Aaron's Blog

Archive for the ‘Camping’ Category

For our main holiday this year, we went camping for a week (from a Monday to Friday) to Pitch Perfect which was near Longleat, as we were going to spend a couple of fun days there during our week.  

The campsite was really nice and our pitch was nice and big, in a corner of the camping field.  Due to Covid-19, the campsite wasn’t how it would normally have been as there was a limit on the number of people allowed in the toilet and shower block at the same time and there were also one way systems around reception.  Apart from that, it was mostly normal, which was nice!

As usual, the weather was wet when we turned up so had to set up our camp in the rain.  However, the rest of the week was fine and was very hot towards the end.  Taking everything down on the Friday morning was a nightmare as it was clear skies and really hot by 9am in the morning!  The good weather did mean that we were able to spend most of our time outside, which was obviously good for camping!  Most nights, we had a brilliant view of the stars and even the Milky Way as the campsite was a fair way away from any towns or villages so there was no light pollution.  On the final night there (the Thursday), we saw an amazing meteor shower.  All of the boys were up quite late and scanning the skies and we all saw loads of them.  It was great!

As mentioned, during two of the days, we went to Longleat for the very first time.  We had booked tickets a while ago as they had limited capacity due to Covid-19 but this actually made it better as there were obviously less people queuing for rides and to view the animals.  We visited Longleat on the Tuesday and the Wednesday and, luckily, the weather was dry although not particularly warm on occasions.  But we didn’t mind as it was quite nice to go around and not burn! 

On both of the days, we went through the drive through Safari first, which was absolutely brilliant! At the start of the Safari, there was a section that you could park up and get out to view some animals such as Zebra and Giraffe and to go in a shop, but we didn’t do this on the first day but did on the second.  Instead, we drove straight through to the animals and proceeded to drive through the Safari.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it but by the time we got to the monkey drive thru, we hadn’t decided whether to go through or not.  We had seen videos of people driving through there, as well as the issues they have shown on Animal Park, and the monkeys causing havoc and pulling parts of cars off! But we thought we would give it a go and hope that the monkeys wouldn’t destroy the car.  The boys loved it – they were wetting themselves all the way around the section!  The monkeys were all over the car and sat on our windscreen so we could see the monkey’s bum, which the boys found hilarious!  Luckily, nothing was pulled off of the car though a member of staff had to poke some monkeys with a stick to make sure they didn’t escape the enclosure as we exited it.  We carried on around but didn’t see Anne the Elephant until the second day but we had a great view of the Tiger cubs as we had stopped the car and they literally walked past the front of the car!  Amazing!  We also had great views of the Lions as two Lionesses ended up right next to the passenger door, drinking some water from a bowl.  It was a great Safari, on both days.  During the Lion enclosure on the second day, Coby decided that he needed a wee!  So in the end, he had to go in an empty drinks bottle as he couldn’t hang on and we were nowhere near the end!  Dear me!  Anyway, we would definitely recommend the Safari and we will definitely do it again.

On both days, after the Safari, we went around the rest of Longleat, which was fairly quiet as mentioned previously.  We had a great time walking around and looking at the animals and it was especially good to see the Koala bears, where there was a bit of a queue as only a few people were allowed in the building at a time, due to Covid-19.  We also went on the boat ride around the lake but did have to queue for an hour for that.  We just about saw the Hippos in the lake but I was a bit disappointed in it to be honest.  We also went on the train ride around the park, which was good fun.  The boys loved that as well!  We didn’t get chance to go into the maze, as you had a to book a time slot for that, and Longleat house was closed due to Covid-19, which was a shame, but we did have a good walk around the outside of it and took plenty of photos.  We had food on site both days, which was some of the nicest pizza that we had ever had!  Both days were great fun though and we will definitely come back again at some point soon!

