How to find the perfect campsite for your family?

How do you find the perfect campsite for your family? If the responsibility for organising a family camping trip falls on your shoulders, you may be forgiven for thinking it’s a thankless task. Decisions, decisions – should you go for the full-on holiday-park campsite with all the facilities or choose somewhere smaller for that back-to-nature experience?

For one thing you can’t control the weather, yet if it pours the disappointed faces will be turned in your direction. If you experience some damp days you’ll wish that you’d booked that larger site with swimming pool, games room and some indoor space to shelter from the showers. On the other hand, if the weather’s glorious, there’s nothing better than pottering about in some unspoilt beauty spot with amazing views, far from any amenities or civilisation, as epitomised by the Tiny Campsite style of camping.

I think we found the perfect balance last year at Trericket Mill in Wales, when we booked a bunk-room for shelter, yet camped in the old orchard with ducks and chickens for company and went swimming in a deep plunge pool in the mountain stream that ran through the site. Should the weather have been really unkind we would have retired to the guest sitting room in the main mill house and ordered a home cooked vegetarian meal.

This year I thought I’d found a great combination in Bucklegrove campsite near Cheddar in Somerset. Only an hour from where we live in Bristol, it is easily accessible by public transport – useful when you have hoards of teenagers and only one car for transport. The famous Cheddar caves are just down the road and there’s glorious walking on the Mendip Hills. The campsite itself is a well-kept family-run place with spotless amenities and colourful hanging baskets everywhere. We found that we had the best of both worlds with a swimming pool, a small shop and a family bar where you can relax with a drink and the paper. If you don’t want to join the neat rows of mobile homes, caravans and large family tents in the main site, you can opt for the wilder option in the camping field next door with bags of space between the tents, room to play a game of cricket or two and a fabulous view of the Cheddar countryside.

But I think that my family’s tastes are erring on the wild side. When I asked my daughter whether she and her friends had enjoyed staying at the campsite she said yes, but the swimming pool had been rather packed with other children for their taste. Next year, perhaps we could find a campsite with a lake to swim in? The search for the perfect campsite goes on ….

Have you found you perfect campsite yet?

This was posted as part of Photo Friday hosted at Delicious Baby – do head on over to check out all the other Friday Photos

By the way, thanks so much to Onetravel.com for publishing my Guest post on the hill towns of Groznjan and Motovan in Istria, Croatia – do take a look.

Camping resources

Bucklegrove Caravan and Camping Park, Wells Road, Rodney Stoke, Cheddar, Somerset, BS27 3UZ, UK
Trericket Mill, Erwood, Builth Wells, Powys, LD2 3TQ, Wales, UK
Cheddar Caves and Gorge, Somerset

Other camping trips you’ll enjoy reading about

A Fairy Tale of camping in mid-Wales
Camping in sunshine and showers – on the Gower in Wales
10 Tiny campsites and eco-travel – interview with Dixe Wills – podcast

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Camping photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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A snowy break at Laswern Fawr holiday in the Brecon Beacons, Wales

In February we took a short break to escape the city and breathe some country air and found ourselves on a snowy Welsh hillside in the Brecon Beacons. I hope you enjoy my video below as well as reading about what we did there.

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As soon as my husband stepped into our Welsh holiday cottage at Laswern Fawr in the Brecon Beacons and saw the wood burning stove in the open fireplace and the cosy red velvet wing chair, he settled in and took charge of the fire while the rest of us made ourself at home. I concluded that it’s a man thing to fiddle with logs, bellows and firelighters and left him to it.

We’d arrived in two cars from Bristol following the extremely detailed directions, turning off the main road through the valley and up the hill on increasingly steep and narrow, muddy tracks, along an old tramway then down a steep drive to the cottage, built into the hillside. The 16th century stone farmhouse is surrounded by fields of grazing sheep, and above it rose the Welsh hills covered with bracken,  rocky cliff faces with many walking trails. The views from the cottage down into the valley and the small town of Crickhowell were stunning and we soon felt relaxed and at one with nature in a place where walking boots, wellies and waterproofs are in daily use.

Remote as our Welsh cottage at Laswern Fawr may have been, it was certainly not lacking in comforts and was as well equipped as any family home you might find. The owners of the cottage obviously love the place and come here regularly, as there was no trace of that impersonal feel that you get in some holiday accommodation. The furnishings were warm and comfortable with traditionally whitewashed stone walls, plenty of sofas, stools and easy chairs for lounging in comfort and the sort of antique furniture, ornaments and china that you might find in a good country antique shop. To the background tick-tock and hourly chimes of the old clock on the wall, I could almost imagine myself to be a country farmer’s wife, setting the kettle on the blackened range for a cup of tea.

