Ocknell, New Forest, Hampshire

   It was Carol’s idea that The Good Time Gang should all go away for the weekend camping/caravanning. It was great!

   Ocknell is a large site in the New Forest but can be difficult to get to from the M27 if you are heading West.   The ground was very hard !!! for campers and awnings.  Basic facilities, (toilets & showers) but expensive.  Even visitors had to pay and be off site by 10pm!

   We could set up the caravan pretty well where we wanted to so we chose a large area that we could all fit into. Some people weren’t getting there until the following day so we hoped that no-one else would choose to set up there in the mean time.

   The first night it was Carol, John, Dee and Jon and us so we had dinner at our place. It was cosy but we had a laugh – even played charades!

   On Saturday we did our own thing. We went to Muddiford with Carol & John. It’s a lovely small fishing area but is very popular so parking is at a premium as is anywhere to eat. It was good looking around the harbour and watching kids crabbing.

     That afternoon more of The Gang arrived, Adie, Maria, Sheila, Martin, Josey and Bob. Some were camping so as they were putting up their tents we handed out beers and set up a communal area and the barbeques. With the beer and laughter flowing, the men cooked while the women talked and laughed some more. We always have a great time when we get together!

John roasting his chestnuts

     After we ate Mike and I had a little game up our sleeves – well it was more between our legs! Spud football!

     We’d bought with us a pair of tights a football and a large potato. The potato was put down one leg of the tights and the other leg was tied around the waist of the first volunteer! The idea of the game is to swing the potato, without using your hands, so that it hits the football and sends it on its way.

 The winner is the person who sends the football the furthest. Easy! This is great fun! In fact we had quite a number of fellow campers watching too. No-one was bold enough to ask to join us but our group was fairly big already. It was voted as a great game and such a laugh!