On Thursday, we stayed at the campsite all day as the weather was glorious.  We played football, cards and a few other games and had a nice walk around the campsite.  Unfortunately, Aaron ended up getting ill due to the heat and sun, so he was sick in the afternoon and fell asleep with a cold flannel over his head!  After a snooze, he was fine again and made a miraculous recovery and scoffed his tea!  Strange!

On the Friday morning, we got up very early to pack everything up and had a proper breakfast bap from the breakfast van onsite.  It was a massive bap with everything in it and filled us up completely!  It was boiling already so we were roasting packing the reset of the tent up.

We had had a great week and would recommend the campsite for sure.  The owners were very welcoming and the site was nice and clean.  Longleat was great as well and we will be going back once Covid-19 has gone and the house is back open again!

For our main holiday this year, we went camping at a Park Dean holiday park in Mullion in Cornwall for 4 nights from Monday to Friday. Typically, the weather was really awful on our first day and caused lots of problems trying to setup the tent and everything else! It took us a good part of 3 hours to get sorted and it was a nightmare trying to get the tent up correctly in the high winds.  We were slightly lucky though, as it had been torrential rain all morning and early afternoon until we got there when it stopped! If it had been raining as well, I don’t know how we would have been able to put the tent up.

Anyway, we eventually got it up and got everything in and setup before having a wash as we were all hot and sticky as it was still a warm day. We had decided beforehand that we would eat out in the complex on the Monday, knowing we would be tired from the drive and effort with setting up camp. So we went to the pub/restaurant and had a nice meal and afters. The food was delicious, thank goodness, and we all scoffed it all! We then went into the entertainment area and managed to get some seats next to the Pool tables, but they were as far away as possible as it was really busy in there. It did allow Ben and myself to have a quick game though, which I won, but Ben played really well!  Eventually, we managed to get a bit closer but then ended up under one of the big speakers which was very loud indeed! We stayed there for a while and had a drink and watched the shows that were being put on (the usual sort of thing!) before we went into the arcade for a bit. The boys were desperate to go in there and had been going on about it all night. So we had a good go in there and got plenty of tickets to store until later on in the week when we would exchange them for some prizes.  There was only the occasional rain shower at this point, so we did manage to get back to camp and sorted for bed whilst it was dry.  The night was horrendous though and I barely slept, even though the boys slept through everything! The main issue was the wind. It picked up really strongly overnight again and the tent was shaking from side to side and you could hear the wind howling along the treeline until it hit the tent. There were also some torrential downpours of rain, so it was a very interesting night!

The next morning, we were able to get up and take in the surroundings a bit more. Our pitch was in a massive field where the pitches were dotted around the edges.  It was ideal for the boys as they had a very large area of the field to play in so they took advantage of this and spent a lot of their time playing football, throwing the vortex and other games.  We had a small toilet and shower portacabin in our field, with the main facilities in a field next to ours. Apparently, they had only been opened in the past few days so they were basically new, but they were very small and were not brilliant at all really. The only good thing was that the showers were electric which meant we could actually choose the heat instead of the usual showers where you press a button in and a stream of hot water comes out, which is way to hot for myself and the boys. So we were happy with this anyway!  We didn’t really do too much during the day as the weather was showery on and off and also still quite windy. We did have a little walk around the complex and went swimming in the indoor swimming pool, which was really good. It was nice and shallow so was perfect for Coby and the boys (if not the adults), so they were having a great time splashing around and interacting with the water guns that were there (it was a Pirate theme so had a big Pirate ship with various water guns coming from it).  It was very busy when we got there but we managed to get in, just about.  Afterwards, we had showers back at camp and had some food that we had brought with us for tea. We then went over to watch the entertainment again, which was mostly the same as the night before, and then went into the arcade. We managed to sit slightly closer this time, but it was still next to the Pool tables, so Ben and I had a quick match which I won again. 2-0 to me!!  In the arcade, Coby and I did win a Spider-man from the grabber machine, so we were very pleased with that! Aaron had also made a friend in the tent next to us at this point, so he played some games in the arcade with him as we bumped into him there as well. He was called Kane and is the same age as Aaron, so they got on very well! We then headed back to camp and put the boys to bed. I don’t think we left the arcade until past 10pm so it was another late night. But just as Kelly and I got into bed, two search and rescue helicopters started circling over us. They were so close that the tent was shuddering a bit from the blades and I could see the lights on them through the top of the tent. It was an awful sound that was so loud it was ridiculous. This went on for over an hour an eventually stopped just after 1am when they either found what they were looking for or moved on somewhere else. Kelly and I got out of the tent to take a look at one point and were glad that we did as the sky was perfectly clear and we could see so many stars and even the Milky Way. We also saw some amazing meteors as it was the Perseids meteor shower!  Somehow, the boys slept through all of this mayhem, so they must have been shattered as it was so noisy! What a first two nights we had had!

