Author: CaravanRamblings

We were a little later than usual to exit our bed this morning after the hectic move yesterday but by early afternoon, we had our picnic ready and set off to walk around Carsington Water.

The journey took most of the afternoon and we dodged a few showers on the way round. The circular walk (which is also suitable for bikes) is very well sign-posted and the paths are compacted hard-core.

Early evening and the heavens have opened up again creating the perfect opportunity to post a couple of blogs. I’m going to stop asking the question “Does it always rain in Little England” because I think I’ve finally worked out the answer.

Just need to decide where we shall eat tonight. Mo is on the case and she’s chosen the Knockerdown Inn.

An update later…

The travel time to the Peak District was just over 2 hours and 10 minutes according to the satnav and we had to cover some 80 odd miles. The route would take us directly west to Evesham and then north through Alcester before picking up the M42 all the way round to the M6 Toll.

We would stay on the M6 Toll for a couple of junctions, leaving the exit for Lichfield. Upon arriving at the Toll booth and prior to paying, we hit the “Assistance” button and told customer services we had a Caravan Club membership card. On holding the said card up to the camera, the fee was discounted to that of a regular motor car.

From Lichfield, we headed north to Ashbourne and then picked up the A517 Ashbourne to Belper route, finally following the directions to the Carsington Water Caravan Club Site posted on the club website.

The journey had taken 2.5 hours and we arrived just after 11:00am only to find the earliest check-in time was noon. One of the most competitive aspects of arriving at a Caravan Club site is the scramble to select a pitch. The normal protocol is to drive around the site and choose a pitch – and one can drive around several times to achieve this. It has been noted on occasions that guests have actually circuited a full three times before choosing that “perfect” pitch. But, remember, each circuit allows another van or two to enter the site behind you so that “almost perfect” pitch might not be there on circuit number 2 and 3.

Arriving at 11:00am seemed to sort out this problem and we now understand why when we arrive bang on noon, we are always at the back of a long line of caravans. We had a full hour to walk around the site and selected our top 3 pitches based upon distance from the services, how close other vans would be and most importantly, to ensure that the awning faced south / south west without too much shade.

This is to ensure we would enjoy the full sun for our evening BBQs. There is an issue with this last criteria – since in Little England, the sun never shines. So really the most important aspect is to make sure the van is located on higher ground – because it does rain a lot.

We are staying here in the Peak District for a couple of weeks so we have all the toys installed – including the awning and of course, the trusted Weber BBQ.

In the evening, we put the BBQ to good use and ate in the awning, blessed with the late evening sun and with temperatures almost reaching double figures. (Sorry, I lied. There was no sun but we kept warm in the awning with our trusted fan heater).

And of course we watched the Wales versus Belgium game.

Today it was raining in Little England and Winter Is Here. In fact, it didn’t just rain, it p******* down. All day and maybe everyday.

That’s presumably why we have the National Trust and all its old buildings. For a small annual fee, our retirees can trudge around these relics keeping warm and dry.

Our surprise then to discover that the National Trust also owns perhaps one of the most traditional pubs in the land. The Fleece Inn at Bretforton.

 

The Fleece Inn is a half-timbered medieval farmhouse which originally sheltered a farmer and his stock.

The Inn was first licensed in 1848. Fully restored to its former glory, with witches circles and precious pewter collection, it has developed a reputation for traditional folk music, morris dancing and asparagus.

 

 

 

The selection of Real Ales is formidable and in the depths of Winter (well, the summer solstice was over a week ago), tis nice to see a roaring log fire.

As we continue our journey northwards towards the Peak District, we left Cirencester at just after 11:00 for the approximate one hours drive to Broadway on the north side of this AONB. We did no pre-preparation work for the departure but we have just been using the canopy awning so it’s pretty easy to take down and re-erect.

By 13:30 we had relocated and sat down to our smoked salmon sandwiches. Then the rain started. It’s now 5:30pm and it’s still raining. Does the sun ever shine in Little England?

Still, the perfect opportunity to catch up on the Ramblings.

In the evening we ate at the Crown and Trumpet. A real ale pub in Broadway with lots of character, plenty of real ale (obviously) and good food.

Weather forecast was average but we were expecting a somewhat rain-free day so we decided to drive to the Cotswold Water Park and walk the “Three Villages walk”.

The Cotswold Water Park isn’t a fun park but an area of 40 square miles, with more than 150 lakes, set across the countryside of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire.

This particular walk is circular and of around 9 miles starting at Somerford Keynes. The first section of the walk follows the route of the Thames path national trail towards Ashton Keynes and then north to South Cerney.

At South Cerney we had lunch at the Eliot Arms and then set back on the final section. Alas, after very heavy overnight rain the path became impassable under around a foot of water and with just a mile or two to complete we had to abandon and track back to South Cerney. Mo says this place should be renamed Waterworld.

At this point we used the local public transport and caught a bus to Cirencester and then back to Somerford Keynes.

In the evening, we watched Eexit, the Brexit sequel in which the England football team lost 2-1 to Iceland!

The Cirencester Park Caravan Club site is located right next to Cirencester Park which is a large estate – the Bathurst Estate. It’s possible to walk through the park into the old town of Cirencester, about a 20 – 30 minute walk away.

Here’s a view from the road descending through the park towards Cirencester.

We were originally destined to leave for the Cotswolds on Saturday morning, but after the shock of waking up to the Brexit news, we decided we had the choice of either leaving early or spending the day watching our investments continue to slide down the pan, along with the hopes, dreams and aspirations of an entire younger generation.

In the end, we decided to leave early and commence our mini tour of Little England. We might have to get used to this kind of trip in the future as our British Pounds might not buy quite as many Euros and Dollars as they used to. On the “positive” side we will still be able to visit Wales without swapping our LELPs for Euros. To keep the spirit of this momentous occasion, we had already exchanged our Great British Pounds for LELPs just a few hours before departure. The LELP is our new currency, the Little England Little Pound. The currency itself has managed to retain a remarkably similar look and feel to the outgoing one, it’s just that it’s value is becoming far more compact.

We finally got underway around 2:00pm for the short journey to the Caravan Club site at Cirencester park, arriving just before 4:00pm.

The site is in a great location and the facilities are fantastic. Everywhere was so clean and the toilets and showers very well appointed.

In the evening we walked into Cirencester, stopping off at the closest pub to the site, the Marlborough Arms for a pint of real ale and then on to dinner at the Black Horse.

Rather an apt name for a real ale on this day in history…