Another exciting trip as it was the Hansford’s (Paul, Kate & Holly) first weekend camping. We set off about 4 pm and arrived at Bishop’s Green campsite after just over an hour. Paul S set up the caravan whilst I helped the H’s erect the tent. All told, it took around an hour, which we thought was pretty good.

It was a beautiful warm evening so we broke out the nibbles and ploughed our way through a couple of jugs of Pimms Turbo (includes added Gin!) and were soon at one with the world. Paul H had made a large pot of chilli and this went down a storm, too, after which we chatted and eventually went to bed.

The H’s had a good first night and Saturday dawned sunny and warm again. After a hearty fry-up, we set off exploring. We had a quick visit to nearby Greenham Common, which has been completely redeveloped since its famous time with the women peace campaigners in the 80s. Pretty boring really! We then made our way to Kintbury, which has a fantastic artisan bakery who sell the most amazing (looking) lardy cakes. We went for a walk past the church and then along the canal to the Dundas Arms. The last time we had visited, it was pretty lacklustre but has recently been taken over, given an overhaul and a new menu. We didn’t eat on this occasion, but it all looked much more enticing. The drinks were very welcome – ice cold cider. Mmm.

Next was a trip to Hungerford, ad a quick flick round the shops and Cornish pasties and ice-creams for some.

Our final stop was Newbury. More shopping, including some meat for our planned BBQ from the butchers, just near the canal bridge. We have bought meat there every time we have come to Newbury and never been disappointed. We were all hot and tired after shopping and required iced coffee from Starbucks to restore ourselves. As it was late afternoon by now, we made our way back to the site.

After refreshments and a game of badminton (very sweaty!) we started prep for the BBQ. Paul cooked and we all ate our fill. We spent the remainder of the evening chatting and looking for shooting stars and satellites, of which there were, gratifyingly, quite a few.

Next day was again sunny and the owner had told us there was no hurry to get off, so we had a leisurely breakfast (the usual eggs and toast) and then began the process of drying out the condensation from the tent. The sun was hot and strong and the tent was soon dry. We showed the H’’s how to pack up and it was good to hear that they were now affected by the camping bug, so hopefully, this was the first of many trips. The weather gave them a perfect introduction – although we felt that we had to explain that it wasn’t always like this!

We were very excited about this latest weekend away as it was a meet-up with some people we had met on our trip to Canada – Bob & Barb Shorter. They have a Hymer Camper van and we had arranged to meet at the Graffham C&CC site, which we loved (and will return to).

The journey there through the lovely Sussex countryside was a real treat – especially as the sun was shining. We arrived and set up and, after setting up, sat down and had a jolly good catch up, with drinks. Quails eggs and stuffed vine leaves. I had made a fish pie and they joined us for dinner. We passed a very pleasant evening.
It rained and rained in the night – quite heavy too and the ground outside the van resembled a bit of a swamp. As Bob’s van was a heavy old German import, there was some concern that he would get stuck (apparently this has happened before!) in the mud but they were off with no trouble.

We set off for Petworth and had coffee and a mooch round this pretty town. I bought a new oilcloth for the dining room table. Very pleased with that. We also bought a very tasty-looking home made Scotch Egg from Cates’s Delicatessen & Cookshop, for our lunch. Lots of scrummy stuff to be avoided there! We then went for a short walk around Burton Mill Pond.

and thence to Bignor Hill for another walk and great views. Can confirm that the Scotch Egg was entirely delicious! We had arranged to meet Linda & Anna in the Forresters Arms pub in Graffham, and after a couple of drinks, we set off on a very pleasant short circular walk around Lavington Stud. This had some great views over the downs and was enhanced by the sunshine.

It was late afternoon by the time we finished the walk and so we retruned to the caravan with the girls and had tea and a chat with Bob & Barb. The girls had to leave after a couple of hours. We had a table booked for dinner at the Forresters Arms and so we quickly got ready and arrived at the pub. We had a great meal, good food and company and we resolved to meet up again soon.

There was more rain over night and it was a bit of quagmire. We left deep ruts when we moved off and popped in to apologise at reception. Hope they’ll have us back – although they did agree that it was pretty much unavoidable after so much rain. We were very lucky to have had a fine day on Saturday and we look forward to our return to this site.