I’ve never been quite so glad to get back from a camping trip 🙂 Although, i was EXTREMELY lucky, because my tent stayed dry, my grass stayed dry and my equilibrium stayed mostly intact. It wobbled a bit at one point, when Max left to come back, but mostly we stayed okay, buoyed up considerably by the company of Michelle and Chloe who were great to have around, even if my gas did run out leaving me with no Michelle-tea-making facilities which was a source of some anxiety! 😉 That’s the trouble with having no car while camping, you are pretty much powerless to solve anything if a problem emerges and those gas cannisters are a) hard to guess if there is much left and b) apparently very hard to get 🙁 Still. Thanks to Lucy for the eventual donation of theirs (make sure you send me your bank details so i can pay you.)
Been trying to tot up in my head exactly how much of it all was nightmarish and have come to the conclusion that i have nothing to moan about, but then, like i say, i didn’t get drowned. I have this slight horror of being the one who doesn’t have tribulations; i think it comes from a heart-sinking moment in Germany, when i went abroad on my own for the first time. We did a 2 week drama exchange, me (the much sneered at private school girl) and some local comprehensive school kids who had been friends since we were 11. Mostly it was a really positive friendship and experience over those 3 years, but right at the end it changed; my best firend left and the 2 boys got harried by an older sister into having no time for the little pampered high school girl. Most people on the exchange had a fairly rough time in odd families, but me and one other girl got put with a family who had a flat for us. The “older sister” was very put out by this and one day she was relating her horrid family tales in the coach, making everyone laugh, when she caught me laughing too; she was funny 🙄 She utterly laid into me for thinking her misfortunes were funny and made out like i was smirking about it – which i wasn’t, but it didn’t help my experience much!
Anyway.
So we arrived Saturday in nice weather and pitched up on one of the last remaining biggish spots on the first side of the field (which turned out to be the wettest side, apart from about 4 pitches!) All sorted nice and quickly, enjoyed chatting and being friendly and then the 6 of us went off to Sparkys in the evening, where we stayed very late to watch their second show, which was above average for Park Resorts. I’m convinced at least 2 of my daughter will end up doing park entertainment; in fact Max and i now have a bet on it. If any daughter has a job like that before they are 21, i get the holiday of my choice, if none do, he does.
Saturday Evening/Night it started raining and Sunday it rained all day. We were all a bit miserable, thoguh lunch in ASDA helped a bit (mainly to top up the shopping as Max’s grocery shop was a bit random; 3 different packs of cous couse, juice no one drinks and a watermelon! 🙄 ) I think we all howled when Max left, i know he drove away from me, Fran and Josie all sobbing 🙁 Sunday night was wet, but i had one of the nicest evenings of the week with a few friends in the Beans tent (the Beans being one of the centres of the universe for the week 😉 ) Alison and i dismantled the fast collapsing marquee on the way to bed and unlike Chris, i didn’t tip water down her back 😉 I had a set of refugees in my tent, late arriving Deep Enders all dressed in Tudor costume, having come straight from Kentwell. Bob, Nic and i did an attmept at Pup tent erection before abandoning that and taking them to the (inaptly on this occasion) Puddle tent. Must admit i was quite impressed by how it absorbed 6 extra people, though i’ds have like to have seen Fran’s double take when she woke up to see Kate, A and L in her pod, still dressed in Tudor shifts!
Monday was VERY wet in the morning and lots of people got moved and a few sat in my tent and recovered their sense of erm.. .adventure (that would be the requirement to charter a ship to get back to their tent). The kids did Sparky and by afternoon it was sunny and blue sky. Lovely afternoon of playing, fixing people and stuff and eventually a really nice late night evening outside the second pitching of Nic-tent, cut short only by a sudden flurry of rain about midnight.
