Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘thunder’

Over the final Bank Holiday weekend in May, we stayed at a Lodge just outside of Tiverton. It was basically Kelly’s birthday present. The lodge was on a farm and was part of 3 other buildings that were rented out but we were on the end next to a large field with sheep and a pond. The farm also had a proper tennis court and a games room, so it was very nice really. The only problem that we had was that our Lodge didn’t look to have been cleaned down on the outside as it was covered in massive spiders webs and there were quite a few cobwebs in the corners of the rooms inside. Oh and the sheep woke us up at 4am each morning by ‘baa..ing’ extremely loudly! 😉 There was free wi-fi though, even though it was quite sketchy and kept cutting in and out.  We had a good weekend there though and visited several places. 

On the Saturday, we went into Tiverton and had dinner at a Wetherspoons before having a walk alongside the neighbouring river before heading to Wimbleball Lake, which was on Exmoor. The weather wasn’t great unfortunately but was dry enough for us to have an ice cream and go for a walk along the lakeside path. Ben managed to get stung along the way though so wasn’t very happy and Coby was moaning as he didn’t want to walk. So the usual then really! On the way back to the car, we had a look at the campsite and the boys had a play in the outdoor wooden play area for a little while, before we headed home. It had come out really hot in the evening, especially as we were trying to play Tennis, and then we started to hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance (which had been forecast). Typically, the thunder and lightning started as the boys went to bed, although Ben, who was in his own room, came out to watch it with me as he was a little worried being on his own. Aaron and Coby managed to sleep through most of it though. It didn’t last too long and Ben went back to bed, although it did come back a bit again in the night.

On the Sunday, we didn’t really know what to do as the weather was quite iffy and rained each morning, but we eventually decided to go swimming in Tiverton. It was a nice pool and the boys all enjoyed it there. We then ended up at Bickleigh Mill, just outside of Tiverton and had a look in there and had an ice cream. The weather was quite hot and sunny by now, which was typical! At the same place was the Devon Railway Centre, which is where we had hoped to go before we woke up to rain that day. The boys really wanted to go in but it was way too late for that so we decided that we would go there on the Monday instead, even though we had planned to go home in the morning. After leaving here, we stopped off at the Great Western Canal (as it was on the way back to the lodge) and had a very short walk along the canal and the boys played in a brand new play area there, before driving home for tea again. We did some packing in the evening and we all went to play Tennis again and the boys in the games room before heading to bed. Luckily, there was no thunder or lightning that night!

On the Monday, we had to be out by 10am but for some annoying reason, the owner came over to us at about 930am and asked if the cleaner could go in and strip the bed as ‘they wanted to get them washed and dried in the nice weather’. We weren’t very impressed by that but couldn’t really say no. So we eventually left at 10am, after making sure we had picked everything up, and drove to the Devon Railway Centre and spent the majority of the day there. It was boiling hot with not a cloud in the sky, so the weather was too perfect really! The place was really nice and we had lots of rides on the steam and electric trains and the boys had a good play in the soft play area. They also had a model village and a nice picnic area where we had our sandwiches for dinner. They had lots of little model railways in an old train carriage, which was great, but so hot in there due to the weather! We had to make sure we put plenty of sun tan lotion on all day! Whilst we were having our picnic, Ben got bitten by a horse fly, so he was in tears again. Luckily, Kelly has some cream on her to put on it. On our way out, we stopped in the shop and the boys bought something each with their money. It took ages for Aaron to decide, but he eventually settled on something! We then got back in the car and drove home.

We all had had a nice weekend and enjoyed the quietness of the lodge (apart from the sheep and thunder) and went to some nice places. The lodge was OK, although it had lots of cobwebs outdoors and a few indoors, and the farm was nice with the tennis court and games rooms. It was a shame that the owners were a bit strange though!

The weekend after Kelly’s birthday, we all went Glamping in a Glampod on a nice camp site just outside of Ilfracombe. It was called Mill Park and it was a lovely place to stay. 

We managed to get the Glampod for a good price as it was a last minute decision so we went straight from work on the Friday, which was a really hot and sunny day. The trip was straight forward and not really busy at all, which we were relieved about as it was a Bank Holiday weekend, so we got there in very good time. We picked up our keys and drove through the site until we got to the ‘Pod and parked up in our space just outside of it and unpacked.

