It's time for the Caravan and Motorhome Show at the NEC, so we decided to visit our families whilst in the Midlands.
On Thursday we left home and drove to Stanmore Hall Touring Park near Bridgnorth. We had stayed at this site earlier in the year and liked it so decided to return for four nights whilst visiting Steve's family. After we set up we sat out for a while and also walked around the site watching the peacocks.
On Friday we drove off site to visit Steve's parents. We saw his mother in the morning and left Zeb at the house before we all went to the hospital to see his father in the afternoon. We left hospital late afternoon and got a taxi to his parent's home to collect Zeb and drive back to the site.
Friday had been a long tiring day, so we decided to have an easier day on Saturday and caught the bus to Bridgnorth. We had a walk around the town trails, popped into a few shops and had a lovely lunch at Coffee at Darcy's. In the afternoon we went for a short walk along the Severn Trail before catching an early bus back to the site when it started to rain.
On Sunday we returned to Steve's parents' house, seeing his mother and brother in the morning and visiting the hospital in the afternoon to see his father. We left the hospital a little earlier than on our previous visit so we could get an earlier taxi to collect Zeb. After returning to the site we had a lazy evening to get ready to move to our next site the following day.
On Monday we moved to Spring Paddock Caravan & Motorhome Park near Brocton. This small CL is only a short drive from my mother, so it's a perfect base for us. We arrived on site in the early afternoon and after setting up caught the bus into Stafford. We both used to work and live in Stafford and remember it as a lovely town so were both shocked to see so many shops were closed and how run down it has become. We didn't stay as long as planned as we found the town quite depressing, so caught the bus back to the site. After getting showered we walked to the Chetwynd Arms to see my niece and her sons for a meal. Emma kindly gave us a lift back to site so we didn't have to walk back along the main road in the dark!
We woke to a heavy frost on Tuesday, although it was a lovely sunny morning. We drove off site to visit my mother and sister, leaving early afternoon to return to the site.
On Wednesday it was time to head to our next site - Chapel Lane Club Campsite. It didn't take us long to get set up so we walked to Beckett's Farm for a pot of tea and slice of cake. After looking around the farm shop we walked back to site to prepare for the Show.
Thursday was our day to visit the NEC so we set off early to park and walk across to the Halls. We had received an email from Malibu with details of the models they were exhibiting and we were pleased to see the model we've ordered was going to be on display - it would be the first time we had seen the actual model. We joined the queue early and were first into the Hall so we could spend some time looking at the Malibu before it got too busy. We were over the moon with the layout and know it's going to be the right one for us - when it eventually arrives!. As always, the Show was excellent, but very tiring.
Friday was our day to move to our final site. After visiting families and the NEC, we knew we would be tired so booked a few nights at Cirencester Club Campsite. We have visited this site many times as it's in an area that we both enjoy visiting - the walks around the Bathurst Estate are stunning and we also like the town.
We had a lot of rain overnight but woke to a dry morning on Saturday so we walked into town to collect the paper and have a coffee. We walked back to the site through the Park for lunch and then had a short walk around the Park trails in the afternoon, returning to site when it started to rain.
After more heavy rain overnight we woke to a very wet morning on Sunday so stayed on site, catching up with a few jobs and reading our books. After the wet start to the day the afternoon was lovely and sunny so we had another walk around the Park keeping to the main paths as everywhere was very muddy.
On Monday we decided to have the day in Cirencester. We had coffee at Keith's in the morning and then decided to return for lunch. As well as walking around the shops we meandered around some of the lanes on part of the Town Trail. We returned to site late afternoon for a lazy evening on site.
Tuesday was our day to return home and, for the first time, we were both glad to return from our Zeb trip as it had been a very tiring trip with the extended family visit and the NEC. Zeb is now away on the storage site until Christmas.
13-25 October 2022