On the Wednesday, we had planned to go to Flambard for the day, using our Tesco vouchers, but we woke up to torrential rain again so we decided against it. However, by mid-morning, it had dried up so we decided to get some discounted tickets to the Cornish Seal Sanctuary from reception and go there.  We got there around 11ish to find a massive queue to get in. We nearly turned around and left it but we hung on and went in and, luckily, it was fine once you got inside. The only trouble was, was that the weather changed completely and was now glorious sunshine and really hot! We hadn’t even thought to bring sun cream with us as it wasn’t great when we left the campsite. So we were all boiling and trying to stay out of the sun, which didn’t happen really! We had a good time there though, and went to a few of the Seal and Sea Lion talks. The boys really enjoyed it there as well, as there were other animals such as donkeys, ponies, otters and more, and also a play area where they could run around and do some climbing on the apparatus.  We had dinner there as well (some nice pasties) and stayed until closing time. We then headed back to the car and decided, as the weather was so nice, to go for a drive to The Lizard, as myself and the boys had never been there before. It was really busy there but we parked OK and walked down to the Lizard Point, which was a bit scary really! We had to keep a tight hold of Coby as he tends to trip over and be silly and we obviously didn’t want him falling down the cliff face! We had a nice walk along there and down to the old Coastguard hut and then back up the hill. The view was amazing and there were lots of Dutch people around, strangely! There was also a guy taking photos on the edge of the cliff with his little boy next to him, on the cliff side of him. The boy was so close the edge of the cliff that we couldn’t watch in the end! We also wandered over to the lighthouse but that was closed up for the night, which was a shame. We then headed back to the tent, all tired, sweaty and slightly sunburnt and relaxed for the evening. We all played catch with the vortex and with the rugby ball until it got too dark and so we went to bed.

Thursday was meant to be the nicest day of the week, so we had planned to stay on site all day, which we did. During the morning, we went in the outdoor swimming pool and had a splash around before heading back to camp for a BBQ for dinner, which was very nice. It was really sunny and hot at this point! The boys had a game of football and threw the vortex around with us before we went back to the indoor pool and had a splash there. At this point, Aaron’s friend had to leave so he said his goodbyes in the pool, which was a shame. We headed back to camp for a wash and some sandwiches for tea before we went to see the entertainment for our final evening.  Before this, we did manage to pack some of our things up, as we had to be off our pitch by 10am the next morning! The entertainment was much better this time as it wasn’t very busy for some reason, so we got a good table with a good view. They even had a Danger Mouse show, which we enjoyed! I had my final two games of Pool with Ben and beat him on both, but he was getting better each day and pulled off some excellent long shots! The final score for the week was 4-0 to me. After all that, we went in the arcade to use up our final few pounds and pennies and intended to get our tickets in the machine to claim our prizes, but one of the ticket machines was broken and people in front of us decided to take bags and bags full of tickets to process. So we must have been stood up for 35 minutes or more before we gave up! The prize desk had also closed at this point so we had wasted a lot of time there! The boys all had great fun in the arcade all week and spent too much money really!  We headed back to the tent and to bed but Kelly and I were kept up, yet again, until the early hours of the morning! This time, by a shrew or something like that burrowing under our tent. We had heard a scratching noise and thought it was outside but eventually we stuck our heads out from the sleeping pod and heard it right in front of us and saw a lump under the tent. The animal had managed to get half way across under our tent, either beneath the ground sheet as well, or above the ground sheet and under our tent flooring. We ended up having to block it off to try and get it to turn around again. It was so slow and we gave up in the end and went back to bed and tried to ignore the occasional scratching! Luckily, it had gone by the morning!

