Lulu Van Travellers

Lulu locks down and an expensive month!

Posted on November 9, 2020 by mrdked

It’s been four weeks now since our last outing in Lulu, to Salisbury (see Lulu goes to Salisbury- When Marley Meets Alex!) and she has been feeling slightly neglected.

It hasn’t been an uneventful four weeks mind you, and Lulu’s neglect was about to change.

The Asthmatic C-Max

A couple of weeks ago, on our weekly pilgrimage to one of the German brand supermarkets in our neck of the woods, Kev’s car decided to splutter, wheeze and lose power. It’s only a 9 mile trip into Ammanford to the supermarket so we carefully carried on the journey, and drove through it. Once warmed up the car didn’t seem too bad but had little ‘grunt’ or , to be technical, no oomph!

It was possibly due, so Kev said, to the fact that in five years of ownership the car has only had one oil change. Apart from pads and discs for the MOT and occasional new shoes that was it!!

It has cost us very little to run over the five years and, even when we bought the car, it was advertised on the dealers website for £8500 but on the forecourt at £11999. Guess which price we ended up paying?! So we figured that if the car cost us a couple of hundred quid on a full service, it was long overdue and worth spending.

The car was duly booked in for a full service with the guys at Station Motors, Llandeilo for the following Thursday. Over two weeks later and the C-Max still hasn’t come back from said garage. It seems that she was a lot sicker than she let on!

£££££££££’s

We have sourced a new turbo vacuum pump from Germany and when that didn’t cure the problem, a new turbo from Day’s in Swansea. This was duly dropped into the garage on Friday afternoon by Kev and hopefully we should get the car back on Monday or Tuesday while being alleviated of some £1300!!

At least Lulu has been getting a daily eighteen mile run as Kev has been using her as his steed for the past fortnight. His lunchbreaks are currently spent away from the constantly shrilling phones.

Stretched out on Lulu’s bench seat while listening to his Audible book of ‘The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’, it’s all he can do to avoid complete snoozeville!!

Kev’s crappy automobile fortnight did not end with the C-Max when one of the boys came back into the office after lunch and proclaimed ‘looks like you’ve got a flat Kev!!’ After thanking that particular ray of sunshine, Kev went out for a look……….

Sure enough, Lulu was listing decisively towards starboard! A quick trip to Marc’s Motors confirmed the tyre was hiding a nail (well she has been parked outside a builders merchants for the past two weeks). A puncture repair was administered and £18.00 sucked out of Kev’s wallet.

Here we all go again!

While our car problems have been ongoing, we along with the rest of Wales have been ‘enjoying’ a two week period of ‘Fire-break’ lockdown. Oh deep joy! Thanks for that!

Minehead C&MC Site – So close & yet so far!!

All was not doom, gloom and treadmill use. Our lockdown here is to finish on November 9th and our break at Minehead C&MC is on the 13th, but then……….

‘Sorry, what was that Boris?’……………………….

‘A four week lockdown in England from the 6th?’……………………

‘Excellent, thanks very much!’

Go west young man, go west!

With our booking now duly cancelled, firstly by the club and then by us, Kev then set about finding somewhere to go, but where to?

Come Monday 9th, the ‘Firebreak’ lockdown in Wales will be lifted and so will any travel restrictions within the Principality. So the whole of Wales will be our oyster.

We don’t want to go too far though. As we both have wangled Friday off work, we can shop in the morning and if we limit ourselves to 60 – 90 minutes of driving we can be in Pembrokeshire or deep on the Gower peninsular and on a site by about 1PM.

We emailed four C&MC CL sites to check for vacancies for the weekend of the 13th. Two came back to us as not reopening in 2020 (I hope they recover to reopen for next season) and the other two confirmed that they did indeed have vacant pitches.

So we have duly booked ourselves onto Woody Kiln Farm, Milford Haven.

