Travel to Burford - 31st Oct ‘19

The Littlehampton site has really thrown me a curved ball. The facilities were great with everything clean and to hand. The wardens were nice enough and very efficient - they even gave me a free adapter to go with the TV aerial cable I purchased from them but .... they also epitomised everything I dislike and despise about Caravaners and Caravan Club site. Their need for rules and everything to be the same! I also think the lack of pitch borders / shrubs might also be a problem in the busy summer months. As if to sum up exactly what I mean, we owed them £16 for the TV wire and I promised to let them have it before we left. I found this on the door this morning ...

More boarding school than campsite?
We got packed up, showered and another nourishing mushroom omelette. The mushroom omelette is fast becoming the “go to” food of Brunnehilda trips - well for me anyway!

It was a nice easy journey up to Burford although once again that A27 corridor going along the south coast proves to be one of the busiest non-urban parts of the UK! We stopped at our usual haunt on the way up - Tott Hill Services just outside Newbury.

We arrived at about 3.00pm. What a difference ... the lady in reception was great fun and just said park wherever and however we like as long as we stay within our allocated space. My sort of gal ... my sort of site!

The Burford Caravan Club site is right at the gate of the Cotswold Wildlife Park. About 5 miles from Lechlade and 2 miles from Burford. Laura and the boys are due to be with us after trick and treating at home - about 9.30.

So at 3.30 we started putting Isabella up / the first time since Lowestoft in late August! It took us 2 full hours - mainly because the pegs were so hard to get into the hard standing - my theory is that, as we have a door on the “wrong side”, the part of the pitch we were putting Isabella up has had few pegs in before.

We decided to pop into Burford for tea and found a wonderful pub on the Main Street - The Mermaid. Thursday night was pie and pint night for £10. Perfect - so I had 2 pints and a fish pie and Kim had a vegetable pie. They were both really nice - and all for 20 quid!!

Laura and the boys eventually arrived at 11pm. When they got here we realised that all the 230v appliances had gone off. When I checked I noticed the electrics had tripped and the leisure battery was only 20% full! So a mad scramble to find where the trip switches were. Found them eventually under a false floor in the wardrobe. Kim and I are sleeping in Isabella tonight with Lottie - should be an experience ?!

Petworth House & Chichester - 30th Oct ‘19

After 3 pretty full travelling days, it’s nice to be having a more relaxed day today. We both have colds and coughs so, even though we are sleeping well enough, the journeys have taken it out of us a bit.

The lazy morning and rather splendid mushroom omelette were appreciated equally as much. As I mentioned yesterday, the site is immaculate and well run but then .... so was Colditz! Maybe the European laissez faire approach to campsite rules has turned me, but it all just feels a bit too clinical and controlled. Can’t really find anything to complain about though so I’ll just shut up!

The day is cold but pleasant. Even the odd ray or two of sunshine. We did also notice how dry it is down here. They clearly didn’t have the rain that we had in the last couple of weeks?!

We decided to go to a National Trust property this afternoon and, after consulting the book, we chose Petworth House. It was only about 15 miles away through the most beautiful of countryside - the South Downs.

The house is magnificent but rather too much like an art gallery and less like a home for our liking.
I’m clearly changing as I get older- when I was younger I was just in awe of these wonderful old buildings and the grand lives that the owners lived in them. Now I find myself getting quite cross with the clear inequalities and injustice of it all! It’s enough to make you vote Labour!?

The grounds were fabulous and we enjoyed a walk around the lake and the Capability Brown designed Pleasure Grounds just as much, if not more than the house tour.

The house is wonderfully placed right in the centre of the delightful little town of Petworth. You literally walk out the back door of the servants quarters and you’re at the top of the high street.

As the NT cafe was very busy we headed for town and found a great coffee shop called Coco Cafe and Sugar Lounge https://m.facebook.com/cococafeuk. The food was excellent and the coffees good enough to be Italian. I had a cheese ploughman’s which was a bit of a risk as I’ve had a few stinkers over the years - no need to worry it was perfect, especially the bread.

