By keef and annie hellinger, Dec 30 2021 14.35 pm KHWD reviews the Autotrail Savannah in 2021 Frontier I find it interesting that most if not all autotrail vans have 1st nation names, what when i was younger inspired the many cowboy and indians B movies I watched on a Saturday afternoon in black and white #humour When we first started looking for motorhomes to buy after having extensively hired them (which I can whole heartedly advise... motorhoming in cramped spaces is NOT for everyone) #hintsandtips we were looking at autocruise star fire and star trail vans until wendy's compact sleeping arrangements , overall length (small at 5.4m) and VW engine swung it for us autotrail savannah frontier same as seen at lincs campsite #vanswelove Summary of the Autotrail Savannah 2021 A top-drawer motorhome with so many goodies, the Autotrail Savannah 2021, such as alloy wheels, a locking ladder, exterior gas and shower points, small garage and a locking spare wheel carrier. With two upfront facing sofas and the ‘L’ shaped kitchen the Savannah epitomises luxury Inside features Cloth Upholstery 3 Berth Truma Combi Heating Truma Combi Water Heating Electric Windows Electric Mirrors Driver Swivel Seat Passenger Swivel Seat Fly-screens & Blinds TV Round Bistro Table Free Standing Table 3 Speed fan Oven / Grill 3 Ring Gas Hob 1 Electric Ring Large Fridge / Freezer Good Storage Removable Carpets Great Washroom Separate Shower 2 Single Beds Outside Features Awning Awning Light Garage Reversing Camera External Lockers Rear Ladder Satellite Dish Spare Wheel Carrier With Case External BBQ Point External Shower Point #timeline timeline 2021 the last of the year, one blog per year

By keef and annie hellinger, Feb 17 2022 10.00 am Can I help other motorhomers? and / or family businesses just a thought #hintsandtips Try KeefH Web Designs Launches today we are skilled in travel websites, just have a look at the many available via our overarching KHWD website The HOME of Great Web Site design for all your Small Businesses I started my long standing love of web site development way back in 2008 soon after we had returned from our Gap Year after taking early retirement. I had just spent circa 40 years in IT from lowly computer operator to senior consultant and all points in between. My first site was using some seriously old editing technology (graphicorps - now well and truly redundant) I used this to document our Gap Year down under and then when we travelled from one side of Canada to the other. Once this died I signed up with Moonfruit (the then leading independent development tool provider). This coincided with my wife starting her small craft business and her winning Theo Paphitis's Small Business Sunday (SBS) so my first development with this new technology was her Girls Designer Clothes biz site. Having cut my teeth on that I redeveloped the Gap Year & Canada sites. In 2012 having finally bought our own motorhome I created the 1st edition of our motorhome-travels blog to give hints and tips for other homers and document our travels. I then created 2 further sites of our long holidays (mostly in hired motorhomes) in 2013 & 2017. So far I have written 12 sites since retiring plus in all humility I do have some understanding of the BIG PICTURE wrt IT and computing after a lifetime in the industry. In December 2021 Yell who owned Moonfruit decided to close it down (it was past its prime as heavily wedded to the antiquated flash technology) and they much against my wishes migrated (badly) all my sites to WIX (a much better development environment) so I am now slowly but surely redoing all 12 sites (mostly from scratch) anyhow now that I am fully retired (I did go back to do some more consultancy work after my initial retirement for probably about a year on and off) and have a passion to help smaller businesses by providing a service that hopefully is somewhat scaled down from the charges (and subscription fees for ongoing maintenance that the big players charge) SO.... if you are a small start up or family business and need an online presence or would just like to refresh your existing e-commerce site why not head over to look at my EXAMPLES then maybe the PRICES, have a think about it, see what you think and if it suits contact me either by email or phone by clicking the relevant buttons at the bottom of any page. Thanks for looking, best wishes Keef Hellinger ​ PS My other passions are family, motorhoming and travel, both locally and worldwide so if you need a website in those "spaces" I am very much up for it, let me know, thanks again If you want to visit my KeefH Web Designs site please click HERE for further details. Thanks for looking Here are some of my Audio Examples which are provided by the Soundcloud Platform, I can easily do similar for you should you so wish.

By keef and annie hellinger, March 2nd 2022 10.26 a.m. A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog - Diaries are now Audiobooks Having finally typed up the whole of Annie's hand written diary for our 3 month sojourn in South East Asia and Down Under in 2013 I decided to make all our holiday diaries into Audiobooks, some with shorter chapters than others. They can all be found HERE on the motorhome-travels blog site (follow the Audio Diaries link) or if you would prefer in native Soundcloud HERE, your choice. It is also true to say they are embedded with the individual big trip websites as well HOLIDAY 2007-8 HOLIDAY 2010 HOLIDAY 2013 HOLIDAY 2017 And in a very limited form at the end of this blog , thanks for looking Listen to those via this MENU The GAP YEAR Audiobook Across CANADA in a Motorhome Audiobook Our 3rd Holiday of a lifetime Audiobook The BIG TRIP with pals Audiobook Other BLOG Big Trips Big Trip Diaries in Audiobook form find them also on Soundcloud Take a look, just click on the logo Some of my sound cloud stats over time Here is an example of some of the Audiobooks via my KeefH Web Designs Sampler playlist on SoundCloud PLAYLISTS GAP YEAR ACROSS CANADA 3RD HOLIDAY OF A LIFETIME THE BIG TRIP OTHER MOTORHOME TRAVELs BLOG MAJOR TRIPS

By keef and annie hellinger, March 12th 2022 14.30 p.m. A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog We have been lucky enough to travel on a few of the world's great train journeys whist we've been on our travels so I thought I would showcase them here on my Blog, to be fair on those holidays we were in a motorhome for a goodly percentage of our travels. I've included a slideshow with audio diary commentary for each plus my new Soundcloud playlist some of the worlds great train journeys Menu The Ghan, Darwin to Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia 2008 The TranzAlpine, Christchurch to Greymouth, South Island, New Zealand, 2008 The Indian Pacific Railway, Perth Western Australia to Adelaide, South Australia 2017 Soundcloud Playlist, Audiobooks Diary Words The Ghan Our Journey back in 2008 with audio diary, Red class sleeper couchettes, not sure we slept much though Coming through the Gap at Alice Springs, NT The TranzApline This was a special treat for our 30th Wedding Anniversary TranzAlpine across the gravel flats, good weather TranzAlpine, Arthurs Pass National Park Our Journey in Rain and Sunshine on our Wedding Anniversary #greatfun #railways The Indian Pacific From Perth to Adelaide, Gold Class, such Luxury Our Journey back in 2017 with audio diary Please note we only did Perth to Adelaide, but despite travelling in the opposite direction and from Sydney this is to give a flavour of it in action, hope it helps The Audiobooks of those Great Rail Journeys WORDS 2008 Diary of Great Train Journeys, The Ghan, Darwin to Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia This first part of the diary was written in reverse chronological order as we travelled hence it is a bit sparse on detail however for prosperity it is important to include , by 2022 it was now 14 years old and technology back then ain’t what it is now, some ridiculous Telstra roaming modem that only worked about 10% of the time and cost a fortune, ha-ha. So, UPDATE 29/5/2008 We have now left the Outback State Loved NT. Nice, remote and relaxed. Flew out over the various deserts, gr8 views. Bought a Didge from Andrew made by aboriginal who lives between Katherine & Darwin, Top end. Also visited Old Ghan Museum, train spotters that we are! Plus had a Didge lesson and went to the marvelous Andrew Langford's Sounds in Starlight Theatre for a contemporary Didge show and joined in. Plus, 19hr round trip from Alice to see Uluru & The Olgas, immense! Wildlife count to Uluru and back was 3 camels, 20+roos, 4 dingo’s, numerous birds, and bats. Spent the day in and around Alice by Explorer bus. Arrived on the Ghan (Gr8 fun) in Alice Springs (cooler at 27c) from Darwin via Katherine (4hrs), Tennant Creek (5hrs but night) after 27hr journey, not for the faint hearted! Average 33c in Darwin. Went to Art & History Museum Darwin (we liked Darwin) Plus Gr8 day in Darwin, visited the town, did the tourist bus (tour tub), chilled by the infinity pool and went to the sunset market at Mindil beach, spectacular Arrived and met the v helpful Lorraine at our apartment in Darwin HISTORY Arrive in Darwin via air from Broome 21/5/2008 and then catching Ghan on Sat 24/5 @ 9am thru to Alice Springs stopping off at Katherine for 4 hours. (We will see the gorge + town) In Darwin we will be staying in a Central Motel (Unit 1 @ 4 Barossa Street, Larrakeyah) and taking trips out and about in NT for a few days. In Alice we are staying at the Aurora Alice Springs for 4 nights and taking a 17hr trip to Uluru & the Olgas in Red Rock country on the 27th, looking fwd to it! Darwin is a fabulous place and was my top city after Sydney. The Ghan journey we will remember for the rest of our lives and the school of the air in Katherine as well as visiting the magical Uluru (and not being allowed to take pictures, its a sacred place) and staying in Alice, seeing the Starlight theatre performance and having Andrew Langford try out our Didge before we bought it. See our 1995 trip here and we just had to go back for our 4th , but hopefully not final time in 2013. We visited Alice again in 2017. We travelled in 2 motorhomes in our 10½ months away, the one on the eastern side being our home for 105 days. If you want to learn more about motorhomes, click here. No question Annie & I love Oz both as children & adults FACT! Summary: NORTHERN TERRITORY 9 days , Day 209-217, 21/5/2008 - 29/5/2008 See Western Australia fo Day 209 and Southern Australia for Day 218, thanks ​ Day 210 - Thursday 22nd May 2008,Darwin Walked into town, about 12ish then Hop on hop off bus, with drivers mum present $60AD saw most sights Stopped at Sky city casino had some drinks by the infinity pool then walked over to the Mindil Beach Sunset market (ace) Darwin is a nice city better than we expected.Loved the Mindil Beach Sunset market,Loads of folk at market which we went to in the eve and watched the sunset across the beach,Mindil Beach Sunset market, spray can artist, eMDee band, sunset and many many revelers (5k+), Day 211 - Friday 23rd May 2008,Darwin Went by taxi to the Museum & Arts center, spent about 2.5hrs there V interesting especially the Cyclone Tracy stuff then walked back in 33+c heat to bus stop where drunk and his even drunk aboriginal partner told us about buses Caught no4 into City center Did shopping My BNT Mosquitos shirt, Annies Tshirt and perfume plus food shopping 4 Ghan trip Then back to Unit 1, 4 Barossa st, Larrakeyah to chill ring Chris & Mum Thai meal Massaman chicken and 2 bed not too late after packing. Loved My NT rugby shirt, sweetheart the croc.photo of of ‘Tracy you bitch’ car a treat from cyclone experience in museum Day 212 - Saturday 24th May 2008,The Ghan, Darwin to Tennant Creek via Katherine White Cockatoos,Brummy bus driver in Katherine, 2 ozzie ladies in seats behind us on Ghan , Loved the Red North, long journey with very little sleep after a very early start. Day 213 - Sunday 25th May 2008,The Ghan, Tennant Creek to Alice Springs Moored up at Tenant Creek (John Flynn – 1st RFDS) from 1.30am to 6am Noone allowed out weird station no platform Neither of us slept that well in our Day/Nighter seats but gr8 trip Lots of red soil as we moved thru to Alice Springs by 11.15am 26c Caught shuttle to hotel had to wait 35mins to check in (not best pleased) but Uluru trip receipt had been faxed by Vaitor. Saw 5 red roos, 2 to keef, 3 to annie. Met 2 ladies behind us on red kangaroo (steerage class) cabin R seats r13-14 daughter in Esperance son in Darwin oh and Sid the Sloth He and his girlfriend slept (supposedly) all 27 hrs. Remember the Ghan, Annie slept for 2.5 hrs when we arrived at Aurora A-S hotel (v good with pool) deluxe room. Henley on Todd (boat race with a difference, no water so they have to carry them with their legs thru as though the river Todd had water in it which it does for very few occasions a decade, let alone a year. Loved the soil getting redder and redder as the Ghan travelled south. Day 214 - Monday 26th May 2008,Alice Springs Now been away 7 months,1st day on round Alice bus ticket. Telegraph station. Hot , Lovely views over Alice and trip round. Day 215 - Tuesday 27th May 2008,Uluru/ Olgas trip from Alice Springs Very long day 19hrs Got up 4.50am (having stayed up previous eve to see England thrash the Kiwis at cricket 2nd test) 1000k (625m) round trip. Just a very special day back in bed by 12.30am having washed our feet and red dust. Saw Mt Connor, Uluru & The Olgas, plus we did 3 walks. Met Brian the guide, pint sized Aussie who was very friendly, but it was his first day guiding. Loved Uluru but really the whole day We had sparkling wine and a picnic as the sun went down over Uluru Really strange colours on the rocks. Day 216 - Wednesday 28th May 2008,Alice Springs Up late after long trip yesterday. Had brekkie (full English) at the Red Ochre Grill attached to our hotel, the Aurora, then showered, caught 2nd day on the Alice explorer out to the Old Ghan Museum (gr8 fun) then back into Alice and the Todd mall. Did Didgeridoo lesson booked tickets for the evening show. Nice 3 course meal in restaurant Barramundi & Ginger, Steak, Fish & Chips, Pear & Apricot strudel & homemade ice-cream all for $38AD reach. The food at the hotel was very good value. Met Andrew Langford – Didge show, which we both saw and practised didge playing, fun but hard especially circular breathing. See the Sounds of the Starlight theatre images on our full website, just go to any browser and type in HOLIDAY2007-8 dot co dot uk, thanks for looking. Sadly, the Sounds of Starlight website is not secure, so I have removed it and Andrew stopped running this in about 2012 and folk in Alice told us he sadly now runs the town bus. Plus no one apart from drunk Aboriginal lady who wobbled into restaurant (sad) and security called the police. Day 217 - Thursday 29th May 2008,Alice Springs to Adelaide Up 8-ish Had gr8 cooked brekkie, then over to see Andrew and bought a Didge. Very pleased with it, made by aboriginal between Katherine & Darwin. Had it mailed home with free booklet. Then sent Craig note to say it was on its way Checked out of Hotel about 10.15 took longer cos I thought we had paid, we had not. Then shuttle bus ($34AD) to airport V nice airport Then flew to Adelaide Shuttle bus to Rockford. Not bad room although had to ask for 3 bits of maintenance Supposedly an upgrade and view of river Torrens, maybe! Annie took loads of gr8 piccies out of the plane of the Simpson & Mackay deserts and Lake Eyre. Met Andrew Didge man , plus yanks on shuttle bus to hotel in Adelaide who were very loud & opinionated MORE INFORMATION From our travels, gap year, Northern Territory Australia,9 days in total, during the period 21-29 May 2008, Ghan, Alice & Uluru, in 3 parts reconstructed Nov2020, including 159 images being a summary of the much larger collection, covering plus a whole lot more the following, Darwin, stations, tenants creek, sunset, mindil sunset market, museums, poems, artist, infinity pools, Katherine, Devonshire teas, didge, Andrew Lansford, aurora hotel, Unit 1, 4 Barossa st, Larrakeyah, Darwin, nice land lady , food, drive to ghan station, cyclone Tracy 1974,museums, salt lakes, tropical flowers, Gibson and simpson deserts, aborigines, mount connor, albert Namatjira, artist, graveyard alice, telegraph & signals stations and museums, the old Ghan, camels, the tub tour, stolen generation, river Katherine, sounds of starlight theatre, spray can art, the olgas, early morning coach trip, sunset picnic at uluru, cave art, school of the air, walking around the base of ayres rock (old name), red class travel, world hepatitis day, sleeping rough, red ochre café, camel steaks, roo steaks, telegraph camel men, history, traversing a very hostile terrain , baobab trees, frank gorton poetry, tea towels, ballooons, jim's place road house, singing dingoes, rock paintings and images of the past, lasseter highway, past kings canyon - coach swapping point We bought our willow bark didge from Andrew Lansford, it was made in the top of the Northern Territory by an indigenous man, Andrew gave us lessons on how to play, to this day (2022) I have not yet really mastered circular breathing which is essential to playing but can make the authentic didge sound. There was a fab Didge band playing at the Mendil Sunlight market in Darwin 2008 Diary of Great Train Journeys, The TranzAlpine, South Island, New Zealand Day 123 - Monday 25th February 2008,Christchurch For our 30th Wedding Anniversary the main treat was to travel on one of the worlds great train journeys on board the TranzAlpine railway from Christchurch to Greymouth on South Island New Zealand and back, we had great fun, sadly it rained most of the way across to Greymouth on the West coast, I guess not surprising for South Island and indeed New Zealand, it was also very cloudy but oh so hot and sunny on the way back and great scenery Hard to take pictures thru the slightly steamed up windows but such superb scenery, we will (and do) go back via road at some stage 2017 but train takes you in places where no roads go so it will be our special memories. We met a Brummie couple (who were amazingly well travelled) who now live in Weston Super Mare Chatted to them all the way to Greymouth because of the rain. Loving Annie so much. We also had a meal at an Italian restaurant in Christchurch in the evening after we got back from the train journey but sadly keef ill next day, probably the butter chicken, the rail journey gave us a very different view of Arthurs pass which we love having driven through it in 2008 when it rained the whole time and then again in 2017 when we were blessed with sunshine but it is very different and way more remote when on the train, which we love! See the slideshow and see what you think. 2017 Diary on a Great Train Journey, The Indian Pacific Railway, Australia Sunday 26 February Perth to Kalgoorlie on the Indian Pacific Railway Got up at 6.30am & got a taxi at 7.45am to East Perth station. The train left at 10am, so we had plenty of time to look at the Indian Pacific train memorabilia & have complimentary coffee/tea/orange juice & small cakes whilst a musician played. Allyson & I chatted to the train driver (one of two drivers for the trip) who was up at the front of the train. There was a wagon with a full car transporter which had to be hooked up to the engine, so the driver had to stop talking to us & assist with that. Took lots of photos & felt excited to be going from Perth to Adelaide on the Indian Pacific which would take 3 days/ 2 nights and crossing the Nullarbor Plain & deserts. Chris & Allyson & us had adjacent cabins near the front of the massively long train (carriage O, cabins 7 & 8). The cabins were very compact with a pull-out bed & bunk bed above with ladder, plus a small shower room with sink, mirror & toilet. The staff were all very friendly & helpful. We went to the Queen Adelaide dining car for lunch – all food & drinks were included in the ticket. The train went very slowly through the Perth suburbs & past Northam & Merredin which we had visited in the motorhomes. Sometime after Merredin and past Southern Cross (an outback town) the train stopped for about an hour. We heard on the internal PA announcement by train staff that a stowaway person had been spotted by a passing freight train & the driver had informed our driver who had then seen the man on the video surveillance cameras. The stowaway was seen moving in one of the cars on the vehicle transporter. The Indian Pacific staff radioed the police at Southern Cross & they took a while to get to the stationary train. The man was arrested and stupidly had no water or food with him in the car for the 3-day trip & with outside temperatures of 36c + he may not have survived. We went to dinner in the dining car – we were travelling gold class. Red class was lower & Platinum was the top class. When we returned to the cabin the staff had made up the bunk beds & left some gifts for us as we had mentioned that it was our 39th wedding anniversary yesterday. I got a blue pashmina scarf & Keef got a cap plus a nice note from the staff. There was a free coach trip at 9pm round Kalgoorlie & to see the gold mine (the Super Pit) which we had all signed up to do that evening. However, because the stowaway had caused a delay to our journey we did not get off the train onto the coaches until 10.30pm.The temperature had been 30c at 9.15pm and it was very dark. The coaches went to the Super Pit but did not get any idea of the scale of the gold mine as it was pitch black with lorry headlights moving in the bottom of the giant pit. Luckily Keef & I had seen it before in the daytime on a previous trip to Australia. We drove round the town & there was nobody around. The coaches all dropped everybody off at the gold museum where we saw a short 15-minute play about Paddy Hannan. He was an Irish prospector who first found gold nuggets on the ground in 1893. A woman was also in the play – we did not think it was very good. Back in our coach we did not think the driver’s commentary was very good either – he kept pausing mid-sentence (his day job was prison officer). We were very tired and after the two-hour excursion we re-boarded the train and went to bed. Monday 27 February Indian Pacific Railway I was still awake when the train finally left Kalgoorlie station at 1.20am & picked up speed. The delay in leaving was probably due to goods trains having priority on the line. The train lurched violently from side to side so much that I found it difficult to get to sleep on the top bunk. I climbed down the ladder, Keef woke up and kindly offered to swap bunks. Eventually got to sleep. We were woken up at 5.30am by train staff knocking on our door. We had all wanted to do the early breakfast outdoors at 6.15 at Rawlinna station. This was a scheduled stop on the Nullarbor Plain halfway between Perth & Adelaide. Not all the passengers wanted to be woken so early for breakfast. The temperature was 20c at 6.15 bright sunshine with a bright blue sky. This place was a lonely outpost on the railway track, with tiny station, post office plus a sheep station which covered 2.5 million acres with 70,000 sheep. When we climbed down the train steps it was some distance to the station where breakfast was being served. We all sat on benches by lots of long wooden tables & ate sausage, quiche, large mushroom, tomato plus tea & coffee. We saw local Ute & Aussie famers come to the station to pick up their post & parcels. When we re-boarded the train, the staff said on the intercom that there was a ‘creature’ on the track at the front of the train – probably a snake. We weren’t allowed to walk anywhere at all apart from the cinder track by the train to the station platform. Today we’re spending the whole day on the train crossing the Nullarbor. We had lunch in the Queen Adelaide restaurant car with pre-dinner drinks & some nice wine with our meal. I had an hours sleep in our cabin as I was knackered. Then we spent the time gazing out the window and listening to music on the cabin radio. Keef thought he saw a snake at the side of the track. At 3pm the train made a scheduled brief stop at Cook on the Nullarbor. It was a god-forsaken place in the middle of nowhere. It was named after an Aussie Prime Minister not Captain Cook. It was 38c and after the air con on the train it was like walking into a hot oven. We had 30 mins stop here as the train had to re-fuel, take on more water (arterial bore) and change drivers. There were lots of flies so had to continually swat them away from our faces or they crawled into our mouth, ears & noses. We were told before disembarking that we were not to walk into the desert but to strictly keep to the paved paths towards a few abandoned buildings. There was once a small community living there but now the population is 4. Their job is to help with re-fuelling the train. They live in a typical Aussie house – bungalow with corrugated iron roof & a small garden with picket fence. The soil was very red and dusty with a few trees around. We were told not to enter the abandoned buildings as it was too dangerous as snakes were very active at this time. Luckily saw no snakes or other animals/ reptiles thank goodness. I was very careful to watch where I was walking!! We all took photos & reboarded the train before the 30 mins were up as we felt we did not want to linger in this dangerous & desolate place. Glad to get back to our air con cabin. Crossing the Nullarbor we only saw a few cattle but no kangaroos or camels. A lot of the mammals are asleep during the day and only feed at dawn & dusk. Later in the afternoon the landscape suddenly changed from the flat desert where you could see for miles to rocky & sandy gorges with large bushes & trees and there was a dirt track alongside the railway line. This is probably so that maintenance men could drive along to check the condition of the track. We could see that once heavy rain had scored deep gullies in the red sandy soil but were dry as a bone now. We wondered if the lack of kangaroos was since they were being killed for the pet food industry. Had dinner & had a game of cards in the bar area. Very tired.