Tuesday started EARLY – at about 2.30am. The flurry of rain had manifested itself into what felt like gale force winds and with in a minute of waking up, i was REALLY scared, in that only just awake and consequntly befuddled fashion. Within 2 minutes i’d convinced myself that the roaring of the sea was probably the start of a Tsunami and was trying to work out how one managed that while in a tent. Despite clearly knowing it WASN’T one, i was shaking with fright so decided to get up. The tent was really sucking in and out and the longest, straightest side was flat to the wind, so the door panel was coming undone. Got up, pegged a few bits and set off on a walk around the field to see if everyone else was okay. (It was already surprisingly light.) Chatted to various windswept and rattled people but decided no one was blowing away (or drowning) and concluded this probably meant i wouldn’t either. Got back to my tent to see Em and co looking a bit flattened and unpegged, so invited them all in to the Puddle (extra weight to hold it down 😉 ) It was impossible to sleep really and i had to get up a few times to try and peg the door panel down which was a bit of a week spot due to being flat to the wind. Think we all dozed off about 5.30 for a little while. ALL the kids slept through!
Consequently the day was blearly, weary and nasty and the weather never cleared particularly well, though the wind dropped eventually. There had been a lot more rain and i had a puddle right up to the side of the tent but it went. Several of us went and ranted at the campsite, in a polite way and i think they could have redeemed themselves a lot at that point, instead of being grumpy and defensive about it. The suggestion that we’d camped in the wrong field was a bit irritating, as was the fact we had to ask twice to get them to make the path to the toilets safe to walk over. Still we took over the back bar room and that gave us a warm, dry refuge for crafty stuff, which cheered us all up for the rest of the week.
Michelle and Chloe arrived and the gas ran out but we still managed a dry evening for gossip till late and wine drinking. In fact, all the evenings were great.
Oh, that was the night of the Karaoke; Maddy was desperate to do it, which ended up with Violet, Abbie and Anna doing it too . Maddy’s voice was terribly croaky and she got horribly thrown by the words screen and the microphone, so it was erm… a learning experience for her, but to give her her dues, she struck to it right to the end, despite knowing it wasn’t gonig too well. Very proud of her. Adored seeing Violet and co doing it too. Anna definitely inspired Maddy.
Wednesday was Africa ALIVE!!!!!! My sole bit of sorting for the week, counting the money, still seemed to manage to go wrong, mainly due to me being too sleepy to listen to the instructions properly. Still, we muddled through, but i didn’t seem to see many animals this year 🙁 Kids all had a lovely time as usual. Always like going there, in fact i shall really miss it, given i have no plans to rebook Kessingland Beach EVER again. Fran and i got talking about possible animal project options and maybe having a zoo-keeper day for her 10th (argh) birthday.
Thursday was, i think, really nice weather and a good day. Can’t remember much else about it. Think i coveted Michelle’s Thermarest a lot. Oh yes, we did the cabaret, ably hosted by Monster and lots of the kids joined in. Maddy sung “Second Star to the Right” still croaky but with more success than earlier in the week, Amelie sung “Start of Something New” from beginning to end and Fran did some cartwheels. Very proud of them all.
Friday was similar, though lots of people left but no before we’d done godseyes and craftyness. Pizza for tea, Max arrived and we went and played on the beach at Lowestoft, had a walk and played in the fountains before dashing to ASDA for snacks and coming back for a last night in the tent.
The forecasts that were twittered to us the next morning convinced us to leave and the rain started just as we left Suffolk. Shattered when we got back but 2 Doctor Who’s and much lying about just about fixed us.
So really, from my point of view, it was fine. Not relaxing, not easy, but fine. VERY cross with the campsite, who could have changed things so much by a bit of courtesy and just coming down to see if we were okay, but the kids had a lovely time and had it not been for the underlying organisation that was put in by everyone who did that, it would have been much harder indeed.
Thanks all. New venue next year, but definitely still a camp. Kids loved it i think, and that’s what counts the most.
I so agree with your last sentence. Thank you again for putting us up or should that be putting up with us.
And as for coveting the Thermarest, quite frankly anything would have been better than your airbed that deflated every night.
yeah, i hope our airbed was a bit more comfy
the 2 seaside park resorts in essex have big camping areas right by the main ents place and near beach – seem to be more wanted – perhaps worth a look. and fab looking swimming pools!! actually look good.
the one in wales doesn’t have much camping – unless I’m looking at worng bit of map! and i wouldn’t want to go north much. the south west doesn’t have any park resorts with tents if we wanted to stay with them.
thankyou for restoring my equilibruim. all is smoothed over and fine.
Airbeds going flat, running out of gas, going round camp looking for food because of your supplies. I don’t think you need any naturally inflected problems…….
