Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘camping’

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!

Last week, Aaron went on a 1 night Camp and Cook trip with his class at School. He had to take a bag with his clothes and sleeping stuff in to school and they got a bus from school to the place near Dartmouth. They were to sleep in a wooden hut for the night and he was in with a few of his other friends. One of his friends tried to sneak some chocolate in for a midnight treat for them all, but was caught by a teacher! ha

Year 4 Camp and Cookha The teacher didn’t take it all though, so they still had a little bit of chocolate! During the night, Aaron was, apparently, snoring very loudly which kept his friends awake and they were able to lift his arm up to look at the time on his watch without him noticing! That is typical Aaron! Any

way, he had a great time and enjoyed the activities that included den building, cooking pizza and bread over a fire and other general outdoors stuff like he does for Cubs. He was absolutely shattered and filthy when he got back though and had to go straight into the shower to clean off! 

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.