Tapp's Travels

Ingon Bank camp site is just a couple of miles north of Stratford on Avon.  The ground here is excitingly moist – and, as the name suggests, a bit “un-level”.

Although it doesn’t look like it in the photo, in fact it was so “slopey” that we had real difficulty getting our home-on-wheels anywhere near level.  Especially as the wheels managed to sink into the ground as we watched.

Still, the rewards were great.  The view from the loo was beautifully open and rural …

And sunset out the front was special too!

OK.   There were two reasons for coming to this neck of the woods.  First, to visit granddaughter Sophie who has just started studying biochemistry at Birmingham University.  And second to go to the caravan show at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre).  Both about 40 minutes drive away.

We tried to pick Sophie up outside her lecture hall.  But, unbeknownst to us, (but probably we should have guessed) it’s smack bang in the middle of a traffic-free campus zone!  Thank heavens for mobile phones!

Sophie’s hall of residence (Shackleton) is located in “The Vale” – a collection of halls surrounding a lake in a lovely park.

Sophie had booked a meal at the Giggling Squid in Harborne.

(OK.  This is actually the branch in Leamington Spa – but don’t tell anyone!)

It’s only about two kms to the west of Sophie’s flat (and a similar distance NW of the University campus).  But there are a lot of one-way streets about.  Thank heavens for Google maps!  To everyone’s surprise, we found an unrestricted parking space within 70 metres of the restaurant!  Result.  The restaurant was excellent too!  Double result!  And I’d say that Sophie has already mastered the student art of eating well whenever a suitable opportunity arises!

Incidentally, does anyone know how “Americano coffees” got their name?

As we left for “home” we realised just how many 20 mph zones have been established in the city suburbs.  We must have switched from 30 to 20 and back again a dozen times before we got back to the M42 motorway.  I’d say it’s a money making exercise.  Fines all round for the unwary!  So Wales have got it totally wrong with their nation-wide default speed limit of 20 mph in urban areas.  And it’s not much better when only selected areas are restricted to the lower speed!  Grumble, Grumble!  Still it was really good to see Sophie and her set-up.  Now we can visualise the surrounding when we are talking to her.

The visit to the caravan show was fairly unremarkable.  As the name suggests, there were a lot of caravans on display.  However, very sadly, we couldn’t find a replacement for ours.  For sure, some looked a lot more modern inside but many had become more flimsy looking.  There’s a lot of weight-saving going on so that they can make them wider and longer.  Most top-end caravans are now eight feet wide.  That’s the width of a standard transport container.

… and do I really want to join the HGV brigade AND tow around a fixed bed?  I don’t think so – not yet anyway!

Although there were a couple of serious contenders, the list of compromises with each one seemed too long.  So, once again, we came away from Birmingham without a new caravan!  And once again it is confirmed that Glenda knows as much about all the different models as any of the sales people – and quite a bit more than some of them!

During a break in the rain, we continued to maximise the benefit of our NT subscription!  This time it was Charlecote Park.

There was an earlier medieval house on this site, but the present house was built in 1558 by Thomas Lucy and his bride Joyce Acton, a Worcestershire heiress.  They married when he was 14 and she aged 12.  A bit keen!

In fact, there have been Lucys living at Charlecote since the 12^th century.  Wealthy country gentry, their income came primarily from land, occasionally augmented by fortuitous marriages.

And yes, the house sits in the middle of yet another deer park!

The park is home to a herd of about 200 fallow deer.   Since we visited, the park has been largely closed after the River Avon, which flows past the estate, flooded following heavy rain.  So we were lucky with our timing.  And that’s the end of deer stalking on this trip – I promise!

In fact, as a result of the damp weather, we are considering changing plans a little.  Our next site is one of our favourites.  It’s near Chipping Sodbury in the southern Cotswolds.  Apparently,  the grass is VERY wet, so we spent a “happy” morning desperately trying to find an alternative with hard standing.  In the end we settled for one night at Oak Tree Farm with Rachel and Jonathan.

Nice and dry with a great view …

Our final NT visit of this tour was to Dyrham Park.  A few miles north of Bath, it’s a huge estate with a very significant down-hill path to the house.  Of course, down-hill slopes transmogrify into up-hill ones on the return, but we will worry about that later!

The front door …

… and the back door viewed from the formal garden …

And the estate church …

The best bits here were the two alcoves in the wall in front of the church.  Proper little sun traps they were.  However, we were beaten to them every time one became vacant.  Perishing tourists!

Apparently, in 577 a significant battle was waged at Dyrham. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded how Saxon leaders Cuthwine and Ceawlin defeated Britons Coinmail, Condidan, Farinmail and Email “at the place that is called Deorham” before capturing Gloucester, Cirencester and Bath. The battle was a decisive victory for the West Saxons repelling Britons into Wales and Cornwall.  But don’t you just love the names of the combatants.  They’d fit in nicely in 21st century Chelsea!  I fibbed about Email being involved, BTW.

Anyway the much more recent history centred around William Blathwayt and his rather wealthy wife-to-be, Mary Wynter, who owned the estate at the time.

During marriage negotiations, William remarked on the “necessity of building a new house”. Dyrham today is very much his creation.

The first works started in 1691 with the digging of a canal for the new elaborate gardens.  Sadly, Mary died the same year and never saw the transformation of her ancestral estate.

At least the sun has reappeared again!  But the bad “deer news” is that the entire estate herd had had to be culled as a result of TB infection.  Apparently there are just three roe deer enclosed in the park at present.  They have “broken into” the park over recent years and are now being monitored for TB.  A lot of work is going on to allow for the reintroduction of deer within the next few years.  Some of the major work is trying to minimise close contact between the resident badgers and the soon-to-be-reintroduced deer.

On the way back to the caravan we stopped to top up with diesel (to get us home) and to buy wine and chocolates (for Rod and Marion – and us!).  While queuing to pay, the cashier asked the customer ahead of me for proof of age.  She didn’t have any other than a photo of her 27 year old daughter!  Embarrassment all round.  Especially when the cashier declined to ask me for ID!

The sun sets on our last day camping this trip…

Tomorrow we go to stay with Rod and Marion (friends from school days) for a couple of nights while Farmer Jonathan stores our little home-on-wheels in his barn next to their own caravan and campervan.  Luckily, farmers can reverse anything anywhere!

At Hinton Parva (and my sat nav insists there are two places with this name – AND insisted on trying to take us to the wrong one), we re-discover accommodation with running water, showers and toilets connected to drainage.  Although, in this case, the connection had only been re-made a few hours before we arrived.  But that’s another long and expensive story!

A walk in the long grass on the Ridgeway got our feet nicely soaked before Mike and Margaret (Rod’s friends from his RAF days on Cyprus) joined us for lunch and an afternoon of reminiscencing.

Ah yes, before I finish, the Americano.  Allegedly, during WW2, American soldiers couldn’t cope with the strength of espresso coffee, so they added a lot of hot water.  Accordingly, locals nicknamed their brew “Americano coffee”.  Similarly, “French Fries” got named by American soldiers fighting in Europe, thinking they were in France, not realising they were actually in Belgium at the time.  Either no maps or very bad ones!

So there we have it!  Our non-trip to Greece.  That destination will have to wait for another day.

But at least the artwork “Lily pads”, bought in Northumberland and moved in and out of the car on a daily basis for the last five weeks, is now on the wall!

Footnote: The trip brings the distance we have towed this caravan to an impressive total of 23,970 miles over the last 10 years. That’s equivalent to a complete circumnavigation of the globe!  We have now lived aboard for 862 nights and we’ve enjoyed every day!