An Amazing Summer...

Ok so my last blog was back in April....I must apologise for the lack of updates, but I've been busy...Very busy.  Just after my last post we decided to put our house on the market so we could pursue the dream of building our own house. Our little town house was a wonderful home but the reality was that it had no garden and that was becoming an issue for our autistic son Joel.
 We could never afford to buy the house we would need for our family, but we could afford to self build one. So our first step was to sell our house then rent whilst we looked for a suitable plot of  land to build on. However we were taken aback how events unfolded...We sold our house in seven hours!! Then were offered a housing association house to rent, due to Joel being autistic and finally a perfect plot of land came up that would be ideal for our self build. All this happened over the course of three months, it was like a whirlwind.
  Our new house that we were renting was a newly refurbished large thirties semi detached with a huge garden backing onto woodland. It was the perfect garden for both Erin and Joel to play in. At the bottom of the garden there was the wooded area that Joel was immediately drawn to and this got me thinking  on ways to improve it. On TV there is a series called "George Clarkes Amazing Spaces" that features the brilliant ideas people come up with to reinvent small spaces on more down to earth budgets.....I had a plan and with the help of Erin we decided to build it. We sent our idea into Channel four and they loved it. So within a few weeks of moving house we began building our #Amazingspace , whilst a film crew followed our progress.

Spring Camping...Part One

In the UK  Easter usually heralds the start of the British camping season, but it also can be the most challenging weather wise.. Optimistically we bought a new Khyam awning, camp beds and chairs as at my age comfort is becoming a lot more important. With Easter approaching we left if to the last minute to book a campsite just so we could see if the weather would be fine and not snowing as it did last year...Thankfully the forecast was fair...But where to go??.. As we would only be away for three to four days we wanted some where within a three hour drive. Our daughter Erin chipped in  and said she wanted to go to the beach....So it we decided on Anglesey in North Wales just 115 miles away.

  Now normally you could get to Anglesey in a little over two hours in a car, but in a heavily laden campervan in Bank Holiday traffic that journey turned into over four hours...During a break for lunch an ominous trickle of water emerged from under the van, much to the hilarity of our daughter Erin who chimed in that Chester had wet himself.. After unloading all the camping gear so I could get to the engine it thankfully turned out to be just a loose coolant hose...phew and we were soon on our way again.
  The site we chose in Rhosneigr was full of Welsh rustic charm..( read basic) but it was clean and the farmer who owned it was laid back and cheerful..After a little head scratching with how to pitch the new awning, base camp was set up and after a long day a pub tea was in order.

The next day dawned glorious with blue skies and a gentle breeze and we heard that the local Racing Circuit was open that day and as Joel loves all things car related we couldn't miss the chance. Just 10 minutes down the round we positioned the campervan on top of a small hill above the circuit and enjoyed an hour or so of free motor racing. It was a surreal location with the sea on one side and the mountains on the other and all enjoyed from the comfort of Chester the Campervan.