Re the Camping Gaz. You can look up suppliers here:
http://www.campinggaz.com/sunbeam/distribution/index_cartridge.htm
Assuming it’s accurate (possibly rash) If you look up places, you’ll see they can be a bit spread out – there is for example a bit of a hole around Lowestoft…..
Does it give a Tare weight for for the cylinder on it somewhere – could Lucy weigh the empty one you gave them? If so I’d be inclined to weigh it to check on the amount of gas when I thought it was getting low and replace it before the trip if it was getting too low if I was goign to be too far from a supplier.
re gas, Duke has declared that he is converting us to “Patio gas” once this cylinder runs out, apaprently most stoves will take it and you can pick up cylinders at places like HomeBase so it’s way easier to deal with than Calor or Gaz (I just nodded in that “yes dear” sort of way)
re thermarest – there are some pretty good copies of them about these days for significantly less money. We got Aldi’s versions at £10 each as all our airbeds had been condemned and needed replacing. They were FAB, in fact I didn’t realise how lumpy the ground we had been sleeping on actually was until we unpitched the side pods and realised we had slept on rocks all week! and judging by the sudden return of the achy back I suspect they are more comfortable than my own matress at home…. (hmmmm)
Funnily enough Joyce, i was thinking that while i was thinking it, iyswim, and wishing you were there to absorb the tsunami fear vibes that clearly have to be soaked up by somebody! So you were there in spirit 😉
Ahem. Would just like to point out that being swept away by a tsunami is *my* phobia, and one I’ve nurtured for 40 years, so no grabbing it ;-)Sound horrific. Was very sad not to be there, then – er – very relieved 🙂
Nerves were so wracked that the sound of the tractor arriving to retrieve Sarah’s trailer from the swamp was at first declared to be thunder.
Do we even need to stay with Park Resorts?? I reckon most campsites under that weather would have turned into bogs. The thing that really broke it was the way the staff at the site dealt with it. Something that may be a symptom of all park resorts staff?? Not just kessingland beach. Although I like the idea of Essex, it’s still my side of the country :o)
Having said that, I bet the people at HESFES are getting rather wet, it has been torrential here today.
Thanks again for your hospitality, was very much appreciated to have someone else to be scared with!
Lol, my pleasure Em. Personally, i would like to stay with them, for the simple reason that my children, and i imagine lots of the others who have done all 5, sort of associate MPCamp with Sparky now and i trhink it would break the tradition to change it. I know my lot would be very disappointed; it took them a while to get used to Melrose not having SKC!
i’m not sure it *has* to be a park resorts. but SB would like to keep going to sparky’s, and the option of a children’s entertainment seems to be successful – particularly in a poor weather scenario! mind you SB a bit devastated that not going back to kessingland! and the essex ones actually look like they are right by the beach – sandy! a great looking pool complex, and that the tents bit is not an afterthought
martello beach and naze marine
SB was a somewhat disappointed tonight at dinner, when we said that we might not go back to Kessie because of Sparky’s (though she would get over it, this is the first year she has really got into it – last year she only went once i think, and the year before she stayed oblivious of the whole thing).
I don’t entirely agree re the site Em. Whilst lots of sites would no doubt get a bit squelchy with that much rain. I think Kessie does suffer particularly badly, it is very low lying, peaty and poorly drained. Last year didn’t rain to much, but the year before, up on the hookup area we had one night of heavy rain and some people were getting flooded in their tents, and Kris had a lake in her caravan awning. And didn’t lots of people have problems in the first or second Kessie camp? (before our time).
T-bird. ‘Patio Gas’ is just a name used by Calor to brand some of their gas – it’s just Propane (IIRC) in a different cylinder. But it has a different regulator from the standard red propane ones – you wouldn’t get it in homebase anymore though, they have moved over to supply someone elses gas now.
Seems to cost more than the red propane ones, and the smallest cylinder is bit bigger, and has those silly get in the way handles. I’d have thought that sticking with standard Calor cylinders should be fine, they have stockists everywhere. One reason Camping Gaz is popular in the camping world is that once across the channel Camping Gaz is everywhere, and so easy to buy, whereas Calor isn’t.
