Brooks on Tour

40 years is a long time to be legally tied to someone and deserves a celebration of some kind. Most people would have a party but we aren’t keen on big gatherings, our wedding August 1980 was a quick trip to the registrars office with just close family and a few friends present We started out discussing how we should mark our 40th wedding anniversary by reminiscing about the places we had visited, the things we had done over the years and slowly an idea was born.  We would try to visit/do/see 40 different things during 2020. We developed  a list of places to go, we scoured the listings of concerts for 2020, an opportunity to see bands and singers that we hadn’t got round to seeing.  Neither of us is particularly adventurous In terms of high adrenaline activities but we both had a couple of special things we wanted to do.  We bought tickets, researched suitable campsites and booked pitches. We got ourselves a year planner and plotted out our year. We weren’t going to ...

High winds were forecast for the weekend so we took a very leisurely trip to Trewethett Farm Caravan Club site on the coast of Cornwall.  This was to be our second trip to this site and we had lots planned for visits in the area.  On arrival all the hardstandings were taken our first choice of grass pitch was very marshy underfoot and so we moved up the hill to the top of the site.  We needed to use some wood to helps us to get level but the views out to sea were stupendous when you could see past the rain! Overnight the winds were very strong with speeds of over 40mph reported, the van rocked which was unsettling but the noise made by the Caravanstore canopy in its bag lifting and banging against the side of the caravan made for very little sleep.  Sunday morning the wind dropped but the early sunshine soon disappeared, we spent the morning resting after our sleepless night.  We drove into Tintagel for some milk, on our return to the site we spotted a ...

2020 is a special year for us as it marks our 40th wedding anniversary, early in the year we excitedly planned 40 things that we wanted to do, see or visit during the year from concerts to return trips to places that hold a special memory for us.  We booked caravan sites throughout 2020 to enable us to achieve our 40 for 40  but following the emergence of  Coronavirus and the subsequent Pandemic our bookings were cancelled one after the other as the country and individuals headed into Lockdown. We stayed at home, discovered new walks from our doorstep and waited.  In early July it was announced that caravan sites could re-open providing they met safety standards.  We rearranged our bookings and headed to Exebridge Lakeside CAMC site to visit one of our most loved places Exmoor.  The wardens had contacted us in advance of our stay, we had chosen our arrival time, our pitch and paid our site fees.  When we got to the site we were greeted by a friendl...

Glastonbury is famous for the Glastonbury Music Festival but each year another Glastonbury music event takes place, the Glastonbury Extravaganza which is held in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. This is a much smaller event than the main festival it is for one night only but usually has some superb musicians performing. This year Van Morrison and Jamie Cullen were playing and we had tickets.  As a special treat we had booked ourselves a few nights at the Old Oaks a luxurious campsite on the outskirts of Glastonbury.  We had requested a pitch in the Terraces as this gives us a view over the local countryside. The pitches are well spaced, many with hedges between pitches giving a feeling of privacy.    The facilities at this site are wonderful always warm, very clean, with good quality fittings.  There are individual unisex rooms with shower, handbasin and loo as well the usual ladies and gents facilities. For events such as the Extravaganza, The Old Oaks arran...

We collected the caravan from Webbs and headed to Salisbury Caravan Club Site to check on the new mover. Salisbury site is set on the side of a hill, there are lots of pitches in bays, some have just two pitches in amongst the trees which make it feel very private.  There are more open pitches at the top of the site.  We chose a hardstanding pitch towards the bottom of the site, the facilities block is at the top of the site and requires a walk up a steep slope.   With all the trees around the site attracts lots of birds, there are limited views although some pitches at the top of the site can see over the local countryside.  We liked this site a lot because of the pitches.  The site is handy for visiting Salisbury, a park and ride site is nearby.  We only stayed for one night just to check over the caravan following its service, everything was fine.