We had to be up very early on Friday as, like mentioned above, we had to be off the pitch by 10am.  We just about managed to do this and got everything in the car (just about) but Kelly and I had to have  shower as we were sweating buckets as it was a boiling day! To do this, I had to leave the boys on their own whilst I had a quick shower but, even though they promised to be good, when I got back, there was tears and shouting, so I was very mad with them. Anyway, we stopped in the arcade again on the way out and, again, had to wait for annoying people to empty bags worth of tickets into the machine, before we could get ours and chose the prizes that the boys wanted. Eventually, we got it all done and they were all happy with what they had got! Phew! So, we made our way to Flambards for the day and had a wonderful time there! We went on loads of the rides and the boys absolutely loved it and wanted to go again very soon! Kelly went on a big swing ride with Coby and Ben whilst Aaron and I went on the Log Flume (I have got a bit braver now!). We did this several times in a row and Kelly ended up making herself feel quite ill! We ate food there as well and managed to walk all around the park, including through the Victorian village exhibition. It was lovely and quiet as well, so we were able to basically go from ride to ride without really having to queue. I also went on the Hornet roller coaster with Coby 3 times in a row, just before closing time, which he loved! The day was really great but went way too quickly for our liking. We then had to get back into the car and I drove home and that was our week camping!

So, we had had a very mixed week! We had some awful weather to begin with but it turned out really nice towards the end of the week.  The facilities on the site weren’t that great though, which was a shame. They could have done with a much better, and cleaner, shower and toilet block in our field. However, the swimming pools were really good and the bar/restaurant was nice as well. The entertainment complex was good apart from they had a little bar there so you had to queue up for ages to get a drink. We probably won’t go there again as you could tell camping was low down on their facilities priorities list but we had had a nice week all in all and the boys really enjoyed it as they managed to sleep through all the dramas during the night!

At the end of June, we camped at Whitehill Country Park in Paignton again, the same as we did last year. Alex, Josh, Caleb and Sophia joined us as well, and it was a very nice weekend!

I had the day off on the Friday so Kelly and I were able to go up as soon as we were allowed on the pitch and setup the tent. It was quite windy so we had an interesting time trying to put the tent up! We did it though, and it was hot in the sun. I left Kelly to it and went back and picked the boys up from school and took them straight to the campsite. Kelly had finished everything by then so we headed straight for the outside pool for a swim. It was lovely in the pool and nice and quiet as not many people had arrived by this time. We then went back to camp and Alex and Josh arrived so we started up a BBQ for us all to eat. We then relaxed for the evening!

On Saturday, we went swimming in the morning, but it was a bit more overcast at times although the wind had dropped. We had some fun in the pool before heading back to camp for some food. During the afternoon, we went for a walk around the park and to the two playgrounds where the children could play. It was much warmer and sunny in the afternoon so we were quite hot! We were meant to go back to camp and change before heading out for tea but we were already down there and it was getting close to tea time, so we went straight to the bar and got a table outside and ordered our food. The food was very nice again! We then went in for the evening entertainment, which was basically the same as last year. Coby was up dancing again and taking part, but Ben and Aaron held back, apart from one dance when they managed to get a lolly each! Tut! We then stayed for Bingo and was number away from getting £20, before heading back to camp to relax before bed, including kicking the ball around until it got too dark!