Of course you can’t beat ambling down to your local petrol station and filling up your petrol can with a few litres IMO 🙂
My solution to potential fuel shortages is to have a small compact single burner that screws straight onto the standard threaded disposable Coleman/Epigas type cylinders for emergency use (it’s fine, but needs care with bigger pans, but on a well charged cylinder boils a kettle quicker than the typical twin burner gas stove)). but it doesn’t meet the Merry comfort zone criteria. but you can get floor standing burners that connect via tube to the cylinder which have better stability.
Themrarests, yep unless you need the weight and space saving of the more lightweight and compact of the Thermarests then the cheaper versions are fine – I got a Sunncamp one cheap and it was good. Of course michelle did have the super dooper princess and the pea thickness versions 🙂
I had a look through the brochure on the way home and came up with the following based on us not wanting to go further north than Kessingland.
There are two in Wales – Bryn Owen is mid wales, Ty Mawr is North Wales which puts it too high up the country and makes it a hike for pretty much everyone. Bryn Owen is hook up only and works out at £80 for a week in June.
The Essex ones I looked at were Martello which was £62 for the week on non-hook up and Naze Marine which is another hook up only site and came out at £91 for the week. Waterside was cheapest at £56 for the week.
I think we probably have a bit of bargainning power with Park as we’ll be on our sixth year with them and would probably be inclined to give them a last try to be ok. Also, although the beach thing matters not a jot to us I know for some people it is a real draw so sticking with Park on that basis is probably a good idea as all their resorts are coastal.
I reckon we come up with a list of things we want – such as possibility of inside space in case of crappy weather, some sort of evening / kiddie entertainment as an option for those who want it (and any adults wanting to win medals for party dancing 😉 ) and see what they can offer us for bookings in the region of 30 families during an off peak week in June 2008. Also the idea of some of us doing a late summer break to test it out is a good one too :).
Thought I was the only one thinking of Tsunamis in the middle of that night, I don’t feel quite so silly now trying to work out exactly how far from the sea we were and which direction I would need to run in if I really heard the sea coming.
Sounds like some are keen on Essex. Is there a head officey sort of place you could ring and complain about Kessingland and at the same time negotiate some sort of excellent deal for next year as a kind of compensation?
Yes, there is (ps, Chris, do you want a login so you can just blog here???!!! 😉 )
Wales would be okay, Essex is a bit close to HESFES but there is also one that looked quite nice next to Great Yarmouth, though it possibly only has an outdoor pool. Time for a committee group?
Bryn Owen would be even more of a PITA as Kessie to get too – though through infinitely nicer scenery! Took C and I 4 – 4 1/2 hours to get home from Aberystwyth. And Borth is pretty crappy – but has a train station! – though Aberystwyth is nice.
I reckon Forest of Dean/Wye Valley/Welsh borders/Worcestershire even is the place to go – good motorway access from everywhere. And it’s nice.
Essex is good if we line up with Hesfes again I suppose. But seeing as the beach has played very little part really in any MP weeks, I don’t think we need to stick to the coast.
Children’s entertainment I’d rather not have – so %^*ing tacky. But a bar/somewhere indoors to meet up is good – e.g. the one at Manor Farm worked fine, apart from the grouchy bar staff, lol, without a stupid rabbit.
Anything that is nearer than the current 4 hours it takes us to get to Kessie would be welcomed by us, of course!! And, like Alison, I would be only too glad to be shot of SKC, even after only 3 nights of it this year for the first time ever, it was too much!!! I welcome the chance for us to go to the beach and if we were actually camped near a sandy one, so much the better!
Any beach is always going to make it a long journey for a fair proportion of the group though. Which is why I think we should all head inland, towards each other 🙂 Maybe we could find a river?
Or, just all bugger off to France – then it’s an epic journey for *everyone*!
do we need a proper place to discuss this rather than on Merry’s blog??!!
wasn’t there a sub-camp group thing set up last year?
No Em, Merry’s blog will be fine – as long as she doesn’t post too much in between now and next June and make us have to search back through the archives every time we want to talk about it 😉
The MP camp list?
Or there is http://www.home-educate.me.uk/camps set up, and with a dozen or so users, if we would rather keep admin separate from the camps list. I can’t get into it atm, but will have a fiddle later.
Ah, ok, remembered my password! Merry, shall we do planning for next year over there or leave it on the list?
