Glamping Hens

My brother is getting married at the end of May, and I got to go on my sister-in-law's Hen Do. Being imaginative, outdoorsy types, the Hen Do was something a little bit different, 'Glamping' over a UK bank holiday weekend :)

I don’t want to write everything about the Hen Weekend as such, just because it was others who organised it, and it was someone else’s party weekend, and I just don’t want to take someone else’s thing and put it all out there… But I do want to talk about the Glamping, and the site, and share a little of what I enjoyed over the weekend :)

I didn't take as many photos as I normally would, as I was busy getting to know people and joining in with all the fun, but I've done my best with the limited photos I do have...

Arriving at the campsite via the boardwalk over wetland

So first up, our wonderful Glamping site… We stayed at a lovely eco glamping site just inside the Welsh border, in Powys, very near to famous Hay-on-Wye. Named Cosy Under Canvas, the site has won multiple awards over the years from various tourist organisations. 

Camping dome

 

Far from the main road, the site is set in a small patch of woodland surrounded by farm land, and consists of 2 tipis and 3 domes, plus showers, long-drop toilets (no flushing ones), a kitchen area and a sitting area – as well as camp fire pits for each tipi/dome, some log-fired hot tubs, hammocks – you get the idea :)  The site owners even organised some local produce for us to cook on the camp fires, and made one big veggie and one big meat chilli for us to heat up for dinner after our canoe trip. Yum yum!!

Tipi

The site makes use of grey-water recycling (that’s water from sinks and showers, but not toilets), composting toilets, and has recycling bins for all your waste. All your heating is log fired, including a rayburn for heating the shower water. You can, however, walk up to the house and use a wetroom for an electric shower and a flushing toilet…  The cooking can be done over the campfires, but there are also gas hobs in the kitchen area if you prefer.

The well-equipped kitchen area 

It was wonderful when I arrived. I was a bit late, having just moved house the previous day, and then having to empty my car, find everything, pack again, and then make the 4 hour drive! I arrived fairly tightly wound, but everyone was sat around a campfire, there were giant wheelbarrows for bringing your stuff over the boardwalk above the wetland – no struggling with armfuls of stuff! I was in a dome with 4 other people who I had met before, and my bed was a soft sleeping roll on the floor of the dome, complete with pillows and lots of woollen blankets. Lovely! Pouring myself a drink, I joined everyone down at the camp fire and got to know a few new people. There were school friends, university friends from her first degree, friends from where the bride-to-be lives now, university friends from her Masters degree, her sister, and me - the groom’s sister. We were quite a big group – and between us all we had literally come from Edinburgh to the Isle of Wight to be there, which I thought was quite cool :)

Apparently the tipis were fairly dark inside, but the camping domes had some clear panels to one side, allowing the morning light to flood in. The dawn chorus was also very loud and enthusiastic, as we were in such great countryside, so there was no need for alarm clocks in the morning! We got up and ready for our canoe trip on the Wye. The bride-to-be had no idea what was in store for her, and knowing how much she would enjoy it, it was really fun to see the apprehension! We were picked up at the campsite by the canoe hire company, Interactivities. They were really good sports, and were happy to help us keep up the secrecy until we reached the river where the canoes were waiting for us!

I was surprised when we got started with the canoeing – we didn’t have an instructor or leader with us, we were just given a vague lesson on the river beach where we began, a map and instructions about where to break for lunch and where to stop at the end, and then were allowed off alone! (I say alone, we were a flotilla of 12 little boats!!) It is a very flat river though, and these Canadian canoes are relatively stable - though some people did manage to capsize theirs as they tried to land for lunch.

Lunch was fab. We had enjoyed the peace and the views of the countryside and the banter of all the hens as we paddled down the river, and then we hauled out at Hay-on-Wye and headed to a nearby pub, Three Tuns, for food. The lunch was really hearty in this particular pub, and the sun came out, so we all really enjoyed ourselves. Then it came time to get back in the boats for another couple of hours paddling. It was on this leg that we spotted a couple of broods of teeny tiny brand new ducklings! They were so cute!! Then at the end, when our landmark bridge indicating that we would soon be at the end of our trip came into view, the bride’s boat capsized! It was hilarious – it had been planned in advance – not that she knew – and her canoe-mate just rolled the boat over and in they went! She was so shocked!! The manager of Interactivites was in on it, and was even on the bank waiting for us so he could get pictures!

Picture from www.facebook.com/interactivities

Back at the campsite, we had a fancy dress theme to surprise the bride with. We all got ready and she was blindfolded and dressed up to join us. She loves a bit of fancy dress, so she was really pleased with her final costume of a panda! (She has a real thing for pandas). We had a few games and quizzes and things, and plenty of drinks and cakes and food – it was great, I even learned a new drink to make which was delicious :)   At the end of the night when things were calming down again, we all sat around a good fire toasting marshmallows and talking. A really lovely way to spend an evening :)

With costume #1...

