The Winter Months 24-25

Between trips to France, 277 days had elapsed where Tassie had been at home in storage in the UK.

Like most things in the UK, the weather in late autum / winter, was a key deciding factor for trips out.

It was always a 'lets check the weather" first before finalising plans, and as long as the forecast was not for lots of rain we were pretty much good to go, unless other life activities and plans got in the way!

That said, the winter months accounted for another 17 nights away in Tassie, staying mostly on campsites and one drive of a house.

Our first trip out took place in October 2024, a trip up the M40 to the NEC (Birmingham) to the Caravan & Motorhome Show.

On the way back south we stayed a a lovely family run site in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire (Harbury Fields Farm) after the show, this little site seemed very new or significantly refurbished.

As we ventured further homeward, our next couple of nights was at a site in Broadway (Cotswolds). The site was peaceful with the exception of the impressive old steam engines that passed by the top of the site tooting and steaming away, just 40 metres away from our pitch.

The Broadway site is in walking distance of the town, getting its name from "broad way- the wide grass fringed main street" its a typical Cotswold village with the charm of pretty honey coloured limestone buildings.

As the site was a CAMC (Caravan and Motorhome Club) site, the club's previous patron was the late Prince Philip, where we stumbled across a caravan previously owned by PP proudly on on display in the old repurposed railway station office which was also where the toilets and showers could be found. He seemingly used his caravan when out and about during his horse and carriage driving competition days.

November took us up to Cherry Hinton CAMC site just on the fringes of Cambridge, a couple of nights local to Jo's family and where Jo, Catherine, Harry and I spent an great evening catching up and quaffing at a champagne tasting event at Quy Mill.

Leaving Tassie behind, December was Christmas market time, departing via Heathrow to Düsseldorf, then train to Cologne. This would be our 2nd year visiting the Christmas markets (Cologne does them rather well).

The trip was not without the obligatory visit to Globetrotter (a very magnificent outdoor clothing & equipment shop), and a post shopping drop in (for just a couple (ahem) at Früh Haus of bier, which has quickly become a favoured beer haunt each time I have been to Cologne.

The amusement found at Früh is waiters are male and all rather grumpy, the beer mat is placed under your drink and marked each time you request a new 30cl glass of the cold frothy beverage! It's a great marketing tool as you just don't know how surly in an amusing way your waiter will be each time they approach you, you keep drinking watching the world go by, enjoying ordering more and more Früh beer.

Our plans for Tassie and Christmas and New Year were rather late in the organising, the Cherry Hinton site was full on Christmas Day & Boxing Day, (the local site to Jo's family). However Catherine and Frank kindly rented out their drive way for free! Which saw us stay for a few nights, it was Christmas in Cambridge!

The rest of the winter saw us go into a form of hibernation with the cold wet days and long dark nights, our next trip out was in early March as we were headed up to Vantage (Leeds)(Tassie's conversion company) for her first annual habitation check.

A stop over en route to allow us an early arrival in Leeds was at Silver Hill Woodland Retreat near Mansfield. Another spotlessly clean and friendly little independent site just off the M1. A late arrival and early departure was all that was needed as we headed up to Leeds.

Habitation check done and a wander around the Armoury (worth a visit!) in Leeds, we were back on the road heading south, stopping at Wortley Hall, a CL (a Certified Location) of limited facilties, usually around 5 or 6 pitches available).

Wortley Hall has an interesting history, originally a rather stately manor house from the 1500's and over 500 years until 1950, when local trade union activists identified the hall as a possible educational and holiday centre, and established a co-operative which succeeded in purchasing the hall.

Now operating as a posh hotel, the interior has many the references to the trade union movement and has a room dedicated to the Fire Brigade Union.

We also had a catch over dinner with Jo's niece Molly, who now lives in Sheffield, and Katie.

Our next stop for a couple of nights was Carsington Water, a lovely site above the Severn Trent reservoir in Derbyshire.

The weather was mild for early spring, giving us plenty of time to walk around a large part of thr 8 mile perimeter of the reservoir, and a walk to Wirksworth the local village.

The final trip of spring took us to Poole, the site, South Lytchet Manor, a very convenient short bus ride into the centre of town.

We were in Poole as Jill ( friend / fellow Vantage van owner / sailor) had organised some tickets to see Pip Hare (well known yachtswoman) in conversation at the local theatre.

Leaving Jo (a non sailor) in the pub with friends, Jill and I had a really interesting talk with about 500 others from Pip, on her Vendée Globe attempt and being dismasted around 800 miles from land south of Melbourne.

Back in the pub later we all had a few drinks and for the first time came across the German beer from Cologne - Früh, an obligatory photo was duly taken as proof!

As the weather was great we decided to extend our trip by an extra day, taking the bus to Pool Quay for a boat trip across the harbour to Brownsea Island, in search of red squirrels.

Brownsea Island is a National Trust property and is a little gem in the Solent, the walks, trails and wildlife all there to see and explore.

During our time in Poole it was an interesting visual time, seeing cats on leads and even a cat being chauffeured around in a pram, photographic evidence was taken just to prove we were not going mad!

Outside of our overnight trips, Tassie did a few little day trips out, to keep her batteries topped up and keeping an eye on any frost / moisture that can creep into vans if left for too long without regular use. Our days out consisted of heading to the south coast towns of Brighton, Portsmouth, Southsea, Bognor and Eastbourne.

The next big trip was 7 weeks in France ... from June - July... closer to departing the plan needed to be changed... see France Le Tour for more info (to follow ).......Read more