We took our caravan to Webbs in Salisbury for its annual service, we had also arranged for a paintseal treatment to be done and a new motormover to be fitted.  Our previous caravan, the Unicorn Seville had been treated with Paintseal and we always found it easy to keep the external paintwork clean with any mud or road grime washing off with minimal effort and very few black streaks running down from the windows or roof. We were keen for this to continue.  Paintseal also treat the interior carpets and furnishings to help reduce stains from spillages.  When we purchased the Cadiz, we had transferred our motor mover from the Seville.  We knew that the mover was a few years old and although it hadn't let us down we were concerned that it may do. As our mover is crucial at our storage yard we wanted the assurance of a new mover.  We chose the Powrtouch Evolution which was fitted by a Powrtouch engineer.  The service was completed without any problems being noted...

Making the most of the lighter evenings we booked for Exebridge Lakeside Caravan Club site on the Somerset/Devon Border.  It took us 3 hours to get to site using the A 303, across to the M5 motorway at Taunton down the M5 to Tiverton.  Whichever roads you choose Friday night is always slow, using the A roads rather than just the motorway does give you more options.  We got pitched on site in around 1/2 an hour and then the Exmoor rain started. We had  noticed that lots of caravan owners have a dog, and had been looking for our own for a while.  We had recently acquired  George and this was his first trip with us. George enjoying the view Saturday we went to Dulverton for pies and then on to meet friends at their new home in Minehead which has fantastic views of North Hill and the Bristol Channel.   We returned to the van in the afternoon to read and enjoy the view from the caravan.   Sunday morning we pa...

Over recent years we have arranged a weekend away with work colleagues.  These have always been good fun with lots of games and alcohol.  We had booked to go to Blackland Lakes near Calne in Wiltshire, not too far from our work base to enable everyone to arrive at a decent time and enjoy Friday evening.  The site has several fields available including a rally field and a field that seems to be seasonal pitches There is an outdoor undercover barbeue area and bar, fishing lakes and some pet goats.   We were pitched in the first field with caravans up against the fence for the electric and the tents pitched in front of us.  This was fine as we knew everyone but it would have been too close otherwise. For our evening meal we decided on a takeaway, so orders were taken, phoned through and people were despatched to collect the food from nearby Calne. After a few drinks and some silly word games we went to bed.  Saturday morning after breakfast some of the...

We returned to Morn Hill following a very enjoyable trip in May.  On picking up the caravan from storage we had a problem with the motormover and ended up having to man handle the caravan onto the towbar as we don't have space to reverse if all of our storage neigbours are on their pitches.  We phoned Webbs caravans in Salisbury en-route.  Webbs suggested we call in to their service centre.  Webbs sorted out our motor mover problem and we were soon on our way to Winchester.      The weather was warm although the sunshine was intermittent. We chose to pitch on the lower site again and although the road noise seemed louder than we remembered it didn't bother us. The sky was very unusual with interesting cloud formations.  We found a four leaf clover on our pitch.  Hoping this is good luck. Wednesday we needed to stock up the fridge so made our way to the local supermarket.  We spent most of the afternoon snoozing and readi...

A long journey because of roadworks at Highworth.  Our welcome at site was not good as the warden appeared stressed.  Lots of people had been delayed because of a road closure following an accident and the warden was trying to deal with phone calls and book us in.  We were given no information about the site.  We drove off to find a pitch,the site is mainly grass.  We chose a pitch near the play area but discovered as we reversed in there was a huge backward slop. Although we carry ramps, it felt easier to look further and choose a different pitch.  We eventually settled on pitch 72.  All of the pitches feel on top of each other and the site was full.  There were lots of children and would guess that the wildlife park opposite the site is the attraction.  The site has lots of trees but the roads are narrow which is why if feels crowded..  There is one facilities block for over 120 pitches. Saturday morning some friends visited and we we...

We arrived at Morn Hill Site on the outskirts of Winchester in just under 2 hours despite the heavy traffic and us going the wrong way twice!  The road from the A303 to the A34 South is not clearly signed and we ended up going North.  We also missed the caravan club site entrance and had to find a suitable turning place on a busy dual carriageway.  On arrival at site we found that some Alde heating fluid had again leaked from the header tank, this has been an ongoing problem for us with no one really knowing why it happens. Morn Hill is an all grass site, the site is split in two, the upper site (where the site office is) is flat. The lower site is on different levels each "site" has a facilities block.  There are lots of trees and the main road runs along the side of the site, I think road noise is more noticable on the upper site but we were not really aware of it from our pitch on the lower site.  Friday night there was torrential rain acommpanied by thunder...