We are so looking forward to another weekend away in Lulu – our last before the festive season. We then have the long drag of the run up to Christmas, our annual mind numbing stock-take in work and then our week long break in Lulu, over New Year in Norfolk. Just as long as Covid behaves itself between now and then.

Weekend fettling

Having watched John (https://www.youtube.com/johnmandyontour) do this small enhancement to the front end of their Burstner, we thought that we could do the same to Lulu’s rather tatty and discoloured front grill. So about three hours of washing, scrubbing, drying, sanding, cleaning, priming and spraying with a matt black Plastikote paint followed. We have to admit it has smartened Lulu’s front end up no end. What do you think of the before and after photos?

Posted in Extras, Misc. Ramblings & Moans | Tagged C-Max, lulu, lulu vanlife, WoodyKilnFarm | Comments Off

Salisbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

Posted on November 5, 2020 by mrdked

Salisbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

Hudsons Field

Salisbury

Wiltshire

SP1 3SA

///postings.wheels.shuffle

When we arrived at the Salisbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site our sat-nav almost had us turning into the wrong entrance gate. Thankfully there was a car to our left, who must have been local, and pointed out another entrance a couple of hundred yards further on, which was the correct one!

Turning in, there seemed to be a few different directions we could go in. We identified the right one, but it isn’t that well sign posted. Even when you take the correct turning, it looks an unlikely path. Follow the path down past the rugby club and, once you get past the “no parking beyond this point” sign, the entrance to the actual site is on your left.

We were met at the gate, by one of the wardens, who went through the check in procedures, and directed us to the available pitches. We pitched up, made a cup of tea (of course!) and some lunch, and waited for the rain to stop, so we could explore the area

The campsite is right at the foot of the site of Old Sarum. The original settlement is believed to date back as far as 400BC, and was occupied through to the 1400’s, when it moved to Salisbury as we know it. The view from the site to Old Sarum is nearly as good as the view from Old Sarum of the site, and beyond.

Salisbury is within an easy mile and a half walking distance from the site, along the A345.

This is a small site, well kept, with good sized pitches. It sits alongside Hudson’s Fields, which has both rugby and football pitches, with plenty of space to walk your dogs, or yourself! Popular with runners, it has paths running around the perimeter and, apparently, a river walk into town, although we didn’t manage to find it! There are a couple of service points on the site, fresh water, and one black waste point. There are shower blocks, washing up, and laundry facilities, but they are all boarded up at the moment, and as far as we know, for the duration. The weather was horrendous the weekend we were there and, after getting a drenching on the way in to town, we decided to get the bus back. Very convenient, £5.00 for both of us, and Marley, and it stops right outside the entrance to the site!

The cost was £42.00 for two nights, with EHU. This is not the best site we’ve stayed at, but it’s a nice size, with good pitches and well kept. Its best point is definitely its position and, for that reason alone, we would probably use it again.

Posted in Campsite Reviews, Reviews | Tagged Marley, Stonehenge, trigano tribute | Comments Off

Beaconsfield Caravan and Holiday Park – A Review

Posted on November 1, 2020 by mrdked

Beaconsfield Caravan & Holiday Park, Upper Battlefield, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 4AA

www.beaconsfieldholidaypark.co.uk

///husky.spreading.blogs

After a longish (for us), 4 hour trek down the M6 and M5 from Clitheroe, we turned off onto the A55 and headed back into Wales. Briefly!

As we made our way down to Shrewsbury we dipped across the border into England and then back into Wales again a few times.

We found Beaconsfield easily enough. It is located in Upper Battlefield, just off the A49 – Shrewsbury road.

Additional history bit!

Upper Battlefield is the site of the 1403 battle between King Henry IV and Harry ‘Hotspur’ Percy. 21st July 1403 wasn’t a great day for Hotspur as he was killed on the field of battle and his corpse was taken to Shrewsbury for all to see.