...and now a happy panda :)

The next day lots of people left for home – there were plenty of people there who had babies waiting for mummy to come home, and even some who were currently pregnant – hence there was not a strong drinking focus!

The remainder of us headed out for another pub lunch and a brief mooch around Hay, with a few brave ones going for a swim in the river. Then we went back to the site for our final evening. We stoked up the fire for the hot tub, stoked up the camp fire for cooking and marshmallows, and then got started on the cakes and bubbly that people had brought. Not a traditional order to eat dinner in I know: cake, then hot tub, then dinner, then more cake… but it really was great. I particularly enjoyed the mushrooms with blue cheese cooked in foil in the fire – yum!!

Panda in a hot tub

It might not have been a very wild and very drunken hen night that some people would want, but I thought it was brilliant – great people, great food, and great fun. Perfect :)

Inca Jungle Trail Day 2 & 3 ~ Video

One of the lovely people I met while on the Inca Jungle Trek in Peru in January tagged me in a link on Facebook. When I clicked to see what I was tagged in, it was this awesome video montage of the middle 2 days of our trip.

(I'm the one who appears with an orange rucksack cover - the walking poles were an attempt to protect my hip injury as much as possible)

Inca Jungle Trail: Day 2 and 3 from Lucas Amorim on Vimeo.

Inca Jungle Trail Day 1 ~ Video

I discovered this video of Day 1 of our Inca Jungle Trek, after being tagged on Facebook in the video of Days 2 & 3 (posting next). Day 1 was cycling (freewheeling really…) all day, so not the most interesting, but I thought I would share anyway

  :)   

Inca Jungle Trail: Day 1 - "Biking to Machu Picchu" from Lucas Amorim on Vimeo.

Camping Near the White Horse

I had met up in Newbury with my best friend from school, as we had an appointment for friendship tattoos before my move to Australia. After our appointment, she drove straight to the campsite we were staying at with her  two boys, while I first shopped for a few extra supplies (mainly marshmallows for toasting!)  We were camping at Britchcombe Farm, a basic campsite at Uffington, near the famous White Horse - but we ended up only staying under canvas for one night. We had wanted to camp for longer, but it rained really really hard on that first day, and it turned out that the tent leaked really badly!! With a swimming pool for in our tent, and with the kids to think of, we decamped to a hotel for the first night, returning to camping for the following day which had better weather. Returning to camp included having to bail out the tent, and towel down the ground sheet!! A good job we didn’t try sleeping there with the kids!

Littlest lad was very upset to stay in a hotel, he wanted so badly to camp! The only thing that cheered him up on that first night was taking him out for Italian food – he is a little fussy with food flavours, so he chose a margarita pizza. He’s only 9 so he doesn’t eat lots, but he really tucked in to the pizza with gusto! Then, when dessert was offered, we all led each other astray and each chose a naughty dessert… Littlest lad chose the profiteroles, and made very short work of them!

The next day, littlest lad was very excited when we finally headed back towards the campsite, and all of the possibilities for lighting fires and playing football. My husband, Adam, had joined us by this point, so we had another tent to put up while the boys played ball. 

Then we all headed off to the lovely tea rooms associated with the camp site. They served teas and coffees and delicious homemade cakes and scones.

While looking around outside, we spotted this pretty moth on a wall, a white ermine moth. Littlest lad wanted to see it closer and in his enthusiasm he knocked it off the wall onto the floor. It wasn’t hurt, but I decided to pick it up and out it somewhere safe – and I took the opportunity for a closer look and some more photos. It was so fluffy and cute!

We enjoyed our tea break in the lovely garden area, then dragged the kids on a bit of a walk, under much protesting that they wanted to go back to the campsite to play football…  Our first attempt to find a long path to follow failed, and we ended up having to turn back at this field of lambs.

Finding a longer path, we walked up a hill to a bit of a ridge, up through lovely meadows full of buttercups. We got great views of the campsite as we walked up. Our tents are those blue specks next to the 2 red cars.

We carried on towards the White Horse. The walk became more fun for the boys as we turned it into races to different points. I’m sure this would have been easier for me without my bag and camera!

Finally we got to the White Horse. We had hoped to be getting to a view point, but we actually got to the White Horse itself. 

We took in the views from the hill

Watched with amusement as the sheep ran in to gather behind this vehicle – feeding time!

Then we decided to walk down the hill to find a view of the White Horse. Some of us did a bit of rolling down the hill too :)

Unfortunately, this was the best view we could get from where we were. I was up for walking further to find a better view (I had seen a good view while driving to the campsite, so I knew it was possible) but I was the only one interested, so instead we headed back to the camp site for football.

