Glastonbury & Wells {Country Kids}

Last week I took the kiddos to Greenacres Camping in Somerset for four peaceful nights under 'canvas'. The location of the site, from which you can see the famous Glastonbury Tor, is clearly well placed for exploring Glastonbury. We did this two years ago but loved it so much wanted to do it again.

Last time we ventured in to Glastonbury I took the children to the tor via the town's bus service - this year though, with legs two years older, we decided to walk from the town centre. We parked up at St Dunstan's pay and display on Magdalene St - £4 for 4 hours - and retraced the A361 back out of town following the clear pedestrian signs for the tor. We took the turning up Wellhouse Lane, where we walked past the most beautifully decorated cottage, then across a field to pick up the footpath to the top of the tor. It took us just 30 minutes and I'm not sure why we bothered with the bus two years ago!

The weather was glorious with clear blue skies and sunshine and the views from the top, where the 15th century tower of St. Michael's sits imposingly, were fantastic. We tried in vain to find Greenacres and the pyramid stage at Worthy Farm, the latter of which I have been assured you can spot. The spot is very calming with many taking the time to sit, or stand,  and meditate. If I were alone I would have joined them and switched of completely but this was impossible to even attempt with a seven year old boy asking for food every 30 seconds. It does look like I caught a few seconds of peaceful time though!

We picnicked and relaxed for an hour and a half then made the descent back down the tor and retraced our steps back to the town. We passed a row of characterful cottages with quirky additions to the pavement outside and since our last visit there has been some fantastic graffiti additions to the walls around the town.

Back home I was on Facebook when a similar image to the last one above randomly popped up on my feed; it turns out it is a famous piece of graffiti by Stik. There are many more around Hackney and Shoreditch so will definitely go and find them next time we go and stay with the brother in law. Anyway, back to Glastonbury town.

Glastonbury has a lovely collection of shops to browse and I found one full of lovely yoga gear which I regretfully left empty handed. I did however purchase incense sticks from a beautifully stocked shop, whose name now alludes me, and we fell in love with the three floors of wonderful light shades, figurines, furniture, rugs, cushions and door handles.

By the time we had finished with the shops the car park ticket was nearing its end so we headed on back to the car. Rather than going back to the campsite we drove up the road to Wells, England's smallest city, where we parked up for free in the Tesco car park - we popped in at the end for sausages and marshmallows! - and wandered through town past quirky shops to grab a chai latte, spend my Waterstone's voucher and eat an ice cream in front of the magnificent cathedral. This was a flying visit today but Wells has a lot to offer families with pleasant walks around the Bishop's Palace, lots of cafes and eateries and a huge green space in front of the cathedral. The cathedral is open to look inside via a voluntary donation.

Once drinks had been drunk and ice creams consumed it was back to the car, picking up sausages and marshmallows on the way, then off to the campsite for our last night BBQ and campfire.

 

x x x

Brean Down {Country Kids}

We had a fantastic camping trip this week at Greenacres Camping and on a warm sunny day, as we live in land locked Wiltshire, we were desperate to go to the beach. We craved the sea, the beach, ice cream and space so we perused the map and decided to head out to Brean Down.

The approach road runs through caravan park alley with scatterings of shops, amusement arcades and pubs. Not what we were craving but I knew that there was a light at the end of this particular tunnel. Once we had driven as far as is physically possible we parked up in the National Trust car park - free for members otherwise £3 for the day - and unloaded the boot of the usual beach paraphernalia and necessities; beach tent, towels, picnic, drinks, swimming gear...crucial things missing!? Bucket and spades! Luckily there is a well stocked National Trust shop where we picked up two spades and a bucket and we were good to go.

We took the steps over the sea wall and before us found a surprisingly quiet beach which loads of space as the tide was, what looked like, miles out.

But this was fine as had our bucket and spades and we had tonnes of sand. Word of warning here - the beach is sandy but as you go out towards the sea at low tide there are dangerous mud flats and quicksand exposed, reassuringly the lifeguard was on his tannoy warning people if they ventured too far out. So, we stayed at the top of the beach and got digging. Led by the children we all dug out a moat, built castle walls, created turrets - with varying degrees of skills, mine being the worst, and blinged the exterior with tiny clam shells found on the beach by the girl.

And then we wanted people. "We should have brought our Lego men", said the boy. Then he had a genius idea, "Pebble people!" The two of them found pebbles and with a pen scavenged from my bag they set to work creating their own set of knights to protect the castle.

