Chatsworth

6th to 8th May 2016

Our second visit to the Chatsworth CC site, the first being a little bit earlier last year.  Last year Chatsworth house was closed, but we made sure it was open this time!

Friday

More and more sites seem to be introducing  a "no arrivals before 1pm" policy, which makes sense to us, but today we discovered the downside...a queue of caravans waiting to get in at 1.15pm.  There were about 6 in front of us, which meant check in took quite a bit longer than normal.

This panicked us into selecting just about the first non awning pitch we came to.  We're not sure about this site, the pitches seem to be very close together and the one we selected backed onto another pitch, so we had a motorhome in front of us and another one behind us.  We like to be tucked away in a corner.  It turned out to be quite a long way from the toilets, too!

Quite a lot of interest in our replacement bird feeder (having left the previous one behind on our last trip) but no new birds.

After setting everything up we decided to go for a stroll in the grounds of Chatsworth house.  This site is actually in the grounds and access is by way of a locked door, making the site seem like a secret, walled garden.

We ended up in the village of Baslow, which has a couple of nice but not very cheap pubs.  £13.60 for a pint and a gin and tonic!  Just one gin and tonic for J, before switching to a half of lager.  The sudden craving for gin and tonic is from our recent cruise around Italy, it was our drink of choice on board the ship.

We got back to the site around 6pm and had our first barbecue of the year.

Saturday

The main reason for coming here was to visit Chatsworth hours, so that is what we did.  We had thought about booking tickets online but were glad we didn't, as CC membership entitles us to £6 off, each.

The house first...

Then the gardens...

Note the blue skies, it was a lovely day.  We usually get sun burnt on the first sunny day of the year, but this time we were prepared with sun tan lotion,

The maze...much harder than it looks, we might never have made it if it wasn't for an aerial pic on J's phone!

We lazed around the caravan in the afternoon, and then, ignoring the warnings of heavy, thundery showers, we went for a walk along nearby Curbar and Froggett edge's.  Well, you didn't think we would get through the whole weekend without any rain, did you?

Picked up a couple of geo-caches on the way

The heavy rain, thunder and lightning never really arrived, although we did have to put on waterproof coats.  Not many people around, although it must be a popular place...there was an ice cream van in the car park when we arrived.

Got back to the caravan around 8.30pm and stayed in for the rest of the night.

Sunday

A gripping Archers omnibus, and Tom Hanks on Desert Island Discs, helped the journey home.

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, but we will get away again in a couple of weeks, before the next bank holiday.

Kendal

8th to 10th April 2016

A half decent weather forecast, nothing much to do this weekend, so a last minute trip to the much visited Kendal CC site.

Friday

Arrived dead on 1pm, which is the new earliest arrival time for this site.  The wardens were being quite strict, apparently, making people who had arrived earlier wait, but no such problem for people like us who take notice of the rules.

Lots of pitches to choose from.  The trees have been thinned out a bit since we were last here, or maybe it's just the lack of leaves on trees at this time of year, but the site felt more open than previously.  Our bird feeder was an instant success.  Normally birds won't come near it if we are outside, but today they were much bolder than usual.  No new sightings, but plenty of the usual ones.

We sat outside enjoying the fine weather for a bit, then walked to a nearby bus stop and got the 555 into Kendal.

We've never really been to Kendal before.  It's a lot less touristy than other towns in Cumbria, which is not a bad thing, and we had a look around the castle, but we couldn't find any pubs we liked and we didn't stay out late.  Instead we got a bus back to the site and had fish and chips from the visiting van.  It started to rain in the evening, so we didn't go out again.

Saturday

The search for a static goes on.  There was one for sale at not too far away Newby Bridge caravan park.  Too expensive, fees too high and sold before we had even left the house, but we've only ever passed through Newby Bridge so we thought we would have a look at the site anyway.  There is a public footpath running through it.

A nice, quiet site, but too expensive for us.

We carried on to Bigland tarn.  Excellent walking conditions, but the ground was very boggy.

J finding a geocache 

Cute lamb pic!

Last year we found a really remote, newly opened caravan site in Lowick Green.  At the time there were only two caravans on site, and when we drove past it in the afternoon there were still only two caravans there.  All that is stopping us joining them is being able to find a good quality caravan, no more than three or four years old, and green.  There are plenty of affordable caravans around, but none in green!

We drowned our sorrows in the Rusland Pool hotel before heading back to the site, stopping off at Booths on the way.

After dinner in the caravan we were going to go to the nearby Strickland Arms pub, but it started to rain heavily so we had another night in.

Sunday

A particularly good Archers to entertain us on the way home.  We realised half way that we had left the bird feeder behind, so we will have to invest in another one before out next trip, which won't be until May because we are going on holiday soon - a cruise mostly around Italy.

Coming soon...

After the cruise we will probably try to go somewhere in Derbyshire, a break from the Cumbria.

Keswick

31st March to 3rd April 2016

So much for Spring.  Thoughts of barbecues and sitting outside the caravan were quickly set aside after a look at the weather forecast, which couldn't really have been any worse.

Having paid in full, and with no chance of a refund, we set off for Castlerigg Hall, determined to enjoy ourselves and hoping the weather wouldn't be as bad as they were predicting.

Thursday

It was!

It was ok when we arrived on our pitch with a view...

The blue sky was short lived, although it did remain nice for the remainder of the day.

We managed to have lunch sitting outside the caravan, and then headed into Keswick.  The usual route down the hill was closed, due to a collapsed bridge, thanks to the recent floods, but we made it.  Had a quick look around the town, then dinner in a Mexican tapas restaurant, followed by drinks in a couple of pubs.  Scored 23/40 in a pub quiz, but at least we didn't come last!  Of course, we forgot to take torches, so had to walk back in the dark, first using a torch app on J's phone, then a bright picture on the camera to light the way.

Friday

It was only raining a bit when we woke up, so we decided to make the most of the morning.  We drove to Dodd forest, hoping to see ospreys from one of two viewing points. No chance.  The nest was pointed out to us by osprey watch volunteers but we didn't see any birds on it or in flight.  It was a murky day.

A replica of the osprey's nest

We did manage to get to the summit of Dodd, 502 metres, so another Wainwright ticked off.

Stopped off at Booth's on the way back.  Badly affected by recent flooding, they had almost no frozen goods, but they did have nice beers and a bottle of Blackberry gin for J, which she had enjoyed in a pub the night before.

It started to rain heavily mid afternoon and it didn't stop.  Too wet to venture out, we spent the night in the caravan listening to the radio above the sound of the rain.

Saturday

Light rain when we woke up.  We had planned to drive to nearby Grange, then get a bus to Honister slate mine and walk back to the car, but we thought better of it.  We'll save that walk for another day.

We still drove to Grange, but then did a low level circular wall to Derwentwater and back.  It rained most of the time, sometimes heavily, and we got soaked.

A dead sheep in the swollen river at Grange bridge

In the evening we had dinner in the onsite restaurant and then a drink in the nearby Heights hotel, a place we have enjoyed in the past but which was a bit lacking in atmosphere tonight.

Sunday

Had a bit of a scare on the way home, when D noticed something flapping around in his door mirror.   We pulled into Lancaster services, but it was just the flap that covers the water inlet point, so no harm done.

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, we are going on a cruise around Italy soon so it might be a while before we get back in the caravan.