Trip report: A weekend in the Cotswolds
We hadn't used the camper much this year and with a holiday weekend coming up we wanted to get out into the countryside with it.
We have some little folding mountain bikes, so I wanted to see if it was feasible to take them with us - the roof seemed the ideal place to put them:
Squeeky wanted to come with us...
This August holiday weekend is always a nightmare on Britain's roads, especially if you are silly enough to try to head for the coast. So we decided to travel just 90 minutes west of us to the Cotswolds, and area of farming country west of Oxford.
We found a small campground on a farm that has an open field for camping and only accepts 5 campers at a time:
No toilet or shower, and since our camper doesn't have a bathroom built in, we set-up the 'poo tent' for only the 2nd time.
Time for dinner:
It rained most of the night and was very dark for most of the following day, but we decided to put the walking boots on and explore the area. This is Bliss Mill, which has now been converted into apartments:
We weren't too impressed by the countryside - not actually as nice as where we live, but it was a chance to get out of the house and relax.
However, riding around the camping field was as much use as we made of the bikes:
We'd had dark skies for the whole time on site, so the solar wasn't doing a great job of re-charging the battery. So to save a few watts we decided to have some romantic candle power instead:
On Sunday we headed off to the west where there are a line of hills in search of some scenery.
Villages that look like a painting on a box of souvenir chocolates:
Countryside to match:
We even found some cricket being played:
This is the entrance to Stanway House, which apparently has the countries tallest fountain at 91m
Notice the carved swan's head on the gate:
Back to the campground in time for the sun to come out and to get the disposable BBQ out.
My friend Butch phoned to say that since we were in the Cotswolds we were only an hour away from where he and Leila were in Andrew Baker's back garden because he was hosting a military vehicle show (his vehicles + guests). Butch and Leila had driven the M2 down to be there. So, we now had something to do on Monday :)
Butch had conveniently levelled the M2 to make a nice deck for relaxing on - it also made a good viewing platform:
No water to drive it in today, but you could always stand up top and pretend:
Lunchtime on deck:
The cab gets to a horrific temperature when driving - didn't stop them driving to Italy in it recently though:
We looked around some of the exhibits - I think a nice pop-up camper would look good on the back of this:
Meanwhile Butch looked for other potential toys (the M2 is for sale):
Andrew then got his toys out for a play:
Followed by a firing demonstration of various guns, starting with the smaller ones:
And moving upwards:
He did have a challenger main battle tank there too, but was resisting being goaded into firing that.
So a nice little trip away, and all on less than half a tank of diesel :)
Steve.
We have some little folding mountain bikes, so I wanted to see if it was feasible to take them with us - the roof seemed the ideal place to put them:
Squeeky wanted to come with us...
This August holiday weekend is always a nightmare on Britain's roads, especially if you are silly enough to try to head for the coast. So we decided to travel just 90 minutes west of us to the Cotswolds, and area of farming country west of Oxford.
We found a small campground on a farm that has an open field for camping and only accepts 5 campers at a time:
No toilet or shower, and since our camper doesn't have a bathroom built in, we set-up the 'poo tent' for only the 2nd time.
Time for dinner:
It rained most of the night and was very dark for most of the following day, but we decided to put the walking boots on and explore the area. This is Bliss Mill, which has now been converted into apartments:
We weren't too impressed by the countryside - not actually as nice as where we live, but it was a chance to get out of the house and relax.
However, riding around the camping field was as much use as we made of the bikes:
We'd had dark skies for the whole time on site, so the solar wasn't doing a great job of re-charging the battery. So to save a few watts we decided to have some romantic candle power instead:
On Sunday we headed off to the west where there are a line of hills in search of some scenery.
Villages that look like a painting on a box of souvenir chocolates:
Countryside to match:
We even found some cricket being played:
This is the entrance to Stanway House, which apparently has the countries tallest fountain at 91m
Notice the carved swan's head on the gate:
Back to the campground in time for the sun to come out and to get the disposable BBQ out.
My friend Butch phoned to say that since we were in the Cotswolds we were only an hour away from where he and Leila were in Andrew Baker's back garden because he was hosting a military vehicle show (his vehicles + guests). Butch and Leila had driven the M2 down to be there. So, we now had something to do on Monday :)
Butch had conveniently levelled the M2 to make a nice deck for relaxing on - it also made a good viewing platform:
No water to drive it in today, but you could always stand up top and pretend:
Lunchtime on deck:
The cab gets to a horrific temperature when driving - didn't stop them driving to Italy in it recently though:
We looked around some of the exhibits - I think a nice pop-up camper would look good on the back of this:
Meanwhile Butch looked for other potential toys (the M2 is for sale):
Andrew then got his toys out for a play:
Followed by a firing demonstration of various guns, starting with the smaller ones:
And moving upwards:
He did have a challenger main battle tank there too, but was resisting being goaded into firing that.
So a nice little trip away, and all on less than half a tank of diesel :)
Steve.
