As Lizzie II needed to go for some warranty work, we took the opportunity to turn it into a short trip away. Firstly, whilst waiting, we explored the county town of Somerset, Taunton. There are some lovely old buildings here, a beautiful Minster, with angels in the ceiling
and a castle housing the interesting museum of Somerset (complete with a Dr Who exhibition!).
With repairs complete, we headed off to Dawlish (would have been Dartmouth, but the site was full) for 3 nights. Our first day was glorious, and we did the circular 10 mile walk from site to Dawlish Warren
and along the sea wall to Dawlish, home of the black Swan,
and back to site. Sadly, the 2nd day was not so friendly weatherwise – in fact, it chucked it down! We attempted a bus trip to Teignmouth, but we didn’t stay long as it was miserable.
Next, we packed up and headed to Bridport under grey skies. We arrived in time for the Hat Festival! It’s a festival of hats and raises money for head-related charities – all you need is – a hat! There were some stunning hats (sadly no photos), some great music and the sun shone for the morning at least – then it chucked it down again for our walk back to site – we were quickly learning how to dry out in our van!! We even met a Travelling Troubadour at our site – Tony, who is cycling and busking his way around Britain!
Our final site was in a vineyard in the New Forest! Lovely site within walking distance of Brockenhurst.
This trip, we learnt about Brusher Mills – a snake catcher. His tombstone is at St Nicholas Church and he has a pub named after him – he supposedly caught around 40,000 snakes in the New Forest in his time to send to London for medical research or to feed the animals at Regent Zoo! We enjoyed a wonderful walk through the forest
finishing with a delicious lunch in The Filly Inn and a pint in the Pig Beer Brewery.
We had a lovely few days away, despite the weather.
Sites used
Lockwood House, Dawlish CL
Greenacres CL, Bridport
Setley Ridge Vineyard, Brockenhurst. CLsite