Whitegates CS, Caerwys, North Wales

     While travelling up to North Wales from Worcester, I saw a field of marshmallows by the side of the M6!  On closer inspection, I found that they were round bales of hay or straw wrapped in white or pink plastic. As Mike said, you would need a large vat if chocolate to dip them into!
     We arrived at Caerwys to a wonderful view.  The owner had earmarked a pitch for us and at first, we thought was a little on the slopey side.  Once we got set up, we could appreciate our views and I thought it was the best spot on the site!  The front of our van looks directly over to the hill opposite and to the valley with Denbigh in the distance.  There are sheep in the field immediately in front of us and we are relatively distant from other vans.  Idyllic!

Looking Southwest towards Denbigh

     

     We had to hunt out the shade initially as it was very hot.  Such a shame but after setting up the awning that was the best thing to do.  There are a few families staying who all know each other and it is so nice to see the children all playing together on their bikes or playing football.  After a little snoozette, we took a short walk around the little village, which is lovely, then dinner when the sun went down.  What a lovely start to a restful stay.

     Everything was slow time and peaceful. Went for a drive and did some shopping at Denbigh then went to the Craft & Antiques centre nearby. Some very memorable things there, "my parents had a crockery set like that" "mum had a teapot like that" and some paintings with artist in residence with some tales to tell! Then a well earned sit down in the cafe with a pot of tea and Welsh Rarebit. That was soooooo filling that we didn't really need any dinner later, but still did!
     We borrowed the Dingbats game from the site to play but they were so difficult, and the game was really frustrating, that we didn't actually finish a game. So, spent the rest of the evening talking. It was lovely!
     Tuesday saw us visiting Sandra and Vern at Tabley near Knutsford. What a lovely cottage they have. They've been very busy with decorating it.  A real show home. It was a lovely day, so had a gorgeous lunch outside then drove out to see Knutsford.  The town was a lovely with some lovely old buildings.  I could have taken more time to browse really. Later, Sandra made a lovely dinner of Lamb Shank and what a size they were! Real  Flintstone meat on bone!  It was lovely seeing them again, we get on so well together and all from a chance meeting on holiday.

The days before self-service

     Wednesday saw a very rainy day travelling back from Sandra and Vern's.  We chilled for the rest of the day although I did walk around the village.  I saw more scarecrows and also walked a bit further than I had before and saw an old petrol garage with three old Hillman Imps outside. Very fitting with the old pumps too.

     Uneventful evening but the wind really got up during the night. It was still windy in the morning.

    We had planned to go up Snowdon one day but the view from a webcam nearby had it in cloud cover every time that we looked.  The weather didn't look all that promising either, so we headed to the Great Orme.

     Well, we found it and Llandudno which was a little run down as you approach it. We drove around to find the tramway to the Orme, saw a lot of cars parked along the road thinking it was a bad omen and sure enough it was; not only was there nowhere to park but the queue for it was colossal! So we kept driving and made our way to Conwy.

     Conwy has a castle and a cute little town which is on a hill, as is most of Wales!  We parked up then started to walk not knowing how far anything was so Mike took his wheelchair.  I'm glad he did even though his bones were rattling a bit going over the cobbles!

     I left him at the top of the hill in the chair whilst I wandered down the hill to the harbour and back up again. We then looked for a cafe that had seats but weren't lucky so headed back to the car.

     We then journeyed to Bets y Coed not really knowing what was there. It is a lovely village and it seems the start point for walkers. We did find a cafe and I had a huge cheese and ham sandwich. It was lovely! The views of the river across the bridge were spectacular!

     A meandering trip back to the caravan and we are both shattered! We did stop in the village to get something for dinner (pork pie for Mike & a dragon roll for me) from the local shop first. I think it might be an easy day tomorrow in readiness for our zip wire on Saturday! In the evening, We watched the swallows & house martins flying around and teaching the yougnsters how to catch flies. and resting on the telephone wires.

     Yes, it turned out to be an easy day. After a late breakfast, we drove over to a factory outlet called Tweedhall Mill. The cafe there wasn't up to much so we went into Denbigh to a cafe there called Vanilla Bean which was lovely. It was attached to a gift shop where Mike bought me a little necklace with a blue heart on it. It is lovely!

     More relaxing then a walk around the grave yard which isn't as weird as it sounds.  It has been exceptionally windy these last few days and we are wondering whether our zip wire experience will actually take place. It was cancelled for today.  We'll know for sure tomorrow!

     Well the wind has certainly dropped and yes we did our Zip Wire! All my friends had contributed to a Red Letter day gift token and I'd chosen to do this!  

It reminds me of the swallows on the wire!

      Absolutely fantastic! A little trepidacious but so exhilarating!  Trouble was that there are so many emotions, all going on at once that it's difficult to remember everything about it.  I had a head-cam so have a bit of footage but I wish it was facing forward so that I can relive the flight again to see what I've forgotten.  I would certainly recommend it to everyone even if you have a fear of heights as Mike has.  He also enjoyed it although may not do it again given the chance.

     Walked to the pub for dinner, the Piccadilly Inn. Food was lovely!  Can definitely recommend this place.

     Sunday saw us packing up, showing Margaret the video from yesterday and leaving the site. Margaret certainly surprised me by saying for her 80th she went skiing for the first time in her life! She is certainly an inspiration! and she's got a wonderful well kept site.  We will come again!!!

Brookside Farm CS, nr Worcester

     We stopped here en route to North Wales. We stayed here when we went up to the Lakes and is a good stop over and close to the |M6.  The only downside is that there is no electricity and I'm told that the toilets and shower block are quite rudimentary.  Not that it affects us as we always use our facilities and we've got a solar panel to keep the battery topped up.  There's a  lovely lily pond which can be fished but a licence is required.

    As we arrived relative early, I took myself off to Spetisbury Park Gardens to look around and see the many sculptures on view. It was a lovely afternoon and I found benches to sit on in the shade all around the gardens. Lovely and peaceful.

 

     Went out to The Oak for a meal again. We went there the last time that we were at the site.  Unfortunately, the seafood linguine wasn't on the menu this time.  The food was still very good.  Mike had the steak which was cooked just as he wanted and I had surf 'n turf gumbo which was also very good. We shared a starter which was lively with cold meats, sun dried Tom's, mozzarella and breads with dip. That would have satisfied us alone so we were unable to finish our main meal.
     The last time that we were here, I took a shine to the various gins on offer but couldn't partake as I had volunteered to drive.   No problem, I just asked them to put a double Quince Gin & tonic in my jogging water bottle so I could enjoy it when we got back to the caravan! Lovely :)