He was then transported to London where, treated as a traitor to the crown, he was quartered and his parts despatched to the four corners of the realm for people to be shown what happens to traitors.

Thankfully, the village and its surrounds are much more serene in the 21st century than they were in the 15th. Must be due to lockdown & social distancing!

Arrival at Beaconsfield

The entrance gateway to Beaconsfield is wide and a long sweeping, tree-lined driveway leads past the parks new bar / restaurant – ‘The Croft’ and into the park itself with reception immediately on the left.

Social distancing and Covid precaution measures abound and we quickly check in. We are given keys to the shower / wc blocks, told that the indoor pool is available for private bookings only and we are also told that we can pitch anywhere away from the super pitches on the lakeside. We are only to pitch on a hardstanding though as motorhomes and campervans are not allowed on the grass for obvious reasons.

The park itself is beautifully kept and landscaped. There is plenty of shade around the perimeter pitches from the mature trees and hedgerows. There are log cabin holiday homes to hire or purchase together with a number of seasonal touring pitches but there does seem to be plenty of space around so there is never a feeling of being hemmed in.

In fact the park was about two thirds full when we were there but is so well spaced out that social distancing around the park and in the facility block was never a problem.

There is a large fishing lake on site and day permits can be purchased from reception for £5.00. A row of ‘super’ 16amp pitches border one end of the lake shore.

All pitches are large and flat. They are fully serviced and are of fairly fine compacted gravel. We did find that we needed our long, 25mtr, hook up lead for the first time this holiday though – so that might be something to bear in mind.

We found that all of the staff and owners to be really friendly, welcoming and hard working and especially the staff in The Croft where there is a table service only policy at present. They must walk MILES and MILES during a shift with smiles that never waiver!

The Croft

Just on the left as you exit the touring park is the, new in 2019, bar / restaurant – The Croft. This is Beaconsfields a la carte dining facility and is housed in a beautifully finished modern building where there is plenty of attention to detail in the build, its finishes and its furnishings. The beer ( because we did try one or two) is well kept and cold. The wine selection is plentiful and the food is stunning. Not your usual ‘snip & ding’ offerings so often found on sites.

We have managed a holiday park, in a previous life, with its own bar / restaurant and have to say that it is hard, hard work, especially after a day of general park work, but these guys made it look easy. The service was equally attentive and seamless and carried out with a smile.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening at The Croft and followed it up with breakfast on the Sunday before we left for home

All in all, Beaconsfield has been one of our favourite stops so far during our van owning odyssey. The only site that we stayed on for two nights during our Yorkshire road trip.

The site is expensive – yes at £30.00 per night but once in a while – why the bloody hell not!!

Posted in Campsite Reviews, Reviews | Tagged Campervan Adventures, lulu, Lulu Van Travellers, vanlife | Comments Off

Acre Hill Farm CL- Lanes End- Clitheroe- Lancashire

Posted on October 29, 2020 by mrdked

Acre Hill Farm Lane Ends Bolton by Bowland Clitheroe Lancashire BB7 4PH

///stapled.value.decently

After the drama of the drive to our last stop, as described in our previous post Yorkshire Tour Day 6- Lulu reaches Wuthering Heights! the journey to Acre Hill Farm CL, Clitheroe, was the complete opposite.

The route took us quite literally over hills and down dales, and the scenery is spectacular. We were able to take our time and enjoy the views, stopping on the way for a very good cream tea in the pleasant, calm surroundings of the Ireby Farm Tea room and shop (thoroughly recommended!)

During dinner, the evening before we travelled to Acre Hill, we received a call to let us know that one of the main routes to the site was closed for roadworks. We double checked our route and, as a result of the call, saved potentially several miles, and an hour or so of sitting in traffic. This strikes me as service above and beyond the usual, a simple five minute call which just made our day easier! This pretty much set the tone for the site as a whole.

The final stretch of the journey to the site is up a steep hill. We were met at the gate by Vicky, who was the one who had rung Kev the night before, who showed us to our pitch.

