Not long now to our move

Well after nearly 3.5 months in our Caravan in Waterrow, Somerset we are getting closer to moving to our new house in West Byfleet. Earlier this week we paid a flying visit to WB and then was able to spend approx 2.5 hours roaming the property, not so much to find faults, but just to check on how matter were progressing.

We had hope to find a fully completed house inside but when we arrived the carpet layers had been running late and had not finished and so there were bits and pieces and other work tools around the place. On an earlier visit amount one month ago we discovered that the walls had been painted the wrong colour, which has now been corrected, so this time to check to see if anything was missing. We have been trying to work out where all our furniture will go as we believe we have to much which is always a problem when downsizing. When we got back to the Hotel that we both awoke overnight with the same though and ended up having a cup of tea at 3.30 am and working on layouts, phew not the best thing to do.

Its now getting so close that we should consider ordering certain new equipment that we need such as washing machine, dryers, lawnmowers etc etc and also lots of racking to the garage and also for the storage area on the top floor. There will be a lot more stuff we need but cannot order until we are in situ but at least we can prepare for the event. At the moment full legal completion should be on Friday 2nd October and we plan to leave the caravan on Sunday 4th October and arranged for the keys handover at 1000 on Monday 5th and so we can make final judgements on furniture positioning, or not as the case may be.

Most people when they downsize at our age tend to go for a bungalow but of course we are little different and go for a smaller house with double the amount of stairs which might be challenging to the male member of the family.

The house in on what was the Broadoaks Park Estate and country house which is currently being renovated as are three other historic buildings on the site and it is a private estate and so we should not have the parking issues that Wey and Round Oak Roads are currently experiencing.  The garden is a lot smaller that the last house and should be easy to maintain, we hope although we may call in some gardening design people to see what they suggest.

Anyway the next few months will be quite interesting and perhaps even challenging.

Three nights at the Tortworth Park Hotel- Wotten Under Edge

We tend not to take photos of bedrooms as they often looks a bit messy but we took photos around the hotel grounds which are extensive and they are on a our photo website. On the first night Noel had to go of the special menu and and asked for a steak medium status but it arrived nearly well done which I pointed out to Jennifer and it was obvious that the waiter noticed and came to apologise but as I was not to bothered, but rather hungry had started to eat it, but we discussed the matter and he suggested a new steak and I said it wasn't necessary but five minutes later a brand new steak turned up after I had already eaten about 2/3rd’s of the other one so needless to say started all over again. Food was excellent but the menu was limited due to COVID and as I did not want the same thing again the next two days we decided to explore nearby where we found a nice pub serving Sunday lunch we we duly enjoyed. The weather at this time was really superb and warm and nice to sit in the garden under the umbrella passing the time of day listening to music etc.

Following a very nice three nights in Cotswold Water park we moved on to stay at another deVere Hotel Property near Wooten under Edge in Gloucestershire and this Hotel was a a beautiful old house that has been very nicely restored and could be just like a nice club house with rooms.

On the last day we went for dinner at another pub with not quite the same ambience but the food was also good and of course a lot cheaper than the hotel. Finally after three nights we had our breakfast, must wear your masks whilst attending the buffet and all around the Hotel, not really good, but must be done and then we left for our drive back home ie the Caravan in Wiviliscombe and went via the Costco shop in Bristol where we stocked up on beer, wine, steaks and sausages etd before getting back at around 1500hrs

It was nice to have the break as we were getting a bit itchy waiting for the house to be finished. Anyway Noel is off to Lanhydrock in Cornwall tomorrow for two nights with friends to play golf, should be fun…

 

Three nights at the De Vere Cotswold Water Parks Hotel

Well we had a great three nights at this Hotel as we felt we needed a break away from the caravan and the chance of a proper double bed and somebody else to do the cooking and no need to empty the chemical loo, heaven!.

