Brooks on Tour

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...

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...

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...

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...