We loved this site!

Situated where it is, it has stunning, endless, panoramic views. It’s a small site, just six pitches within the field perimeter, with one outside for larger vans. Once again this is a working farm but, unlike Marfit Head, you are separated from the farm by dense, green hedgerows.

There are no shower or laundry facilities, but there is black and grey waste disposal, and fresh water. To be honest the site is so far from “civilisation” the only thing you are going to be dressing up for is hiking over the beautiful hills in the area, or lounging outside your van admiring the stunning countryside, so the lack of the showers really isn’t an issue!

Cost for one night with EHU was £14.00, and YES we would absolutely come to this one again!

Posted in Campsite Reviews, Reviews | Tagged Acrehillfarm, Irebyfarmshop, lancashire, lulu, luluvantravellers, Yorkshireroadtrip | Comments Off

Teesdale Barnard Castle-C&MC site- County Durham

Posted on October 27, 2020 by mrdked

Teesdale Barnard Castle C&MC Site Lartington Lane Barnard Castle County Durham DL12 9BD

///slumped.behalf.recording

After an extremely hairy drive from our previous stop in Pickering (see Yorkshire Tour Day 6- Lulu reaches Wuthering Heights! for more details!) we were relieved to reach our sixth stop of the trip- Teesdale Barnard Castle C&MC site. It has to be said, if you are looking for a well organised, well kept, well staffed site, you won’t go far wrong with a C&MC site as they all, in our opinion, have all of the aforementioned in spades!

We were met, on arrival, at the window of the van, given our welcome pack with a map of the site, and advised which pitches were available, all without leaving the safe confines of Lulu’s interior. Having selected our spot, we returned to reception to pay our site fees, and collect our shower wristbands. With Lulu all set up, we had our customary cup of tea with biccies, and took a walk into town.

Unlike some of sites we’ve been to, this one is really close to town. Once you’ve crossed the main road (B6277), which is a wee bit busy, there are a couple of lovely, easy walks. The one we took takes you through woodland, along the river bank, and brings you out directly below the towers of the castle itself.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the town, I’m not gonna lie there was coffee, cake, and beer involved, before picking up some excellent fish and chips from Katie’s Traditional Fish & Chip Shop. The site is so close to town we managed to walk back and arrive at Lulu with our food still warm!

The site runs alongside the B6277, so there is some traffic noise, but not enough to bother us at all. The facilities, once again, were excellent. Really well appointed shower blocks, along with a laundry and washing up area, all of which were fully open, black and grey waste disposal, fresh water, and the usual reception and shop.

The cost for a gravel pitch, with EHU was £23.89. Some pitches are sloping, so you may need chocks. We really liked this site but, unfortunately, didn’t really like the town of Barnard Castle, so it probably won’t be one we will visit again.

Posted in Campsite Reviews, Reviews | Tagged C&MC, fishandchips, lulu vanlife, luluvantravellers, Yorkshireroadtrip | Comments Off

Marfit Head Farm C.L.- Saltergate- Pickering

Posted on October 26, 2020 by mrdked

Marfit Head Farm Caravan & Campsite Saltergate Pickering

YO18 7NR

///moons.aced.lowest

Marfit Head Farm is a decent sized campsite, with 5 Camping & Caravan CL pitches. Another one of Kev’s “in the middle of nowhere” sites, it was only a short drive from our previous stop at Foxholme, so we spent the day parked up in the, very reasonable and convenient, car park in the centre of Helmsley, before making our way to the site.

This is a full on working farm, with plenty of livestock about. There’s a couple of piggies, a small herd of goats, s large herd of beautiful white cows in the top field, and chickens! Lots of chickens! Anyone who has read our earlier post Yorkshire Road Trip Day 5 – Lulu and the chickens! will need no further explanation of the impact the chickens had on our day! If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth a look!