Sunday was our final day camping so we relaxed for most of the morning before heading off to the pool again before lunch. We had a big breakfast to finish off the food that we had left, so we were all fat and full! It was much cooler on Sunday so the pool wasn’t as warm unfortunately. We still had a good paddle though! We then went back to the tent and changed and gave the boys some food, as they were hungry again by now. We then had to start packing the tent up to go home. This took a while and was awkward again as the wind had picked up for the afternoon! We eventually did it and shoved everything back into the car, somehow! On the way home, we all stopped by the entrance and had an ice cream, as we hadn’t had one all weekend. The children then had a short play in the playground before we headed off home.

We had all had a good weekend and the weather was OK apart from the wind! There were some issues with neighbouring tents overnight unfortunately, but we would definitely go back again, probably next year!

Over the bank holiday weekend in May, we camped at Woodlands again. This was our third year taking part in the rally and we all really enjoyed it again. The weather wasn’t as good as last year but it was dry all weekend although cold in the evenings and in the shade. I took a half day on the Friday so I was able to go up with Kelly for 2pm (when we were allowed on the pitch) to set up the tent. There were several other families from School who went as usual (more this year though!) so one of the other mum’s (Faye) went back and picked up her and our boys from School, so we could finish setting up. We also did a BBQ for a few of us that night as part of the arrangement for Faye to go and get the boys. Alex, Josh, Caleb and Sophia came again this year and so did Josh’s brother and family. All of us were in the same field which was great, so all the children were off playing as soon as they arrived again – only coming back for food and drink! I managed to watch Everton beat Burnley 2-0 in their final home game of the season on my phone that evening, so I was happy with that! After the boys had eventually gone to sleep, Kelly and I put out Aaron’s birthday presents for his 8th birthday on Saturday and put a few decorations up (banners and balloons), ready for the morning.

The following day was Aaron’s 8th birthday, so we started the day with him opening his presents (see his 8th birthday post here) before we had a nice cooked breakfast and spent the day in the park walking around and going on the rides. There were a lot of us this year so we were a big pack! Ben and some of his friends were allowed to go off on their own for a couple of hours at a time before meeting us again, as they are old enough to do this now, and have mobile phones in case of any problems. They were all fine, which was good. We did meet up with them for lunch at the very bottom of the park next to the sand pit but they didn’t stay long before wanting to go off again. Most of them were wet at this point as they had been on the water rides! The rest of us spent the afternoon walking around other areas of the park and ended up in the indoor soft play where I went around with Coby and a couple of his friends until I was sweating buckets! The weather was nice and dry but chilly in the shade but I wore shorts especially for the indoor soft play as I knew I would be sweating!  About an hour before closing, Aaron and I went down to the water rides and had a couple of rides on the Twister. We both got quite wet and it was very cold queuing up for the ride in the wind! We then met up with Kelly and Coby and some of the other families that had wandered down before walking back up to camp where we had a BBQ for tea. It had been a very nice day but the evening came in pretty cold indeed!

On the Sunday, we had some normal breakfast, washed and went down to the park again. The routine was mostly the same as the day before apart from we went to different areas of the park that we hadn’t been too yet. Ben and the others his age went off again on their own and met us for lunch in the same place. Ourselves and a few other families then went on the pedalos in the bottom lake and had good fun chasing after each other! haha It was hard work though as I was the only one who could reach the pedals in our boat (as Kelly was in the back with Coby) as Aaron couldn’t quite reach! My legs were tired after that! We had good fun in the Master Blaster zone, where I got whacked on the nose twice by a lady we didn’t know, and got wet again on the water rides. This time, I went on with Coby a couple of times, but he didn’t want to get wet so gave up. On the way back up to camp, we stopped and got takeaway pizza, which was as nice as it had been the last couple of years that we had been.  I then had a play around with the rugby ball with Coby and Reuben’s Dad, Brad. Nearly all of the other children were in bed fast asleep by 8pm as they were all shattered, so it was a much more settled and quiet evening. It was also even colder and there was frost overnight, so not at all like last year when it was boiling all day and all night!

