September Tour – Last days on the Island

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Tuesday was another wet day. I spent much of the day sorting out a list of things which need sorting out on the van and ordered all the parts I need.

Maintenance list – September 2022 – Caravan Ramblings

In the evening we ate at the “Royal China” restaurant in Sandown. The place was very busy and there was an enthusiastic core of repeat visitors. The food and service was in fact excellent.

Wednesday we drove to Appuldurcombe House, which is an English Heritage property but is in a state of disrepair and free to visit.

Appuldurcombe House, IOW, Sep 2022

This English Baroque country house was the home of the Worsley family and actually started life as a priory in AD 1100 before becoming a convent.

The large Tudor mansion was bequeathed in 1690 to Sir Robert Worsley, 3rd Baronet who began planning a replacement. The house building was started in 1702 and the architect was John James. Alas, Sir Robert died in 1747 and he never saw the house fully completed.

The house was greatly extended by his great-nephew Sir Richard Worsley, the 7th Baronet of Appuldurcombe and Capability Brown was commissioned in 1779 to design the ornamental grounds at the same time as the extensions.

Someone is tending to the Goldfish!, Appuldurcombe House, IOW, Sep 2022

Presently, the house is now mainly a shell although the front section has been re-roofed and glazed and a small part of the interior recreated. The house has become well-known as one of the supposedly most haunted places on the Island.

Appuldurcombe House, IOW, Sep 2022a
Appuldurcombe House, IOW, Sep 2022a
Appuldurcombe House, IOW, Sep 2022a

Bembridge Winmdmill is only open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. We headed over to Bembridge on Thursday lunchtime, via the Island bus service!

Bembridge Windmill, IOW, Sep 2022

The windmill is the last one remaining on the Island and whilst it is “run-up” every year or so, it isn’t working in so far as processing flour from grain. All four floors of the windmill are open to the public via some fairly tight staircases. Bembridge Windmill was built in the early 1700s when Bembridge was almost an island in its own right, cut off from the rest of the Isle of Wight.

Bembridge Windmill, IOW, Sep 2022
Bembridge Windmill, IOW, Sep 2022

Much of the machinery remaining in the mill is typical of the early 1700s.

Bembridge Windmill, IOW, Sep 2022

The earliest positive date was found during restoration work when the steps between the first and second floor were replaced. Those steps had previously been reversed so that the runner against the wall had once been the outer runner, along which the inscription “E BEKER 1746 A C” had been carved. Other inscriptions have been found, one which could be 1701, but is not clear enough to give positive dating.

After a coffee in the village of Bembridge we headed to Shanklin and the Chine. It’s fairly pricey to enter the gorge but the ticket lasts a whole 7 days so we visited again later in the week after dark where there is a nice light show. After our first visit we had a reservation at the pub located at the bottom of the Chine – The Fisherman’s cottage. It’s a lovely setting but the place was lacking a warm and cosy atmosphere. We found better places to eat in the Old Village (more later!).

Shanklin Chine, IOW, 2022
Shanklin Chine, IOW, 2022
Shanklin Chine, IOW, 2022

The weather has improved significantly over the last few days. The deluge of rain has stopped and the ground is starting to dry out. Days are sunny but there is now the chill of Autumn in the evenings and overnight.

Saturday we headed over to Carisbrooke Castle – another English Heritage monument. We’d already spent £40 to visit Osborne house and the castle was another £20. We were able to get an annual membership for £103 and I was refunded for the Osborne House visit. Just need to remember to cancel the Direct Debit! Plus we avoided the £3 parking charge.

The site of Carisbrooke castle may have been occupied in pre-Roman times as a ruined wall suggests that there was a building there in late Roman times. From 1100 the castle remained in the possession of Richard de Redvers family and over the next two centuries his descendants improved the castle with stone walls, towers and a keep. In 1293 the castle was sold to Edward I and from then on its governance was entrusted to wardens as representatives of the crown.

Charles I was imprisoned here for fourteen months before his execution in 1649 and afterwards his two youngest children were confined to the castle. From 1896 to 1944 it was the home of Princess Beatrice, daughter of Queen Victoria, as Governor of the Isle of Wight before becoming under the control of English Heritage.

Caarisbrooke Castle Gatehouse, IOW, 2022
Caarisbrooke Castle, IOW, 2022
Caarisbrooke Castle, IOW, 2022
Caarisbrooke Castle Keep, IOW, 2022
Chapel of St Nicholas, Carisbrooke Castle, IOW, 2022

In the evening we headed back to Shanklin for dinner at the Village Inn. This had been recommended by a lady we were chatting to on the IOW Steam Railway. This was everything the Fisherman’s Cottage wasn’t. A warm cosy bustling atmosphere; great beer and good food and a lovely table by the window. Only minor criticism was that the Chilli-con-carne was listed as being seriously fiery. It wasn’t. Other than that we had a great evening before heading through Shanklin Chine one last time – on this occasion after dark.