The day we arrived the owners were going to a family wedding and were, understandably pretty busy. We pitched up, set up the awning, and broke out the tea and Yorkshire Curd tart! The site is quite elevated, and catches the wind quite nicely thank you! The awning wasn’t up for long! We spent a pleasant couple of ours arguing with chooks, and watching the gathering clouds. The site had a visit from an ice cream van, which was a bit random(!) I have no idea if this is a regular occurrence but, obviously, we had to buy a couple of 99’s!

The grass, slightly sloping pitch, cost £14.00 for the night, including EHU. There is fresh water, and a black waste disposal, but no drive over grey water disposal, so we couldn’t empty our waste water tank. There are no showers, or washing up facilities.

We paid our site fees before we left in the morning, after a peaceful night, in spite of the close proximity of the main road, and the windy conditions, and made our way to our next stop. If you are looking for a quiet, out of the way site, this one’s okay! It probably wouldn’t be our first choice for a visit if we were in the area again, but it’s an interesting, reasonable little site, with great access to Helmsley, so it certainly wouldn’t be our last.

Posted in Campsite Reviews, Reviews | Tagged cl, luluvantravellers, vanlife, vanlifeadventure, Yorkshireroadtrip | Comments Off

Lulu on the road – views through her windows!!

Posted on October 25, 2020 by mrdked

Posted in Random Travel Photos, Reviews | Tagged Yorkshireroadtrip | Comments Off

Foxholme Caravan Park, Ryedale, Yorkshire

Posted on October 24, 2020 by mrdked

Foxholme Caravan Park,

Gale Lane,

York,

YO62 7SD

www.foxholmecaravanpark.co.uk

///resources.cake.slower

Kev does always seem to have a knack of pre-booking sites that are miles away from any sort of civilisation! ‘Twas ever thus with stop number 4 of our Yorkshire tour – Foxholme Caravan Park.

Foxholme is about four miles outside of Helmsley, just off the A170 towards Pickering, in Northern Ryedale, Yorkshire. It is neatly situated between the villages of Beadlam, Wombleton and Harome. The pitches are laid out to make the most of the fabulous views of the Howardian Hills to the west.

Pulling off Gale Lane, a long straight driveway leads directly to the reception building.

Dave, the site manager, was cutting grass when we arrived so we followed the sound of the mower and made ourselves known. We had a very warm welcome and Kev followed Dave into reception to check in and settle up for our nights stay.

Now bear in mind that the wc and shower facilities on site were closed due to the pandemic. Also as we eventually found out, we could not empty our grey waste as there was no drive over waste point. However, the price of a pitch for one night, midweek, with EHU and chemical waste disposal was still an eye watering £30.00! We did feel that this was excessive for the facilities available.

The site was not very busy at all with about 6 tourers and a couple of seasonal pitches occupied during our stay. The flat, gravel pitches are neatly laid out and very spacious. The grassed areas are also immaculate – a testament to Dave’s prowess with the ride on mower!

We had a pleasant evening stroll to a local pub (for details please see Yorkshire Road Trip Day 4 – Lulu goes Wombling) and a very quiet nights sleep. We woke in the morning to a misty view of the hills in the distance.

Dave was back on the mower again – there is something therapeutic about the rhythmic chugging of a ride on mower!

After we had packed up and emptied our cassette, we left Foxholme to visit Rivelaux Abbey and nearby Helmsley.

Would we stay at Foxholme Caravan Park again? Probably not – but only due to the price.

Posted in Campsite Reviews, Reviews | Tagged Beadlam, Foxholme, Helmsley, luluvan, luluvantravellers, Ryedale, SiteReview, wombleton | Comments Off

Hebden Bridge Caravan & Motorhome Club Site, Crag Vale, Yorkshire

Posted on October 21, 2020 by mrdked

Caravan & Motorhome Club Site,

Crag Vale,

Hebden Bridge,

West Yorkshire,

HX7 5RU

///relegate.though.famines

Leaving Chatsworths beautiful grounds behind, we pointed Lulu in a Northerly direction and headed for our next destination at Hebden Bridge.

