Trip to England (1 Viewer)

Onderweg

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Hi all,
We have never been to England and in the chat they convinced Ineke and me that we certainly must give it a try :whatthe:

Never been there so we are hungry for information, especially for camper places so we can easily pick a good place to spend the night :Blush:

We do not have many points of interest for camper places, nor camping sites.
Maybe you can help us to obtain them.

We are planning to leave around Sept 5th and return Sept 17th. We will book the ferry Dunkerque-Dover and back from Norfolk line and we will be in the southern part of England.

From Dover our first stop will be Leeds castle than we will proceed to London for most likely 2 days,
than a gap to be filled in.
We will try to visit the Shepton mallet meet, Wonder how the English really look like :ROFLMAO::cry:
Next we will proceed to Devon and after that return do Dover along the southern coast.

If you can help us with poi's that would be much appreciated. Other tips are welcome too :thumb::thumb:

Maybe see you in Shepton

Paul and Ineke
 

pendy

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Leeds castle

Leeds castle is in Kent.

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lebesset

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may I suggest that you arrive in dover late in the evening ....perhaps getting a better price on the ferry crossing ! don't forget you will gain an hour during the crossing

norfolk lines ships have free wifi so don't forget to take your computer upstairs with you ....the transmitters are near the truck drivers restaurant and the fiirst class lounge


when you arrive drive straight ahead as you leave the port [ direction folkstone ] then take the second turning to the left ; you arrive on the promenade where you can spend the night with all the other motorhomes ...it is free between 6pm and 8am ....you can pay a parking fee if you wish to stay longer

one reason I suggest this is that you then start fresh in the morning when you begin driving on the left ....I always suggest that first timers tie something to the steering wheel at night as a reminder ! although it is very easy [ english people seem to be able to drive on the right!] the first roundabout will seem wrong!

enjoy your visit to england

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Next time go Rotterdam - Hull and visit the friendly north, good beer and we would show you around :thumb:

Ralph & Dot
 

Wildman

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As most of the CC's and CL's are club sites maybe members have old directories they can pass over to Paul, he has a Caravan club directory, but what about the others MCC,CCC anyone have an old or unused directory lying around?
 
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Onderweg

Onderweg

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Peter,

You have stolen Ineke's hart with the BODIAM castle

:thumb:

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JayDee

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Hi all,
We have never been to England and in the chat they convinced Ineke and me that we certainly must give it a try :whatthe:

Never been there so we are hungry for information, especially for camper places so we can easily pick a good place to spend the night :Blush:

We do not have many points of interest for camper places, nor camping sites.
Maybe you can help us to obtain them.

We are planning to leave around Sept 5th and return Sept 17th. We will book the ferry Dunkerque-Dover and back from Norfolk line and we will be in the southern part of England.

From Dover our first stop will be Leeds castle than we will proceed to London for most likely 2 days,
than a gap to be filled in.
We will try to visit the Shepton mallet meet, Wonder how the English really look like :ROFLMAO::cry:
Next we will proceed to Devon and after that return do Dover along the southern coast.

If you can help us with poi's that would be much appreciated. Other tips are welcome too :thumb::thumb:

Maybe see you in Shepton

Paul and Ineke


So much to see and so little time. Oh well, a little bit now a little bit more another time.

I you're coming down to our part of the world (Devon) then Eden Project (actually in Cornwall) is a must see, and take a look at some of Dartmoor (don't rate Princetown - it's got the prison and, if I remember, not much else), Widdicombe is very picturesque, but quite popular with tourists. Exmoor (northern Devon) is beautiful as well, suggest around Lynmouth and Countisbury. Bath (near Bristol) is worth a visit, as is Bristol, and there's Salisbury, then on the Dorset coast there's the Isle of Purbeck, but I've already suggested about a weeks worth of things to see, so I'll shut up now.
Just come and enjoy your time with us.
We're not so different ::bigsmile:

For places to stay try this link

The UK Camp Site for Tent and Caravan Campers in the UK
There are others but this has many places for camping, some good, some not so good.
Pot luck really as the reviews all seem to contradict each other :RollEyes:


John
 

6pm Cowboy

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I spent two weeks in holland with my family about thirty five years ago. I hope the English make you feel as welcome here as the Dutch made us feel there. They were fantastic, nearly every shop we went into ( small villages ) gave the children sweets and were very kind to us.
 

wkdtroll

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Paul

Forget England and come to Wales - see some REAL castles :thumb:

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hilldweller

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From Dover our first stop will be Leeds castle than we will proceed to London for most likely 2 days,
than a gap to be filled in. Paul and Ineke

Looks like you will miss the best of the UK.

Derbyshire Peak District.
Lake District.
Highlands.

Now these are the places to visit. See hills, a treat for the Dutch, must be, because many are to be found in these areas.

Abbey Wood camping is very good for London. A walk to the station and cheap all day ticket gets you all round the place.

I hope you enjoy the UK wherever you go.
 

JayDee

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Looks like you will miss the best of the UK.

Derbyshire Peak District.
Lake District.
Highlands.

Now these are the places to visit. See hills, a treat for the Dutch, must be, because many are to be found in these areas.

Abbey Wood camping is very good for London. A walk to the station and cheap all day ticket gets you all round the place.

I hope you enjoy the UK wherever you go.

Yeah. Up north's alright. Wales is pretty good too. So's Scotland, and the Lake District, and Northumberland, and...., and...., and...

Let's face it, it's all good (well perhaps with the exception of some of the inner cities and suchlike). Personally I prefer to live in the West Country and visit the rest. ::bigsmile:

John
 
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Onderweg

Onderweg

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Its great to get all these tips.

I guess everybody who tells here that the other parts of Great Brittain are great are absolutely right. But this is the first time and only for 2 weeks :shout:

It took us 20plus trips to Scandinavia to get the hang of it :ROFLMAO:

If this first trip to Great Brittain turns out great........ we will be back !!!

Paul, Ineke and Giddy

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lebesset

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oh dear , do you intend to bring a dog ?
if so , please read the rules and regulations for doing so VERY CAREFULLY
 

clwyd

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UK Camping

Campsites in the UK are generally much dearer (£8 min and usually £12 +) except for some excellent member only sites, and not (in my view) up to EU standards! (esp. cf. France, but also Holland, Denmark, Germany ?, Belgium?, Luxembourg?) We've been around all these and UK for 40+ years and recommend you join the Camping and Caravanning Club and get their site brochure (you'll need membership to use "Listed Sites", or of an EU Club??). .. but may get an old site guide from a member ..... I've just found a spare one. [much more useful than ones from shops]
I'm much less familiar with UK than Continental sites!!
email your address to dshoreman@tiscali.co.uk so that I can send it. (Unless you could meet us near Calais next Sunday/Tuesday - or so!!! - I've forgotten which day we cross!)

The Caravan Club is an alternative for a different large range of sites.

Suggest also a Camping Carnet - not usually so strict here as at some EU ones, but may avoid problems.

We're in N. Wales and you could come this way in September (We're away until 2nd from later this week so can't help as much as I'd like).

Ring: Camping Club: 02476 475442 (membership) or via: magazine@thefriendlyclub.co.uk