Bryn Owen is on Ynys Las beach which is my favourite place in the ENTIRE world! We planned to go there last year although having booked and then being rung up nearer the time and being told that although we have paid etc they aren’t actually open til a week later didn’t do much for my confidence! Didn’t go there in the end for other reasons though. Would agree its a huge journey though and not one you’d want to make in weather like this week has been or with travel sick children! This is us on the beach in Feb 05 http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallyam/141442635/in/set-72057594127151071/
As for gas cylinders, I have seen things that stick on the side to show you how much you have left in them, if I find them again I’ll post the link LOL!
Personally I couldn’t care less about a beach and have no yearning for entertainment. I think somewhere that has some sort of indoor space is a good idea and swimming pools / park playgrounds are obviously nice to have but not essential.
4 hours is probably about the max we’re prepared to travel (one of the reaons we don’t do Melrose anymore) but I guess as we’re as far south as you can go we will generally be among those with furthest to travel anyway – I’d not want to be right on our own doorstep either though, doesn’t feel like a holiday! 🙂
I’m not too bothered about beach, nor entertainment, and whilst my kids did enjoy the clubhouse, I’m sure they would equally enjoy whatever else happened instead. I love the idea of it being in East Anglia still, as I feel like I’m always driving everywhere. But I would drive upto 4 hours probably, but no more, melrose is enough of a trek to more than put me off two journies like that a year.
I also thought that committee idea is a good one, if there are 50 families trying to decide where to camp it could get messy!
I also like the idea of doing a short camp in September to test out a possible place….
Oh ok, Ynys Las is nice 🙂 And there’s some kind of little zoo there too, isn’t there?
I’m going to Cornwall in September with our local HE group – will let you know if it’s nice 😉
before i pop across to see if i can get in the planning group.
for us, I think an indoor pool is essential, the pool has been used loads in all the camps, and indoor makes it useful if weather poor. also a swings/park bit for the children.
I am less than enamoured with sparky’s and the like, but it is a huge hit with the children. I think something like that is desirable [though not essential], as is indoor space for daytime use.
I have no need of a bar though – expensive way to chat to friends!!
we do lots of camping hols, and if this was inland, we would do one ourselves that had a beach.
If no beach, so lovely alternative attractions locally for escape.
i do wonder whether we can come up with 2 or 3 really good but different possibilities, and then see what suits most people.
still keen on the dordogne as an option!! might make it a 2 week holiday
I think I’d keep it on the camps list. I think you’ll find that it’ll be mostly the ‘usual suspects ‘ discussing it, and I hate web forums, I forget to go and look at them.
I’m not entirely convinced bout the need for Sparkys type thing. Yeah sure the kids like it, but they’ll do something else if it isn’t there – few went up on the ‘camp fire’ night.
I like a beach, but the reality is, we don’t actually go up there much at Kessie – as opposed to if we were camping by ourselves. In fact first year we never even went there at all and SB didn’t realsie we had been by the sea. As Alison points out, by going for a more central inland location not too far from a M-way access for more people is easier, Wye, borders etc. sounds good to me.
Given the numbers this year, some where with a nice big area we can be together in seems important
I agree with everything Chris just said!
The pool is pretty essential for us too (although we’d still come if you chose a place without!) we used the pool often enough not to need to shower in the shower block. Obviously a shower block is essential though, we wouldn’t consider anything without proper toilets, hot water etc.
I don’t have anything against an inland camp but then we live by the sea. I’m guessing that if it is cheap enough then people still have the option to go on the sort of holiday they want as well and that the group camp is more about the group thing and less about being by a beach or having on site entertainment.
For us, a nice beach is a big plus (unlike the beach at Kessie), swimming pool is good and we’d be happier without children’s entertainment tbh. Also we hate the journey to Suffolk – it’s almost 6 hours of horrid roads, so almost anywhere would be better.
Hi
We didn’t fall down any drains but we did get back to find half of our village was flooding (not us fortunately but we would have probably got phonecalls recalling us from neighbours anyway!!). We are definately up for camping again- all I will say is the Guide tent has been assigned to a museum piece- I want sewn in ground sheets, windows and a cooking area.
Campsite wise I liked the indoor pool but entertainment etc not required on our front. Sea side not essential- Wye valley etc sounds nice- havent’ been there but it is an area we would like to go- equally France sounds good……potentially warmer anyway