Camping

Yesterday saw us heading off on our first adventure. We hired a car and headed south with Cornwall being our destination to visit friends (and Watson family).   We are incorporating it with a spot of camping and our first "pitch" was Merkins Farm Camp, a delightful spot close to Bradford on Avon and only 8 miles from Bath our sightseeing destination for today. On the way we made a small detour and visited Avebury, a World Heritage Park that has stone henges similar to the more familiar Stongehenge. There are stone circles but the stones are smaller  but still date back to a similar time period. It was certainly being well patronized yesterday even for a Monday though it was the first day of the school holidays and it had it had finally stopped raining. In fact it was down right hot at 27 degrees. This is not the only attraction at this site as last year the BBC was involved with The Manor Reborn, a  programme they created from the project. They were looking for a manor house to redecorate and this one, owned by the The National Trust was a blank canvas and perfect for the film company. They came  in and decorated each room in a different period that the house had lived through.  The rooms ranged from Tudor to 1930s. Now the Manor House is an attraction in itself and is great as it is interactive. You can touch or sit on all objects and even lie on the beds! My favourite part was the walled kitchen gardens. A huge effort had been made here not only by the BBC team but by volunteers though the National Trust. What a shame we aren't here longer! The other gardens were well worth seeing too and included more walled gardens and an orchard. After pitching our tent on this lovely wee camping ground, we headed to the local pub, The Plough, for tea as it was getting on in the day and we had no desire to start cooking at this stage. It was a very friendly place, and full of locals, many of them farmers, having a pint either before or after their tea and talking about the weather. Most of this was about how they were all busy making hay while the sun shone. Even the field beside our camping spot has cut grass drying and the appropriate machinery for turning it is close by. (Still no photos sorry. Am beginning to think we should have bought a notebook instead of an iPad!) Yesterday saw us heading off on our first adventure. We hired a car and headed south with Cornwall being our destination to visit friends (and Watson family).   We are incorporating it with a spot of camping and our first "pitch" was Merkins Farm Camp, a delightful spot close to Bradford on Avon and only 8 miles from Bath our sightseeing destination for today. On the way we made a small detour and visited Avebury, a World Heritage Park that has stone henges similar to the more familiar Stongehenge. There are stone circles but the stones are smaller  but still date back to a similar time period. It was certainly being well patronized yesterday even for a Monday though it was the first day of the school holidays and it had it had finally stopped raining. In fact it was down right hot at 27 degrees. This is not the only attraction at this site as last year the BBC was involved with The Manor Reborn, a  programme they created from the project. They were looking for a manor house to redecorate and this one, owned by the The National Trust was a blank canvas and perfect for the film company. They came  in and decorated each room in a different period that the house had lived through.  The rooms ranged from Tudor to 1930s. Now the Manor House is an attraction in itself and is great as it is interactive. You can touch or sit on all objects and even lie on the beds! My favourite part was the walled kitchen gardens. A huge effort had been made here not only by the BBC team but by volunteers though the National Trust. What a shame we aren't here longer! The other gardens were well worth seeing too and included more walled gardens and an orchard. After pitching our tent on this lovely wee camping ground, we headed to the local pub, The Plough, for tea as it was getting on in the day and we had no desire to start cooking at this stage. It was a very friendly place, and full of locals, many of them farmers, having a pint either before or after their tea and talking about the weather. Most of this was about how they were all busy making hay while the sun shone. Even the field beside our camping spot has cut grass drying and the appropriate machinery for turning it is close by. (Still no photos sorry. Am beginning to think we should have bought a notebook instead of an iPad!)