As for Southern Places to visit I can add hundreds! I'll try to enclose a National Trust guide - they have some excellent places in the South, esp. Uppark, Bodiam, Petworth, Polesden Lacey, Godalming to Guildford Navigation (you've probably had enough canals!!!), Stourhead house and gardens, Kingston Lacey, Mottisfont Abbey (with a superb Rex Whistler Room) as well as an old rose collection, Buckland Abbey & Saltram House in Devon, Lanhydrock and Cotehele in Cornwall, & Tyntesfield (near Bristol - must book), to mention just a few of the best.
... and Canterbury, Salisbury, Winchester, Exeter cathedrals, the South Coast west from Poole and Swanage, the New Forest at Brockenhurst and esp. Beaulieu to Buckler's Hard, and Lymington harbour (from where you can ferry to Isle of Wight either by car or for a day trip). The rail journey from Exmouth via Exeter to Teighmouth or Newton Abbott (good shopping), or Dawlish follows the superb coast almost the whole way & is a special treat - easy parking at Exmouth station, with expensive ferry back from Starcross if desired (times vital!). The day trip fare was very reasonable when we did it (less than the ferry one way...).

Dartmoor (esp. the drive across from Chagford, then Moretonhampstead to Yelverton, and/or Ashburton to Poundsgate and Two Bridges)and Exmoor for wilder terrain.
Where to stop?

I see I've repeated what a few others have said, but ...


Regards, Derek
 

peter marshall

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Hi Paul when in London try the Crystal Palace Caravan Club site number 3 bus straight in to the centre no trouble, We stopped there last month and going again next week. Enjoy the south but try the north next time. Peter:thumb:

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sedge

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And when you go up north don't forget the bit in the middle!

eg The Cotswolds, the Forest of Dean, Warwick (with castle!) Kenilworth (ditto), Stratford on Avon, Clent Hills and Kinver Edge, Coombe Abbey (Coventry - don't forget the old and new cathedrals and Lady Godiva!) before you hasten by to the Staffordshire moorlands around Leek; Ashbourne in Derbyshire and its peak District - oh I forgot Stowe, and the Black Country Museum in Dudley and the Ironbridge Gorge experience. And Ludlow and its castle and Wenlock Edge and the Severn Vally Railway and Bridgnorth and the Tram Museum at Crich and and and ..... eventually Hadrians wall. Turn back now else you'll never finish.

Not much of interest in Great Britain at all, really LOL

Oh plus almost ANY 'National Trust' property (stately homes, castles, gardens etc etc) is worth your time and the camera.

Oh and lastly no-one has mentioned to Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall!!!!!

PS Can anyone please explain exactly why it is we spend so much money on ferries escaping from it?
 
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Onderweg

Onderweg

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Hi Lebesset,

Don't worry. We are used to take our little Giddy with us all the time... where ever we go. She is Europe proof and we can take her to Scandinavia and Brittan (the most difficult places in Europe to take a dog) and all the other countries as well

But you are right to mention, have seen people around who would go on a holiday without checking !!!

So a big thanks to you !!

Paul and Ineke
 
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And when you go up north don't forget the bit in the middle!

eg The Cotswolds, the Forest of Dean, Warwick (with castle!) Kenilworth (ditto), Stratford on Avon, Clent Hills and Kinver Edge, Coombe Abbey (Coventry - don't forget the old and new cathedrals and Lady Godiva!) before you hasten by to the Staffordshire moorlands around Leek; Ashbourne in Derbyshire and its peak District - oh I forgot Stowe, and the Black Country Museum in Dudley and the Ironbridge Gorge experience. And Ludlow and its castle and Wenlock Edge and the Severn Vally Railway and Bridgnorth and the Tram Museum at Crich and and and ..... eventually Hadrians wall. Turn back now else you'll never finish.

Not much of interest in Great Britain at all, really LOL

Oh plus almost ANY 'National Trust' property (stately homes, castles, gardens etc etc) is worth your time and the camera.

Oh and lastly no-one has mentioned to Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall!!!!!

PS Can anyone please explain exactly why it is we spend so much money on ferries escaping from it?