by keef & annie hellinger 19 March 2022, 11.03 a.m. Motorhome trip No 48 : 18th March 2022 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Leicestershire, The Heart of Rural England, and a little bit of Warwickshire ->NOTTS 96 miles MENU - 1st Motorhome Trip of the Year Diary Map Slideshows with Audio Audio Diary Google Map Images A lovely sunny day out in the rural heart of England for our 1st Motorhome Trip of the Year. After the frost has melted away about 11 a.m. we started to untie the strapping on the cover on the van, well rested and SORN’ed over winter. Time for Wendy to come back to life. Got the full cover off and tried the few edges that were a little damp in the sun before packing the cover away in the garage for another season. Blog 176 - 1st van day our in 2022 DIARY Filled the loo flush with water just in case we needed it on the day out, one of the luxuries of taking your own motorhome, ideal for oldies with less than perfect bladders 😉 Dashboard crook lock, wheel lock and steering column to locked forward driver’s chair secured by a solid motorbike chain off #hintsandtips #motorhomes we were ready to rumble. We set off in full sunshine and clear skies around about midday and first drove to Sutton Cheney a lovely Leicestershire village with full spring flower display in bloom. We parked in front of the old red phone box, now like most either used for housing a defibrillator or a book exchange library, what I would call great repurposing in modern parlance. We had a lovely stroll to both ends of the village, the highlights being the arms pub at one end , quite an old but well-maintained establishment, the village flower display, the old coaching inn, now a high class restaurant and winery called Hercules Revived, such a nice yet unusual name, St James Church built in 1100 way before some of the buildings and farm houses that were built before the English Civil War in 1642. This whole area is steeped in history, the visitors entrance for The Battle of Bosworth field heritage and exhibition centre is just down the road , we visited this on 30th July 2015 with Bill, Craig & Leanne, and Lady the dog, it was just down the road from our walk. I have included a couple of pictures from that visit in both the images and slideshows. Basically, we toured around what I can only describe from the map as the Watling Street, old roman road, Austrey, Coalville square, if you look at the map you will see what I mean. Map square we travelled within Places we had a good look around in particular were Fenny Drayton where George Fox the founders of the Quakers was born, important to Annie as her Grandparents were Quakers and indeed her dad was in early life. It was a very nice village the main street being Old Forge Road, now I wonder if they had a Smithy ha-ha. Sleepy Parva which is where Giovanni’s restaurant is on the water’s edge, note to self-take family there when the weather is better so we can sit outside, looked incredibly classy and Sleepy Magna where we stopped for our picnic lunch inside the van , another great advantage of taking the van out on day trips. #hintsandtips We had Tuna mayo on brown and a peppery slice of Melton Mowbray pork pie, yummy all washed down with summer Fruits squash. We drove to Shenton old railway station where there was a nice walk old into woodlands via the side of the railway line. We didn’t have time this day out but maybe another day. There was a potter there who had his pots out to dry in the sun. From here we visited Ratcliffe Culey, Polesworth strolling briefly into Warwickshire, Atherstone, Nailstone (a lovely place), Austrey, No Man’s Heath, Norton-Juxta-Twycross, Twycross, Wellesborough, the lovely Market Bosworth (which we have been to a few times before), and stopped in Barton on the Beans, my all-time favourite village name , so love it. We then briefly stopped at C&L’s to see them and our lovely grandchildren and have a cup of tea and as they say , a chin wag, before returning home about 6p.m. and putting the Wendy House to bed for the night. She has her yearly engine service on Monday after the engine collapse last year (see unfortunately Blog 152) with the garage who repaired her, I would not use Don Amott’s again after the way the Management treated us saying despite the fact that we paid them £500 a year to look after the engine, knowing about cambelts was our responsibility, we didn’t and as a non-mechanic that is why we trusted them, more fool us! Here’s a quick bit about the English Civil war and George Fox founder of the Quakers, The Society of Friends. We both enjoy a bit of history on our travels. The English Civil War was in 3 parts covering from 1642 to 1651 and was between King Richard 3rd, one of Annie’s rellies and Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army. To read a full account click HERE thanks George Fox was born in Fenny Drayton Leicestershire, and you can see the pictures of his memorial near the spot he was born up plus a little write up. If you would like to know a lot more please click HERE thanks. Click on the Map to explore the area AUDIO DIARY IMAGES

by keef & annie hellinger 16 May 2022, 6.23 a.m. Motorhome trip No50 : May 13th- 15th 2022 NOTTS->Waterclose Meadows Campsite, Houghton Mill, Cambridgeshire ->NOTTS 187 miles A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog MENU Intro Panorama's A Selection of Pictures Full Slideshow Diary Audio Diary End Tags etc Intro National Trust site This was our third trip to Houghton & Wyton staying at the National Trust's Waterclose Meadows campsite positioned right next to the River Ouse, Cambridgeshire and the still working flour mill aptly named Houghton Mill, indeed on the last day I finally saw it working, which was the first time in the 3 trips we have made there with our wonderful friends Pete & Joy. Rather alarmingly I saw a young lad in his small inflatable canoe being drawn ever closer to the waterwheel by its current with his granddad working hard in his somewhat larger canoe with his oar motioning the kid back from the current, luckily all danger was halted. Bit worrying though especially as the NT posted warnings said no canoeing or paddle boarding whilst the wheel was in motion, for obvious reasons. Just want to bank the drum once again to say this is our 50th trip in our lovely motorhome affectionately known as the "Wendy House", that is quite a landmark and as I said in Blog 180 means in our motorhome we have now effectively travelled to Sydney Australia, back home again and back out to Sydney, that's some use of the van, we will never sell it we love it. Return to Menu Panorama's we were blessed with amazing sunshine walked thru the mill and onto hemingsford abbots Return to Menu Top Pix Return to Menu Slideshow Return to Menu Diary What is it they say, more than 270 years camping experience around the table for this group of friends but we are still loving it and especially if you get such good weather as we did, suntan lotion, shorts, beer, wine and good food all cooked outside (well mostly apart from brekkies) what more could friends want? This was our third visit to Houghton Mill with our dear pals Pete and Joy. The previous visits were in 2018 and 2017 (blogs 127 and 119 respectively) so because of the pandemic and various other things it was almost exactly 4 years to the weekend that we were last here, we did manage our usual yearly camping jaunt with Pete and Joy in 2021 however when we returned to the Bulwick site in Northamptonshire (Blog 156) Friday 13th May 2022 Pete and Joy arrived before us about 1 pm, we knew we would be late as Keef had to take pals Laurence and Yvonne back to their campsite at Castleton in the peak district first thing in the morning however, we still managed to arrive by just after 3 p.m. having packed final stuff, food etc before travelling. We were on grass pitches 21 & 20. The grass pitches had increased in price from £23 per night to £35 per night which over 4 years is a 57% increase which feels massive, but I believe the site has moved from private hands into being owned and maintained by the National Trust themselves which might explain it, but then again may not, who knows, all campsites since the pandemic and increase in energy costs have had to raise their prices. After arriving and being greeted by the friendly NT staff we drove around to the motorhome service point where we filled up with water and were greeted by Pete who strolled up to meet us, so nice to see them both again. The site was very busy and whilst the one amenities block is good with 4 loos and 3 showers and a dish washing area plus chemical waste disposal (note no privacy wash sinks) is probably not enough for a weekend such as this, indeed on the Saturday when I went into the Gents every amenity was full, but when you are on hols you don’t mind the wait #justsayin #hintsandtips Pete and Joy had been down to town for a drink in the Three Horseshoes, a very nice pub we have sat in the garden in the sunshine before as well as having a nice pub meal inside when the weather was more inclement. Anyhow after we had set up we put out the table and chairs and had a lovely catch up, such fun #chinwag For the evening meal Pete used the BBQ and we had some lovely chicken kebabs Greek style with salad and pita, followed by Greek yoghurt, with pistachios and honey plus if you preferred and I did the traditional cheese and bikkie feast with the lovely Black bomber Joy had managed to get, note to self, look up where I can buy this from Snowdonia cheese locally. All very yummy washed down with some alcoholic beverages obviously, tee-hee Saturday 14th May 2022 We slept well that night, must have been all the fresh air. Didn’t get up until about 9. Pete and Joy were already out in the sun so took our table and chairs around to join them. Had a lovely leisurely breakfast that Joy did of scrambled egg and smoked salmon with toast, marmalade, tea, and coffee, yummy. Then after reading, relaxing etc we set off for a nice leisurely walk to the Axe and Compass in Hemingford Abbots, walking through the Mill itself coming out by the mechanical lock (you don’t see many like this) and then across the beautiful fields that once were used for grazing cows but now had a mass of wild flowers in full bloom, looked just like a Monet painting in the sunshine, buttercups and purple clover. Just magical #blooms We then crossed the bridge over yet another tributary of the Ouse into the posh area of Hemingford Abbots watching a man doing stand-up paddle near the Boathouse dwelling which had its own electrics to hook up a boat, rather like you would a motorhome on a campsite. It was then along meadow lane with some fab huge houses, small cottages with immaculate cottage gardens and the old schoolhouse with its new thatching but sadly scaffolding obscuring its immaculate visage, I remember it from before. Many of the houses are thatched. Then it was turn left past St Margaret’s church with posters supporting Ukraine (too right!) and onto the Axe and Compass pub which we have eaten in before. A lovely place, went out into the beer garden, found some shade for the ladies and had a few bevvies and nice assorted paninis and a lot of chat, #fun #sunshine #sunburn #regulo9 After that we strolled back to the site picking up an ice cream on route. In the evening Keef cooked halloumi burgers on the teppanyaki outside which we had with salad and warmed French stick, followed by salted caramel cheesecake for those that wanted it and the traditional cheese and biscuits and of course a few good bottles of wine, what an evening. As the temperature dipped we retired inside P&J’s Bailey and continued until we could no longer keep our eyes open, Keef had been up at 4.10 am on the Friday and it was all catching up on me. Sunday 15th May 2022 All up a bit earlier today, there had been rain during the night so not quite so nice, Keef did croissants and / or cheese and bikkies for brekkie in our van , a bit of a squeeze with both tables up but eminently doable. After this we all chilled until about 12.15 reading papers, books, kindles, and phones. Joy had kindly paid for an extension for both of us to stay on site until 4 p.m. just s we could park the vans there as nowhere in Houghton nor were we allowed in the NT car park. Keef went for a stroll along the tow path to take some snaps as well. We had both mostly packed up before we walked back into Houghton and the Jolly Butchers pub at the far end of town left from the town square for Sunday lunch, all tables in the garden were taken as the sun had now come out again. There was quite a delay on the meal, but they kindly gave us complimentary breads, oils and olives as a starter to keep us quiet, good stuff , it worked he-he. Huge dinners we couldn’t manage the sticky toffee puds sadly, he-he. After that we strolled back to the site said our goodbyes, K&A did dunny man and rubbish and final pack up and then travelled back home, we got back soon after 4, P&J a little later due to some traffic hold ups on the M11. All in all, a very pleasant weekend. After 3 trips now to Houghton we probably won’t return but it’s a nice place made much more special as we shared it with our old pals. Return to Menu Audio Diary Return to Menu That's All Folks

By keef and annie hellinger, June 19 2022 8.36AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Not The Motorhome trip No 17 : May 27th 2022 – June 18th 2022 MENU Family Holidays, 3 Weeks Introduction Hazelgrove Barn, Laneshawbridge, Lancashire Photoshoot Gartocharn, West Dumbartonshire, Loch Lomond, Scotland A week back and around Sandiacre Covid finally negative after 19 days Audiobook Scottish Travel Blog Routes Retro Scottish Family Travels Videos Tags and Comments family at park laneshawbridge INTRODUCTION Welcome to Blog 182, a real family affair. Our family from Singapore were over for 3 weeks, the first time we have seen them in 3 years due to the pandemic. Just so lovely to spend time with them, unfortunately as we let our hair down i.e pubs, restaurants, and crowded places Keef (Grandpa) got covid. Anyhow it was still a fab time. Left at 3.30 am on Friday 27th May to pick them up from Heathrow, got there with plenty of time to spare, mask on I was the first person in Arrivals and therefore bagged the best viewing slot in the house armed with my welcome card I buckled down to greet them all. As space was limited for baggage in the Merc Annie had to stay behind. Due to some baggage handling issues at Heathrow (maybe staff shortages? who knows) they were quite a while before they came through, just how wonderful was that! Whilst waiting for them I reveled in what appeared to be a reenactment of "Love Actually" as the hugs and cheers as people's loved ones came through those arrival swing doors was truly lovely #emotional Interestingly there were lots of folks who came up to look at my sign, thinking I was a taxi service #teehee After pick up we travelled back up to Sandiacre, stopping at Newport Pagnell services for a slap up "full english" breakfast with black pudding, one of their fave things that is impossible to find in Singapore #class. Got back to all greet Annie and they chilled and tried to overcome jet lag. Not easy. They decided that they didn't need an extra day to recover and were happy to travel up to Lancashire on the Saturday to greet Craig & Leanne and family who were going up first. We all kept it a surprise. During the planning of the combined family holiday we had booked a large holiday home , Hazelgrove Barn, in Laneshawbridge on a farm, made possible to get us all together as it was half term in England and the Queens 70th jubilee affording 2 days public holiday, #goodstuff For the second week whilst Craig and co returned to work and school we were travelling onto a second holiday home, again on a farm, called Curlew Cottage very near to Loch Lomond , an area we love a lot but have never really stayed in. It was so nice we may well take the campervan back there sometime, Keef has already sussed out a campsite very near to Gartocharn. The 3rd week was spent doing family stuff back home in the Sandiacre area in Nottinghamshire. The whole 3 weeks went far too quickly, but it was ALL just magical. Thanks for visiting Singapore. #biglove The total mileage in the Kia when I returned it was 786 miles. This is a Geo Map produced by Google Maps telling me where we went in those 3 weeks, it makes interesting reading. #bigbrotheriswatchingyou #smile Blog 182 - our family travels If you would like to see all our blogs on non-motorhome family trips use this TIMELINE page, thanks for looking Return to MENU THE WHOLE FAMILY IN LANCASHIRE So we travelled up to Lancashire in both the hire car and our own car. At one point, unbeknown to Keef having put the handbrake on on a hill, a green locking button came on on the Kia which meant as I tried to move off it wouldn't and smoked like crazy, a smell we spent ages trying to remove with windows open. Very kindly Annie who was driving behind me put on her hazards. Finally got it sorted and we arrived over hill and dale at the holiday home just a Craig was going off to do the shopping in Burnley, a lovely surprise and Edie was hugely excited to meet up with Charlie when she wasn't expecting it. As you arrived in the area Hazelgrove barn was just so visible on the horizon guiding you to it. What an incredible modern property owned by Cheryl & Steve and one we booked through Hoseasons. A very nice friendly couple and a well equipped establishment with cot and stair gates and 360 degree views to die for. Perfect for a big family of 10. DIARY Day 1 Saturday 28th May 2022 - Arrival, Surprise Hallo's all around and settle in, unpack, tea, catch up and off to bed reasonably early. One thing I remember was the lovely pix of Tate hugging and kissing Ned, a pleasure (mostly) that carried on for the rest of the week. Day 2 Sunday 29th May 2022 - BBQ Sunday, tried out their brand new kit and outside decking table and chairs, the kids loved hiding in the storage box, a real hoot. Watched Forest at Wembley returning to the premiership after 23 years, a whole stack of Hellinger noise, COYRs. What a tense game which we had to watch with copious amounts of alcohol. Day 3 Monday 30th May 2022 - Day out at Thornton Hall Country Park at Thornton in Craven about 15 minutes drive away from the holiday home. We all saw and fed the animals, the girls having ice cream, bit of a playpark outside, mostly wet sadly, but both saw Dino live spectacular about T-Rex and others (fake in Charlies words) and played in the indoor kids area, Phoenix even made it up the tricky slope. We ate inside. The girls had the opportunity to dig for dinosaur eggs which they did and found treasure. A fun day out. Charlie said "its cold Grandpa" tee-hee, now how surprising is that in comparison to Singapore, G&G will be complaining of the heat at Christmas. Day 4 Tuesday 31st May 2022 - Started after mass cooked brekkie done by Doug (Yummy) of scrambled egg and avocado on toast, with Craig and Tate's usual bike ride of discovery, Tate absolutely loves it, to see the joy in his face is a wonder to behold. The girls then put on their lovely yellow dresses and did some dancing along to music provided by the ever present Alexa, ha-ha. After brekkie it was time for a walk to wear off some of the grub so Grandpa put on his walking boots and took his camera off up the gravel driveway turning left up the hill to the woodland, over slugs and sheep poo (remember those Edie) to the Trig point on the Pennine Bridleway with fab views back over the surrounding countryside. There was even picnic benches and seats up there to take those views in. Pretty soon initially Doug and family joined me then Craig and family. It was quite magical up there over the dry stone wall. In the afternoon we all drove to Burnley in the pouring rain to the Airtime play indoor shed , which all bar G&G went on. It was a nightmare to park there and in fairness had the feel of a Covid petri dish but the kids and adults loved the workout, they were so tired on return to the cottage. #exhausted Day 5 Wednesday 1st June 2022 - weather today very mixed, so a morning in and around the house, after lunch Grandpa put on his walking boots and headed off up Warley Wise lane to the Black Lane Ends Tavern, so named after the brook nearby called the Black Lane Scar. I took a few pix on route, quite windy. Had a nice pint of Tim Taylors landlord and sat outside admiring the view. It started spitting so I decided to start back but bumped into the family walking towards the pub so joining them returned for a second pint, after all it is a holiday. poor craig had mostly had to carry Edie's bike. This is the pub that C&L had eaten at on the first day before we arrived. It has a really good garden with kids play apparatus so we sat outside. There was a sausage dog some local kids had bought along that the kids were fascinated by, frankly I would not have allowed it on the apparatus but hey ho I'm an old fogie, tee-hee. Keef got the menu so we could pre order for Friday lunch , it would be busy as the 2nd day of the bank holiday for the Queen's 70th jubilee celebrations and the pub needed our orders. All were given bar Phoenix and Annie who had stayed back at the cottage. Grandpa had a major emoji failure, no idea how, but shouldn't