Moe enjoyed her desert (Eton Mess) at the Village Inn, Shanklin

It’s now Sunday morning and we have Sunday lunch booked at the Pointer Inn in Newchurch. Then the final remnants of packing-up before we head off back to the mainland. The Queens funeral has meant we will spend Monday night at Charmouth as we don’t fancy moving the caravan around the tight streets of our East Devon coastal town on a Bank Holiday Monday

September Tour – Steam, Cider and Gardens

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Saturday was a special event day at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway – Steam trains and a Cider / Cheese festival. We decided to stick with the theme of public transport and arrived after a couple of hours at the main steam railway station of Haverstreet.

The Isle of Wight seems to have a reasonable bus service and we caught the number 8 bus after a 10 minute walk from the campsite. At Sandown we switched to the regular railway and travelled the short distance to Smallbrook junction. This is at one end of the steam railway line and just a short walk from the mainline station to the steam railway.

Smallbrook Junction, IOW, 2022

Our first steam train of the day arrived a little later and took us (via a trip to the other end of the line, Wootton) to the main station at Havenstreet.

Our first train, “Royal Engineer”
IOW Steam Railway, 2022
IOW Steam Railway, 2022

Entry to the Cider and Cheese festival was complimentary with a train ticket. A very nice choice of cheeses was available for the cheese platters.

There was a similar choice of Ciders although I made some pretty interesting choices. Maybe I’ll stick to Sandford Orchards “Devon Red” if there’s a next time! Service was disappointingly slow, given we only had a couple of hours at the festival.

On the journey back, we stopped at the Driftwood bar on the beach at Sandown and then ate Fish’n’Chips nearby in Lake.

Driftwood Beach Bar, Sandown, IOW, 2022

*****

Sunday was a quiet day, with roast dinner at our local inn, The Pointer Inn. Highly recommended.

*****

Monday we drove to Ventnor and visited the Botanical gardens there. This has it’s own micro-climate which keeps the temperature some 5 degrees higher than should be expected. The gardens are well laid out and it was a lovely day to enjoy a picnic and wander around the botanical gardens. Weather was warm enough for a late afternoon BBQ.

Ventnor Botanical Gardens, IOW, 2022
Spitfire flying over Ventnor Botanical Gardens, IOW, 2022
Tunnel through the cliff at Ventnor Botanical Gardens, IOW, 2022
Lily Pads at Ventnor Botanical Gardens, IOW, 2022
Ventnor Botanical Gardens, IOW, 2022
Ventnor town, IOW, 2022
Beach at Ventnor town, IOW, 2022

September Tour – Island week 1

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Sunday morning and we hit the road bang on 8:00am for a two hour drive to the port of Southampton. We arrived shortly before 10:00am and were immediately offered a place on this crossing. We declined based upon our earliest arrival time at Southlands Caravan and Motorhome club site being noon.

Our 11:00am ferry left on time and it was a smooth crossing over to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. From Ryde it’s a short 15 minute or so drive to the site – be careful not to follow satnav – as Motorhome in front of us did. Finally arriving a good 10 minutes later than us at the campsite.

We had the choice of two hard standing pitches and manoeuvered the caravan into position. We then took a walk around the site and found some very nice grass pitches. In true CAMC “wacky races”, I left Moe guarding another pitch whilst I fetched the caravan!

This pitch is a lovely corner plot with lots of space and great flexibility in how to position the caravan, car and awning.

The only downside is that we have had some mega thunder, lightning and rain storms which at times have left the pitch looking like a paddling pool.

Our pitch at Southlands, Sep 2022

Monday we visited the village of Shanklin and took the following photograph. Moe has a vacuum forming of this location which she created during her relief map cartography days.

Shanklin village, IOW 2022

Tuesday we drove to Allum and Bay and the Needles. We walked to the Old and New Battery which given they are National Trust venues, we entered on Moe’s card.

The coloured sands of Allum Bay
The Needles, IOW 2022
The Old Battery, the Needles, IOW 2022

Wednesday we headed to Mottistone, a National Trust property and gardens on the Isle of Wight.

Mottistone Gardens and Estate, IOW 2022
Mottistone Gardens and Estate, IOW 2022

On the way back we visited the pretty village of Godshill and noted the rather tame wildlife in the gardens.

