This has been our longest adventure with Zeb, we have previously spent three weeks away in Cornwall but this time have booked sites for almost a month.
Our first site was Bladon Chains Caravan Club Site which is on the Blenheim Palace Estate. We've wanted to visit this site for a while, but sadly the Estate have terminated the Club's lease and the site closes on 6 September so this was our last chance to visit the site.
We arrived on Bank Holiday Monday and chose a hardstanding pitch on the quieter side of the site. There was an air of neglect on the site, but that's understandable as the site was closing the following week. After setting up we had a look around the site before having a lazy evening after our long journey.
On Tuesday we walked to Blenheim Palace and toured the Palace and fountain gardens. Thankfully we had a discounted ticket with the C&MC as tickets were expensive. We were able to convert these to Annual Passes so we could visit the next day to finish our tour of the gardens and parklands. The Palace was interesting, although there weren't a lot of rooms to see as the bedrooms and servant's quarters were bookable separately at an extra cost.
We returned to Blenheim Palace on Wednesday intending to walk around the Formal Gardens and Lake Walks. We were disappointed to see that these were closed due to arrangements for the Salon Prive - this wasn't mentioned the previous day. A member of staff suggested we walk around the parklands, but most of the walk was along a busy Estate road and we had to keep stepping onto the verge to allow vehicles to pass.
On Thursday we went back to Blenheim to see if we could find any more walks around the parklands, but every gap in the trees or footpath had large 'Private Property' notices so we returned to the site to get ready for our move the next day.
On Friday we moved to our second site, the Grafham Water Caravan Club Site. We had a long and busy journey but arrived on site to a warm welcome. We chose a sunny corner pitch and walked to the Grafham Water Visitor Centre in the afternoon for a coffee and to collect a walk leaflet.
The reason for visiting this site was to walk around Grafham Water - the third largest reservoir in England. We walked anticlockwise around the water but didn't enjoy the first part of the walk as it wasn't near the water - the path went through fields and zig zagged underneath large electric pylons. The second part was nearer the reservoir and was more scenic.
We decided to have just two nights at this site so moved to Cambridge Camping and Caravan Club Site on Sunday. The site was very busy and we were allocated a pitch on the perimeter of the site. It was another very hot day so we just had a short walk from the site to find the bus stop to Cambridge ahead of our visit the following day.
On Monday we caught the bus to Cambridge and did a self-guided tour around some of the Colleges and tourist spots before having lunch at Las Iguanas at a table overlooking the river. In the afternoon we walked around some of the city's side streets, along The Backs and River Cam. The heat became unbearable in the afternoon so we caught the bus back to site and sat in the shade.
We returned to Cambridge on Tuesday, intending to visit the University Botanic Garden in the morning and a couple of museums in the afternoon. We enjoyed the Garden so much we decided to stay for the day and the museums can wait until our next visit. It was another very hot day, but at least there was some shade in the garden. We had lunch at the Garden Cafe and returned to Zeb late afternoon.
On Wednesday is was time to move to Sandringham Camping and Caravan Club Site. We left the site early to visit WWT Welney and walked the Heritage Trail but found it was far too hot as there was no shade, so we returned to Zeb to head off to the Sandringham site. We were originally shown a sloping pitch under trees but were able to change it, although we probably had one of the worst hardstanding pitches we've ever been on as it was rubble on top of sandy ash. After setting up we had a short walk around the site and found the footpath to Sandringham for the following day.
We had a lazy start to the day on Thursday and walked from the site to Sandringham. We had a look around the Visitor Centre and a coffee before returning to site for lunch. In the afternoon we returned to the Sandringham Cafe to meet Sue (of Sue's RAK Group) who I've known online for years but never met. After a lovely couple of hours chatting it was time for Sue to go home and me to return to site.
Rain was forecast on Friday so we had a short walk around the parklands near the site so we weren't too far away from Zeb when it started to rain. As forecast we had heavy rain on and off all afternoon but managed to have a few short walks when it was dry.
On Saturday we walked back to Sandringham and paid to enter the gardens. As you would expect, these were beautifully maintained and there were so many paths to walk around the lawned areas and shrubbery - our favourite area was around Queen Alexandra's Nest On leaving the gardens we visited the beautiful St Mary Magdalene Church.
We were glad to leave the Sandringham site on Sunday and travel to our next site - the Norfolk Broads Caravan Club Site. The site was very busy when we arrived, but our first impressions of the site were good and we found a large sunny pitch. Poor old Zeb was so dirty after the last site that we spent a couple of hours cleaning all the dust and dirt from both the inside and outside as well as washing all of our walking clothes.