press the phone in your pocket I would suggest #teehee Grandpa cooked a "sunday dinner" of roast pork and all the trimmings on a wednesday and Edie and Craig made the Platinum Pudding recipe for afters, and yummy it all was. Day 6 Thursday 2nd June 2022 - up early, got ready for our professional family photo shoot. Suited and booted we headed off in the 3 cars to Wycoller country park where Leanne had arranged to meet the photographer. After one false start the Kia and Merc duly arrived at the Atom panopticon car park and introduced ourselves to Steve the photographer from Preston. After some frantic phone calls C&L who had visited many of the country park's car parks (teehee) arrived and we were ready. The shoot took about 45 minutes in total, a lovely view from here, twas a little nippy but one and all enjoyed it and picking the dandelion clocks was a big hit for the grand children. See photoshoot below, click here if you prefer. Having said our goodbyes to Steve and huge thanks to Leanne for arranging we all headed off into Colne, a place many of us had already visited to do our shopping in Sainsburys. We all managed to park in the sideroad near Sainsbo's. Walked back into town and enjoyed the wonderful Queen's jubilee celebrations that were going on, music at the church, fun fair rides, face painting, balloon animals, circus demonstrations, clog dancing and the girls getting a donkey ride and all free , or mostly. Candy floss was consumed and then dumped, just far too sugary. D&P liked the look of a table in a closed antiques store, indeed they tried for a few days to get but eventually gave up. Craig & I even answered a church survey on the reasons for their dwindling congregation, feeling full of the spirit of Jubilee times. #kind On the way back Keef called in at the pub to let them know Annie & Phoenix's order and the final decision for the kids, we were now fully booked up for our meal tomorrow. In the evening Craig & Leanne kindly added Charlie and Alfie to their child caring repertoire and Doug & Phoenix kindly took us oldies out to the White Swan at Fence, near Burnley for a lovely Michelin starred meal, now how lovely was that. There are many pix of the fine food and probably worth viewing then alongside the White Swan menu. We returned quite late after driving into empty petrol forecourts in Colne, closed we had forgotten because it was a 2 day bank holiday. Petrol & Diesel prices have risen sharply. Day 7 Friday 3rd June 2022 - weather changeable, we all walked down to the pub at the end of the road, takes about 30 minutes, ready for our prebooked meal at 12 noon. G&G set off first as a little slow these days, the others soon caught us up. Our reserved table in the corner was right next to a roaring fire with no windows open, just too hot really, maybe this is where I caught Covid BA5 but who knows, anyhow it was a very nice meal and time and the sticky toffee pudding with custard for after's was too die for. The girls did colouring at the table pre food. Edie had got her socks wet in puddles on the way up but they soon dried in front of the fire. Post dinner we went out into the garden and the kids played on the swings etc. for quite a while. Ned loved the numerous cars. On the walk back we spied a lovely red admiral butterfly on the dry stone wall in the sun. A very pleasant amble back. C&L had gone ahead to get Tate to sleep so Edie came with us as had wanted to play on the swings with Charlie, I love the way they get on so well. In the afternoon we started the packing , boo hiss, this week was going far too quickly. Phoenix had pre booked horse riding at Jerusalem farm just down the road for the girls. Steve the owner had suggested it as an option on the first day we arrived, inspired by their Colne donkey riding they were both looking forward to it, it was an hour session and the lady doing it was very good at instructing them, there was one girl there who had been doing it every Friday since the age of 3, unaccompanied she looked a dead cert for a future Olympic gold in Dressage. Day 8 Saturday 4th June 2022 - sadly very wet and windy this morning, glad we had done some of the car packing yesterday evening. Got the final packing done. Said our fond farewells to Craig, Leanne, Edie & Tate and set out on what was to become a mammoth journey to Scotland, click HERE to read on Local Map Hazelgrove barn and surrounds Here are the slideshows and talkies videos capturing our wonderful family time in Lancashire Highlights slideshow day by day The full slideshow of some 444 images taken at Hazelgrove barn and surrounding areas The Talkies Return to MENU PHOTOSHOOT AT WYCOLLER COUNTRY PARK We got up early to go off to the country park for a family photoshoot Leanne had kindly arranged with a professional photographer, Steve from Preston. We arrived after getting minorly lost at the Pendle Atom in the Wycoller Country Park , Laneshawbridge entrance but Craig & Leanne took a little longer as unbeknown to us there were quite a few car parks in the area. Eventually they arrived and we were able to get on with the shoot which was fun controlling the little ones, ha-ha. Steve was a nice chap, the Atom was a little graffitied sadly and surprisingly the skies on some of his pix were missing / very faded, maybe that was on purpose, who knows but I have manipulated some of them with photoshop / photo studio 12. Hopefully it has made an improvement. Here is the slideshow of that Photoshoot plus a little bit on the Pendle Atom, set in just fab countryside and an area we have never visited before. The Pendle Atom. Pendle’s Panopticon, Atom, rests on the hillside above Wycoller village in Wycoller Country Park. Constructed in ferro-cement with a surface coating of metal-based paint, it is both a striking contemporary viewing point and shelter from which to enjoy Pendle’s glorious scenery, and an intriguing and beautiful object which can be viewed from afar. From inside, its circular viewing spaces frame spectacular views of the surrounding countryside, and an initially hidden, polished steel ball reflects back those views to the visitor. Wycoller is a historic settlement dating back beyond 1000BC. It has close links with the Brontës, and Charlotte is thought to have been a frequent visitor. In 1973 the village was declared a conservation area and the surrounding 350 acres of farmland were designated a Country Park. Wycoller has several unusual architectural features, including seven small bridges that cross Wycoller Beck, and an 18th-century five-aisled barn, now converted into a visitor centre. Return to MENU US AND THE SINGAPORE HELLINGERS AT LOCH LOMOND, SCOTLAND Overall the weather was good for the first 4 days then it took a turn for the worse, eventually forcing us to leave on the Saturday in howling gales and strong rainstorms, which didnt stop until we got to the English Borders on the M74 heading towards Carlisle. We stayed in Curlew Cottage on East Cambusmoon Farm owned by Deborah & Steve who were very friendly and helpful. She was from Surrey he from Yorkshire and had been there since 2006 buying the farm as a derelict concern and doing it up, wonderfully well. They had a small holding we looked out onto with a few sheep, one brown sort a rare breed. The shed next to us when wet was the sheep's refuge, what wimpy sheep #haha They also had a vegetable garden with some lovely apple trees, fruits and flowers, including some lovely pink ornamental poppies which Keef discussed with Steve. In the orchard bit of it where the hens, which Charlie & Alfie loved going to and feeding them. We kept all our food scraps for them in a container provided, with 2 holiday cottages on site they must have been the best fed hens in the neighbourhood. The flap on the hen house we would lift in the morning to see what the girls had laid, indeed on one occasion we caught on of the black hens just laying. So nice to be on a farm in a great location for the grandkids. The trampoline in the shed and slides etc. on site were well used , it was fun watching Doug and Phoenix also bouncing from my self isolation in the bedroom, I got a good view of the trampoline. Charlie was very good at it. On the wall was a quote from the Scottish Bard, Rabbie Burns and a good one it was too. Also tribute to Charles Rennie Mackintosh and surprisingly Mick Jagger. DIARY DAY 1 (and 8 for Lancashire Diary) Saturday 4th June 2022 - Having left Lancashire it took us about 2 hours to get across to the M6 in the Lake District. We stopped at Skipton at the Tesco's fuel station to fill up both cars for the long journey. By now it had finally stopped raining. We then initially stopped at a café on route to the M6 for everyone to have a comfort break but despite the sign saying open it was closed at a bank holiday. We then got caught behind a tractor for miles cross country, well Annie who was driving the merc did, Keef drove slowly in front of the tractor so as not to lose her. Finally crossed into Scotland on the M6 near Gretna Green, the motorway then turning into the M74. Charlie was suffering immeasurable pain due to ear ache and infection. We stopped then at a service station called Annandale Waters on the M74 which had a lovely lake to walk around. We all lunched, us on Cornish Pasties, the others on other beverages and food although poor Charlie was in no state to eat she cried endlessly as Phoenix tried in vain to comfort her, poor Charlie. After spending quite a while at the services we decided to visit a pharmacist in nearby town of Moffat to get medical help. The guy examined Charlie as best he could and prescribed ibuprofen and kiddie paracetamol to alleviate in part her pain. It worked for a bit. He also told us to ring 111 if it got worse and / or there was discharge from the ear. We crossed the Erskine bridge and were in familiar territory, Dumbarton, then through Alexandria onto the village of Gartocharn and turning into Dunchryne Road with its playpark on the left hand side. Initially we missed the East Cambusmoon Farm sign as only in one direction and hidden in the hedge. Also a coach was coming down the very narrow road, weird. So we both pulled into the car park by our Curlew cottage, exhausted but pleased to arrive and get unpacked and settled in a nurse Charlie. The journey was listed as 3 hours 40 mins, it took us 3 times as long for obvious reasons. Keef and Annie popped out into Alexandria to get fish and chip suppers for everyone, it had been a massive journey and we were all too tired to cook. D&P eventually managed o settle the kids especially Charlie but she did not have a good night. DAY 2 Sunday 5th June 2022 - As there had been discharge from Charlies ear overnight Keef rang NHS 111 to get help. A nice lady Kimberly eventually helped but the phone reception was so poor on the farm that any slight movement of ones head wiped out the call. Anyhow after numerous failed attempts Keef talked to a doctor, strong Glaswegian accent a nd tricky to understand BUT we got Charlie into the Vale of Leven hospital in Alexandria for an emergency appointment at 11 am. Keef , Doug and Charlie drove there and saw a very nice lady doctor wo was very gentle, caring and informative. She gave us one jar of penicillin and a prescription to get a second the next day, they only having limited supplies at the hospital. It started to work its magic as anti-biotics often do fairly quickly and soon Charlie was eating again and looking much more like her normal self, thank heavens, poor girls, ear ache is awful. We all had a bit of a look around the area and whilst Charlie slept it off , looked after by Granny the rest of us went out in the hire car to the Loch Lomond shores area in Balloch and went to what in the end was a disappointing farmers market. Nice views and sunshine however. We bought some black pudding, pies and scones. Keef cooked an evening meal using pies etc. from the farmers market and left over veg from the previous cottage we had bought with us. DAY 3 Monday 6th June - Day out in Glasgow, Charlie now fine. Up early we drove into Balloch and parked for free near the station, interestingly all car parks in this beauty spot area are free, why can't England do the same I wonder? We bought return train tickets into Glasgow Queen Street station for everyone , except Ned of course, he is too young. Granny & Grandpa couldn't get concessions without a ScotRail seniors card, and our State bus passes only work in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, NOT Scotland, weird I would venture! Nice train, the kids enjoyed the journey which stopped at most stations on the way into Glasgow. Grandpa teased / amused Charlie with lots of strange Scottish anecdotes mostly centered around the town names... Singer / Drum-somewhere/ Bowling, Auch Eye The Noo-dle. Queen Street is very convenient for George Square. We all used the loo's first (50p what a rip-off!) The Hop On Hop Off bus had changed location around George Square since we last visited due to some road works and segregating the area right next to the station so we walked down to where stop 1 now is. The nice lady gave Annie & I concessions based on our Reykjavík tickets and the rest a discounted Family ticket so win-win. We hopped on the bus all of us bar Granny upstairs in the sheltered bit at the front, just in case but in fairness it was a very dry and hot day, even if Charlie felt cold #smile We then took the bus trip around through all the sights including Billy Connolly murals, Glickman's the oldest sweet shop in Glasgow, People's Park, That pub where women were only allowed from the late 70s (dreadful!) , the fabulous Kelvingrove museum and a whole lot more taking about 1 hour 20 minutes getting off at stop 19. Annie and I have now done the bus tour 3 times, but it was so nice to share what we both feel is our fave small city in the UK (well currently in the UK but who knows going forward!). Although we passed the Clyde side Distillery we didn't stop as Doug had other plans for later in the week whiskey wise. Stop 19, we walked up to the Willow Tea Rooms where Keef had booked us all in for a special tea, not the Mad Hatter's Tea party this time but a special service and creation for the Queen's 70th Jubilee including a little cake version of the Platinum Pudding Craig had made on Wednesday 1st June. It was all so nice, Doug had the Islay whiskey version, and we had our lovely French Earl Grey Tea. We couldn't manage all the somewhat sickly ice cakes so asked for a doggie box to take them away, G&G tried later on in the evening to eat them but just too sugary so chucked them away. The willow tea rooms are Charles Rennie Mackintosh inspired, we both love his work and the art work from his wife Margaret. Maybe take a look via the links, you won't be disappointed. Interestingly we started with sausage roll, gourmet ones, seemed to have been a theme of this holiday, we will never go into Greggs again to avoid disappointment. After the tea rooms we decided to walk back to Charing Cross and saw the lovely old preserved tenement block, after that we thought we would have time to make it up to the Kelvingrove but it was hot and the children (and oldies) were getting tired so we stopped at Kelvin park's kids playground to let them have some fun. We decided after that we were running out of time so started walking back along Royal Circus (such fab buildings, always reminds me of Bath). The very kind Hop On Hop Off bus driver we had had in the morning recognised us and stopped to let us on mid stops. We then got off at the Royal Opera house area and walked up to the Hard Rock Café for tea, Charlie kindly bought Grandpa a T-shirt. Granny noted I had already got one from a previous visit tee-hee. Charlie fell to sleep in her pasta poor girl, still partly recovering we suspected. Anyhow after the meal we hailed a passing Glaswegian couple with baby and asked them the way to Queen Street station. Amusingly they pointed, we tourists were right next to it. Caught the train back to Balloch got back in our cars and arrived tired and happy back at Curlew Cottage, a fun day out, I think everyone enjoyed their City break, we so love Glasgow. DAY 4 Tuesday 7th June 2022 Not Keef's best day sadly. Family fed the chickens in the morning. The decision was to go in the afternoon to Luss (a fab place Annie and I stopped at on our earlier trip to Scotland, Blog 177) on the edge of Loch Lomond. Doug had arranged to hire some bikes for them. Keef felt unwell and retired to bed for an hour before lunch. We then drove in both cars to Luss where Doug had booked us into the Village Rest for lunch, Keef paid to park them in the long stay car park, it was a short walk to the café, all had dinner except Keef who had a coffee, I felt awful, and it was very hot today. After lunch we walked down to the water's edge by the pier, what fab views over the loch. The bike hire lady kitted them all out, they only had a couple of hours I think. Anyhow off they went for a fab ride on the loch edge pathway, i think they all had a great time. G&G walked back to the cars. Keef just slept all day whilst waiting for their return, luckily the windows were open as at this stage I didn't know I had Covid. After this we went back to the cottage, Keef went straight to bed at 5pm and slept right thru basically being asleep for 24 hours. They had tea which was the BBQ (a lot to chose from in the shed) and played games etc. DAY 5 Wednesday 8th June 2022 Keef isolating all day. Not a great day weather wise either. Doug & Phoenix went shopping at the Aldi in Alexandria and had a bit of a look around, Keef had very high fever and therefore slept a lot of the day. Annie did some crochet and reading but it was hacking it down with rain outside, Singapore's cooked a nice meal in the evening. The kids watched some TV and played games, Granny played a lot of games with Charlie. What you might call sadly a bit of a washed out day DAY 6 Thursday 9th June 2022 All up and having breakfast, Keef still isolating in the back bedroom, Annie camped in the spare room with single beds downstairs as an obvious precaution. Doug & Phoenix and Ned in a cot in the bedroom to the left up the stairs, Charlie the bedroom to the right. We had fixed up one of the 2 transported stair gates at the top of the stairs, a good safety measure for Ned, although he just loves going up and down stairs , with a little supervision. Cot wise although the cottage provided one, it was very heavy and as Ned already used to the travel one we transported we put that up for him. After breakfast Doug and family took the Mercedes over to the Renton area for Charlie's private horse riding lesson, something she loves, and this lady was a very good one on one instructor, she even had Charlie doing some show jumping admittedly over very low fences. Charlie told us all about it when she returned. After that they went on for the Whiskey tour in Old Kilpatrick, the Auchentoshan Distillery in Dalmuir area of Clydesbank. The journey in total distance from the cottage is about 30 minutes and 15 miles so reasonably close. Even though they had paid for me and explained I had Covid they couldn't get the fee for me back, not good, so they took all the free samples which when I was a little better back in Sandiacre I shared with Doug whilst watching England footy on the telly. Overall whilst the found the tour informative, Doug was not impressed with their whiskeys. Since he ordered 2 bottles via Amazon, one the whiskey of the year 2022 to take back to Singapore. Whilst they were out, Annie being negative and Keef wearing his mask, we both went out for a lovely local walk up the hill by the roads, so nice to get out into the fresh air, some lovely views, saw the ploughed fields close up and lots of wild flowers and pollinators on the road edges. It was quite steep up to the top parallel with the woods. On the way down Keef went into the woodland path entrance mentioned in the cottage blurb, owned by locals, and a woodland path walk up to the top lined with, wait for it, flower pot men, hidden in bushes , up trees, ha-ha, made of course of old flower pots the locals have a good sense of humour and it would keep kids amused for hours trying to find them. All in all a nice walk. We had cheese and bikkies outside for lunch until it drizzled and we had to rush inside, which meant reapplying the mask, itchy or what? #safe After lunch Keef took the hire car out to explore further on from where we had walked up the hill. Windows open, lots of very small farm tracks to basically nowhere along initially Dunchryne Road then past Caldarvan Station (out in the middle of nowhere) past equestrian centers towards Croftamie but turning back along the old school road and back out onto the old Military Road (A811) at Buchanan, part of the Loch Lomond National Park, lovely, with both a riding stables , RSPV bird sanctuary and interestingly a campsite for motorhomes, which if Annie and I come back we would stay at, a lovely area, so a good reckie and it got me out of the house. Doug cooked in the evening, Annie always bought my meals into the back bedroom so I could keep apart from the rest of the family #boo DAY 7 Friday 10th June 2022 After breakfast took both cars into Balloch and parked in the central free car park by the play park. Walked down to the Sweeney cruise ships office where