The Monday morning was quite hectic as we decided to pack up our stuff and tent before we went down into the park. We had a big cooked breakfast to use up all of the remaining fresh food and set about packing up. It took us quite a while and we couldn’t fit everything back into the car, due to Aaron’s birthday presents, so we had to send some of our stuff back with other people! haha Once we had managed to pack everything away, it was nearly lunch time, but we walked down to the park and met everyone else in the big indoor soft play. The boys, and I, had a run around there for a while before we split off from the other families and headed over to the Master Blaster and the last few goes on the toboggan with Alex and Josh. We didn’t want to go on the water rides as we didn’t want to get wet as we would have to stay wet until we got home! Ben stayed with us for most of the day today as he had been off with his friends on Saturday and Sunday so we had hardly seen him during the time in the park.  We stayed on the dry rides until nearly 4pm when we had to leave and go back to the car and drive home. Coby even went on the big pirate ship and another big ride and loved it, but then got in a mood and started stamping his feet when it was time to go (he was tired out!).

We had all had a great weekend again, for our 3rd year at Woodlands Camping. All the families got on well and all the children enjoyed playing with each other inside and outside of the park.  The weather was nice and dry although quite cold in the shade during the day and very cold overnight to the point of frost! So not at all like last year when it was boiling all day and all night. We are already looking forward to next year!

For Ben’s birthday trip this year, he wanted to go camping, so we managed to get a good deal at Perran Sands Haven for the weekend before his birthday. Alex, Josh, Caleb and Sophia also camped for the weekend with us. The weather was good for the entire weekend until the Sunday afternoon when we had to pack the tent away, when it lashed down with rain and the wind picked up quite a lot. It was typical! Before then, it had been nice enough to go out in the outdoor swimming pool that they had, although it was very cold above the water! It was also noticeably dark early in the evenings as we ended up sorting the tent out in the dark on the Friday evening, which was an experience. We also had our new awning to put up which delayed things a fair bit as we didn’t know how to put it up properly. Luckily, our pitch was right next to a play area so the boys all went off and played in there whilst we were setting up camp. We didn’t have tea until late though as it seemed to take ages to get sorted.

On the Saturday, we went swimming in the morning and then, in the afternoon, some family came over to the campsite for some party nibbles. Nan Nan and Pops were staying on the site already in their caravan, and they were only a few rows behind us, and Alex and Josh had the pitch right next to us, so it worked out very well. Mike, Vicky, Charlotte and the kids also came and so did Gramps and Nanny Helen. All the children were playing together and they scoffed all the food, which included hot dogs. Aaron and I also went for a walk with Gramps and Nanny Helen to the main area of the site to show them the arcade, shops and restaurants, etc. Once everyone had left, we relaxed for a bit before we went for tea in the BBQ Grill restaurant with Alex, Josh, Caleb, Sophia, Nan Nan and Pops. The food was very nice, and so were the cocktails! After the meal, Nan Nan and Pops went back to their caravan and we went to the evening entertainment, which was interesting but funny. After we had got back to camp and gone to sleep, we were woken in the night by some rustling in the awning. We knew there were gaps around the edges as we hadn’t set it up correctly but we got up and had a look and found a Badger in there! Kelly started opening the zips to it and the Badger shot off out of the awning, past the park and off into the sand dunes. The rascal tried it again 20 minutes later but then didn’t come back again. The boys didn’t even wake up during it all so we had to tell the in the morning! hahaha

The following day, we went for a swim again in the morning and then went in the arcade for a little while so the boys could spend their change. I had a game of Pool with Ben and he played very well and pulled off some really good shots. I was surprised but it did make me very proud! The boys won a few things from the penny machines and had a good go on the games, before we went back to camp, had some dinner and then started to pack things up again. We didn’t leave until late afternoon so stopped in for McDonalds on the way home. All of the boys were tired out and so fell asleep on the journey home!

We had all had a good weekend and the weather was good for the most part, but our night visitor on Saturday was a bit of a surprise! We would definitely go there again as the facilities were excellent and clean.