On Monday we had a short walk to Ludham Bridge and then a walk along the river before returning to site stopping for a beer at the King's Arms on the way back. We stayed on site all afternoon to sit in the sun.
Heavy rain was forecast on Tuesday afternoon so we went for a short walk in the morning to St Benet's Abbey. We would have liked to spend more time around the Abbey and river, but were mindful of the forecast. We were caught in a light shower on our way back but luckily were in Zeb before the torrential rain started.
On Wednesday it was time to move to West Runton Camping and Caravan Club Site. After the horror of the Sandringham site we were apprehensive about this site. We were allocated a corner pitch which was sunny and fairly flat. After setting up we realised we'd forgotten the map for this area so went for a walk to East Runton to try and buy one. There was nowhere to buy a map but on our way back to the site we took a wrong turn and found ourselves at the C&MC site and bought one from their site office. We then headed back to site for showers and an early night.
We had a cool start to the day on Thursday and walked from the site to Cromer. We found the town too busy for us so we walked along the coast path to Overstrand before walking back to the site late afternoon.
After a misty start to the day on Friday we walked to Sheringham along the coast path. We pottered around the town for a while before returning to the site.
On Saturday we walked to Sheringham via Beacon Hill - the highest point in Norfolk at 105m high. We walked a National Trust trail through Roman Camp to Stone Hill viewpoint, walking back to the site along the coast path. It was another very hot day so we were able to site outside Zeb until it got cool in the evening.
On Sunday we left the West Runton site and visited Felbrigg Hall for a coffee. We didn't stay too long as heavy rain was forecast so we headed to Pinewoods, a private site at Wells-next-the-Sea. We managed to set up before the torrential rain started and stayed in Zeb for the rest of the day whilst the thunder rumbled around.
After heavy rain overnight we had a damp start to the day on Monday but finished setting up by laying our groundsheet outside the door to try and prevent some mud coming into Zeb. We walked around the town and down to the beach before heading back to Zeb for lunch. In the afternoon we walked to Wells harbour and also bought a small mat to try and keep some of the mud from out of Zeb.
On Tuesday we had a lovely sunny morning and went to Holkham Hall to spend the day walking around the parklands. It was another very hot day but we managed to find a lot of shelter on our walk. The parklands were lovely and there were many paths - our favourite area was the Deer Field. We returned to Zeb mid afternoon to take advantage of a sunny afternoon and sat out until late.
Wednesday was our final day in Norfolk. We walked from the site along the coast path to Burnham Overy Staite and and sat by the harbour to have our lunch. We had a beer at The Hero before walking back to site. It had been another very hot day so we enjoyed sitting outside Zeb until early evening.
On Thursday we travelled to our final site - Harbury Fields Touring Caravan Park at Leamington Spa. We had visited this site earlier in the year so we could get our new walking boots at Lockwoods and thought we would return to get fitted for new walking shoes. We had a horrendous journey so were glad to get to the site and ourselves up on a sunny corner pitch. In the afternoon we walked to the bus stop to see how long it would take us for the following day and then returned to Zeb to sit out in the afternoon sun.
On Friday we caught the bus into Leamington Spa and visited Lockwoods. They didn't have any shoes that we liked (like so many things, supplies are low at the moment) so we had lunch at Las Iguanas and a walk around Jephson Park before catching the bus back to site.
Saturday saw the end of our adventure. We loved being away for so long and spent a lot of time planning future trips - it's our intention to be 'half-timers' spending six months of the year at home and six months of the year travelling.
We've visited eight sites during our trip, seven were new sites and we had a mix of very good and awful. The Bladon Chains site was okay, slightly neglected but that's understandable as the site was closing the following week. We loved the Grafham Water site but having walked around the reservoir we're not sure that we would ever visit that area again. The Cambridge site was very good, but next time we'll probably try the C&MC site which isn't too far away. The worst site of our trip was the Sandringham site, it was crowded and dirty - in hindsight we should have booked the nearby C&MC site. The Norfolk Broads site is lovely and we will definitely stay there again on our next Norfolk adventure as there is far more walking from site than we had expected. The West Runton site was okay but very crowded - if we visit again we would use the nearby C&MC site. Pinewoods was a disappointment, it looked like a scruffy campsite rather than an expensive five star caravan park and we wouldn't visit again. We've previously stayed at Harbury Fields and although there's not a lot of walking in the area, it's convenient for visiting Leamington Spa.
30 August-25 September 2021
