Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘campsite’

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!

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!