2011 Summer Holiday 1 - Church Farm, nr. Salisbury

24 July 2011 - Sunday: The Journey to Church Farm　

We left home at about 12.30pm (after morning service at Polesworth Abbey – my wife stayed at home to do the vacuuming, so didn’t make the service).  On the way to picking the caravan up from storage, we thought it would be a really good idea to stop at McDonalds for lunch – it would be quick and relatively inexpensive, and it would stop us having to break the journey.  Decided to go in rather than do a drive through.  That’s when we encountered our first problem.  Armed with our order for two quarter-pounder sandwiches with cheese meals and a McChicken sandwich meal, I came to pay and shock of horrors, my card was declined.  Having eventually paid by using another account, and after consuming the said McDonalds, we drove to the nearest cashpoint, which confirmed that my account was indeed solvent.  At this stage we just decided to ignore it on the basis that it was ‘just a blip’ in the system.  We eventually left the storage, after hitching up and checking the caravan noseweight, at about 1.50pm

We were on our way.  Two miles down the road and our teeenage daughter was asleep.  My wife began to nod off as we were skirting Birmingham on the M42 and as we were about to join the M40.  It was sunny any the car soon got warm inside.  After heading from Oxford towards Newbury, My wife awoke just in time to direct me the wrong way, resulting in a detour skirting Newbury and back on to the Salisbury road.

Church Farm Caravan and Camping Site was at the far end of Sixpenny Handley.  After having missed the site entrance, I had to reverse the van in order to turn around in order to reach our intended destination.  They were ‘sort of expecting us’ but didn’t seem too sure.  Then it came to the point where we had to pay.  I presented my card for the second time today only to be told once more that the transaction had been declined.  Out came the other card and all was well.  After getting pitched on a ‘quite thin’ hardstanding pitch, I felt the time had come to ring the bank to find out what was happening to my card.  After eventually ‘clearing security’ I was told there was a fault with the card and so they would send a replacement out.  I was just about to point out that I was not at home when the mobile signal did what it always does at such times as this – it died!  Another ‘phone call and a different operator was convinced that it was the keypad on the machine ‘at the point of sale’ and that my card was perfectly OK and that I should try it again tomorrow.  Just as I was about to explain that I had tried to use it on two different key pads then the signal went yet again.  At this point I decided to give up.

Time was going and we were beginning to get hungry.  All as we had done so far was to put down the caravan legs and connect the electric.  We had not set up the water or waste, but decided that ‘The Shed’ – the on site restaurant seemed a good bet.  Food was good value and the ‘Sixpenny’ real ale was a winner.  After tried and failed yet again to pay with my debit card, we returned to the van.  At this stage we made a decision not to set up the water and waste.  We need to leave at 8am in the morning in any case, in order to get the van in to Lady Bailey at 9am for a service.  Spent a little time talking to a Dutch family who were staying in their tent, just across the way.

The site was very dark and without lights.  Eventually we realised the obvious.  The ‘give away’ was in the name of the site.  Church Farm was right next to the church, and on the hour, every hour, the bells rung out with an ever increasing number of ‘dongs’ on the hour.  We wondered how much sleep we would get.

25 July 2011 - Monday: Caravan Service, Sandbanks, and we go to Forest Glade, Cullompton

We got up at about 6.45am and we were ready to leave at just after 8am, but not before taking a few photo’s just to remind us of the site.  The church bells didn’t keep us awake, by the way.  Either we slept very well, or the bells were switched off over night.

We got to Lady Bailey at about 8.50am in order to drop the caravan off for it’s annual service.  Fortunately we were the first to arrive so we got in straight away.   We also had our long awaited front window to be replaced, so they did that while we were chatting.   As if things were that simple.  It took him all of thirty seconds to take the old window out and about the same to put in the new window.  It took another few seconds to realise that Myriad had sent the wrong window!!  You could tell that the service manager was not best pleased and he promised to get on the phone to them straight away.  We’ve only been waiting for this window for twelve months – the last one that came was faulty.  We left them to complete the service and went on our way.

First stop, McDonald’s just on the way into Poole for a breakfast, which was punctuated by a ‘phone call from Lady Bailey explaining that Myriad were sending a window out by special delivery.  We agreed to call in to have it fitted on the way back from holiday.  After breakfast we went to B&Q to get some wood to stand the awning fridge on.  It was after 11.30am when we got to Sandbanks for a morning on the beach.  The weather today was warm and sunny, so ideal for the beach.  There were parking spaces available, but the spaces themselves were not exactly that generous in size.  We eventually went for one on the end of a row to maximise space, and eventually got to the beach. We’d only been there about half an hour when we had another ‘phone call from the caravan service department to let us know that the van was ready for collection.  We saw the hour out and then headed back to Lady Bailey.

After picking up the van we headed for Forest Glade, between Honiton and Collompton.  The road from Honiton was not exactly straightforward, and after following the detailed instructions eventually found the site.  We booked in and was shown to our pitch.  The next couple of hours saw us set up the full awning and we also put up our new windbreak, with some difficulty.  It seemed huge, and we didn’t bother with the canopy.  After tea saw the unveiling of our new fairy lights for the outside of the awning – after experimenting, we found the best way was to put the just over the front of the awning, but to double the string of lights.  My wife took some photos.

The site seems fairly dark now and very quiet (at 11.30pm).  No doubt we will get chance to explore tomorrow.