Glamping

The girls and I have been having camping fun at the farm.

I'm not a natural camper, although I do enjoy the experience very much, but a large part of that is down to our lovely camping equipment. We have a 4m bell tent..

.. and I recently bought a Frontier Stove, which led to a very tense moment when a hole had to be cut in the tent for the flue!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was worth it though! The stove kept us warm long into the night, and was great for cooking on (and roasting marshmallows!), although due to beginner's user error and too-big logs, it also failed to stay alight for as long as I'd hoped, and we all came home stinking of wood smoke!

We roasted marshmallows on the first night, but then discovered that melty marshmallows and a long haired child with a baby wipe allergy DO NOT MIX. Whoops.












The campsite was based at Cotswold Farm Park, and it was fantastic. It was busier than I'd expected, considering the cold night time temperatures, but not at all crowded - the only noise at night was the sound of bleating lambs rather than other humans. The toilet blocks was sparkly new and everything seemed well thought out. And best of all, it's literally a 2 minute walk from the entrance to the farm park! The girls had an absolute blast.

They bounced on the bouncy pillow, cuddled baby chicks and ducklings, held rabbits and guinea pigs, bottle fed lambs, hand fed goats, played on the masses of play equipment, completed a wooden maze and won a little prize each, explored the woodland adventure area, rode on ride-on tractors, went on the tractor trailer ride around the park, saw some lambs being born, and lots more besides.

It was dry, other than a couple of well timed hailstorms on the first day (we stayed dry), and although it was chilly at times, it was bearable. Millie, who told me she didn't want to go camping at all, had such a great time that she didn't want to leave!

We'll definitely be regular visitors, I think. I'd been a bit concerned that the farm park might not offer enough entertainment, but it was great and I think the girls could have spent entire days on the bouncy pillow.

The Adam Henson branding was quite amusing, as until I watched Countryfile with my parents last week I had no idea who he was! There is Adam Henson branded everything, from sausages and Rare Breed bitter to pet bedding and souveniers. Good on him :)

I completely fell in love with the Lavender Pekin Bantams. They were *stunning*. Like little pompoms on feathered legs. They even have a slight purpley tinge to their pale feathers. I've looked into getting some but, although I could squeeze some into my Eglu, the other girls would almost certainly bully the minature newcomers and it may well end very badly. There's an option of starting a second flock (I would LOVE to and could probably find the space, but the cost is a different matter!). OR, I could focus my energies on finding some pastel coloured egg laying large fowl to keep Ginny, Hermione and Bellatrix company. I'd love to be greeted by a rainbow of eggs. Not that I'm managing to keep up with the 3-a-day that the Omlet girls seem to be producing, mind you! But that's not the point is it? :)


I love camping and can't wait to go again. I think our next trip might be to Camp Bestival, due to pesky things like school and work (oh, and a PROPER HOLIDAY with A PLANE) taking up our time between now and then!