We took our time with the journey with only 50 odd miles to travel so we again kept off the motorway and drove up on A roads through Holmfirth, Huddersfield and Sowerby Bridge.

Once again, we pulled onto an immaculately kept, clean and well organised site with large, flat pitches. We stayed in Lulu and the site managers came out to greet us. They told us where the available pitches were and where the waste disposal points were. We were given our welcome pack and left to pitch up. Having the site fees of £16.45 for gravel hardstanding with EHU, paid by card through Lulu’s passenger window avoided handling cash and this was the go to method of payment for most sites on our tour.

There are no toilet or shower facilities available on site so all visiting units need to be self sufficient in that regard but grey waste, water and chemical disposal points are situated at various locations around the site.

The site is situated on Cragg Vale, and a 10 minute downhill walk brings you to the village of Mytholmroyd with its selection of pubs, a supermarket and small shops. The Shoulder of Mutton is a reasonably priced, dog friendly pub with a great riverside beer garden.

Walking past the supermarket, a path takes you up onto the Rochdale Canal side towpath which can be followed for about 11/2 miles into Hebden Bridge www.penninewaterways.co.uk/rochdale. This is a delightful stroll through banks of weeping willows, past the dark hulks of old mills being reborn as apartments and numerous liveaboard boats of all shapes, sizes and ages.

Being a sunny Sunday afternoon and having just come out of an imposed lockdown, Hebden Bridge was very busy with it’s bars, cafes and restaurants full to bursting www.hebdenbridge.co.uk.

Overall, a great little site in a lovely location. We would definitely recommend this stopover.

Posted in Campsite Reviews, Reviews | Tagged Mytholmroyd, Rochdale Canal, vanlife | Comments Off

Chatsworth Park Caravan & Motorhome Club Site- Bakewell- Derbyshire

Posted on October 18, 2020 by mrdked

Chatsworth Park C&MC site Baslow Bakewell Derbyshire DE45 1PN ///trembles.enjoy.residual

After leaving Whitchurch Marina we headed for Chatsworth and our first C&MC site of the tour, Chatsworth Park C&MC Site. The first thing to point out is make sure you set your satnav with the CAMPSITE post code not the Chatsworth Park post code, as you could end up going around the grounds in circles for quite a while! (not that we made that mistake, of course!)

The site is lovely! The grounds are immaculately kept as, we find out later, they all are, and really well laid out. The pitches are a good size, and there are quite specific instructions on how to locate your vehicle on your allotted pitch.

On arrival you are issued with wristbands for the shower blocks, and a key to a “secret gate” located at the end of the site, which gives free, direct access to the grounds of the Chatsworth estate. From the gate it is an easy, short walk to the nice little town of Baslow. We recently discovered that, as C&MC members you entitled to a discount at The Wheatsheaf, Baslow, on production of your membership card! Unfortunately we found out too late to benefit ourselves, but hopefully someone else can.

One night on the site cost us £26.00 for a gravel pitch with EHU, for one van with two adults. The site has gents and ladies shower blocks, and an extra unisex WC for use when the shower blocks are full or being cleaned, all of which were fully open when we were there, with a wristband entry system. There is a laundry and pot wash area, and reception and small shop, carrying basic necessities. You can refill your water tanks, and empty both grey and black waste tanks.

They were not allowing visitors on the site, but we were there on Kevs birthday, and were able to arrange pick up and drop off with a local taxi firm with no problem. Overall the site is lovely, the access to the estate grounds is a huge bonus, and there are two good pubs, the Wheatsheaf www.wheatsheafpubbaslow.co.uk, and the Devonshire Arms www.devonshirebaslow.com (one of three pubs with the same name in a five mile radius! Make sure you get the right one!)