Friday night on a Bank holiday weekend is not a good idea for a speedy getaway.  The M4 and M5 had traffic jams and it took us 3 hours to get to Exebridge Lakes.  We awoke to a hard frost on Saturday morning, -4 according to our weather station, after breakfast we drove into Dulverton to buy some pies,  The farmers market was on as well with lots of tasty things to eat on offer as well as local craft people selling their wares.  I was very taken with the work of a local artist Jessamy Keill y who was displaying some of her work.  I particularly liked the Exmoor stags they were very simple pictures in black ink.  We bought our pies and headed back to the caravan we spent the afternoon sleeping and reading, we are both tired.  Sunday we went to meet with the couple we had met in Cornwall last year. They have found a house in Minehead that they are going to buy.  We all had lunch at the Black Venus in Challacombe, a favourite pub of ours. We talked...

Thursday night after finishing work we headed to Glastonbury and The Old Oaks. We had booked to stay until Monday.  We were pitched in The Orchard -  we were disappointed, the pitch sloped backwards the view out of front of the van was at the cabins instead of the countryside you see when pitched on the terraces.  I asked at the office if there were any other pitches available but unfortunately there were not, we decided to make the best of it. Friday was very warm and sunny we went to Wells and walked around The Bishops Palace.  The old ecclesiastical   buildings are very interesting, you can imagine the choristers rushing from their houses over the cobble stones to the cathedral for evensong. We discovered cherry and almond danish pastries from Burns the Bread - bakers, they were delicious. Saturday was windy and raining heavily, we managed a trip to the supermarket and that was about it. It was still raining Sunday which doesn't usua...

Cirencester! The site was full.  I think the glorious sunshine brought everyone out.  When I booked there was lots of space showing on the caravan club website.  It took us a while to get set up as the electricity wouldn't work. It took us some time to work out that the bollard had tripped as the lights were working. We reported to the wardens who sorted it out for us quickly.  We usually find that the heating has warmed the caravan by the time we have finished setting up, this time we were cold for a while. The temperature dropped overnight to -1.8 Saturday morning we walked into Cirencester town centre through the Bathust Estate - it takes about 20 minutes. The pathway is lined with beautiful old trees. We stood and watched what we initially thought was a woodpecker tapping away lowdown on a tree trunk amongst the ivy.  As it came into clearer view we thought it was a treecreeper from the way it moved.  Having since looked at a bird identification book w...

A quick weekend visit to Devizes. It had been just over a month since our last trip away but we had completely forgotten the order to do things.  We couldn't understand why the caravan wouldn't move out of its parking space at the storage site and then discovered we had left the wheel lock on, on site we forgot to close the drainage for the water so lost a whole barrel of water - so stupid. Once we sorted ourselves out we visited the Three Magpies pub at the top of the lane by the site and enjoyed ham egg and chips and a drop of 6X. Saturday we went to Devizes for a wander in the sunshine after heavy rain overnight, It was very cold out of the sunshine.  Devizes is such a busy interesting town with a good market that is always worth a look at.  We both slept for most of the afternoon, we were both so tired. Our microwave has been replaced after the plastic seal melting on the door so we tested it out with some Waitrose ready meals, all working fine. Devizes is a nice ...

Our last trip of the year to our favourite part of the country, Exmoor and the town of Dulverton.  We have been aware of the caravan site in Dulverton for many years, even before we had a caravan. With few sites open over the holiday period it seemed an ideal opportunity to escape from the madness that is Christmas.  The motorway was very quiet as we headed south on the M5 towards Tiverton on Christmas Day in fact we were so early that we had to pull into a layby so that we wouldn't arrive before the allotted time.  We arrived at 1pm and got set up quickly. There were families and friends bustling between caravans sharing food and cooking facilities, an excellent idea if you are going for the traditional lunch.  We had brought our lunch with us which we enjoyed whilst watching the Queens speech, old habits die hard! We walked in to town as the light was fading, it's surprising how much more you see when there is no one else around. The buildings are very interest...