Laswern Fawr holiday cottage, Brecon Beacons

Sheep at Laswern Fawr Brecon Beacons

Upstairs we found three double rooms and two singles, sleeping 8 people in all and ideal for two families or an extended group to enjoy a relaxing break. We’d elected to spend a few days away from it all in the school holidays, bringing two of our children and a gaggle of their teenage friends to get away from the bustle and traffic of Bristol. As well as the large family bathroom with bath and separate shower, there was a smart, slate-tiled en-suite shower room in the master bedroom which we grown-ups managed to bag just in time. Because of the cottage being built into the hill side, we actually had French windows where the occasional sheep might come and peer in.

Our comfortable bed even had an electric blanket and the bedroom was calm and cream with thick crewel embroidered curtans, easy chair and an original fireplace. In the other rooms were twin or single beds, with cheerfully coloured duvets or patchwork quilt bedspreads. The hay-loft bedroom, bagged by our boys had a steeply sloping ceiling , blue patchwork quilts and a cot for those travelling with babies.

Hayloft at Laswern Fawr, Brecon Beacons

Master bedroom at Laswern Fawr

Descending the steep whitewashed stairs with twisty wooden hand-rails there was a dining room at the front with a large Victorian antique table and sideboard and a porch where we could leave all our boots and coats. At the other end of the house, adjoining the large, cosy sitting room was the modern, cream painted kitchen with dishwasher, large fridge and freezer and plenty of storage space. Here was everything you could wish for cooking up hearty meals, with plenty of crockery and pots and pans and a wide selection of cookery books. Awaiting us was a welcome tray with a personal welcome note and tea and coffee and a bottle of delicious local apple juice.

Down in the valley was the attractive small town of Crickhowell,  with several good pubs and food shops as well as an out door activity shop to supply whatever you might need for all the biking, walking, climbing, cycling and all the other outdoor activities for which this part of Wales is well known. We bought some local Welsh lamb for dinner from the butcher and then adjourned for some tea and cakes in the Court room cafe above the Old Market Hall which serves good home cooked lunches as well. Although we’d made plans to try the Bear Hotel, an award winning old coaching inn, for dinner or perhaps the restaurant at the Nantyffyn Cider Inn for something a bit more gourmet, our plans were thwarted by the incoming snow. Although we made it safely back up the mountain to the cottage on snowy tracks , we didn’t feel like risking another drive down in the dark.

Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons, Wales

Market Hall at Crickhowell, Brecon Beacons

The next day we ventured out on a trip to the Big Pit, the National Coal Museum of Wales which is only a short drive away at Blaenafon but had to abandon our plans when we made it through a minor blizzard to get there, only to find that it had just closed because of the bad weather. I was disappointed as the visit includes a trip underground into the coal mine with helmets and head torches, that I thought the children would enjoy – the museum is also free. After our experience in the blizzard, we gave up on the sightseeing and just enjoyed the walking trails on the hillside in and around the cottage.

The thing that impressed us most were the number of entertainments and conveniences available at Laswern Fawr, clearly showing the owners had thought of everything for our comfort (perhaps they knew that rain and snow are always worth preparing for in Wales). There were two shelves of DVD films, a large rack of music CDs, a chest full of board games as well as WiFi. I have to confess, that as a travel blogger, it was the wifi that sold it for me – sad as it might be, the thought of 3 days with no internet access was unbearable, so I was relieved that it all worked perfectly, despite the remote location! Whatever home comforts you enjoy to spend the evening after a long walk in the Brecon Beacons, our Welsh cottage at Laswern Fawr seemed to be able to provide. If I ever have to shut myself away in comfort from the distractions of the big city to write that long awaited novel, this will be the place.

We booked Laswern Fawr through Brecon Beacons Holiday Cottages who kindly rented it to us at a discounted rate. They are the specialist in holiday cottage rentals in the Brecon Beacons and have over 250 holiday properties of different sizes to choose from in this beautiful area of Wales.

Travel Resources for the Brecon Beacons

Brecon Beacons Holiday Cottages - specialists in holiday accommodation in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Black Mountains National Park and Wye Valley
Visit Wales – the official Wales tourism website with information on short breaks, weekend getaways and family holidays and things to do in Wales
Brecon Beacons National Park Website – the Brecon Beacons website with information on things to do and places to stay in the Brecon Beacons

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Photo Friday – A snowy scene in the Brecon Beacons – in Wales

I’m in the Brecon Beacons in Wales for a short break and this is the snowy scene outside the cottage where we’re staying. We arrived in rain and the next day woke up to steadily falling snow. We ventured out yesterday to see something of the Brecon National Park and just about made it back to the cottage.

The incongruous thing is that although there’s snow up on the side of the mountain where we’re staying, in the valley in the small town of Crickhowell, we can see green grass in the fields as the snow’s only up on the high ground.

This morning, we had to push my husband’s car up the icy, steep hill up to the road with wheels skidding. Half an hour of gritting and snow shovelling later, he made it and was on his way back to Bristol, where the snow is a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrance. I’m here for an extra day and will have to get up that icy hill tomorrow – wish me luck!

This was posted as part of Photo Friday at Delicious Baby - head over to see all the other great Friday Photos.

PS This is the holiday cottage where we’re staying at Laswern Fawr in the Brecon Beacons.

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