It is a very big place for a small country. :Smile:

Why escape the place, it has rained practically none stop for three summers. :Sad:

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clwyd

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South of England Sights

I seem to be hogging this!
I’d like to endorse the suggestions from Sedge.
My latest missive is nearly an A4 page so is best sent separately/attached, but this is disallowed so I'll have to copy it here:
A few (sic?) more hints and places follow:
1. The German Bordatlas International (exc. for Germany; few elsewhere!) has 1 good value site near Devizes, just by the (Kennet) canal below the superb 30 plus flight Caen Hill locks; just walk east from site. Well sited for Stonehenge, Avebury, Salisbury, even Bath, and much else. colin@foxhangers.co.uk 0044-1380 828254.
There is a more isolated (and cheaper?) Camping Club (CC) listed site nearby at Mill Farm 2m/3km SSW of Potterne (1.5 km S of Cuckold’s Green) 01380 813138;
as well as an (excellent) full Club Site at Seend (which will cost an arm and a leg ..).
2. Eden Project and Heligan: The more reasonable - if a member - Bodmin CCsite is excellent and well-sited for these, as well as for the Wenford-Bodmin steam railway, with an excellent cycle track/walkway into Bodmin (not direct from site). Fiddly access - ask in town.
Essential: Get your Eden ticket in advance (from Tourist Office or the CC campsite) and go there in time for opening. When we went early the CPark was busy then but we were able to walk straight in past the ticket queue; when we left in the afternoon the queue of cars the other way was miles long. It may have improved - or worsened!!! Choose your day .. At Bodmin you’re also close to Tintagel, Boscastle (badly flooded a few year’s ago and wel-recovered when we visited - worth your support..) and other tiny harbours. Wild Jamaica Inn, Altarnun and Dozemary Pool on Bodmin Moor are of interest not only to Daphne du Maurier fans.
3. Walking/Cycling: The S.W Coast Path is spectacular but difficult to choose from! Easier walks are: a. Also near Bodmin the Camel trail is an old railway cycle/walkway - a lovely trip along the estuary from Wadebridge to Padstow. Easy cycle hire either end. Suggest you carry bikes. b. Much further north in Devon is the Tarka (the otter) trail from Barnstaple to Bideford beside the Taw estuary. Same re cycles.
4. S. Coast & Ferries: It’s worth using the chain car ferries at Fowey and King Harry at Trelissick; here the (NT) gardens start right by the ferry (if there’s a car queue let the family cross “on foot” & enjoy a visit there while you wait!!!). Divert to Charlestown harbour near St. Austell, and down to Veryan and the Roseland peninsula (St. Just’s church rates 3* Michelin) and St. Mawes for a passenger ferry trip to Falmouth.
5. Lizard: Mullion and Kynance coves also rate 3*, and almost any of these detours to the shore are worthwhile, and the AiroPark and Victorian village at Flambards near Culdrose air station, by Helston, look interesting.
6. The open air Minack theatre has performances overlooking the sea, and Gwennap Pit is a natural amphitheatre where John Wesley famously preached.
7. For prehistory Chysauster some 5m N of Penzance is good, as is Carn Brae Just S of Redruth, and nearby at Pool is a working Cornish beam engine and museum.
With St. Ives, St. Michael’s Mount and Cape Cornwall ...... you’ll have serious decisions to make ... how many months did you say you have?
8. I’d forgotten Devon where we used to live...: The train ride (cheap day return fare was very reasonable) from Exmouth (change Exeter) to Teignmouth or Newton Abbot (good shopping) is one of the best anywhere, following the coast nearly all the way. Leave car by/at Exmouth station.
... and/or drive as far as you can to east end of Exmouth beach (park charge) and walk (up!) as far as you like east. .. or park on hill (free) at east end of Budleigh Salterton & walk west along cliff, ...or park at hilltop CP above and west of Sidmouth & walk back towards Budleigh (last mile to/from Budleigh awkward - you have to go inland) .... or ......
9. Dart river, South Devon: Totnes hill top town, river trip to/from Dartmouth (frequent busy car ferries across here), steam train from Buckfastleigh on A38 to Kingswear opposite Dartmouth, Kingsbridge and Newton Ferrers (stepping stones across river at low tide) on the other estuaries, all justify a trip.