Rabbit at Godshill, IOW 2022
Robin at Godshil, IOW 2022

Later in the afternoon, we walked over to Borthwood copse to see the Red Squirrels. The IOW is one of the few places which has a thriving colony of red squirrels and there are no grey squirrels present.

Red Squirrel watch, Borthwood Copse, IOW 2022
Can you spot the red Squirrel

You can click on the image of the giant Oak tree above to try and locate the Red Squirrels. Can you see any?

No… neither could we. A disappointing excursion!

Thursday was a day off – well for Moe at least. I cleaned and polished the van which took up a large part of the day. We had made a reservation at the Pointer Inn during the evening and this turned out to be a really good choice. All the pubs round about seem to be reservation only and we have had little success in attempting a sameday reservation.

Dinner at the Pointer Inn, Newchurch IOW 2022

Osborne House was the holiday home for Queen Victoria and is now a property managed by English Heritage since 1986. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and designed by Prince Albert himself in the style of an Italian Renaissance.

Queen Victoria and her family stayed at Osborne house for lengthy periods each year; in the spring for Victoria’s birthday in May; in July and August when they celebrated Albert’s birthday; and just before Christmas. She was a frequent visitor to the Island and Osborne House until the death of her husband, Albert. After that her visits were less frequent although she did spend her final days here.

There are some nice walks to the Swiss cottage and beach, and finally a tour of the house itself. Some spectacular views from the house terrace across the water to Portsmouth. Queen Victoria must have felt a certain satisfaction observing her empire from Osborne House.

The internal collections in the house are interesting. There is even a billiard table (specially built at a comfortable height for Queen Victoria) which dates back to 1850.

Swiss chalet at Osborne House, IOW, 2022
View across to the Spinekar at Portsmouth, IOW 2022
Osborne House, IOW, 2022
Osborne House, IOW, 2022
Terrace at Osborne House, IOW, 2022
Indoors at Osborne House, IOW 2022
Three Piglets, Osborne House, IOW 2022
The walled gardens, Osborne House, IOW 2022

September Tour – Henley-on-Thames

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Google maps showed a 185 mile trip from East Devon to the CAMC Site of Four Oaks at Henley-on-Thames. The CAMC Website says to avoid Reading if you don’t know the traffic systems. We do know Reading extremely well and it’s traffic routes but we still decided to take the rather circuitous route to M4 Junction 8/9 and then North on the A404 and finally West on the A4130. A bit further distance wise but certainly easier than dragging a caravan through the centre of Reading!

We arrived around 1:30pm and had quite a good choice of pitches – in the end choosing a grass one furthest away from the main road.

Our pitch at Four Oaks, Henley-on-Thames

We have visited this campsite previously – Four Oaks CAMC site, Henley=on-Thames and did keep a diary of some of the things we did last time we stayed there. Henley-on-Thames 2021

There’s a decent bus service from outside the campsite (buses half hourly between High Wycombe and Reading) so Wednesday we caught the bus into Marlow. We walked along the River Thames footpath for a few miles and then ate lunch at one of the numerous cafes in the centre of Marlow town.

River Thames at Marlow

Marlow Bridge crosses the Thames just upstream of Marlow Lock, on the reach to Temple Lock. The bridge is a Grade I listed building. There have been a number of timber bridges at this location over the centuries but the current suspension bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and was completed around 1832. The Szechenyi Chain bridge, spanning the River Danube in Budapest was also designed by William Tierney and is a larger version of the Marlow bridge

The Historic Marlow Bridge
Views across the River Thames, Marlow

The remainder of the week was spent visiting friends and family in the area. Thursday evening we met Dave and Tracey at the Botanist in Reading and sampled the famous hanging kebabs. Given the heavens had opened after dinner (my excuse at least) we dashed the 20 or so metres to the Alehouse for a post-dinner pint. It’s always an “interesting” crowd at the Alehouse but a great selection of Real Ales.

Post dinner drinks at the Alehouse, Reading 2022

Friday I met Ian for beers at lunchtime – the Wetherspoons (when the cost of living crisis means we can only afford the Wetherspoon’s experience, that’s the time I stop visiting pubs). After a beer there we walked to the Nags Head, which, like the Alehouse, has a very decent selection of Real Ales – although I made an interesting choice with one of the Pale Ales – it was like a soup!

Beer at the Nags Head

Later on in the afternoon I met Moe at Lower Shiplake station and we walked the four odd miles back to the campsite at Henley-on-Thames – via a great butchers, Gabriel Machin. I think they even do BBQ packs delivered to the campsite. I can thoroughly recommend.