Keef got tickets for all bar himself, masked up it was still far to risky. The family went on the lovely cruise trip on Loch Lomond and took lots of pictures, Charlie as well, G&G had bought both girls a digital camera to use on the holiday. As the trip was for an hour Keef went off and filled up with fuel, Doug had done the Merc yesterday. I also called into Aldi to get some provisions and stopped on the way back to Balloch at that lovely old Victorian façade opposite the Vale of Leven hospital, where we had taken Charlie , in Alexandria to take some pix, now derelict but what an amazing building, must have a preservation order on it. At Balloch I strolled around a took at lot of pictures, eventually filming their boat coming back in. I then strolled along passed Balloch house to meet them. We then went back to the playpark by the cars for the kids to have some fun times, dinosaur eggs, aerial runways and lots of rustic apparatus to play on #fun After that we returned to the cottage, lunch, feeding the chickens one last time, trampolining, Keef isolating in the back bedroom watching , then sadly packing, time had flown by. We got quite a lot of the boots packed, thank heavens and tomorrow morning for last minute stuff it was hacking it down with rain. DAY 8 Saturday 11th June 2022 Packed up the rest of the remaining stuff , Phoenix was kindly taking the risk of travelling back with me in the hire car, we both wore masks to lessen the risk of transmission. The kids , Doug & Annie in the Merc. Doug driving the first part. We set off in pouring rain across the Erskine Bridge in convoy, passed Bowling (tee-hee) and all the other train stops on route we had discovered on our way into Glasgow. Joining the M74 thru Glasgow outskirts and on to initially Cairn Lodge services just off M74 near Douglas, a farmers market services, we had been to before , for coffee, comfort break and breakfast snacks, I had a yummy homemade cheese and onion version of a scotch pie. Stopped for about 50 minutes then it was on in the still rain to the TeBay Farmshop and Kitchen services for lunch, not actually the one I was thinking of which was Killington Lake , but equally as good. Keef ate separately, all very nice food, quite crowded. After lunch Annie and I went for a walk around its small lake and looked in at the family eating. I pretended to Charlie that the loch ness monster was in the lake but sharp girl, she was not fooled #ohgrandpa We stayed outside and waited for them to finish and go to the farm shop where Doug bought Scottish Strawberries, and some black pudding slices to take back to Singapore. After that we headed back down the M6 , a very long journey, but much quicker than on the way up for obvious reasons #poorcharlie Doug drove as far as the services before junction 15 , the Stoke turn off where Annie took over. As P & I were so much in front by then (and had no house keys) we went on through Stoke and back to Asda in Long Eaton to get fuel and some food shopping and gifts for their friends back home, some trad English stuff. By the time we got back to Sandiacre they had arrived and unpacked. I unpacked the KIA ready to return the next day. Exhausted we had a simple tea (pizza if memory serves me right) and all off to bed, so glad we went to Scotland, despite my limiting Covid it was family fun. I was still testing positive every day. The journey back was about 350 miles. Local Map curlew cottage, east cambusmoon farm Here are the slideshows and talkies videos capturing our wonderful family time in Scotland Firstly a highlights slideshow with music and images with text, allowing 5 seconds for each image so you can fully take it in. Next the full image slideshow showing all 455 images And finally the Talkies video with us in full voice. PANORAMAS Return to MENU A WEEK BACK AND AROUND SANDIACRE, NOTTINGHAM Having done the long days travelling back in the 2 cars (ours and the hired Kia Sportage - what a Yuk car, certainly would not recommend) from Loch Lomond, was pouring in Scotland as we did our final loading up, so glad we had packed the boots mostly in the dry the night before. We arrived home to spent a further week here with Doug, Phoenix, Charlie & Ned as well as meeting up with the Swannington Hellingers. Early Sunday morning we returned the hire car back to Europcar, not surprisingly after the multi event fiasco on picking it up (3 journeys - they didn't recognise my old style UK driving license and I needed passport rather than photo id) the lady was late... should have been there at 9am didn't arrive until 10 am, Grrr The main highlights were lunch at the Priory Loughborough on Sunday (minus Keef & Phoenix) plus a very warm and sunny day out at East Leake's Manor Farm plus Strawberry picking at Wymeswold and a last supper for the Singapore Hellingers on Friday evening of pulled pork, jackets and salad followed by those lovely strawberries and ice cream , prior to Saturday's trip back down to Heathrow, which took quite a while but we all had to leave early as Keef needed to be back in Nottingham for the multi rescheduled Yes "Close to the Edge" concert with pal Neil S at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. Luckily their plane left on time, a long journey home but oh so glad we were all able to spent time together after 3 years of pandemic and create some lovely memories to share. Here are some summary slideshows of that final shared week, both images with music and the talkies. #enjoy Firstly highlights with text and Bryan Adams Secondly all the images from week 3's fun Finally for week 3 all the talkie videos merged into one, ace stuff. #talkies #noisy So that covers both the images and talkies taken during week 3 of the fab Singapore Hellinger's visit #lovelytimes Manor Park Farm Return to MENU OMICRON, BA5 - NOT NICE 😷 This wrecked my 3 weeks, who knows where I got it from but if you trace back 5 days from when I first tested positive, it was either the Queens Jubilee day at Colne (unlikely as outside), the posh 1 star Michelin meal Doug & Phoenix kindly treated us to at Fence, near Burnley , or the Black Lane Ends pub (with roaring fire in summer, no windows open) or most likely in my humble opinion, the COVID petri dish that was the kids indoor air play area in Burnley , but with all these things who knows and does it really matter, the one thing I do know is that from the Tuesday of the 2nd week when I slept for 24 hours , had a very red raw sore throat, hacking uncontrollable cough, and huge fever that then returned for a further 2 other days with huge high fever that it was COVID and I would not recommend it for even my worst enemy. It meant I self isolated for nearly all the week in Scotland in the back bedroom and have become an expert in full time mask wearing, those NHS cotton ones are so itchy but I desperately did not want any of the rest of my family to get it, luckily they didn't. Even Annie who sat with me in the car on that Tuesday at the wonderful Luss whilst they all went bike riding around Loch Lomond shores. I have included a video diary I took to record these sad events , the real cons being that after waiting 3 years because of the ghastly pandemic to see my lovely Singapore Hellinger family that was pretty limited in terms of emotional cuddles of my grand kids #boo This is my sad COVID video diary Yippee Day 19 - Finally free of this ghastly virus, would truly like not to get it again but as a silent infector that is difficult to ensure Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK Return to MENU SCOTTISH TRAVEL BLOG ROUTES Return to Menu RETRO SCOTTISH FAMILY TRAVELS utubeo videos recreated in a more modern way in 2023 Return to Menu THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Created by KeefH Web Designs, August 21st 2022 17.58 PM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Not The Motorhome trip No 18 : July 29th 2022 – August 21st 2022 INTRODUCTION - Disney's 50th Celebrations Go straight to MENU if you would prefer A wonderful family holiday for 3 weeks staying at Regal Palms Resort in the Davenport and Bay Lakes area of Florida, just off the Purple heart highway (no 27) and mostly using the 192 Highway (West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, both father and son Irlo Bronson (Sr & Jr) were prominent Floridian Democratic Politicians and the father is best known for selling some of his ranch land to Walt Disney to construct Disney World, there you go a bit of relevant history for you). The 192 got us to Disney (& Universal) theme parks and all the obvious American eateries, some of which are to die for (sadly in some folks cases literally) just loved the all American "big and brash" approach to life for 3 weeks. Not sure I could live there, the gun thing and school shooter issue is very prominent every day in their newscasts (dominated by adverts #smile) plus Florida's republican governor Ron Desantis has views I could never align with , BUT 3 weeks to explore a highly interesting culture that really defines the term "2 nations that speak the same language but are separated by it" was truly a wonderful opportunity spent with my loving and fun, caring extended family, I am a VERY HAPPY MAN #fact Note also entry to Animal Kingdom off the 192 should be via the Sherberth Rd (entry point) where as all the others via the main entry point off the 192 near the Interstate I4 road. We were there for the 25th anniversary celebrations back in 1997, here again for the 50th anniversary and Keef has "joked" back again for the 75th celebrations.... I will be 93... #rockon #MICKEYMOUSEmaybe For a deeper insight and comparison maybe take a look at the NOW & THEN write up. If you would like to see a limited gallery of highlights (42 images) and / or read what they were then feel free to click HERE, thanks. Note all our full holiday images and videos are available via any appropriate section of the MENU. We took some 1,800 images in total between us. Hey after all if it moves snap it, if it doesn't move snap it #hellingerfamilymotto You can also see all the official Disney site guides to help understand where we went and what we did and / or saw. Maybe a look at our summary HIGHLIGHTS will do it for you, wow it was a nice time #fact Big thanks to sis Linda and hubby Ian for the timeshare hire, such a great location with easy access to supermarket, eateries and Disney World. After not being able to locate the place when we were tired on arrival for various reasons (see LOWLIGHTS for details if you are really interested) Keef & Annie travelled via 2 AT&T shops to get a local SIM for Keef & Craig's phones so we could use the Sat Nav facilities and call each other in the parks when we separated for whatever reason, rides / shows / restrooms etc. etc. I would suggest this is an essential requirement #hintsandtips and although not cheap well worth the investment, emergency like car failures, collecting curbside pick up, phoning receptions, take away, medical all may / will be needed and the peace of mind is just fabulous. Having 2 phones with unlimited mobile data meant whoever was driving, Craig & I alternated day by day, could plug into the satnav display in our huge hired Chrysler Voyager, whilst the other could research stuff. According to Google Maps we drove 527 miles in the hire car but who knows if that is right, the one thing I do know is we walked a total of 37.5 miles around the Disney World Resort parks. The area is not called "Lakeland" for nothing, in the middle of Florida there are small lakes everywhere, makes one think when Bronson sold to Walt Disney that he thought he was getting rid of a boggy useless patch of wetlands, how wrong he could be, it, and whatever parcel of that old Bronson ranch Disney Corporation now own is well and truly prime real estate, houses in Florida are the priciest in the States. Overall as pensioners we would probably say that the States was very expensive but that might just be to do with the extremely poor exchange rate at the moment pounds to dollars , when we last went it was £1 = $2, today it was more like parity. Oh well who cares, it was a lovely holiday and you can't put a price on treasured memories #fact Note also whilst using Disney parks there is a $25 daily charge for car parking but it is transferrable across parks on that day should you have that sort of park ticket, we didn't as pre selected which parks on which days #hintsandtips Note you may wish to read this blog as an audiobook, if so click HERE Anyhow do hope this helps others do a bit of research and get a few pointers before going, if you do so choose, I can recommend it enough as a magical holiday for a 3 generation family like ours, Love KeefH Web Designs. Professional Family Picture MENU Calendar Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Regal Palms & the pool facilities Disney's Magic Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's EPCOT - Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney Springs Universal Studios Fireworks at EPCOT & Magic Kingdom Eateries & Shopping Highlights Highlights Gallery Lowlights Now and Then , Comparing 25th & 50th anniversaries Flights Disney World Resort Entrance Tickets Disney site plans and official maps Typhoon Lagoon Disney Water Park Audiobook Craig's Disneey Werld & Did it! Movie #MakingMemories The End - Tag, Links etc. So love these pictures #smugglypleased Greetings MICKEY fans! Edie at Epcot CALENDAR 29th July to 21st August 2022 Fun times with the family, use this to see what we did and where we went on our 24 day holiday with Craig, Leanne, Edie and Tate. It of course included that very special day on the 16th for Edie's 6th birthday , it was also the last of our 14 days continuously at the Disney World Parks, a fabulous time of rides, shows, shops, restaurants and meeting celebrity Disney characters, getting there autographs and having cuddles with them and getting our pictures taken with them a true delight for grandchildren #magical Have I said yet , we almost Septuagenarians , walked 37.5 miles around the parks, not bad in that heat and humidity #creamcrackered Note on the 17th we returned to Disney Springs in the eve to watch Disney's version of Cirque du soleil but I sadly left that off the calendar #dumbkopf (see I do know some other languages) #haha I've also used Google Maps time line to capture day by day the holiday, see slideshow attached Return to MENU WEEK 1 - 29th July to 7th August 2022 Summary: There are 660 images in a slideshow lasting 21 minutes followed by a video with speech lasting for 43 minutes. Since we are in movie land the ones with speech we will call "The Talkies" #haha #hollywood The contents of which cover flying from Manchester Airport on the Saturday having stayed in the Premier Inn, quite a posh modern one, and eating at their attached pub, nothing special but good for the Friday eve before flying and it avoided any unforeseen obstacles to getting on the plane, most relaxing. We took quite a few pictures of the take off over England before hitting the cloud and Soarin' through it (this is a reference to the mega ride experience in Epcot which was a 4D hit with one and all in our party, how to fly around the world in less that 80 minutes (well seconds maybe #haha) rather than Mister Verne's days. Our seats were over the right hand wing and engines so a little noisy, Keef took his headphones which were far superior to the free Virgin Atlantic free ones. Watched 3 movies on the way out. The best of which was The House of Gucci (Lady GaGa is excellent) and Kenneth Branagh's Belfast a close second, it certainly passed the time as well as playing with / chatting to grand children over the seat tops, they were all in the row in front of us. Food also not bad and well designed with eco sentiments in mind. I guess if you are burning fuel at a rate of knots as an airline its good to contribute in some small way #COP26 We landed and the least said about the rest of the night probably for the better, if you really wish to indulge them have a read of the LOWLIGHTs, I've warned you it wasn't a great time and boy were we all tired after 22 hours traveling. The kids had a bit of a melt down at the start of driving the new hire car but who can blame them being 5 and 1 a piece. I think the adults were probably close to it as well but we are HELLINGERs and soldiered on. So besides doing some shopping in the very convenient and hugely stocked Publix supermarket a stones throw away up the road in the Berry Town centre area and lots of swimming in the Regal Palms complex with its lazy river, 5ft pool and paddling area Keef, Craig and Leanne tried out the "fast water slide" into the pool. Only Craig was brave enough to lie down whilst descending although I can vouch for it building up speed even if you were sitting on that last bend #fun Loved the Reggae playlist music that adorned the swimming complex, I could almost believe with the sun that I was back in Jamaica. We also went out for breakfast at the i-Hop, a pancake place, and Applebee's , a trad American bar / diner which did fab chicken dishes especially the Lime chicken and meltdown chocoholic puddings with ice cream. Overall I would rate US ice-cream but not eat it in tub loads as sadly many Americans must appear to do whilst watching TV. Don't get me started on the quality of US TV ! Both these establishments were on the Berry town centre site. So what else did we do in that 1st week. Got AT&T Sim cards, unlimited data, for Craig and my phone, Visited all 4 Disney parks for the first time. Ate a buffet lunch out at Ponderosa , a nostalgic visit inspired by Leanne's extended family visit over 20 years ago. I will always remember those brightly coloured sugary drinks and Edie's dark blue and bright red Jelly (or Jello as our Patriots call it) Addendum she didn't eat it after the 1st mouthful #notsurprising Saw and recorded the magnificent 50th anniversary firework shows at both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, both late nights for the grandkids but they were great and loved them. I now know a lot more Disney "toons" than just let it go, Annie & I are determined to watch a few of the Disney's we don't know well, sorry we are old skool ...from Snow White probably only as far as Sleeping Beauty, one of my favourites is Dumbo. Bambi was I think the first movie I saw at the cinema as a kid when Mum took us. We did 1 Magic Kingdom visit, 2 Animal Kingdom visits and 2 Epcot visits in that first week. At Animal Kingdom whilst collecting stickers for Edie's conservation book we visited Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, Harambe Market , where later in the trip we saw the truly wonderful Lion King show in the theater just behind on the river bank. Plus the whole conservation area where animals are housed getting there via the old train. At this centre Granny, Edie & Grandpa joined the art work class and drew Pula (the pig) from the Lion King, great fun. See our artwork BELOW. We saw various animals and fish which the kids loved. On those 2 Animal Kingdom visits visited mostly Oasis , Africa, Rafiki's Planet watch and bits of Discovery Island. To see more details of all 3 of the parks visited in Week 1 look at site guides and maps HERE. Thanks for looking That's it for week 1 Art work of the highest order, the reality is that our 5 year old (almost birthday time to upgrade to 6) grand daughters effort was easily the best #loveher Return to MENU WEEK 2 - 8th to 14th August 2022 There are 738 images in a slideshow lasting 25 minutes followed by a video with speech lasting for 43 minutes. Week 2 kicked off with our first visit to Disney Hollywood Studios, which seems to have been designed on a 1930s film set theme. Very classy, liked it here a lot, the Star Wars theme now they own Lucas has expanded massively from 1997 and their rides are enhanced, Tate was even quizzed by a stormtrooper, he didn't seem interested #haha The Mickey / Minnie / Goofy train ride was very classy and some of the shows were good. Due to thunder and lightening our 1st Indiana Jones show was wiped out, just too dangerous and because of the loud bangs Edie was not interested in a 2nd attempt although Keef & Annie did for old times sake. Lots of hats were tried on in the various shops and Minnie ears for Leanne and Edie. Street parades (nothing like Magic Kingdom) featured the Incredibles and others. We did a few trips to regal palms pool area this week as well as having a few meals out plus a splendid Planet Hollywood bonanza for our first visit there as well as a late night for the fireworks at Magic Kingdom and breakfast at the Rainforest café in Animal Kingdom, what a surprise that was, just amazing, only at Disney, with thunder and lightening inside the café on the half hour with real rain showers over you. #amazing The restaurant also had a whole host of animatronic animals as well as giant fish tanks, the grandkids loved these. We did a 2nd visit to Hollywood studios as well, getting to know our way around by now. Sadly the white knuckle ride themed on Aerosmith the band broke down just as Leanne and I were about to get near the front of the queue , Friday this week was a lazy one, but one we all picked up a bit of sun burn despite factor 50 sun tan lotion at waterpark Typhoon lagoon. Just shows how intense the sun is in Florida, 34-39c often