown lawns. Covid has certainly taken its toll here and the gardens were far from special. Rather disappointing. As we visited on a Monday, the house itself was closed so do check opening times before your visit.

Greys Court church (ruins), near Henley-on-Thames

Orchard at Greys Court near Henley-on-Thames

On our way through Twyford, en-route to Reading, we stopped outside the old station house. This is one of the places where Moe grew up.

On another day we walked through Henley along the Thames to Marsh lock. One can while away hours watching the boats heading through the lock.

This is a very popular and pleasant walk along the banks of the river Thames. We passed a pretty Old House.

Views towards the Bridge at Henley-on-Thames

Seend, Devizes and the canal

On Sunday we travelled from Aylesbeare to Seend, near Devizes, for a week at the Devizes Camping and Caravanning Club site – a 2.5 hour drive of some 87 miles.

From Huntisbeare it is a short drive to the A30 near Honiton which then becomes the A303 which we followed all the way to the A350 which runs South – North from Blandford Forum to Trowbridge. We headed up the A350 and then took the A361 towards Seend and as far as the Bath Road. Turn left on the Bath Road and the site is right behind the Three Magpies public house.

The campsite was recommended by some friends of ours from a Spanish trip, as one of the nicest sites they have stayed on in England. The wider area isn’t particularly known as a tourist trap but the site is excellent and the location is good. The site grounds are beautifully maintained but the toilet block whilst clean, is starting to look a little jaded in places.

We were watching this strange looking bird from the awning yesterday. We were wondering if it was some kind of escaped exotic bird – apparently not as it is an Albino Magpie! Perhaps it’s time for the pub, located just outside of the site to change its name to “The White Magpie”!

The site is two minute walk to the Kennet and Avon canal. Head West along the canal and after half an hour or so is the Barge Inn. A little further from the canal past the Barge Inn is the Brewery Inn which we haven’t visited – yet!

Head East and it’s a few miles to walk along the towpath to Devizes. We walked as far as the Caen Hill locks which dominate the landscape on the approach up the hill to Devizes.

This is the longest flight of locks in the country – a total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over 2 miles. To keep the water balanced, a back pump at Foxhangers returns 7 million gallons of water to the top of the flight each day.

This steep incline at Caen Hill was the reason which caused Brunel to route the main London to Bristol line through Chippenham and Swindon rather than taking the line through Devizes. Devizes was served by a single branch line opened in July 1857 but retired as part of the Beeching cuts in 1966. One can still see remnants of the old line on the walk from the campsite to Devizes.

There’s also a large marina near to the locks – Caen Hill Marina.