We spend two hours packing and cleaning the caravan. At 10, we leave Marine Holiday Park. We leave the electricity, private shower and toilet, our soft bed, the pool fun, playground in the sun, the kitchen and fridge, our terrace where we love to sit, the washing mashine, the roof above our heads and the soft couch.
But we leave fully charged, in a clean car and with clean clothes. Ready for at least 7 days in a tent on basic camp sites. Adventure calls!
First stop is Décathlon, as we’re still on the hunt for a gas canister. Finally successful, we visit the nearby Rufford Hall. A 600 year old house that has been in the same family for 500 years.
A talk starts at 13. Tim learns about the history and the family of the house in the old hall, the only part that is still standing.
Olga and kids explore the rest of the house following a doll trail. Zeno is very good at spotting the dolls quick, frustrating Cleo. He also wins with Chess in the play room.
The outside of the house and garden are also beautiful. Summer of Play started today, which means there are even more games to play, such as giant snake and ladders, tic tac toe and building with bricks. There are even some kids bikes to explore the garden.
We finish the visit in the 2nd hand bookshop on the hunt for a birthday gift for Tim. It’s 14 already. We don’t have much time as we have to leave to the next site, as it’s an hour drive and the final admission is already at 15:15.
Sizergh castle is a stately home and garden estate in the Lake District. We arrive at 15:05, buy a parking ticket and admission, and walk five minutes to the entrance of the castle. We’re the final visitors of the day and explore the inside.
It’s well decorated with many mounted animals, carpets and paintings on the wall. And many oak furniture and panels, sometimes even inlaid with floral and geometric patterns. Zeno is tired and Olga carries him up and down the castle rooms.
Tim and Cleo admire the art in each room and choose their favorite glass vases, ceramic plates and oil paintings.
Here the Summer of Play had also started. The kids try some walking cars in the garden before we head to the second hand bookshop (nearly all National Trust sites have one). Olga gets Tim some more presents and a giant Peppa Pig book for Zeno, before we head back to the car and our final pit stop of the day, the lidl for dinner.
From here it’s just 15 minutes to our campsite, somewhere up a hill next to a farm. The roads are typically Brittish: very narrow with high hedges on either side, we have to stop a couple of times in the passing bay but not too much trouble getting there. We have 360 views of the green hills surrounding us and pitch our tent on one of the few fairly flat spaces.
There is a picknick bench in front of our tent so we eat our dinner here, the children run arround climb rocks and make up games. It’s still sunny and all is great.
Olga goes for a hike on the surrounding hills, spotting sheeps, chickens, gooses and a squirrel, while Tim brings the kids to bed. We can even sit outside until the sun disapears behind some trees. Camp life started positively!
The internet is weak, so we only have a small selections of pictures today.