and very humid. We also did our final Epcot visit this week and Edie had to say goodbye to her beloved Soarin' ride , she went on 5 times in total, it is a very clever 4D experience. It was also our final visit to Animal Kingdom, mostly spent in Asia area just across from the stage Dino land we had been in earlier in the week. Edie and I did the triceratops rid twice. Want to see more then look its all here on the blog via picture slideshows etc. To see more details of all 4 of the parks visited in Week 2 look at site guides and maps HERE. Thanks for looking. Note we also visited Typhoon Lagoon, for which we don't have a site guide but it can be found here and Disney Springs which is included in the set of guides. That's it for week 2 Return to MENU WEEK 3 - 15th to 21st August 2022 There are 461 images in a slideshow lasting 12 minutes followed by a video with speech lasting for 44 minutes. Week 3 started with the last trio to Disney Hollywood Studios and the kids both dancing and singing along to the Frozen show, the male compare was great at ad lib, and very funny. Tuesday saw us finish our very enjoyable 14 days at the Disney parks with what was probably both our longest and most fulfilling day , it was Edie's 6th birthday, we started with a bit of present opening at 257 Bergamo followed by a very posh breakfast in the Royal Table restaurant within Magic Kingdom's Castle, Grandpa discussed Grits with the the suitably medieval attired waiter, he liked them with sugar, YUK! but why does that not surprise me, the gouda ones I had were superb. We then went to more shows and on more rides than we ever have and the wonderful "It's a small world" was included. Wednesday we did a bit of shopping and all ate out at the Australian themed Outback restaurant, great grub cobber. Edie even went to the Sheila's. We had a family swim in the eve before tea. Thursday C&L & Co went to Universal studios and K & A had a chill day mostly eating, drinking and watching awful movies however the Meg Ryan / Hugh Jackman time travel romance from 2001 called Kate and Leopold wasn't bad. Friday was a relaxed day with an early morning swim, our last, then packing and getting ready for the big trip home, you don't wanna know about the car dying on us as we left for the airport, but if you do read the LOWLIGHTS, Grr. We finally managed the full Indiana Jones show, hooray. Used both ferry and monorail at Magic Kingdom. Edie could have had a go on the cable car at Hollywood studios , there and back but we just didn't find the time, sadly. The pilot of the river boat cruise was a hoot. Belle was so nice and Cirque Du Soleil back at Disney Springs on Thursday eve was possibly , no definitely, the best circus show G&G had ever seen. Giant donuts and weird picture templates spring to mind, thats it folks, take a look in more detail through the rest of the menu, I hope there is something to delight each and every one of you. Best KeefH Web Designs. x To see more details of both Magic Kingdom (for Edie's spectacular 6th birthday) and Disney Springs for Cirque Du Soleil which we visited in Week 3 look at site guides and maps HERE. Thanks for looking That's it for week 3 Return to MENU REGAL PALMS RESORT We stayed at 257 Bergamo drive for 3 weeks and used most of the available facilities bar the Spa and eating at the Grill bar, towel hire for the pool was $10 deposit returned when you gave them back and for that deposit you could return them as often as you like, soaking wet during a days swimming if you wanted to. Granny & Grandpa got Edie and Tate a lilo and rubber ring which made journeys around the lazy river a little more fun. On the last day I had to walk from Bergamo back to the office to check out because of our broken hire car but in general one drove everywhere, after all this is America #teehee The pool stuff in fairness was a little too far from where we were. There were minor issue with our stay in the Bergamo villa but nothing particularly serious, more niggles. If you want to read about those click HERE Overall we thought the accommodation and location were great. Above are copies of the guides we were given, the housekeeping phone number was very useful, they got to know me after 3 weeks, indeed their manager did see my point of view when suggested they couldn't come until Tuesday in the last week #assertive Here is a slideshow of Regal Palms resort and the wonderfully relaxing pool time we spent, enjoy Also as Meatloaf (rest his soul) once said Tate loved the Regal Palms pool, especially the shallower baby pool bit where he could play, he has no fear of water and loved going around the lazy river on the Lilo but mostly in Mummy or Daddy's arms Return to MENU MAGIC KINGDOM We visited this park 3 times and saw the parade twice, well at least Edie and I did the second time, Tinkerbell and Chip & Dale were her favourites along with all the Princesses. We celebrated her 6th birthday there on our 3rd and final visit, starting with a fab breakfast in the Royal Table restaurant in the castle. Craig & Leanne had steak, I had old Gouda Grits, you gotta taste local food, so much better than the only time I've had Grits before. Edie's birthday cake was a chocolate mickey head and eats, yummy Clearly stuff is included in the weeks 1-3 You Tube videos but I have combined at least the images here. There are 278 images lasting 7 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x I spotted this near the creek in the car park at Magic Kingdom on our first visit, I didn't say anything as both Annie & Edie would have freaked, and we didn't need that #smile #careful watch out! Want to see the site guide and map for Magic Kingdom, click HERE Return to MENU ANIMAL KINGDOM We visited this park 4 times and saw the Lion King Show in the Theatre in Africa. Here are some official photographer pix of us all There are 307 images lasting 15 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x Want to see the site guide and map for Animal Kingdom , click HERE Return to MENU EPCOT We visited this park 3 times and saw the spectacular Sonne et Lumiere fireworks show around the Lake, plus travelled on the wonderful rides Soarin' and Galaxy. There are 330 images lasting 9 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x Want to see the site guide and map for EPCOT, click HERE Return to MENU DISNEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS We visited this park 3 times and went on the fab Mickey and Minnie train ride in Main Street. We also due to thunderstorms had to have 2 attempts to see the whole of the Indiana Jones re-enactment of stunts. Its wonderful and not much changed from 1997 only that those stunt men and women have now retired #tooold There are 162 images lasting 6 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x Want to see the site guide and map for Hollywood Studios, click HERE We missed out on this one having used a Lightening Lane and queued a bit when it broke down (again apparently last time was for 14 days!!!) they refunded our pass, but it didn't restart during the time we were there that day, good job that in the "white knuckle" ride stakes we did eventually get on Guardians of the Galaxy ride at EPCOT Return to MENU DISNEY SPRINGS We went twice to Disney springs, I guess it is the mega replacement for what Paradise Island was back in the day as the entertainment element of Disney World Resorts offering. Disney springs is huge with many car parks, named after fruits, i.e., Lime, Watermelon, Orange etc. etc. All car parking is free. The first time we went we had a good look around, security is good on entry, all the typical posh shops and of course Disney & Co. which we did spend quite a bit of time in. Keef looked at buying Levi's, traditionally a cheap purchase in the States, but even with the 30% discount they were still way more expensive than the UK, must be the exchange rate or prices in the US have gone ballistic. The Lego shop was fun, Edie played with the available bricks to entertain the kids, Grandpa made a car #teehee We then avoided a mega downpour and eventually legged it over to Planet Hollywood for our pre booked table getting a little wet on route. What a fascinating restaurant. Reminded me of my fave Hard Rock café but with film memorabilia and some fab sing-a-longs. #magic Our second return was to watch Cirque Du Soleil, which was wonderful. You can park in the surface car park for free just in front of the purpose build big top. Disney don't do things by halves #haha Want to see the site guide and map for Disney springs, click HERE Return to MENU UNIVERSAL STUDIOS We had a day off when C&L and family visited Universal, it is located about an hour away from Davenport in what is basically south Orlando. They had a lovely day mostly in the Harry Potter area with Edie using her Hermione wand to make stuff "move", i'll try and find some images, they stopped for donuts on the way back, but as the kids were flagging didn't make it through to 9 pm for the fireworks which was an original intention. It as fun place, much changed I'm sure from our 1997 visit but ET is still there although massively updated. Edie had great fun with her wand , now what exactly does "Expelliarmus" mean, well I'm so glad you asked Harry fans, here you go..... Expelliarmus is a disarming spell, and is used to knock the opponent's wand from their hand. It is commonly used in the dueling club of Hogwarts and in many of the Harry Potter movies. Although called the 'Disarming Charm', it is only used to take wands from your opponent, whereas other spells can be used for summoning or pushing away an object. Here is a very brief you tube video of Craig & Leanne's day out Return to MENU FIREWORKS We were lucky enough to be at Disney's world resort to celebrate their 50th anniversary which meant spectacular fireworks every evening at both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, on reflection we all agreed it was the Magic Kingdom ones that were the best which is to take nothing way from Epcot who used huge screens to coordinate Disney classic songs and screen time with the fireworks over the world lake. By fireworks down main street in front of the castle at Magic Kingdom just edged it for us it was , sorry to repeat the word, just MAGICAL! Do hope these videos do it justice. It should be noted that each "performance" at both parks lasted about 20 minutes with a crescendo finale, our video has captured about 20 minutes combines across the 2, you will easily see which park is which, over the lake at Epcot and in front of the Castle at Magic Kingdom. Return to MENU EATERIES AND SHOPPING We went to very few shops apart from those inside Disney Parks for various souvenirs and gifts, Keef bought himself a NASA T-shirt inside EPCOT but for those outside we got SIM cards from AT&T, Food shopping from Publix, and we visited the old style US store Cracker Barrel and the Magicians Gift Store on the 192. Restaurants we eat at or got take aways were in no particular order, i-Hop and Applebee's at Berry Town Centre , Ponderosa on the 192, McDonald's on the Disney World Resort Estate, Mexico and China in EPCOT, Planet Hollywood at Disney Springs, take away fish and chips from the English bar in Berry town centre, where I had a draft pint of old speckled hen whilst waiting, a great place run by a nice English guy from London who had been there for 14 years. Plus for breakfasts Rainforest café in Animal Kingdom and the Royal Table in the castle at Magic Kingdom, all very magical. I think that's it... oh C&L ate at a Donut place on the way back from Universal on the last Thursday. We also did up sandwiches etc. which we ate in the parks to save a bit of money but mostly in that heat and humidity it was drinks we needed, lots of iced water and Sprite , which worryingly cost about £4 for a small bottle. Here is a short slideshow to capture those events Chinese lunch at the Nine Dragons, China, Epcot, absolutely scummy Final Applebee's meal. What a nice place and great food all just up the road at Berry Town Centre #ace Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTS Being able to spent so much time with family and sharing and building memories, especially nice to see our grand children Edie and Tate, little Tate is learning so fast, his speech and height have come on in leaps and bounds, "did it", "no way", "duddle". Seeing Manatees, such lovely creatures. Edie's 6th birthday, Cinderella brekkie in the Magic Kingdom Castles Royal Table. Breakfast at the Rainforest Café Animal Kingdom, steak to die for at Outback, plus that weird Onion ring. Old store magic, rocking chairs and legging it after Tate's faux pas at Cracker Barrel. The Magicians head and all those totally over the top shop front / displays along the 192. Cheap fuel, not cheap in the US's eyes but certainly cheap for us. Edie dressing up as Snow white. Soarin' at Epcot, Edie 5 Grandpa 4. Guardians of the Galaxy white knuckle ride with Leanne at EPCOT, the best ride I have ever experienced. Lightening lanes (thanks Craig!) Nostalgia for G&G, especially the Indiana Jones show at Hollywood Studios and the massively updated Its a small world at Magic Kingdom , Lazy river at both Typhoon Lagoon and Regal Palms. The Toyland shoot 'em up ride at Hollywood Studios, with Leanne trumping the score line even with Tate on her lap. The Mickey and Minnie Goofy train ride at Hollywood Studios. Chinese lunch at EPCOT. Ice cold water and crusher in 257 Bergamo, Regal Palms resort. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Crush Dudes, Animated drawing instruction by a Disney animator at Animal Kingdom with Edie, Pula from the Lion King. All those Princess characters and others and the delight on Edie's face when she got their signature and a "duddle" from them, plus Granny and Grandpa learning who the hell the were and which Disney movie they were in, lots to watch and catch up on whilst recovering from Jet Lag. The very efficient and easy "meet & greet" at Manchester Airport. Temperatures near the 100 degrees Fahrenheit mark most days, sun bronzing. That fab storm on almost the first night, spectacular! Watching and listening to our team in the Premiership the wonderful Reds, Nottingham forest and its a small world coincidences meeting the guy from Sawley Marina at Animal Kingdom car park #COYRs Some of the fab shows like Beaty and the Beast and the absolutely amazing Frozen show, Tate and Edie dancing along, us all singing Let it go and other "classics" #livetheatre but the top theatre show for A&I (probably the best we have ever seen) was Disney's Cirque Du Soleil "Drawn to Life" , how on earth those uni cycling girls and the Jungle book characters managed the jumping n foot up with no harness I will never know. #spectacular We also loved the Simba theatre show at Animal Kingdom. Magic Kingdom 3pm parade twice especially tinker bell , the fire breathing dragon , Tate waving at Mick Mick and wanting to Duddle Minnie, Craig's love of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast at the Gaston Tavern in Magic Kingdom. Land rover safari at Animal Kingdom. Planet Hollywood lunch at Disney Springs and sing along on the big screen, reminded Keef of his fave Hard Rock Cafe's. The guy in Epcot who said to me "go birds go" as I was wearing my Eagles shirt Craig had bought me for my 64th birthday. What part of Philly are you from he said, Nottingham in England I said #haha Spectacular thunder and lightening on the first night in Polk County, we filmed it, it is a feature along with high temperatures (34c-39c generally about 4pm each day) in Florida, luckily although we were in Hurricane season we avoided those unlike one of our previous family holidays to Jamaica in 2009 when we encountered Hurricane Ivan. Bad news. We did chat to a young couple from Oklahoma in Dino land at Animal Kingdom who said Tornadoes (they were in the alley) were not as bad as Hurricanes, small comfort eh? #smile Having ice on tap, McDonald's cold (very cold) chocolate milkshakes and their McFlurry, all thirst quenching and heat busting! #survival Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTs GALLERY Return to MENU LOWLIGHTS The first and last days. The first day after arrival in Orlando International airport was a nightmare. Hot and sweaty with tired children (and adults!) we were made to wait and queue "in line" for 3 hours to get through border control at US customs. They only had a couple of booths open, ridiculous with at least 3 UK planes arriving at the same time. Then after that due to taking the unexplained "option" of having our luggage transported by staff across from arrivals terminal to terminal A (something if we knew the full facts we would never do again) #hintsandtips we lost 2 suitcases for at least an hour and a half. We collectively had a huge amount of luggage with 5 suitcases on the way out, 2 trunkies, stroller (UK pushchair ;) ) and numerous item of "carry on" luggage so just 2 much to lug for and already fractious and tired bunch. Eventually got them back (they lost 14 items of luggage in total that night) Keef complained to the manager. You had to use the monorail to get over to Terminal A. After getting that sorted and the hire car we had some Edie histrionics when Craig first used the hire car, just a learning to drive it issue, and Edie as a result of her tiredness, all sorted pretty quickly. BUT and here is the BIG "butt" none of our phones worked ( google maps used our roaming credit up amazingly quickly and cost a fortune, we hardly got out of the Alamo car hire place before it was gone) so navigating to Regal Palms in Davenport was a nightmare, we only had a tourist map Linda had sent for guidance, and we drove around and around trying to find it, no chance, stopped at a 7/11 to try and buy a detailed map, no dice in the USA, all use Google maps, so stuffed, Keef took executive decision at about 11.30 pm US time and got us 2 rooms at the Days Inn on the 192 , hugely overpriced and antiquated but perfect for a exhausted family. Not a day we all wish to remember. Sorted with essential US AT&T SIM cards the next morning when we finally found 2700 Sand Mine Road, Davenport The last day by comparison was no where near as bad but still a bit frustrating as having loaded the Chrysler Voyager, a huge beast, but ideal for all us lot, with the bags (an extra one as well that C&L had purchased in Walmart, Clermont (on the 27) for all the Disney extras, plus Edie's birthday. Anyhow the car wouldn't start, some technical fault on the throttle , luckily hadn't happened during the 3 weeks , but meant a whole lot of hassle we could have done without, also no go for our free ride on the wheel at Icon park on International drive and personally for Keef the chance to briefly re-visit Villas at Somerset off the 192 we had stayed at back in 1997. All sorted via Alamo hire company who sent a guy out to tow it away and get 2 Ubers to the airport, time there went quite quickly even with the 1 hour delay in flying departure to 8.40 pm. Keef rang Regal Palms reception to get a extension to 12 noon, free of charge. K had to walk up (bit hot) before noon to check out but got to watch Forest in the bar Vs Everton so every cloud has a silver lining #happybunny Plus Aerosmith's white knuckle ride breaking down at Hollywood Studios just as we got near the front of the queue. Oh and Craig scraping his back on Regal Palms water slide whilst using the go pro, #smile oh and humidity, being chucked out of the lazy river as a precaution against thunder and lightening (never happened!). Edie banging her legs and cutting them after the massive waves started at Typhoon Lagoon and Keef treading on Annie's food in the same aftermath. That dripping tap, grr and needing to use the loo plunger #notnice Also the overwhelming use of "just too much" sugar and salt in and on everything. Maybe dieticians in the states need take a closer look, no wonder governments and health schemes are removing the subsidizing of diabetes medical care in the States, it does seem to be a huge growing problem #politicalpointover Bergamo villa issues Also having to chase Maintenance /Housekeeping all 3 weeks to get them to change towels and bedding, they mostly did a good job but never washed the floors as witness by how black the undersoles of the kids feet were when they didn't wear socks. The other annoying factor was the previous people who are likely to be fined re the bins. I spoke to the collectors who come each day as it was never emptied. They will ONLY take away if in big black sacks. We bought some and after I forced them to clean our the fly ridden full bin we never had another problem and they took it away everyday #greatfellows Return to MENU NOW AND THEN We visited Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld Florida for both the 25th anniversary celebrations in 1997 and then again for the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2022. Craig was 15 when we first visited and kindly invited us to accompany him with his own family aged 40 (it was for his 40th birthday celebrations) Great fun, I've provided some graphical comparisons so you can see what has changed over the years both from the Disney perspective and from our families perspective. #nostalgia Disney's Magic Kingdom entrance Walt statue comparison 1997 to 2022 - 25 and 50 years after its inception We