References: All the following are really worthwhile, & available cheaply on the net (Alibris.co.uk is widest) with postage being the bugbear. The tourist offices will keep you up to date (with luck..).
a. The Daily Telegraph “Cornwall in a Week” Gill Charlton (1993) is excellent with lots of Amazon copies for a penny! .. but the postage .. if you can track a shop to its location en route ..., or arrange a UK poste restante (£2.75 is standard Amazon rate to UK)?
b. Landmark Guide to Cornwall (& Scilly) - Rita Pope - many editions
c. Companion Guide to the S. W. Coast of England - John Seymour - a first class series
d. Michelin Green Guide to England - the West Country - always useful
The last 2 cover all from Wiltshire and Dorset west, and each is useful in its own way.
 

clwyd

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And when you go up north don't forget the bit in the middle!

eg The Cotswolds, the Forest of Dean, Warwick (with castle!) Kenilworth (ditto), Stratford on Avon, Clent Hills and Kinver Edge, Coombe Abbey (Coventry - don't forget the old and new cathedrals and Lady Godiva!) before you hasten by to the Staffordshire moorlands around Leek; Ashbourne in Derbyshire and its peak District - oh I forgot Stowe, and the Black Country Museum in Dudley and the Ironbridge Gorge experience. And Ludlow and its castle and Wenlock Edge and the Severn Vally Railway and Bridgnorth and the Tram Museum at Crich and and and ..... eventually Hadrians wall. Turn back now else you'll never finish.

Not much of interest in Great Britain at all, really LOL

Oh plus almost ANY 'National Trust' property (stately homes, castles, gardens etc etc) is worth your time and the camera.

Oh and lastly no-one has mentioned to Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall!!!!!

PS Can anyone please explain exactly why it is we spend so much money on ferries escaping from it?

Simple - 1. the weather; 2. the cost of UK sites (it costs less for a month in France inc. the Ferry Cost); 3. we manage to get in quite a bit of the UK too, but not usually by C/Van!

Recently we found Bewdley, a delightful Severnside town with Shambles museum only 3 miles W of Kidderminster - often seen the signs and delighted to find our way there. An excellent small site 2 mi. SW of Much Wenlock off B4378 , at Bourton Westwood Fm. - and the baroque chapel at Gt. Witley (SW of Kidderminster) looks stunning.
 

sedge

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What in Heavens name do you mean, we found Bewdley???? I beg to contradict but I was there at the celebration of the Quincentenary, partook of the ox roast etc etc etc. That was blooming ages ago, and in any case I've been going there since I was a baby and it has never ever moved. (Lived in Kidder for 30 years!)

My best mate runs 'a bit of a B&B' overlooking that stream AND is Director of Bewdley Festival - a date for your diaries in October each year. And a treat, usually. OK Number Thirty doesn't compare to the history of Cateshill House and of course we don't pay her - but the AA bloke seemed impressed LOL

And don't forget the Severn Valley railway ........ Mind you, dunno where you'd park a Motorhome anywhere near Bewdley? - hard enough to squish a pedestrian in it on a summer Sunday! (unless of course you have friends with a large drive and an adjacent public carpark down by the cricket club ..... )

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chatter

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If you use the camping cheques system, there are around 10 sites in devon and cornwall
 

billyfreda

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England visit

I would suggest an evening stop in Ashford, there is a good site in Ashford,Steeds Lane, Kingsnorth, TN26 1NQ. Its called Broadhembury Caravan Site, its very popular with Dutch and French motorhomers for a stopover, its about 25 miles from Dover and its only 20 miles from Leeds Castle in Kent. There is a CC site about 2 miles from Leeds Castle which will be ideal for your visit.
Regards, billyfreda.
Have a good trip.
 

potjoe

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think of Shewsbury

Shrewbury as alot to offer Oxon park camping and caravan is good as park and ride outside five star site.john:thumb::thumb:

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