Saturday was a quiet day and an early night. Just as well as the alarm on my Fitbit didn’t work and we were late rising for the next leg of this post-summer trip…

July tour 2022 – Trip Summary

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July tour 2022
DateLocationDuration
30th June 2022Woodbury, East Devon
30th June 2022Longleat Caravan Club Site80 miles / 2.5 hours
04th July 2022Newton Grove CL site, South Newington, Banbury82 miles / 2.5 hours
11th July 2022Broadway Caravan Club Site30 miles / 1.0 hour
15th July 2022Devizes Caravanning and Camping club site61 miles / 2.0 hours
17th July 2022Old Oaks Touring site, Glastonbury40 miles / 1.5 hours
19th July 2022Woodbury, East Devon61 miles / 2.0 hours

July 2022 tour – Glastonbury

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Today, after an even shorter drive from Devizes, we arrived at Glastonbury. We will be spending the next few nights at one of the best campsites in the UK. Old Oaks Touring and Glamping park is an adults only site situated a 1.5 mile walk from the centre of Glastonbury and a shorter walk to Glastonbury Tor. It is extremely popular and very challenging to secure a booking – we had managed just two nights!

Old Oaks Touring Park, Glastonbury
Entrance to Old Oaks campsite
Old Oaks Reception and shop

First impressions are excellent. Large spacious pitches, separated by hedges and large grassed areas, this site eludes space, privacy and tranquility. We didn’t figure out all the pitch options although ours was fully serviced and only the second rung up the ladder of luxury. Plenty of space and nice and secluded with hedging on either side.

Our pitch at Old Oaks
View from our pitch at Old Oaks, Glastonbury

The shade was perfect for surviving the extreme heatwave which is now upon us.

Heatwave 2022, Glastonbury

The amenity blocks are just the best we’ve seen in the UK – tiling and facilities one would be proud to have at home. A sofa and chairs at the entrance to the amenity block to relax while you wait for the washing to finish or the other half to finish washing the pots!

Entrance to the amenity block

There’s also a well-stocked shop and fishing lake.

Fishing lake at Old Oaks, Glastonbury
A dog shower?!?!?!, Old Oaks, Glastonbury

We don’t expect to be doing too much over the coming days as the daytime forecast is closing in on 40 degrees. We had early 30s today and then a rain shower on our walk around the woodland, fishing lake and chicken pens.

And a rain shower, Old Oaks, Glastonbury
Chickens at Old Oaks, Glastonbury

After a relaxing few nights at Old Oaks, we headed home to East Devon, bringing our July tour to a close and a busy time ahead to sort out our somewhat neglected garden.

July tour 2022 – Devizes

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A couple of hours drive south from Broadway and we arrived at the Caravanning and Camping club site at Devizes, spot on 1pm.

This is our third visit to this site and on both prior occasions we’d been allocated the same pitch – not today though!

Our pitch at Devizes, July 2022

We were quick to set up with the sun canopy awning and then I caught a bus into Melksham to meet Paul at the Wetherspoons.

Joe and Paul at the Bear, Melksham

We continued refreshments into the evening with a trip to Holt and a BBQ plus music at the Tollgate Inn, Holt.

Music by Ben & Zaid from The People’s String Foundation
Tim, Nicola, Paul and Joe at the Tollgate Inn, Holt
Joe and Moe at the Tollgate Inn, Holt

Saturday was another lazy day, spending most of the afternoon catching up with Paul and Andrea at their place in Melksham. In the evening, we had a great meal at the Three Magpies, just outside the caravan site.

Tomorrow we head still further south, to stay in what is perhaps considered one of the best campsites in England.

July tour 2022 – Broadway near Evesham

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A leisurely start to Monday and we left Newton Grove sometime after 11:00am. Google Maps was spot on and we arrived at our new site just a couple of minutes early, having been un-successful in finding anywhere nearby to delay our arrival a few minutes.

The Broadway CAMC site was close to, if not an actual, sellout. A very hot and sunny day and we popped up the sun canopy for our few days here.

Broadway CAMC site

In the evening, we ordered wood-fired pizza from a visiting catering firm. The pizzas were however, a little disappointing – they needed to have been left a little longer to crisp-up.

Tuesday was Joe’s birthday and the entire day had been meticulously planned by Moe.

Making the bacon butties for breakfast was Joe’s only contribution to the day.

Bacon butty birthday breakfast

Around 11:00am we headed to the GWSR railway station at Broadway with day rover tickets each.