stayed at 257 Bergamo Drive, 2700 Sand Mine Lane, Davenport in 2022 and Villas of Somerset , Kissimmee in 1997, not far from each other, see this Google maps direction chart didn't quite manage to revisit due to car being kaput on the last day, but hey ho we were close Back in the day (1997) we visited both Typhoon lagoon and Blizzard beach (closed for refurbishment 2022) , the place where on Summit Plummet the steepness of the slide meant your budgie smugglers almost cut you in half as they were drawn up inside your nether regions #smile . The Disney world arch at entrance seems the same , Animal Kingdom was not built, many of the "traditional" rides have been updated. technology is now so advanced in comparison, Honey I shrank the Audience (class leading technology back in 1997) is replicated via many "experiences" in 2022 not least the very clever Pixar shorts 3D experience and its a BUGs life show. We went to Paradise Island in 1997, its no longer around but the entertainments and shopping hub is now the massive Disney Springs complex on the Lake Buena Vista site. In 1997 we went to one of the first ever Planet Hollywood restaurants there (owned by Stallone & Willis) we loved the one we went back to in 2022 at Disney Springs. The evolving Walt Disney World entrance arch Return to MENU FLIGHTS We flew from Manchester Terminal 2 to Orlando International terminal A (via monorail off landing area) and back again start and end of the holiday, sitting both times in the same seats over the very noisy wing area, headphones up to highest you could barely make out what the film or music was. Food pretty good though. We were flying Virgin Atlantic on what I thing was a 737 but I'm no expert. Here are our return tickets Here is a You tube video of flying to and from Orlando by Virgin Atlantic Plus a few more images Return to MENU DISNEY PARK TICKETS Here are the tickets we used for our 14 day experience, you also had to use them to confirm any Lightening Lane bookings, there was a charge to skip the queue, on only one ride , Galaxy, their latest mega-ride you had to use a new concept which they may well expand in the future to join a virtual queue , booking online from 7 am at home, and then again at 1 pm in the park. Note the virtual queues , for obvious reasons ran out pretty quickly, it was like booking concert tickets online. #innovation The credit card style tickets are known as a Disney Fast Pass Plus Return to MENU SITE PLANS AND MAPS These are copies of the official guides you can pick up at each park and Disney springs, they are available in all languages as I found when I almost claimed a Spanish version before realising my language skills barely exist #luddite Each section features the cover, a full site map, some words about the park and an index of where to find what, I do hope it helps inform #hintsandtips MAGIC KINGDOM ANIMAL KINGDOM EPCOT DISNEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS DISNEY SPRINGS If you want more information or maybe to download printable site maps (not sure how current they are?) this site may well help , click HERE otherwise that's all folks Return to MENU TYPHOON LAGOON We went there on the Friday we had a free day, we had booked an afternoon session at EPCOT but as a Virtual queue for Galaxy was 8 pm and then got cancelled we decided not to go and went back to 257 Bergamo to chill. The wave machine was mega and scary Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK CRAIG'S MOVIE Craig very kindly put this movie together in November 2022 and gave us a full screen premier with popcorn (yuk!), Maltesers, cakes, biscuits and lunch at their house, its wonderful, i love the specialist Disney font and the clever way he has used Apple's iMovie app to show 2 videos running in the same frame, so clever. It includes all of our selected images and videos from the fun family time, making memories. Return to MENU THAT's ALL FOLKS Thanks for reading. A lovely fun holiday time where the highlights well and truly outshone the lowlights As a final piece de resistance have a look at what you can do with the Disney Photo Pass app, all in one guide to booking stuff, searching for stuff, setting up lightening lanes, and generally controlling your visit, to make it even smarter Disney have introduced a smart watch, even more money for them #haha #innovation #hintsandtips Return to MENU

By keef and annie Hellinger, Dec 2 2021 14.21 pm MENU Intro Original Slideshows Diary Audiobook New Slideshows The End INTRODUCTION TO 25th DISNEY ANNIVERSARY We holidayed at The Villas of Somerset, Kissimmee, Florida, USA, 34746 between 26 July and the 09 August 1997 and then toured a bit of Florida for 7 days before flying back from Orlando to the UK. If you would like to read the full diary please click HERE or to listen to our adventures as an Audio book if you would prefer , please click HERE , thanks or if you would like to see the full 1997 Florida trip site entry please click HERE In this blog you can see the full Slideshow of recovered images from that trip accompanied by the Audiobook Diary, thanks for looking x We visited again for Disney World Resorts 50th anniversary with now 3 generations of our family and make comparisons between the Disney Parks 25 years apart, indeed some such as Animal Kingdom were not build in 1997. Read more on Blog 183 HERE Grumpy in front of Walt and Mickey tee-hee 25th Anniversary As Moonfruit died on 7th December 2021 my previous HOLIDAY2010 site which contained our trips to Florida in 1997 and our trip to British Columbia in 1997 (plus briefly visiting pals David & Cathy & family in 1999 in Edmonton, Alberta) was migrated by Yell to WIX. I have decided to incorporate it here into my motorhome-travels blog site as an insurance against Yell increasing site charges quite substantially once a year is up, it will then be easy to remove the migrated site. In January 2022 I decided to work on the HOLIDAY 2010 site that had been very badly migrated i.e. it did not work but after quite some effort I am happy to keep it in its new guise, click HERE to see the new version of Florida USA 1997, enjoy or just carry on with the blog here Note this is intrinsically linked to Blog 62 & Blog 80, see the 3 associated blogs at end of post, thanks We returned again to Key West on our cruise in 2018 Blog 125 Family Time Clearwater Beach, Tampa and West Palm Beach plus of course Disney & Miss Piggy #sigh the final frontier One of our heroes, his business card which is what this is obviously worked, ha-ha His 1921 Biz Card We visited amongst others Florida (FL) USA with the boys, including Kissimmee, Tampa, the Keys, Everglades, Cape Kennedy Space Station, clearwater, Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, and all the parks.... Disney, Universal and Busch gardens. We are hoping to return in 2022 for Craig's 40th and be with the grand children this time, cant wait, COVID-19 allowing. Return to MENU OLD SLIDESHOWS The counter of visitors to our old HOLIDAY 2010 site has been retained under the BIG TRIPs page (along with all the others) so we can possibly keep them going for as long as possible and realise the full visitor numbers although Google Analytics tells us a lot of that nowadays, just not the complete count since day 1 launch of the old sites. Return to MENU DIARY: Florida USA 1997 3 Weeks July & August Summary: We spent 21 Days in Florida, USA between 26th July and the 16th August 1997 We took 227 Photos, all of which are included in the summary slideshows, many of which were scanned from old fashioned Kodak prints. So we spent 15 days in Kissimmee, Orlando Florida on holiday between 26 July - 9 August 1997, it was a fun Family Time we stayed at apartment 126, The Villas of Somerset, Kissimmee, Florida, USA, 34746, we also visited for a further 7 days Clearwater Beach, Tampa and West Palm Beach in our hired car which was a huge Chevrolet with not surprisingly 3 seats across the front and multiple coffee and soda cup holders ha-ha, plus of course we visited Disney & Miss Piggy #sigh, the whole logic of this holiday was that the boys were now old enough to appreciate Disney in its entirety so this was a special family break, especially it was Disney World’s 25th celebrations and here's a summary. We initially stayed in Kissimmee for 2 weeks and visited ALL the theme parks & water parks. Going back into Universal after 7pm is a good call as it saved the queues. Saw central Orlando including taking the boys to the Orlando Magic basketball stadium, they were both keen at the time and indeed Doug played for the Ilkeston Outlaws basketball team back at home, we played a bit of tennis at the Villas as well. We then travelled across to the west, Tampa, Busch Gardens park, clearwater, International Drive, Sanibel, Sarasota, Venice , Naples, then back to the east via the Everglades and down the Keys: Largo, Marathon, Bahia Honda NP, Key West then back up via Fort Lauderdale, Miami (although didn't go in here in 97 but did in 2018) to Orlando plus Kennedy Space Station with its NASA centre replication and the newly installed Apollo, Saturn 5 centre, just mesmerising , Cocoa beach its jetty and lovely sandy beach, River Country, Cracker Barrel, Visiting my hero Dali’s exhibition, Naples jetty pier, St Pete’s Beach, West Palm Beach with all its posh locked up homes and posh yacht moored outside, ESPN where maybe Craig & I got our love of Grid Iron or American Football from, come on 49ers & Eagles, Busch Gardens run by Anheuser Busch the beer people, we remember Montu in the Egypt area and the scary Kumba which I must have gone on at least 3 times in a row with the boys until I felt sick, the Edge of Africa area which you went over in a skyride monorail cable car, also standing on the bridge getting soaked by the huge water chute ride, can’t remember what it was called, but as hot and humid we loved it, so cooling, Busch characters to rival Disney , OK maybe not, T J Tiger and the Hippo, 25th Disney World (now Resorts) Anniversary, Typhoon Lagoon, Sea World (and sadly Shamu which we feel very guilty about), Sports World, River Country, EPCOT was sponsored by the then Eastern Kodak Company, sadly no more to my knowledge, digital is here to stay, it included Illuminations 25 accompanied by the Disney-Grammy All American College Orchestra, ta-rah , Universal Studios and the Tower of Terror, The fab Honey I Shrunk the Kids experience with the height of technology at the time, shaking seats sprayed by water, tee-hee, Water World, MGM Studios, Magic Kingdom, we had the guide for between 28th July and 3rd August, Discovery & Pleasure Island where we went one evening very strict licensing laws meant I couldn’t even buy a drink for Annie you had to buy your own and proof your age, flattering if the truth be known that they thought we were younger than 21, ha-ha, Blizzard Beach, River Country, Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex with beach volleyball, Annie wouldn’t let me attend the ladies one, ha-ha, Terminator 2 experience, Ride of the Movies, Back to The Future Ride, Kongfrontation, Jaws ride, Earthquake, ET ride, Our Universal Tickets were from the 5th to 7th august, we saw the Twilight zone featuring the Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones , Toy Story, Backlot tours , Watched Disney animators at work on the new to be Mulan (now ancient history) but fascinating experience, Twister and King Gators Fundango rides were on their way and being constructed, Baywatch at Sea World, giant heavy video cameras & animation tours , Shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral (just missed it by one day), Our Underwater camera, Steaks the size of a large plate, you wuss keef, Having to have your salad separately, Melbourne Beach, Rodeo Drive, Boca Raton, Ron Johns “one of a Kind” Surf shop at Cocoa Beach, we returned to this in 2018 on our US and Caribbean 40th Wedding Anniversary cruise, buying my 1st genuine pair of Levi’s since my 20s, we also remember Mummy Mummification (i.e. Annie in an Egyptian Sarcophagus), Key Wests 30’s Hotel and lots of Fish around the jetty, Board Walks, Hard Rock Café, Key Lime Pie, Hemingway Express and Conch Train trip plus seeing Sloppy Joe’s Earnest hang out local, Everglades and Hover trip out to Alligator Island, Stay on the Island of Marathon, Swimming, Planes, and Bahai Honda National Park, After staying at Cocoa beach on the last night we returned to Orlando, dropped off the fab hire car, flew back to Manchester & home, Our car was in the long stay car park there so we drove back through the Peaks to Home. We even have a memorabilia PDF which sadly is 27 megabytes long so cannot feature on the website but happy to share on request. Pleased to say we are returning in 2022 with Craig’s family as grandparents for his 40th Birthday, will I enjoy the white-knuckle rides quite the same as I did in 1997, who knows but I will certainly give it a go. It is a special year at Disney as it’s the 50th anniversary so we are expecting spectacular fireworks and parades. Its now called collectively Walt Disney World Resorts. I so remember steamboat willie, which I believe was the first animation Walt Disney did. Here's a bit of a write up on the man. Walter Elias Disney December 5, 1901, to December 15, 1966, was an American entrepreneur, animator, writer, voice actor, and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most academy awards earned and nominations by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy, among other honours. As of 2022, Disney became the first, and later one of the three people been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories, a record he shares with Alfonso Cuaron and George Clooney, until was surpassed by Kenneth Branagh with seven. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy. With Ubbe Ert Iwwerks, he developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-colour three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons, and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as and who doesn’t know these from their childhood and indeed adulthood, all classics, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio & Fantasia (both 1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950) and Mary Poppins (1964), the latter of which received five Academy Awards. In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in July 1955 he opened Disneyland in Anaheim California. To fund the project, he diversified into television programs, such as Walt’s Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club. He was also involved in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964 New York World Fair. In 1965, he began development of another theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT). Disney was a heavy smoker throughout his life and sadly died of lung cancer in December 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project was completed. Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK Return to MENU SLIDESHOWS REWORKED 2023 The following sets of videos were recreated by KeefH Web Designs in October 2023 as Google search engines changed their checking on embedded videos and slideshows to check for a viewport error, as the originals were created using photosnack software back in the day and are antiquated KHWD recreated them using more modern software Clipchamp. They are also in the full site HOLIDAY 2010 Enjoy The first slideshow is a combination one showing all slides. The next are duplicates of the originals above. Return to MENU THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Created by KeefH Web Designs, September 19th, 2022, 8.18 AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Motorhome trip No51: Sept 15th- 18th 2022 NOTTS->White House Beach C&MC Club Site, Beach Road, Kessingland, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 7RW ->NOTTS 335 miles Van Trip 51 Final days lunch at the wonderful Waterfront restaurant MENU Introduction / Overview of Weekend You Tube video of all photos and videos Photo highlights and Norfolk / Suffolk "pals" camping memorabilia White House Beach caravan & motorhome club site, Kessingland George Orwell in Southwold Map of the Area Audiobook The end, tags etc. INTRODUCTION We had packed the van for Van Trip 51, mostly, the day before which was a good thing as it was spitting when we came to do the final packing up. Breakfasted and ready to leave soon after 9-ish Keef had a nightmare time trying to get the iPod touch to play music despite a good long try at it (much to Annie's annoyance) #technologyeh Note post return iPod touch all rebuilt from scratch after resetting ready for music on our next trip. We liked the Norfolk / Suffolk area so much that we are thinking of returning shortly but for a much longer spell, realistically a 4 hour drive each way for a long weekend now we are nearly Septuagenarians is a little too much, it was no issue for a weekend after work on a Friday way back when the boys were young , but that was just a fun escape from work sent with our dear pals, Pete & Joy and family. Anyhow we eventually left after filling up with diesel (wow that hurt price wise, well over £100 for a tank nowadays) #WalletOuch 😉 There is no direct route to Suffolk and Norfolk as we have found over the years, i.e., no motorways so it's mostly A roads like A52 and A47, basically taking us from home via Spalding, Grantham (famed for the Iron Lady), King's Lynn, Dereham, Beccles, Lowestoft and Kessingland. We did stop for some pre prepared tuna mayo cobs at Frensham just before Dereham. #yummy We arrived at the campsite, White House beach at about 2.20 pm this Thursday to check in. Site arrival times have altered recently being 1 pm, and what with the hassles the club has had with its new booking system for both customers and wardens alike we were glad to arrive a little later, there was only a minimal queue. On the last day it looked like Bedlam with so many caravans and motorhomes arriving at the same time. We introduced ourselves to the lovely wardens Helen & Neil who coincidentally knew our pals Lawrence and Yvonne as they had worked with them in Airdrie Scotland and even more coincidentally after Helen rang me a couple of times, we established she taught at a junior school in Long Eaton in an earlier life and Neil came from Stabbo (Stapleford) where his parents still live, what a small world we live in. Anyhow we set off to find a hard standing pitch, we selected pitch 93, set up, it started to rain. It was a good flat pitch and quite close to both the amenities block and the nearby water / bins / ablutions site. Returning to tell Helen about our pitch number we asked for an extension till 4 pm on Sunday to allow time for our Sunday lunch at the Waterfront restaurant. Fully expecting to pay, Helen said it was at her discretion so all good there, thanks Helen.! There are an even number of grass and hard standing pitches on this site with a couple of rows beach side, but they are first come, first served and we weren't first #haha It was fairly windy but had now stopped raining, so we decided to go for a stroll on what turned out to be a very pebbly beach and a long hop to the sea, as it turned out literally, Keef foolishly thought it was sand so wore shorts and flip flops. #ouch We walked over the carefully laid old tyre inners down to the water's edge, some interesting beach plant life and old boats but huge waves and a sharp incline to the sea, so turned back, up to the Sailor's home Inn and nosed in at the Waterfront restaurant. Took quite a few pictures on route. The it was back to the motorhome for a relax and early tea. Spam, Hash Browns and Baked Beans #carboverload and yoghurt for pud. Early evening Keef made use of the TV aerial hook up on the post with his cable and we watched some "real-time" TV including the wonderful Repair shop. Friday was raining most of the morning, probably good for farmers but not motorhomers #haha Keef spied out a pitch for Pete & Joy as the site was very busy and not many folks were leaving. Pitch 117. What I hadn't realised was this was not the pitch without awning P&J had booked, oh well no worries they arrived about 1.30 pm and got set up. We said our greetings, K doing some scones and jam and then we headed off for the Sailor's Home Inn up the road for a jolly good catch up, what a fabulous pub that sold 5 different types of local real ale, we were of course forced to try most but Keef settled on "Gone Fishing" and Pete their "Best", the ladies having wine and Cinzano respectively. What a fun time. 271 years around the table now. In the evening P&J cooked a lovely Lasagna with garlic bread followed by Tiramisu, accompanied obviously by an appropriate amount of alcohol, well why not, we were all on holiday #suchfun Saturday Pete worked out which bus and from where we could use our old folks passes into either Lowestoft or Southwold. As we all love Southwold that was the choice. It's a short walk up the hill to Wash Lane where either the 164 or 99 (differing bus companies) leave from. It's about a 30-minute trip which would normally cost about £3.70. We caught the 164 which came along first. It stops at the far end of the High Street. What a lovely place Southwold is. Weather wasn't bad although a little grey and likely to rain. We resaw many of the shops and architecture we had seen on our