The Glampod was basically just a wooden hut with enough room for us all and a small corner shelf with decking outside and a gas BBQ provided. It overlooked a lovely big fishing lake and you also had a good view back over the campsite. Behind the Glampod was a nice big field which the boys loved as there were lots of rabbits and a fox moving around the outskirts in the early evenings. So they had great fun exploring! It was only a 2 minute walk down the road to get to the toilet and shower block as well, so we were ideally situated.

Once we had unpacked and setup our airbeds for the night, we made some food on the BBQ and enjoyed some nice burgers and snacks in the hot evening sun. It was getting on in the evening at this point but we decided we had enough time to nip down to the onsite bar and get a drink. The seating area outside of the bar also had a really nice play park for the boys to play in, so they had great fun playing there until it started to get dark. We then walked back to the Glampod and the boys changed and went to sleep. They actually went to sleep fairly quickly as well as they (Ben and Aaron) had been to school as well so were tired from that. Kelly and I then got washed and ended up sitting outside in the dark on the decking until well past 11pm. I was still out in my shorts and t-shirt at that time as it just wasn’t cold at all.  It was really lovely and very relaxing! Little were we to know what was in store that night!

After we had gone to sleep, I woke at about 1:30 and wandered down to the toilet block to go to the loo and when I was walking back (still in shorts and t-shirt as it was still that warm!) I noticed flashes of light in the distance that looked like a storm. It was very strange as it was clear skies above us, so I quickened back and got back into bed. As I was still awake after this for a while, I started to notice flashes outside, which I assumed were from people going to the toilets, but it turned out that there was a massive electrical storm going on! It wasn’t long before Kelly was awake as well and we started hearing rumbles of thunder but the lightning was just crazy as it was literally flashing constantly. We had never seen anything like this before. This went on for several hours and peaked at about 3:30am, I think, when the rumbling was louder (but not too loud which was strange) and the lightning was really bright and right over us. We ended up looking through the door windows and watching it for ages as it was an amazing sight  really. We even saw a little fox stalking around just outside!  We eventually managed to go back to sleep for a couple of hours but none of the boys even flinched! Amazing! 😉 It turned out that in Plymouth, it was the worst storm for years and was like a war zone in the skies all night and several buildings were hit by the lightning. Thank goodness it wasn’t like that in our little Glampod!

The following day was a mixed bag weather wise. We were originally going to spend the day at Watermouth Castle as Uncle Darren and Grandma were going to come as well, but they cancelled due to the storm, and as the weather turned very foggy and wet just after breakfast, we decided to postpone and go on the Sunday. So instead we went to Woolacombe and Ilfracombe and had a look around. We went in a few shops and arcades (which was fun!) and had a good walk around the places.  Woolacombe was nice and the main street in Ilfracombe was nice as well, but if you went through the main shopping street of Ilfracombe, it turned really quite rundown and dodgy. After this, we went back to the Glampod and relaxed as the weather had cleared up by now. We had a nice BBQ for tea again and I watched the FA Cup Final on my phone. The boys were having a great time just being able to play in the field and around the local area. We then went up to the bar again and had a drink whilst the boys played in the park. It turned really cold that evening so we were quite chilled sat down outside this time. We also had to sort out a lot of our stuff as we needed to be out of the Glampod by 10am in the morning, so we did that and put as much in the car as possible, before settling down for the night. Whilst we were up at the bar, we did ask if we were able to stay the Sunday night as well but, unfortunately, the Glampod had already been booked out. Shame!

The next morning, the weather was much better, so we were up early and had our breakfast BBQ and packed our stuff up and rammed it all into the car, and then drove to Watermouth Castle, which was only a few minutes down the road.  We parked up there and had a great day looking around the castle and other garden areas, and of course, going in the penny arcade and enjoying the many rides. We had a lovely lunch there as well (I had a massive burger that was delicious). The boys had a wonderful time on the rides and watching the water fountain show. The weather turned again mid afternoon and it started raining, so all we did was go on the water rides then, so we were damp anyway! The place was quite quiet by then so we had the pick of the rides and could stay on several times without having to get off. We eventually left right on closing time (6pm) after the boys spent some of their money in the gift shop. By this point, it was raining quite hard and everyone was quite tired out! Coby was asleep very quickly, followed by Aaron and even Ben nodded off! We got home late in the evening and unpacked and took the boys to bed.

We had had a brilliant weekend Glamping in the Glampod and the Mill Park Holiday Park where we stayed was excellent and we would very highly recommend it. It was very child friendly and extremely well laid out. We would definitely go again, and we will!

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