Our journey from Waterrow took just over two and a half hours and we were able to check in right away in to our Studio Apartment which was quite large but a view over the garden and car park rather than the lake, oh well, better luck another time. We spent quite a lot of time on the first and second day in the room with walks to dinner and as breakfast was being delivered on a daily basis although not suitable for Noel which required a walk to reception to collect some bacon and scrambled egg buns. On Friday we went for a longish drive going via some of the lovely Cotswolds Villages and also some shopping in Waitrose Cirencester which was a big ship and with the café newly opened we tested out a cup of tea and a cake before heading back to the Hotel. In the evening we went to the Boathouse restaurant but the choice of food at the Hotel is limited by the amount of chefs they can have working in the kitchens which is such a shame.

In the evening we watched a bit of BBC Tv and I can honestly  say its quite rubbish and I am am not sure what type of audience it catering to, certainly not us and so I doubt I well re-sign up for a BBC licence when most of the time we watch streaming stuff.

After a nice nights sleep on Saturday morning we headed off to our next hotel…..

A day trip to Penzance by train

Well after several weeks living in the caravan and not being able to go away overseas as we normally would we decided to get out and about a bit more but leave Somerset for a few days and so for the first day out we have booked a train journey from Taunton down to the end of the line in Penzance.

And so an early morning for us getting up around 0730 and we left the site just before 0830 en-route to Taunton station, we went a little early as we have no idea how busy the parking is and just to be safe and eve though we got stuck behind school buses and road works we arrived in plenty of time to find that the train was running about 20 minutes late. Oh well!!!. We had booked first class tickets to ensure we would not be in a crowded train and the arrival board showed that the first class carriages were at the front of the train so down the station we went and board the the first coach only to find afterwards that the first class was at the back of the train and so off we went to claim our correct seats.

The train journey took about four hours and passed thro some nice country and then along the coast line in one place we could see about three large cruise ships parked and we eventually arrived in Penzance in the bright sun and it was really lovely and the place was buzzing. We walked along the coast line in the direction of the restaurant we had chosen and it was very nice and we both had the largest scallops I think we have ever had and then Jen had the fish pie and me a large steak and we saw this off with a bottle of wine. The food was lovely but the service was extremely slow and by the time we had finished we had to go back to the station for our train which noel thought was 16.15 but on arriving we checked out tickets and it was actually 16.50 although Jennifer discovered that actually there was no 16.50 train and so we had to rush to connect with the 16.15 which got us back to Taunton around 20.00 hrs. Of course you had to wear your mask on the train at all times and also there was no buffet service so you could not get a cup of tea.

It was a most enjoyable day out but were were both rather tired by the time we got back to the caravan. Tomorrow we have booked to stay away for six nights with three in the Cotswolds and another three nights in a interesting hotel in Wotten-under-edge in Gloucestershire.

A very busy last week getting the caravan ready for winter

As we have not really ever caravanned in the winter we recognise that we have some things to prepare so as not to have a frozen water system either in or outside the caravan.

So with a trip in to Taunton we purchased some very thick insulation to wrap around the pipes and then this took a couple of hours to fix and also in the recent storm the carbon pipes moved quite a bit we followed our neighbours advice and purchased some jubilee clips to hold all the pipes in place. We also changed the water outlet to two rather than the one to ensure there would not be any risk of one pipe freezing and blocking the other and so over the few days it took to purchase and complete allowing for the poor weather all is complete. The weather was so bad at one point that the wind was so strong that it blew over over our gas BBQ.

Finally as part of the clearing up process we stripped the contents of the awning and laid down new plastic to protect the rubber matting and then moved the refrigerator to the far end of the van and so inside the awning it looks so much nicer and much tidier.

We are also changing the control panel in the van as the current one is old and getting quite difficult to read and so the during the annual service on Saturday 12th the engineer will hopefully fit it. The site has been quite full in September and according to Jamie the site owner they are pretty much booked up fully for September and also October which is great for them. The demand for caravans and motorhomes this year has been enormous and it has been quite difficult this year to purchase a new van as the manufacturers were closed and the only stock second hand or what the dealer had on the forecourt which was immediatly sold out. Sites have been overwhelmed with bookings and one small thing I discovered was that there was a big shortage of chemical toilet stuff and so I have had to stock up big time to cover us thro the next couple of months.

Anyway we plan to have a few days away from the caravan not because we are bored but we do like to travel around and so we are in the process of fixing up a few days away and also it helps if the days go by faster that we can get to house move quicker, we shall see what happens.