previous trip to Southwold, not in the motorhome but in a family rented holiday cottage BLOG 89, we then walked along the beach front, waves lashing at the defense wall, past all those lovely beach huts, expensive to buy and about 9 available to hire (£24 a day). We stopped to watch 3 surfers in the huge waves by the pier and a nut case swimming in the sea, it takes all sort, he looked a little blue in my humble opinion #haha We then strolled to the end of the pier after a brief stop for coffee and then back past the crazy mirrors. There was an appeal for Ukraine van and a bit of history about Southwold celeb Goerge Orwell. We then headed back into town past the stately lighthouse and went into the Tip Tree Cafe for coffee and cake, Black Forest Gateau (very 70s) and Lemon Drizzle. What surprised us was despite the lady saying they were short staffed as the reason we couldn't have a piece of their lovely looking quiche; we saw no difference in cutting cake to quiche, oh well. We just had to live with it with our tongue's hanging out #haha We also bought some nice jams in the shop; the gins however were overpriced. Then it was onto the old Cheese shop and purchasing a huge slap of Snowden's mature Black Bomber, probably along with St Agur my fave cheese. We then caught the bus back to the site and called in for one quick one at the pub, why not? Keef cooked halloumi burger, halloumi chips and garlic bread with salad for tea, followed by citrus cheesecake in little ramakins and cheese and biscuits. A fab day all in all. Lots of gassing as well #obvs Sunday Joy cooked a lovely breakfast and we all started to pack up ready for the return journey but not before being hugely surprised by having Sunday lunch at the wonderful waterfront Restaurant. Must give them 5 stars on Trip advisor. Whilst awaiting going out for lunch Keef helped Helen & Neil, the wardens, take down poor Mr. Hodge next doors awning. The poor old fellow had fallen and broken his arm in 2 places and was all plastered up, he was alone and lived in Kenilworth so was having to be transported back the next day, car, caravan and gear, not a great break (if you will forgive the pun) for this older gentlemen, we all felt sorry for him. Anyhow after lunch we all said our goodbyes and wended our way home, what a lovely weekend Annie & I really enjoyed ourselves. As Boris and Arnie once said... Hasta la vista baby.... Return to MENU THE WHOLE TRIP IN PICTURE FORM WITH MUSIC See our full photo and video diary Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTS & PAST MEMORABILIA See highlights with our pals, what a fun weekend. NOSTALGIA TIME: I have also included a few from our earlier visits to the area, be that Aldeburgh, Southwold, Walberswick, Cromer, Pentney Park and nearby Gayton, Hunstanton (Searles), Hopton on Sea including nearby California beach, Swaffham Beckland Meadows (Blog 45) or Kessingland. As far as I can tell from my photo records we visited June 1986, June 1987, Jul 1990, May 1991, May 1996, June 1999, May 2000, Sept 2002, Aug 2012 so it's been a while since we last visited that area, i.e., 10 years #smile Return to MENU OUR CAMPSITE Here is the supporting stuff for the White House Beach caravan and motorhome club site that we picked up that you may find of interest including i) the site map, we were on Pitch 93 hard standing, very close to good service point, and Pete & Joy were on pitch 64, the only standard pitch without awning unless you include the front seaside, which are impossible to get on anyhow, ii) the site details sheet iii) some stuff on local walks and history of Kessingland iv) the fab real ales at the sailors inn just a short walk up from the site v) the fish and chip restaurant further up the road, allegedly the best in Suffolk, P&J have been there, we will on another occasion. Return to MENU GEORGE ORWELL QUOTES He spent time in Southwold as a teenager and return again to this beloved seaside town in his 30s, he lived next door to the now bakery and then fish and chip shop in the high street, we were reminded of some of his politically astute quotes from both Animal Farm and 1984 but there are many more. image of george orwell's house in southwold, suffolk as it is by 2022 Some animals are equal, but some are more equal than others (somewhat prophetic in the current climes)! Big brother is watching I will work harder 4 legs good, 2 legs bad .... and 4 legs good, 2 legs BETTER (Hmm!) Napolean is ALWAYS right Return to MENU MAP Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK You can listen to this blog as an audiobook if you would prefer, I have also provided a full slideshow with an audio overlay, which may suit some, maybe the hard of reading 😉 Return to Menu THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Created by KeefH Web Designs, October 18th, 2022, 11.28 AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Motorhome trip No52: October 5th - 17th 2022 NOTTS-> Norfolk & Suffolk, Various Sites Mostly Caravan and Motorhome Club Sites (M&CC site) -> NOTTS 509 miles Cake Tour of Norfolk & Suffolk MENU Introduction Diary and Calendar 2 nights at Sandringham Estate (M&CC) 2 nights at Pinewoods (independent site) Wells Next to the Sea 3 nights at Incleboro Fields, West Runton, Cromer (M&CC) 3 nights at Great Yarmouth Racecourse, Caister on Sea (M&CC) 2 nights back at White House Beach site, Kessingland, Suffolk Highlights / Lowlights Photo Gallery Talkies Video - Live Action Reels Maps Audiobook and Dickens Site Details etc. That's all Folks INTRODUCTION 2 weeks away in the lovely Wendy house basically travelling around the coastline of East Anglia starting at Kings Lynn and ending at Kessingland all in amazing sunshine and blue skies, what's not to like plus we managed rather naughtily to pull in a whole stack of cake eating, which we justified with the line " we are on holiday!" #naughtybutnice what a fab Cake Tour of Norfolk & Suffolk Our cake tour of Norfolk and Suffolk We have previously stayed in East Anglia in the van and with family and friends, go straight to those blogs by clicking on the links below Norfolk Suffolk We loved every minute of it and the van performed well, there was a mixture of Motorhome & Caravan club sites (M&CC), we have renamed it from Caravan & Motorhome club sites as we are Motorhomers, no offence Caravanners but it's like Snow boarders and Skiers, friendly rivalry is the spice of life! Beside driving only 509 miles, which in fairness apart from the journey there to Sandringham and back from Kessingland was very little daily as we mostly used buses and foot to view most of the East Anglian coastline and some of the inner villages, we walked about 29 miles, an average of just over 2 miles per day with one day around 5 miles being the most walking. art installation on the river bure, king's lynn interesting selfie, kessingland panorama of site at great yarmouth racecourse History time folks, you know I like to do this! It is worth noting that as you enter Norfolk you are reminded of their most famous son, Horatio Nelson, the county sign says, "Nelson's County". He was born at Burnham Thorpe which we did visit on the last day on the way home but were deeply disappointed by the lack of tribute, one solitary plaque on a wall on a newly built Nelson's barn, even the church (his father was vicar of Burnham Thorpe), was a huge disappointment. Whilst being proud at a county level, maybe they are embarrassed by his relationship with Emma (Amy) Lyon / Hart / Hamilton, actress and model or as I prefer to call her "Page 3 stunner", at the local level, so much more could be made at Burnham Thorpe for this great Naval Admiral #justsayin We spent a bit of time reading up on him, Emma and the daughter Horatia whom they pretended was adopted in Naples, named Horatia Nelson Thompson (surname after a ship mate of Horatio's) later Ward (she married a vicar) and is buried in Pinner, Middlesex, note to self-visit when we next see Cuz Ros & Nigel. Very weird relationships, what I would call a menage-a-quatre, when they all lived at Merton House, Surrey, Sir William, Mrs Cadogan, Emma and Nelson, oh and daughter Horatia. Click on the links to read more #historylessonover Our dear friend Kevin Jackson "Moose / KJ" (1955-2021) was writing his last short historical on Nelson, it was going to be published via Amazon, but they told me on numerous occasions it was being held up although I can see it is now available should you wish. Plug for Kev BUY HERE Nelson’s Victory: Trafalgar and Tragedy published by TSB | Can of Worms, 2021 (ISBN 978-1-911673-06-4) UK & (ISBN 978-1-948585-19-4) US not easy to find his birthplace but we were determined Kev had borrowed a lot of Captain Cook biography books from us (our travel hero) and it was going to be his next, he asked us if we would mind if he put in a foreword to us in it... Mind? my god we were absolutely "stoked / made up", not sure if it was finished or will ever get published but we will keep an eye out! You can see many of our Motorhome travels in search of Captain Cook under our 2007-8, 2010, 2013 and 2017 trips links in the trailer! We attended a memorial at the Hammersmith club to remember Kev on Saturday 22nd Oct 2022, arranged by his wife Claire, a lovely fitting tribute to a wonderful man, I have included my own personal add on to that here Return to MENU DIARY This shows where we went and camped on each day of our 13-day mini break in Norfolk & Suffolk in October 2022. October 2022 East Anglia Trip This slideshow is taken from what Google Photos has automatically recorded about the known locations of where our pictures are taken from, all very clever but I thought I would at least record it here. Return to MENU 2 DAYS AT THE SANDRINGHAM ESTATE CAMPSITE Covers the 5th and 6th of October. Left home about 11 a.m. and headed off towards Norfolk via our usual route. Stopped on route for lunch in a layby on the A47 with cobs and sandwiches (including marmite, yippee!) love it or hate it, I love it and of course Annie's homemade lemon drizzle cake, start off the way you mean to continue I say. Arrived at the Sandringham Estate Caravan and Motorhome club site at about 2.30 p.m. We were surprised at how empty it was, nicely laid out site really in 2 areas with 2 facilities blocks, 1 motorhome service point which we used to fill up with water, habitation 110 liters for our Wendy House and of course the loo flush. Chose a pitch quite close to the amenities block, pitch number 73. See Site Details. It was also close to the woodland pathway leading across to Sandringham, which we did try visiting the house and gardens the next day, but the house was closed as a Friday and as the car parking fees were huge, we decided against it. You can park for 30 minutes for free, hardly long enough to even walk to the ticket office. Anyhow we had a bit of a walk around the site and out the entrance researching where the bus stops were for our trip to King's Lynn the next day. Loved the Bug-ingham palace insect houses dotted around the site and the tributes to our late queen. After this we went back to the van and carried on listening to our Richard Osman audiobook before about 6 p.m. trundling down to the gate to buy our lovely fish and chip supper from the mobile van that visits the site, luckily for us on a Wednesday evening. Thursday by the way is the wood fired pizza van at the gate, but we skipped that as Keef had the trad lasagna, salad and garlic bread at the ready. Thursday started as a very sunny day, and we walked to the bus stop just outside the site (other side of the road) to catch the bus to Kings Lynn. The opposite way the bus goes is Hunstanton on the coast. King's Lynn was only about 15 minutes by bus, the Hunstanton trip is about 30 minutes. Love our old codgers bus pass, long may it remain, quite a perk! King's Lynn has an association with bad King John being one of the last places he visited as was evident from the Statue, stories about his treasure and cup and sword at Guildhall and Gaol. The history trail around King's Lynn was lovely with many plaques pointing out what was what, we learnt a lot #culture from historic Marriott's warehouse museum, the old Purfleet dock area, back streets, priory, granary, malthouse, Custom House, Whites House, King's Lynns famous son, captain George Vancouver (yes, its Canada again folks), jail, guildhall, the guy in there giving us a personal history tour (obs. bored) , did you know on the dole was to do with the doling knife used to dole our left overs to the poor, I didn't #fact , St Anne's church, the Globe, Market square, the fabulous Minster and old town area, King's Lynns museum, quayside, walks, Asda on the way in and later teehee for booze and cakes (ok not cultural but almost edifying Haha) Here is a slideshow of our images taken during those 2 days, it last approximately 7 minutes. Return to MENU 2 DAYS AT WELLS NEXT SEA OR AS AWAG SAID WELLS NOT NEAR THE SEA Covers the 7th and 8th October. The above introductory comment you would understand if you visited the beach and the tide was out as it was when we went, it's a true hike to the sea. Anyhow in chronological order, we packed up and left the Sandringham site after using the motorhome service station to fill up again and drain off our wastewater etc. Our first stop was Castle Rising, an English heritage site not far from the campsite, we parked up and went to take a view of the ruins. Nice area though and fabulous sunshine to show it off in its splendour. We then called in at the ASDA store on the route to King's Lynn for provisions before going to the Queen's Sandringham (I guess now King Charles III's estate) how weird is it saying that it's been my lifetime so far! We parked up and walked to the ticket office, huge gardens, cafes, shops but sadly as it was a Friday the house was closed, so we decided to travel on. Annie was interested in getting some lavender for po-pouri bags, so we went to Norfolk Lavender on the A149, bit difficult parking a motorhome up in their somewhat cramped packed car park but as Wendy house is so slender it wasn't an issue. Sadly, they didn't have any, but it was a fun look around and their Farm shop was a delight, bought coronation chicken pasties for lunch and some Black Bomber cheese, a particular favourite. Amazing gourds on display and fresh local produce, the varieties of Norfolk apples I had never heard of was extensive. Anyhow we took our ill-gotten gains off to Hunstanton sea front and had lunch there, pasties and Annie's remaining lemon drizzle cake, why not? Amazingly blowy on the sea front, i foolishly got out for a closer look over the cliffs, I and the van were rocking and not in a good way. lunch at Hunstanton watching the kite and wind surfers After lunch on the way to Wells-next-the-sea we stopped at the Burnham Overy Staithe windmill, we came across Staithe and Wherry a lot as words in Norfolk, a wherry I knew as an old-style boat but staithe I had to look up, "a landing stage for loading or unloading cargo boats", there you go although as the windmill was now inland, I wasn't sure how it applied. After the windmill we went onto the campsite, checked in and set up on pitch 18, good facilities, not so great pitches, and at £44 a night the most we have ever paid in the UK, I have to say not worth it. Mobile vans doing fish and chips, Thai, Indian, Pizza etc. visited the field day by day but we had enough in the fridge already so ate in. The next day after showers we walked to the beach and had a really good walk along, a massive expanse of sand stretching miles. All owned by the Holkham Estate. The beach huts are possible the best I've seen on any beach even beating Southwold. After the beach we took the tow path back along past the RNLI (contributing, they do a great job and in my humble opinion should be centrally funded) and along the harbour back into the town, a lovely stroll in beautiful sunshine, great views, bird life and benches should you wish to sit a while and take it all in. In town we had a coffee and lemon drizzle cake. A long stroll up the main street to the end, uphill, looking in the very interesting array of fisherman and other types of shop, of course being forced into having a local made ice-cream on route. Unheard of normally in October. we then came back downhill via one of the many little jitties, adorned with flint fisherman's cottages, just lovely. By the time we had walked back to the site we had walked just over 5 miles, exhausted we revived in the van with, you guessed it cake and assam tea whilst listening to a few more chapters of the Thursday Murder Club, we slept well that night. See the Spoonbill Drift Touring Park details HERE The slideshow is 5 minutes long Return to MENU 3 DAYS AT WEST RUNTON, NEAR CROMER Covers 9th, 10th and 11th October. Sunday morning breakfasted we "broke camp" and having realised we couldn't make the departure time for the Wells & Walsingham steam train from the Wells station, Keef rang to see if we could do a return journey from the other end of the line at Walsingham, the lady said yes, so we got our skates on and travelling through some lovely Norfolk villages parked up at the village car park (pay and display) beyond the Farm shop and literally legged it to the station with a few minutes to spare. A very nice 30 minutes each way through rural Norfolk on this narrow-gauge railway, I heard a guy say he was taking lots of pix to feed his son's obsession with train porn #haha the journey was great fun, and we avoided the Essex Hen do that had decided this was their day out, little did they realise it was quite a hike at the Wells end to the nearest pub #haha again After the train we had a look in the Saint Seraphim Trusts reused post Beecham station now a shrine with tranquil and well-maintained gardens at the back along the old platform. A true trainspotter delights. The garden shed had lots of memorabilia about the villages old station and line, such a shame, will they ever be resurrected Mr. Shapps, Grrr, another broken promise #sorrypolitics After this we moved the van down into Walsingham and had a good walk around, quite a historic village, very catholic ended up on our circular walk at the farm shop, much more expensive than the one at Norfolk Lavender so we gave it a miss in the purchase stakes. From Walsingham we travelled on through many lovely villages especially the wonderfully named Little and Great Snoring. Annie my lips are sealed! We arrived at the West Runton Incleboro Fields caravan and motorhome club site at about 5 p.m. Lovely staff so helpful and friendly, got settled in for the night and planned tomorrow's excursion. For site details click HERE. We were on Pitch 16. Monday, we visited the National Trust's Blickling Hall, not surprisingly at Blicking. Full of history it was where Anne Boleyn was born, not a lot of people know that, as Michael Caine once uttered in his best Cockney. A fascinating place with many clocks, grapevines, vistas and a whole lot more topped off for Annie with the Norfolk Craft market in one of the upper floors, we had great fun and learning all day and the guides were very knowledgeable. See the slideshow to get a much better idea. We met an older couple who had the same van as us so traded notes. We had lunch in the van then started slowly making our way back to the campsite. We stopped at what we thought was an open craft center on the way back at Abby, only it was closed apart from (his words) the mad metal man with anvil but no forge, making / welding a giant Giraffe for a commission, he was a lovely bloke who let us watch, ask questions etc. The lady who had asked him to make this said it would enable her to think she was on the safari she had never done every time she looked out of the window. She must have had a huge garden. I joked we could get him to do a mouse for ours. abby craft After taking to him for a bit and asking all manner of ill-informed questions #teehee we returned to base via Cromer where we parked up on the sea front, fairly empty as late in the day, we walked through the many landscaped sunken gardens along towards the RNLI station and pier, stopping by the west cliffs for some fab views. Something that saddened us was the passing of the Cromer bagots which you could see the remains of on the cliff edges, traditional goats that had long since perished. Apparently, they will make a return in summer. That is such good news. west cliff garden views cromer Happy and filled with new knowledge we settled back in for tea on pitch 15. The site goes across a golf course on entry, FOUR! On the Tuesday we walked past the West Runton common and railway station to the bus stop to catch the bus into Sheringham, where we had an extensive walk through the main street, shop hopping, especially drawn to the Norfolk ales shop and the hippy shop down to the coast and along the promenade quite a way past beach huts and sandpipers as far as the east end and back via the murals showing crabs, lifeboat history and town criers. Almost back to the bus stop Keef had a look at the North Norfolk tourist steam train before we caught the bus back chatting whilst awaiting its arrival with a couple from Ely Cambridgeshire who owned a static caravan at West Runton, fun times. If you want to see site details, click HERE. The slideshow is almost 12 minutes long You probably all