Back at the campsite, we decided to have a proper camp dinner as the weather had become so nice, so while the boys played ball, husband and I headed off on a search for a shop that was open on a Sunday evening, and selling supplies for a BBQ… Between a couple of different shops we managed to get pretty much everything we needed. The marshmallows, biscuits and chocolate had come with my friend and the kids – eldest lad had a plan for s'mores (created by toasting a marsh mallow, then sandwiching it with chocolate in between 2 biscuits. My friend thought putting a toasted marsh mallow between 2 chocolate biscuits would have been much simpler!))

I prepared the disposable BBQs by propping them up on metal tent pegs to keep them off the grass. I checked them to make sure they were sturdy and level before we lit them, and then my husband manned the BBQs to cook our burgers and sausages.

While the food was cooking, littlest lad was itching to get a proper fire going. While we had been off getting food, they had bought a bag of logs for a camp fire – in the evening a guy in a landrover came around selling the logs – so when most of the food was finished I put littlest lad to work creating a spot for the fire. He did a good job, and once it was ready I showed him how to build up the fire and get it ready to light. We cheated a little – the heavy rain meant that there was no dry kindling around, so I had bought something to help get it going, and soon we had a lovely little fire.

We used some of the logs to build a wind break to help the fire get going, and once it was nice and hot we began toasting the marshmallows.

Eldest lad showed me how to make the s'mores.

But I think that I preferred just a plain toasted marsh mallow

We had a lovely evening, all sitting around the campfire. Littlest lad was having a whale of a time just being outside, camping and having a fire and marshmallows. He even came up with some great ideas for games we could all play together around the camp fire – my favourite was playing a game where you each take it in turns to say 1 word to make up a story, although we had to adapt this a little (1 sentence each instead for a bit, followed by 2 words each, which worked best for us) as he was getting too excitable to follow the story properly, and it didn’t seem to be working too well to begin with! We really had some giggles, it was such a lovely way to all spend precious time together :)  In fact, we all lost track of time and the littlest one was very happy with that as he got to stay up late and enjoy more camping!

A Little Bit of The Pembrokeshire Coast

On a trip home to Pembrokeshire to visit family and friends I had a few hours to kill. I decided to do this by heading out to the coast for some walking:

I began by driving the country lanes around the coast. I chose to go to north Pembrokeshire around St Davids, I just love it round there. St Davids is the smallest city in Britain, a status which was lost in 1888, but reinstated in 1994 at the request of the Queen. She came to visit for the occasion of reinstating city status, in a ceremony at St Davids Cathedral in 1995. As a local Scout, I was one of the lucky local youths who were due to form a guard of honour for the Queen. Unfortunately, the small, single lane roads leading down to Pembrokeshire had meant that the Queen arrived late, and there was no time to do a proper guard of honour and we only had brief glimpse of her. Still, a privilege to be part of a historical event like that :)

While I was driving I wasn't able to take many pictures, but I did stop in a small layby to get this shot of Newgale beach, one of my favourite bits of Pembrokeshire and where I have done most of my surfing in the past. It was very windy and you can see the sea is pretty rough!

At St Davids itself, I didn’t visit the Cathedral this time around – but I did walk down there to get this picture. Most Cathedrals were built up high where they could be seen from a distance, but St David’s Cathedral was built in a dip so it wasn’t visible from the sea, and therefore wouldn’t provide a landmark for invaders arriving by boat.

Carrying on the short drive required to get to the coast, it took me a while to find somewhere to park – I’m sure I used to know where parking was!

I ended up parking near a campsite, then I followed a footpath a short way through fields to reach the coast path. 

I can’t say how much I love the coast back home – as I arrived at the coast path and took in the views, I just felt a smile spread across my face and feeling of deep happiness and calmness well up within me. I love it so much!

I had 2 hours free, so I simply walked for an hour in one direction before turning round and coming back. I would have much preferred a full day’s walking from one point to another, but maybe next time :)

The wildflowers were out in force, woodland flowers like bluebells and pink campion, and also the coastal flowers like sea pink (thrift) and spring squill. An absolutely glorious sight!

I didn’t see many sea birds – just a brief sighting of a lone gannet, and also a pair of choughs. I did see sky larks though, which were singing their little hearts out, plus lots of swallows and swifts performing their acrobatic flight displays along the path, sweeping down low and then darting upwards to skim over banks – and over my head. I also saw plenty of stone chats, which I haven’t seen inland. These pretty little birds have a wonderful and distinctive call, a ‘peep’ followed by a sound like two small pebbles being clashed together: “peep! chsk chsk…   …peep! chsk chsk…”

Walking along the cliffs, I love seeing the changing views and shapes of the coastline and the cliffs, such spectacular views!

Hoping this doesn't happen!

On the way back, I stopped to play with some pebbles where the coast path dropped down from the cliff tops to a small beach...

It was a very peaceful walk, just me on my own, enjoying the sounds of the sea and the birds, watching the wildlife, enjoying the incredible flowers (playing with pebbles!) - it was so wonderful and I am so determined to do some proper walking here this year.

I do think that this is such a wonderful part of the world, I hope you can see why I love it so much :)