We squeezed in this food & drink break in between the house and the grounds. So after the long walk they were just about starting to lock up and we were one of the last out of a very busy car park.

We thought it would be a nice end to the day to visit Chichester. We managed to get a quick look around the Cathedral before a 5.30 evening service. It was all very atmospheric as we strolled around the cloisters and then the main street as shops were shutting down and restaurants getting busy.

We were more tired than hungry so we headed home on some very busy roads to Brunnehilda.
We fancied a cup of tea and film in bed - so that’s just what we did. How very decadent?!

The film was The Favourite with Queen Anne being played by Olivia Colman and Lady Marlborough by Rachel Weis. It was enjoyable but a bit of a sudden and unexpected ending. The one word film reviewer that is Mrs Pitts, summed it up as “strange”.

Ferry from Caen and Littlehampton - 29th Oct ‘19

Up early again and another familiar activity- packing up Brunnehilda in the drizzle /rain. By 7 we had left the campsite by 5 past we were in a rather chaotic series of queues. When we eventually got in it was a smashing vessel - but only seemed about half full.

It had 2 cinemas and a couple of restaurants. A bit of a misunderstanding and we missed the start of Downton Abbey so we settled down to an English breakfast, a bit of reading, a bit of napping and then a bit of lunch. A very easy and pleasant 6 hour sailing - arriving at Portsmouth at 1.15pm (local time!).

UK Customs seemed to be in overdrive - checking every van, motor home and caravan. The girl poked her head in Brunnehilda and got me to open the XC60 boot. We were confronted by a large body shaped bag with Isabella written on it in big letters - gulp, I braced  myself! Now I’m no customs officer but I would have thought given the circumstances a body shaped bag in the boot with Isabella written on it would have at least been worth a prod? It wasn’t! She glanced around the boot, thanked me and we went on our way - onto the M27 and Littlehampton. Only about 40 mins away.

The Littlehampton Caravan Club Site is exceptional nice. It’s clean, immaculately kept and laid out in straight lines with ample regularly placed facilities. A pleasant and extremely efficient lady told us exactly (and I mean exactly!) how to set up our van on the pitch. Nothing to complain about but I have to say I miss the French / Italian smile and casual instructions to park where and how we liked!

Set up is getting bloody quick now - like a Formula 1 team changing a set of tyres. We’ve only been caravanning for 4 months but we’ve probably done more set ups and pack ups than most would have done in 3 or 4 years!?

We found a huge Sainos - the current supermarket of choice- in nearby Bognor. And what a whopper, happiness definitely is a fully stocked Sainos. Walking round buying bread, milk, eggs and all the normal stuff we both noticed how much cheaper most stuff is in the UK!

We had a drive around Littlehampton as the Autumnal evening closed in. And blimey it’s bloody cold! We may be used to the rain but we’ve not had to face cold on the recent trip. So much so that we’ve had to read Brunnehilda’s heating system instructions again and get the fire / fan kicked off.

We found an Indian restaurant in the centre of town - the Little Magna. We literally walked in as they opened the door at 5.30. The waiter told us the chef was held up in traffic but he would only be 15 mins. 45 mins later he rushed in and we finally got our food at 6.45. It was worth the wait though. I had an excellent King Prawn curry dish and Kim’s Vegetable Malay was rather good too.

I’m currently reading Eric Idle’s autobiography. It’s a real giggle and full of very impressive celebrity stories. Not normally the stuff I like but I have to say he’s very funny - wish I guess you might expect

Back to Brunnehilda to warm up. A cup of tea, Spots on the sound system and a game of canasta.
Eat your heart out Mr Idle. Who needs drinking and partying stories with Mike Jagger, Robin Williams, Billy Connolly,  George Harrison and David Bowie when you’ve got that!?!

To bed dreaming of our Sanremo view out the kitchen window ....