Broadway Station

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a volunteer operated heritage railway in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire offering a round trip of 28 miles. It uses part of the route of the former Great Western Railway’s main line from Birmingham to Cheltenham which used to run via Stratford-upon-Avon.

It now operates steam and heritage diesel trains between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Cotswolds. The line commands wonderful views of the nearby sleepy hamlets and villages, with outstanding outlooks across to the Malvern Hills and beyond

Our first train of the day

Our train took us to Toddington where we joined a complimentary tour of the workshop and yard. All the GWSR engines are kept here in one of two sheds – the diesel shed and the steam shed.

As well as the engines on duty for the day, there are more in the sheds at various state of readiness and re-construction.

Heritage diesel engine undergoing paintwork restoration
On-board a diesel engine
In the steam shed
Various nameplates; Many original and of value

Our second train (again steam) took us down the line to Winchcombe where we had lunch at the station cafe.

Second Steam train – P & O
Lunch at Winchcombe station cafe

Finally, we headed to the end of the line at Cheltenham racecourse before the return journey to Broadway.

As is often the case now, many pubs and restaurants are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so tonight, Moe had booked a table at the Swan Inn, Broadway. Food was good, service average – again struggling to find enough workers.

Meals at the Swan Inn, Broadway

Thursday we headed to Tewkesbury and spent a few hours looking around the town and the Abbey, in excess of 900 years old. Tewkesbury Abbey is also the Parish church, an impressive building and one of the largest parish churches in the country. The square Norman tower is reputed to be the largest in the world.

Tewkesbury Abbey with its large square Norman tower
Tewkesbury Abbey

The 14 gigantic columns are Norman and the elaborate vaulting is 14th Century. Masons’ marks can be seen on some of the pillars.

14th Century Nave

The Abbey’s font has a 13th century base. The bowl and ornate wooden canopy were fitted in Victorian times.

The Font

The gigantic cast iron heater used to run on more than gas. In bygone days, these would glow red from the coal fire within.

Here you can look up and see the sun, an emblem of the House of York. It was put there as a memorial to their victory over the House of Lancaster in the battle of Tewkesbury, 1471.

The Quire
Walkway around the church roof

There are some remarkable and intricate stone carvings to be seen.

Intricate stonework

There are many alleyways and passages around Tewkesbury. Sadly these aren’t as interesting or picturesque as one might imagine. We did stumble across allegedly the oldest Baptist Church in England.

Old Baptist Church
Oldest Baptist Church

It was a nice sunny afternoon and evening and we had a BBQ and salad for dinner.

Tomorrow we hope to leave at 11:00am for the next leg of our journey, somewhere south of Broadway.

July 2022 tour – Last days at Newton Grove

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Well, Sunday is our penultimate day at Newton Grove. Have to say we have had a wonderful stay at this site and a full 7 days off-grid. I’ll post another entry in the Caravan blog to summarise how we got on with the off-grid elements.

We think this is the nicest part of the Cotswolds. Very unspoilt and not one of the tourist honey pots like Bourton-on-the-Water. There are loads of lovely walks and an endless array of Cotswold stone pubs in which to while away the odd hour or two.

The off-grid stay has been a fraction of the price of staying on a Caravan and Motorhome club site and the remarkable thing is we probably enjoyed it more. No row upon row of endless white boxes each marking out their own bit of territory. We had a large 1 acre site (I’m guessing), with neighbours some considerable distance away. The situation is idyllic and the guy who runs it, John, a great host.

Not only that but Newton Grove has a trailer mounted solar unit from which you can replenish your battery and charge the laptop or toothbrush – but not supply the van… We also made use of the on-site picnic tables and on one evening, the Chimenea

We’ve already signed up to the Caravan and Motorhome Off-Grid Group which has a plethora of information about how to survive off-grid and where to find the best sites. it turns out that the one of the two guys who set this up is John, from Newton Grove and the group has 20k members. This site will be hard to beat!

Today (Monday) we head off to another town in the Cotswolds, just an hours drive away…

Enjoying the Firepit at Newton Grove
Firepit close to our pitch!
Our pitch at Newton Grove CL
Views across Newton Grove CL

July 2022 tour – walk to Great Tew

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There are so many unspoilt, chocolate-box villages in this northern section of the Cotswolds. None more so than the village of Great Tew.

A 3 mile walk from our campsite at South Newington we arrived for lunch at the Falkland Arms in Great Tew right on opening time. We spent a good few hours watching the world go by before returning to the campsite for a well-earned evening BBQ. The minted lamb burgers from the specialty shop in Deddington were excellent.

The Falkland Arms, Great Tew
Views from the Falkland Arms
Heading down from Hill Farm towards South Newington