May 4: A Day at the Beach

After morning coffee at Kate and Phil's we're off to find a camp site for the night before we head off to the beach for an explore. We discover an idyllic English field filled with buttercups and horses. We pay five pound for the night to the farmer and head off to the South Devon coast. Thurlestone is a lovely beach where we spend the whole day. Shame about the biting wind. Never mind, obviously Frankie is impervious to it and stays in her bikini from Rosie for the whole day! 

It's great fun to make our own ice creams using the ice cream from our freezer and to cook our evening meal on location. The firsst of many similar events to follow. Happy campers we head back to our horse paddock for an evenings kip. 

May 3: Nightmare on Elm Road?

We drive through the quaint seaside village of Sidmouth but realise that we do not have time to stop and visit. Instead we drive on to Newton Abbot to find Kate and Phil's house where we are meeting them for lunch. When we pull up outside we understand why they have said that it's not really an option to park up outside their home and camp. They live on a steep hill which overlooks the town. It's a lovely location and we are delighted to meet up with Luke (who we haven't met since his first Christmas back in 2002) and Jamie (who is new to us all). These have to be the most patient boys in the world. Francine is completely taken with them and follows them everywhere for the next three days.

It is such a treat to catch up with Kate and Phil again. Great friends who happen to live about as far away from us as you could travel.

We take off for the afternoon to Dartmoor Moors and wander around Hound Tor and the Medieval Village ruins that are just behind. It's great to come back from the walk to have a nice hot cuppa in th motorhome. It is a crazy experience to race around after their small car in our giant motorhome on the narrowest of country roads. 

We decide that we will freecamp this Saturday evening and find ourselves prowling the streets of town looking for a suitable site. The ASDA carpark comes a close second to Elm Road, a cute narrow street that runs alongside the Lemon River.

The only nightmare is when we wake at 2am and realise that we have parked so close to the curved stone wall that if another car takes the park in front we could well end up enjoying the outlook for longer than we expected as it would be impossible to manouver out of our spot. We drive forward and enjoy the rest of our nights sleep.

May 2: Stonehenge to Sidmouth

We have no set agenda for the day as we head toward our friends in Newton Abbot (Devon) to meet them tomorrow. Driving past Stonehenge we realise that it is a National Heritage site and so our membeship with the NZ Historic Places Trust takes us in for free. We didn't have great expectations and are surprised that the four of us find the ancient stones are so captivating. Millie is particularly intrigued at the story of this 5000 year old monument.

We grab lunch on the run and continue to drive to Axminster, the location of a River Cottage Canteen. It's a great experience, and good value for money. What a treat. Mackerel, chickpea, cauli salad, leek and potato soup with a home made sausage for the girls and an elderflower cider shared by mum and dad.

We drive on and eventually work out which farmers field it is that we are camping in over night. Little Bowd Farm is delightful. Frankie loves the chooks. We've had another great day.

May 1: Salisbury

The walk into the city is slightly longer, colder and wetter than we expect. Our first job is to research and purchase our third SIM card. Hopefully this will be the last. 

It's lovely wandering around the city seeing such lovely buildings. The cathedral was built in 1220 and has a spire that reaches up 123m, almost double the 63m of the damaged Christchurch cathedral. The chapter house that houses the Magna Carta of 1215 is a pretty special place with gorgeous motives depicting scenes from the stories of Genesis and Exodus. 

The walk home to the camp ground is sensational... or at least there is a sensational downpour which dumps litres of water on us all. We manouver our van off the sodden ground. Thankfully we are pointing downhill or this would also have been a sensational experience. 

It's not a big drive to find our next campsight just outside Salisbury. We need to stay at a Carvan Club site in order to sort our membership. There are hundreds of sites across the UK which are available for members. The sites are as simple as a corner in a farmers field or as elaborate as a purpose built camping facility.