...........continued from last Wednesday.
In 2004, while bridge inspecting in South Suffolk, Colin happened to go past a village garage and saw this small campervan out for sale, we went to have a look and decided to buy it. It had been partially professionally converted but then kitted out to use by the garage owners son to take a motorbike to trials around the country and was a bit basic. There was a built in loo plus a fridge running from a separate battery and a LPG hob as you would find in most campervans, a bed that fitted together from cushions but no electric hook up point and no lighting except what you would find in any van but at least we could stay dry in bad weather .
We had some good holidays and this is the van, which Colin named "Selina", at Dunster beach in Somerset. (I've never named a car in my life!)
It got harder to get away as the smallholding and campsite got busier and Aunt, Uncle and My Dad (mum died in 1999) got too old to stay and the Eldest two children were away at Uni. or had moved away. We always went out of season and with no heating in the van it was sometimes freezing!
Around 2007 we wanted to go round Scotland after our campsite closed in late September and sold this small van to buy a small proper motor home which had electric hook up and heating and even a shower and kept it for a few years. We had a fantastic holiday all around the Scottish coast but no photos, I didn't have a camera for several years.
Now comes a strange time between 2007 and 2013 when we used the small motor-home, part exchanged it for a bigger caravan for a reason I can't remember and hated the size of it and sold it and all this time I took no photos at all. I don't know where we went although I do know we had a few days on the Ashby canal in a small narrowboat. No locks and a there-and-back trip which was not very interesting .
Then some years when the campsite and smallholding were just too busy and we had no holidays at all .
I found this on the old blog
Friday, 27 March 2015
We have just got back from a holiday, the first for nearly 3 years. We spent a week in a cottage overlooking the West Somerset Preserved Railway line, the harbour and town of Watchet in Somerset and very nice it was too.
After that good holiday we decided to slow down the smallholding to have more holidays and we bought a cheap caravan off ebay, traveling up through the Fens to collect it. I think we had just one short break in it before Colin's blood cancer problems started.
In July 2016, when his tablets were working well we had a few days at Builth Wells in Wales - not with the caravan - just in case he became poorly again so we rented a holiday cottage.
That was our very last holiday together.
In May 2019 I went with Son, DiL and youngest granddaughter for a few days in a town house in Lincoln.
And that was my last holiday anywhere.
Thanks for comments yesterday - interesting thoughts from everyone.
Lovely to read your journey through so many leisure vehicles.
ReplyDeleteSomehow we managed to always have a holiday - never spent much while away though
DeleteWhat lovely memories, Sue. That is one of the things I love about your blog - it upbeat, or if upbeat isn’t possible, it is practical. One of the wisest people I met told me life isn’t fair the sooner one gets used to that the better. She went on to say you are dealt a hand of cards in life and your job is to play them as best you can.
ReplyDeleteI was waiting until the end of Capture so it could be watched at once. My viewing habits have changed in that I seldom watch live TV, preferring to watch a series at once as opposed to waiting until a week for the next episode.
Thank you for that lovely comment. I try not to moan or be depressing, there's enough of that elsewhere!
DeleteDunster beach and Watchet are two of our favourite places to go. We loved our touring vans (we had 4 altogether, the first of which was very old and basic, the last was new), until husband decided it was too much like hard work towing and then setting up the van and awning. I wouldn't want to do it now, especially not with a dog.
ReplyDeleteWe always went to Dunster beach when down that way and watched the tides come in from miles away!
DeleteLovely memories. Now we have phones which take pictures, we easily forget the old days when cameras (and the cost of developing the film) meant that we had far fewer pictures of our activities.
ReplyDeleteWhich is somehow relevant to "Capture" - nowadays we also forget how easily images can be manipulated, and are utterly believable. Throughout lockdown, Bob and I broadcast a Sunday service on YouTube each week - from a cosy little pub with a roaring fire in the hearth. Occasionally we would show our congregation that it was actually our untidy study at home, and everything they saw was false, just projected onto the Green Screen. I thought Capture was a very clever drama. But I don't want to get to the point of trusting nobody, and never believing anything!
Capture was a very clever plot - and worrying. Wonder if there is a 3rd series or if she is making more of the Strike series
DeleteWe've been watching Capture although the final episode last night has been recorded to watch tonight. Its terrifyingly real!
ReplyDeleteWe thoroughly enjoyed our holidays in our motor home which we called Douglas and then our caravan Rosie. G can't tow now due to his neck problem and I've really missed the freedom of tootling off at a moments notice. I really can't see us having a holiday at any point in the future now though. You have some very happy memories there
Lots of happy memories - wish I had photos from the "missing" years!
DeleteThe last 10 minutes of Capture were worth sitting through the whole thing!
ReplyDeleteVery clever story. Hope there is more and also hope Holly Grainger is making another Strike series
DeleteWhat an interesting post Sue. I remember meeting Col when he was just beginning to be ill but when you still lived on the smallholding. We were on holiday in Aldebrough. I'm glad you enjoyed your few days in Lincoln - the city of my birth.
ReplyDeleteWhen we met you we had no idea of how lives would change in the next few years. Everything is so different now
DeleteI didn't know you'd stayed in the Builth area. If there are any photos you want taken to remind you of your holiday, happy to oblige!
ReplyDeleteI always wanted a camper van, but we never had the money. Now we could scrape together enough to get a definitely 2nd hand one, Keith's health issues have intervened.
We've had lots of holidays around Builth over the years. I think we only had a few days the last time- it was in a brand new holiday let on a farm just out of Builth - somewhere near the railway station I think. Can't remember what we did while there at all.
DeleteSome lovely memories there Sue. I have gaps in photos too unfortunately, it used to just cost so much for film for the camera and developing the photos afterwards, so sadly only memories live on of so many family holidays.
ReplyDeleteI was recording Capture and then missed an episode so I deleted them all, hopefully I will be able to find it on one of the online channels and have a binge watch. I find it hard to wait a week between programmes now ... Shetland is killing me!!
I only came across Capture recently and watched the whole first series first on iplayer, then caught up with the second series. A very clever storyline.
DeleteNow I'm going through a series on the 5 catch up called Suspects. Plus watching old NCIS dating back years - avoiding all the news coverage! I am doing some house and garden work too!
Your holidays sound like lots of fun and restorative as well. Getting away and enjoying the sights and sounds of the countryside and/or bodies of water is so enjoyable. I've always felt, it is these holidays that prepare us for everyday life and responsibilities at home. Selina was a great find and she served you well. Lovely memories.
ReplyDeleteWe loved going away but always came back to the smallholding with ideas and renewed enthusiasm
DeleteI enjoy remembering holidays hubby and I took together, so I'm glad you were able to have holidays together too. Life is so short, and we need good memories to help us through darker times. I miss those happy holiday times.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed yourself as much as you could. I vacationed in such a van in the eighties and nineties. Good times.
ReplyDelete