know of my huge interest in Horology and Blickling Hall National Trust house enabled me to further indulge my passion in all thing's clocks, here are just some of the many English, French and American ones I found at the house. Just wonderful Return to MENU 3 DAYS ON THE GREAT YARMOUTH RACETRACK, LISTED AS CRAISTER Covers 12th, 13th and 14th October. Wednesday, we packed up and headed off towards Horning ready for our paddlesteamer ride which I had prebooked (essential) online. As we left the site across the golf course, we stopped opposite West Runton common as we saw a muntjac deer chomping away. He didn't seem concerned at our presence and indeed allowed me to both photograph and film him. We parked up in the sailing club paid car park and were surprised to find first a silver shadow roller parked in the car park behind us, then a successive series of old English cars dating back to the early 1900's all being Alvis's and it was a club who were on tour and going to join our 1 p.m. 90-minute round trip on the Southern Comfort Mississippi river boat cruise. We started talking to one of the club members who was very pleasant and most informative, what nice cars and all in such pristine condition. Alvis in tip top condition well looked after After a brief chat and viewing we went off for a walk around the village of Horning, an incredibly quaint place with thatched roof pubs, expensive properties on the water's edge with space to park your boat. On the way back to the paddle steamer, we had to arrive 15 mins early for boarding we noticed a set of early Dickens books in the Post Office window. We bought then and quickly rushed them back to the van, heavy they most definitely were. We then joined the queue for our cruise it was packed but we managed to get a prime seat outside up top enabling fab views and easy listening to the captains great and humorous commentary throughout our journey. We turned at Ramsbottom Broad in the Broads national park which we had entered from the river Bure which was mostly what we travelled on. Past various luxury abodes, the ferry inn, the marina with its Spoonbill metal statue, even the ranger who patrols the broads, the vicar's rectory off church road, returning the way we went, a little blowy but nothing a hat and gloves couldn't sort out. As we came back to land 3 older guys were racing model yachts in the harbour, much like the real thing, magical. We thanked the captain for a fun afternoon and returned to the van to warm ourselves up with hot soup and bread and yes you guessed it, cake! the southern comfort, Mississippi river boat cruise. We then carried onto Gorleston St Andrews church across the huge new Great Yarmouth harbour bridge in search of Annie's rellie Spencer Smythe who was Great Yarmouth harbour master for many a year. Sadly, no luck despite looking at every row of gravestones. We then came back over the bridge to our next campsite, called Craister but actually in the middle of the Great Yarmouth racecourse. Thursday morning, up early, breakfasted and walked out across the Melling Road (sorry not sure what the crossing across the racetrack at Caister is called) to the bus stop and caught the no 8 local bus into Great Yarmouth bus station. From here we caught the express bus, either X1 or X11 can't remember which into Norwich bus station a very fast ride, normally costs £7.50 free to us pensioners #tick Walked around various older areas of Norwich, Timber Hill, Castle gardens and old Market area. To be honest much of the older areas like Castle Fee etc. have been redeveloped so overall we were quite disappointed in Norwich and the 60s planning department should be shot, the best building by far is the original Norwich Union headquarters (now Aviva) so in the end we decided to cut our loses, had a lovely 2 course lunch in Bella Italia, did a quick bit of shopping in the Tesco's express and hot footed it out of there back on the bus to Great Yarmouth and then back to the campsite. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. Friday, we caught the bus no 8 the other way as far as it went which was to Marram Drive, this was after an aborted attempt to walk out of the site to the left and down to the coast there, fairly quickly we realised that was impossible as it was open scrub land and miles to walk so the bus was a far better option to see the beach at Caister on Sea. Marram drive was quite close, we had a nice long walk as far as we could go on the promenade towards Caister town, Keef getting onto the beach shore and sand under foot. Once we could go no further, we turned back and walked through the Caister Haven holiday camp, more or less empty, used the cash machine, observed what it had tom offer, it claimed to be Britain's 1st ever holiday park, not sure if that is true. Walked all the way through and out onto the main road to look for the first bus stop and caught it all the way back to the campsite. Caister is nice and interesting. Still bits we couldn't see so will bring the van back tomorrow. It you wish to see the site details plus some stuff on Norfolk bus routes click HERE. The slideshow is 7 minutes long Return to MENU 2 DAYS BACK AT WHITE HOUSE BEACH, KESSINGLAND, SEE BLOG 184 FOR EARLIER VISIT Covers nights of 15th and 16th October, we travelled home after 13 lovely days in the sun on the 17th of October. So, Saturday 15th we packed up the van and went and did a bit of shopping in the Tesco's on the outskirts of Caister we had spied on the way in by bus yesterday. After that we drove along the narrow road called appropriately Beach Road but found height barrier bars at the car park in front of the RNLI preventing the van from going in, turned around and went up and parked on the side of the road a bit further up and walked back. A lovely beach area with nice views, interesting fisherman's cottages and outhouses to store nets etc. in, mostly Victorian at a guess. Loved the Lions Head gates leading to the sands. caister on sea norfolk beach views After Caister we drove to the Southtown area of Great Yarmouth to St Mary's church to try and find Annie's relatives gravestone, sadly the church has none, but I have the vicar's number to follow up, Spencer Smythe was a "big fish" in this fishing community for many a year as harbour master so hopefully we will get somewhere with this genealogical jigsaw puzzle. After Great Yarmouth we went to the embankment at Gorleston looking back on the harbour master's house. A nice area with steep cliffs, great views and sunny skies and seas, indeed the cloud formation was quite weird and pronounced as we sat there. amazing skies over gorleston on sea After Gorleston we carried along the coast towards Suffolk visiting Hopton on Sea and Potters Leisure resort which we had been to with my parents and sister and family in 1998 & 1999. Then onto Corton beach another family favourite from years gone by. Until we finally returned to White House breach caravan and motorhome site at Kessingland, pitch 92 this time. Checked in, set up, got ready to walk up to the fish and chip restaurant for tea. Very nice meal with a shared chocolate fudge cake and ice cream for pub. The first course being way too filling. #wimps We walked back past the lovely Waterfront where we will eat tomorrow all lit up and busy at night. the wonderful Waterfront restaurant at night, kessingland Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, Annie's knee was giving her some pain, so Keef went beach combing and picture taking over to the beach, got some nice driftwood and stones. Lunch time we went to the fab waterfront restaurant, so love this establishment, it's what drew us back to Kessingland after last time. Afternoon spent sunbathing and reading outside gearing up for the long 5-hour trip back home. Monday, we packed up earlyish, got some diesel on route and visited Nelson's birthplace at Burnham Thorpe, see HERE for details. After that we called back into our famed ASDA outside King's Lynn and then wended our way home, a fab holiday, loved every minute and feel like we know the East Anglian coastline quite well now. It you want to see the site plan click HERE. The slideshow is 5 minutes long Return to MENU GALLERY See below for the Highlight images split in 3, firstly us and then the landscapes then finally the cakes (oops) Here is a gallery of assorted pix of us. Plus, Keef at King's Lynn Customs house on the quayside, just love my birthday tee from dear pals Chris & Allyson "iRetired, there's a nap for that" in case you can't read it #friends See our fun motorhome travelling with them back in 2017 Here is a gallery of what I would deem the highlights or maybe just best pictures from throughout the trip, clearly the whole set of our images are included within the individual sections of the trip based around which campsites we stayed at. It lasts about 7minutes and is accompanied by Kate Bush music #strangerthings Here is the gallery of some if not all the cakes we managed to consume during our calorie ladened adventures, our excuse, apart from "we are on holiday" is that as we are now deep into autumn and need to generate body heat during the energy crisis, OK as it was totally sunny during our explorations of darkest Norfolk & Suffolk that "business case" probably doesn't hold water, tee hee #cake So, the cakes we ate were in no particular order, Annie's homemade Mary Berry Lemon Drizzle tray bake, Eccles cakes, millionaire slices, terry's chocolate orange cheesecake, warmed chocolate fudge cake with chocolate sauce, chocolate eclairs, more chocolate cake oh and a few ice creams but they don't count as cake. I've probably missed some but that is most definitely guilty as charged. So now it's back to Cals and carbs in a big way #boo PS it's not cake but I can't sing the praises of Jigfoot, a Norfolk golden ale enough, just loved it, had it first in the Warehouse on quayside in King's Lynn, a 14th century conversion with museum of old King's Lynn buildings and trades, I then bought various bottles and even bought some home #yummy Also, Adnam's ghostship from Suffolk is not bad, had this in Kessingland but have had it often in Southwold before and at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton on Sea which we did revisit for nostalgic reasons, we went as an extended family with Mum & Dad in both 1998 and 1999. #family Return to MENU TALKIES This is the total set of talkies videos combined using MS Photos app taken from my phone and Annie's, it last about 20 minutes but there are train rides, beach walks, and much much more, give it a view. love #craister Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTS / LOWLIGHTS In no particular order the HIGHLIGHTS would be, sunshine, Wendy House running smooth, a variety of cakes, Blickling Hall NT house and its Norfolk Craft fair, very interesting, the Wells and Walsingham miniature steam railway, 30 minutes each way, we went from the Walsingham end, it's a bit far away from Wells so drove, the garden of peace located on the pre-Beecham railway station, Walsingham Catholic village, a tribute to Charles 1st the Martyr as they named him, Wells beach huts, realising (finally) that my 12V light system in the van only works off the hab. (habitation) battery (silly me!), Bella Italia in Norwich, Timber hill in Norwich, Using our bus passes, proximity to M&CC sites to the bus stops at nearly every site, good stuff , Norfolk Lavender farm shop, listening to the Thursday Murder Club audiobook, Reading Jo Nesbo's latest - The Jealousy Man set of short stories, twists galore, v clever, Annie mastering pix on her phone, Horning and the whole paddle steamer experience (the Southern Comfort) on the Norfolk Broads, the commentary was fun sometimes hilarious, plus getting the complete set of 1930s Dickens books from the local post office there, plus and Horning was the village that kept on giving meeting and seeing the old Alvis car club, just so lucky, Gorleston on Sea coast line, Turner's Walton Bridge (pre impressionism, more Constable) wholly owned by Norfolk and currently on show in the King's Lynn Museum, just wonderful alongside a special Turner exhibition, I spent a while there, the lovely little sandpipers at Sheringham, Steeleye Span (with Maddy Prior) playing in King's Lynn, sadly not when we were there else would definitely have gone, John Sell Cottman, a Norfolk artist from the JMW Turner school, and trained by him during Turner's stays in Norfolk, Marriott's warehouse Kings Lynn, Fish & Chip suppers at both Sandringham and Kessingland, munch jack on west runton common near the golf course entry to the site at Incleboro Fields. Now also in no particular order the LOWLIGHTS would be, Pinewood independent site at Wells, whilst the facilities and location were excellent at £44 a night the pitches were not good, too many sites with grass only pitches when I believed I had booked hard standing, the mentality of some Brits, whilst Wells beach clearly delimited areas with big signs saying NO DOGs people took no notice, clicking relay on switch board in van (gotta get it fixed), Hunstanton, Lowestoft, most of Great Yarmouth, Norwich (medieval my whatsit!) , Norfolk Lavender not having any Lavendar for sale, Boo! The Club site new app not working properly re "take deposit, take balance automatically night before"... in fairness to the great Warden at Incleboro Fields site he reported the problem and rang ahead on our behalf and its will i'm sure get sorted (I ....probably in a minority here....like the new Club site app, teething problems I accept from poor testing, but it will all get sorted) #mytuppenceworth Not being able to find the gravestone of Annie's rellie Spencer Smythe who was harbour master at Great Yarmouth for ages even though we looked in 2 churches at St Andrews, Gorleston and St Mary's Southtown, realising that my phone photos only works with my finger as security, when Annie uses it they always turn into videos, she now uses her own phone for images #goodnews Too many yappy little dogs that sadly started their barking v early in the morning, we like to sleep in when camping, Holkham Hall estate near Wells was far too expensive for House & Gardens else we would have visited, Lowestoft quay side area, old people at the back of the express bus into Norwich taking up 2 seats each or putting shopping bags on the seats preventing people from getting on saying it was full and therefore having to wait for the next bus, appalling behaviour . Return to MENU MAPS NORFOLK & SUFFOLK Return to MENU CAMPSITE DETAILS Here are the images of pitches we stayed at on each campsite, they will be followed by the site plans Sandringham, Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Here are some details we picked up at the Sandringham estate, quite empty really but I guess understandable for Autumn although the weather belied the season Wells-Next-The-Sea, Pinewoods estate This is all private with static caravans and part of the wider Holkham estate, they seem to own the beach as well. We didn't visit as House & Gardens cost £34 p.p. and we didn't expect to be there that long. West Runton, Cromer, Incleboro Fields Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Here are some details we picked up at the West Runton site, quite empty really but I guess understandable for Autumn although the weather belied the season, but also the wardens had closed off much of the site as limited visitor numbers. Great Yarmouth Racecourse / Caister Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Here are a few details including the Norfolk Buses route map and suggestions, we used buses heavily from the site as you can go a long way on an oldie's free bus pass especially with stops really close by just outside the site entrance, ideal for the "hard of walking" like us #smile White House Beach Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, Kessingland Here is a pitch map, our second visit in a month, see BLOG 184 We were on Pitch 92 this time and just around the corner Pitch 93 last time, very handy for sunshine, hence our sitting out on chairs on Sunday afternoon after a big Sunday lunch. Site really attractive for 1) nice warden who know our pals Lawrence & Yvonne (at the Bolton Abbey site in Yorkshire) and they come from Stapleford / Breaston / Long Eaton (indeed the wardens at Great Yarmouth also know L&Y) 2) Waterfront Restaurant and Fish & Chip restaurant and Old Sailors pub (great Gone Fishing local ale) #recommendation Pitch 92 this time, Pitch 93 last time we visited, see Blog 184 Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK AND DICKENS I was lucky enough to buy this set of 1930s Dickens books whilst on our travels from the post office in Horning, many thanks to the older gentlemen who was happy to sell them to us. Just wonderful, clearly, they are not currently in publication order but paying homage to my inherent OCD #nerd I will set them straight what the Dickens Here is the chronological order they were written in, I have read quite a few but will definitely read those I haven't as yet Return to MENU THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Created by KeefH Web Designs, November 3rd, 2022, 14.19 PM OVERVIEW - Leisure Vehicle Electrical Trader Highly Recommended We have had a ticking noise issue behind what we thought was the control panel in our van for about 6 months now, and no it wasn't the usual dial on the fire not being set back to zero on the gas half, i.e., it is trying the pilot light ignition. We got to the point whereas the level of noise grew we turned off the habitation switch which charges the 12V battery when you are hooked up to electrics at a site, which on one dark long night recently was not clever as all the internal lights went off. So, I researched Google as you do looking for a specialist in electrics for recreational and / or leisure vehicles and I'm so pleased to say I found Gary. What a lovely fellow with 47 years' experience in the field and just so knowledgeable. We had to drive to his house in Lichfield but so glad we did. He was initially perplexed by the ticking noise but eventually traced it to a hidden transformer gadget (don't ask me I'm no expert) whose fan was partially stuck and as it tried to rotate made what sounded like a clock ticking #hintsandtips #horology So well done, he is going to order a new one for us as it was unrepairable and fit it for us, we will return to Lichfield which as a byproduct of this we managed to call in on, never having been before, fab city. He is always busy so I wouldn't want this post to swamp him with work, but if you need an expert Gary, is your man. Can't recommend him enough to my motorhome-travels fraternity. Great Leisure Vehicle Electrical Trader Highly Recommended UPDATE 24/11/2022 Gary now had the part, a replacement 10-amp charger for the habitation (hab) battery, which has no fan and because we have many of the internal lights replaced with LED ones (easy to do folks honest, if I can do it anyone can) the drain on the internal battery is not so much. We drove to Lichfield once again (a lovely city and home of the other Darwin, Erasmus) taking a somewhat torturous route, note to self don't let satnavs take you down long winding single-track roads of in the middle of nowhere #haha where we met again Gary and his very kind wife who was lovely chatty and offered us a drink. Anyhow Gary replaced the offending 18-amp part, and all is now quiet and correctly charging the habitation battery. Whilst in the process of checking all the chargeable mains connections Gary discovered some reverse polarity #overmyhead where someone (to be identified) had put the live in the neutral and the neutral in the live, presumably by mistake, as some stage in the main switch board. #notgood #dangerous #scary Gary sorted this and retested everything. Now all good. We asked what the effects of that would be, if you were touching the metal of the van outside and put your hand on the ground whilst mains were plugged in you could get a nasty electrical shock. Horrible and something we had no idea about. We all reflected on why anyone would do such a thing and concluded it can't have been wrong from when the van was built by autosleeper in the Cotswolds as they know what they are doing. The only thing we know about in our tenure of the van, now 10 years plus, was Don Amott's whom we don't trust having used them for many years as it is where we bought the van put in a new fire as a condition of our purchase, the old one did not work. Gary said the connecting wires were short so maybe, just maybe they did this to make it fit, but realistically who knows. I have to say we had so many issues with their service over the years we would NEVER use them again #hintsandtips So pleased Gary fixed this for us, now no noise whatsoever and the battery we know charges properly, we could not recommend him highly enough a very helpful chap and just so knowledgeable, we would always use Gary for electrical and probably gas work on the van, just hope now nothing goes wrong again for a while. Got the van home, getting ready for winterisation we washed it with the soapy high pressure jet spray, chammied it down to remove the last residues of summer dirt and left it to dry before putting on the breathable cover for winter resting. Happy bunnies now with Wendy houses repair work. Highly Recommended