September 2024
Well that was Summer – where has the year gone? Last week it was balmy evenings, sitting out on the veranda with a glass of something and this week it’s jeans and jumpers and Larry itching to light the wood burner! This is when campfires really come into their own…
Thanks to the wet miserable weather our season started very quietly and didn’t really get going until late July. However in August we were blessed with a warm dry month, so our campers unpacked the tents from their Winter storage and made the most of the sunshine. It’s been lovely to see old friends and catch up on their news, as well as meeting such a great bunch of new campers who will hopefully return to us in the future. I’ve said before that we only have nice people here and every year you prove me right!
And such lovely reviews we’ve received, it really is heartwarming. I must admit I buy quite a lot of everyday things online these days, with the delivery followed by the obligatory review request asking me to ‘share my thoughts’ about a recent purchase. What did I think about the rubber door stop? – well it was rubber and it kept the door open – what’s to say?! So because I get fed up with so many of these requests I am loathe to ask for reviews for the campsite. However they are so helpful and we really value the fact that our guests take the time to report on the site. We are truly grateful to all of you who write a review, they are very important to us and we do note and act upon any comments that are made about changes or improvements that might be mentioned.
We are now starting to make a list of jobs and maintenance needed for the Winter months. Top of the list is to make the cabin courtyards safe for those canine Houdinis … well as far as possible. The odd wee one may still slip through but we’ll do our best to make sure the fences and boundaries are improved so you‘ll know your dog is safe and not going to squeeze through that gap to go exploring! That means Hawthorn is going to get a fence and a courtyard too
We’ve had lots of great reports about the wildlife our guests have seen this year. The one I particularly liked was from the hammock camper who discovered he’d chosen a tree where two tawny owlets were branching. They kept him awake most of the night protesting that they were absolutely starving and needed a little something right now!
We were a bit upset at not having seen the kingfisher for quite a while – but he’s back! Probably an otter eating most of the fish in the pond had an effect, but the few that were left have multiplied again so it’s worth kingfisher returning. Just a flash of brilliant blue and orange can really lift the spirits. Just this morning I noticed a few scrapes in the wood so the badgers – who mostly keep away when there are people around – are obviously scouting out the area again.
You may have seen on our Facebook page that we were rearing ten ducklings. They have been so entertaining to watch – they’re such busybodies! They are now fairly well grown up so we will soon be introducing them to their new home on the campsite pond, with fingers firmly crossed that they decide to stay there and make it their permanent home.
We are waiting just a few more days till the pond resident baby moorhens are a bit bigger. Mother Moorhen is very protective of her chicks and can be quite aggressive, so we don’t want our little duck family to be chased away as soon as they move in!
If you have stayed with us here on the campsite you will probably be aware that Larry is a collector of Things … adding to the wrecking ball, the French wine barrel, the elephants of course and the glass marbles that were destined to make fighter jet wings, he now has two large old iron company signs. He’s had them sandblasted so they’re now nicely rusted … and will be erecting them somewhere yet to be decided, but no doubt you’ll come across them if you visit us again. It’s fortunate that we have the campsite to site them on – I think he’s making quite sure that we can never move!
I can’t decide whether I really like Autumn, but we can have some beautiful days, so I’ll make the most of them when they occur. I read a book recently which talked about Autumn being the start of rest and relaxation time for trees. That’s pretty much what we try and provide for you on the campsite, so it’s a nice thought that the trees can now do the same isn’t it?!
We are open until the end of October so perhaps we will see you again this year. A quick reminder that we have availability calendars on the website so you can choose your dates then send us an online Booking Enquiry. If we don’t see you again this year, thank you to all of you who have come to relax with us and I hope you will come back and do it all over again next year
Jen