Away on holiday

Somewhere along the way real life reared its ugly head and kind of took me away from what I had planned to do in posting more regularly on the blog.  I am on Instagram for things that happen on a daily basis but not in as much detail as what I tend to do on here. I am under Tarragonnthyme.

We were supposed to leave for holiday last Friday night 3rd September.  However for a couple of reasons that did not happen.  A few weeks back we had major problems in that our car developed a massive oil leak and ended up being in the garage for over a week.  To all intents and purposes the car had been fixed.  However on the way to the compound to collect the caravan the car oil light came on and OH ended up going to the garage to get oil.  We continued on to the compound and could not get the van out in any event.  We had forgotten that at the beginning of September the hours had changed.  We therefore went back home and OH contacted the garage to check that it would be okay as we were after all towing the caravan.  The person he spoke to thought that it would be the car settling itself down after being taken to pieces as the oil is added when the car is cold.  So OH took the decision to travel down.  However it became clear that all was not right and we had to add more oil on the way down.

It took us approximately 8 hours with an hour and a half stop off and also having the route altered five times by the Sat Nav. which considering we were towing a very large van is not too shabby.

We arrived safely but were tired on Saturday evening at 6pm. whereupon we unpacked and then went get something to eat at the pub before settling down for the evening.

Whilst we are away,  I am hoping to play catch up on the blog and bring things back up to date although this might include some pre-written posts that will be out of current date order.

We are currently staying at Chelsfield Farm 

https://www.chelsfieldfarm.co.uk/ at Boyton about 10 miles from Launceston in the middle of nowhere.  Which suits us just fine. We do however keep getting lost and end up with a magical mystery tour at times.  The site is lovely and quiet and has a small lake on it.  There are however two more fishing lakes that have been dug and which are slowly filling up.  It is a working farm, and dogs are allowed, have to be wormed before they arrive and also kept on a lead at all times which is understandable because of the livestock. They are allowed in the pub. It has a nice lively pub and restaurant.  The couple who run the farm Alan and Marianne not only run the farm, they cook the food and run the pub, as well as having a farm shop where they sell their own meat. Alan I understand also is a Butcher and deals with his own butchering for the shop. The sausages and the bacon are very tasty.  The food is also very good as is the beer, lager and cider.  Staff are also very welcoming and friendly.

We have a touring van and they are currently extending the pitches and also adding more static vans to the site. Where we are currently parked is going to have a static placed on it in a couple of weeks and this particular field will be a static field only.  There is also a camping field and further touring field. It is a WIP a little rustic, very charming topped off with a warm welcome and hospitality and the owners are very friendly. That for me speaks volumes.

The weather has been very warm.  We had a quiet day on Sunday again going out to the pub for a meal.

 Photos of the site will follow.

Then Monday we ventured out to Bude as OH needed some supplies for the caravan to do some work.  We then stopped at Bude at the CoOp to do a quick top up with food.  On the way back OH decided to call in at Crackington Haven which is a particular favourite spot of mine.  Normally there is hardly ever anyone here however the world and his wife were.  We could not get parked and decided we would come back another day.  We stopped off at The Wainhouse Inn at Wainhouse Corner on the way back for something to eat.  I was predictable and had scampi and chips. OH had steak with mahoosive onion rings which were delicious.

Tuesday we spent the day at the van for the best part but I needed to go to the shop as I had forgotten to get a few things the day before. So we went off to Bude again and found their local Lidl.  Quite impressed and came away with quite a lot of items for a couple of days.  I must say I have always preferred Lidl to Aldi, although Aldi has their place.

We had a lovely tea last night.  The Chef was in residence.  I cooked roast chicken, homemade sage onion and sausage stuffing, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, Asparagus, broccoli, petit pois, and carrots with lots of gravy and very nice it was too.  Finished off with Strawberries and cream.

Today Wednesday has been spent at the van. We have had thunder storms and lots of rain with periods inbetween where things have fined up a bit and the sun has come out to play and then gone again.  I was going to do a stir fry tonight but in the end we opted to go to the pub The Stumble Inn which is on site.  I had a very nice lasagna served with salad should have come with chips but I chose not to have them.  Sorry forgot to take photos but I ate the lot which is very unusual for me. OH had a massive beefburger, chips and salad.  We have just stumbled in from there and now have our feet up.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow as well but we shall see what happens.

Since then we have had a lot of rain. However we have managed to get out a bit more. More details to follow.

Catch you all soon.

Pattypan

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