A couple of hours later and picnic consumed we started to hear the gentle swoosh of the waves as the tide began to come in. As the afternoon progressed the sun got brighter and brighter too; perfect timing for a dip in the channel.

The water was warm and with warnings not to go too far out the two of them were in and having an absolute ball.

With the bribe of ice cream before the shop shut we packed up our beach tent and went and chose our favourite Marshfield Ice Cream flavours - the best ice cream FYI! With sandy hands clutching waffle cones we headed up the 218 steps - as counted by the girl - to the top of the down; a natural pier a mile and half out to sea separating Brean from its neighbour, Weston-Super-Mare. We headed out to the end taking in the breath taking views all around us.

We finished the day picking up Fish and Chips from a chippy in Wells on our way back to our campsite - a perfect end to a perfect day.

If you're looking for a fantastic campsite in Somerset take a look here!

x x x



Greenacres Camping

Camping is always high on our agenda in the summer holidays and this year we decided to head back to the glorious Greenacres Camping, just an hour's drive away, in the Somerset countryside near Pilton. This site to me is just perfect; flat, huge pitches, camp fires, hot showers, tents and campervans only and simple! The prices are reasonable too at £9 a night for adults and £4.50 for children - with no extra charges for gazebos, awnings or big tents. We arrived early Sunday afternoon and was greeted at Reception by the lovely owner Mary, who remembers all her past guests, and with a quick reminder of where our pitch was we were good to go.

As my car is teeny the husband brought the camping gear in his van, helped us pitch up and then left us to it - the joys of running your own business hey?! The pitch gave us plenty of space for our Outwell Montana 6 tent and car with ample room left to spread out away from neighbouring pitches for those quiet moments when you just want to chill outside your tent. Being at the end of the site we were away from the play park and amenities block but this meant no passing foot traffic and a quieter camping experience - and now the children are 9 and 7 they have increased independence and confidence to head to these areas without me holding their hand and watching their every move.

Every camping trip we take I see a big change in the children and Greenacres has been part of their camping experiences since they were 3 and 1. The space and safety of the site has allowed them to explore and step away from the grown ups, it has made them more confident and just being outdoors in the fresh air 24/7 allows them to completely switch off with no mention of television, iPads and tablets. This to me is pure bliss.

The site has a play area with swings, slide, see saw and play houses and The Lazy Dayzee Crew come on site a couple of days a week to do craft activities in their lovely belle tent.

The site is well maintained with Mary and Duncan ever present around Reception and the amenities block constantly mopping out showers, replenishing toilet rolls and keeping an eye on things. 

The weather was varied with us waking up on Monday morning to heavy rain but we were prepared. I had my lovely new Helly Hansen Seven J jacket and Veierland wellies which kept me super dry on the walks to the toilets, shower block and washing up area.

The rest of our trip was dry and sunny which enabled us to have a campfire every night. I was a little bit anxious about this having never started a fire before but Zippo sent me a rather useful kit that helped us to safely start the fires. The cedar wood fire starter was fantastic and so much nicer than the foil wrapped supermarket ones.

Greenacres hires out fire pits with wood, firelighters and kindling with prices starting at £20. We had our old BBQ pan so just bought some wood from the helpful Duncan at Reception - £10 for a big bag of logs and kindling. You will see Duncan driving his mower and trailer around the site regularly dropping off fire pits and wood but I handily had a strong seven year old boy to do the carrying for me!

Sitting round the campfire each night with the children is going to be a memory that will last forever; toasting marshmallows, sipping wine and hot chocolate, watching the flames dance, burning sticks. All simple things.

The site is well placed to visit the nearby towns of Wells and Glastonbury as well as the tourist spots at Cheddar and Wookey Hole. We also headed further afield down to Montacute House on the rainy Monday and across to Brean Down for a lovely sunny day of play on the beach on Tuesday. Wednesday we climbed Glastonbury Tor, wandered around the beautiful shops buying incense sticks and essential oils then drove up to Wells for an ice cream in front of the Cathedral.

We were very sad to leave on Thursday, although chuffed that the weather forecast of torrential downpours from 4a.m. were completely wrong. The husband arrived to take our camping gear and Duncan was doing his rounds on his mower freshening up the pitches for new arrivals and it was a cheerful goodbye and hope to see you again.

We definitely hope to see you again Greenacres and we will be back for a bit of slow living camping.

Picture kindly taken by our friendly Dutch neighbours!

x x x

Disclaimer; Helly Hansen and Zippo sent me products to review and as always words and opinions are my own. We paid ourselves to camp at Greenacres and just wanted to share their lovely site with you!