Caravan & Motorhome Club National Rally - Ragley Hall - Warwickshire

Quite a bit of rain this morning so after breakfast we decided to head to Coughton Court.  A National Trust property about 4 miles away.  

The home of the Throckmorton family who played a major role in the gunpowder plot. 

I had a nice venison burger and Maddy had a hot dog. We had to wait a while for the burger but it was worth the wait. The grumpy old fella running the barbecue had a running battle with the wind. 

We had a look in the Anglican and Catholic Churches at the property, both of which were quite plain.

It turned out to be a nice sunny afternoon if not a bit windy, with a couple of very minor showers.

We headed back to the van for a chill and I watched Derby County lose 2-1 to Aston Villa in the Championship Play-off final at Wembley, before tea and chill ready for the nights entertainment. 

Caravan & Motorhome Club National Rally - Ragley Hall - Warwickshire

We had a few showers first thing but after breakfast it was quite a nice day. 

We walked up to Ragley Hall and walked around the gardens before paying £3 to go around the state rooms. The entrance hall was magnificent with beautiful mouldings on the ceiling and around the walls. 

There is also a magnificent staircase with a fabulous mural painted on the walls and ceiling. Full of lifelike architectural features and including the family. It took 14 years to paint and still looks as fresh as when it was completed in 1983.

We walked back down to the national and tried a few more caravans for size before nipping into the activities marquee for a free cup of teas and cake whilst watching the tea dancers for half an hour. 

Then back to the van for tea before the evenings entertainment. “Arrival” an ABBA tribute band. They were really good too. They put on a great show. 

Then back to the van and bed. 

Caravan & Motorhome Club National Rally - Ragley Hall - Warwickshire

We woke up to a nice sunny morning. After breakfast we had a nice stroll down to the arena area and had a look around the trade stalls. We ended up buying a new vacuum cleaner for the caravan and a shoe organiser. 

After a nice beer we walked around a bit more trying out some of the caravans on sale, before stopping at Ben and Gerry’s for an ice cream. 

We went and sat in the grandstand for a while the waited for the official opening ceremony. We didn’t win the raffle for a pitch at next years National which was announced as being Belvoir Castle near Grantham. 

We walked back the the van for a while before joining Glynis and Jim for tea. 

Then we walked down for the evenings entertainment. The ELO Experience were absolutely fabulous. Possibly the best tribute band I have ever seen and definitely the best act I’ve seen so far at the 3 Nationals we have attended so far. 

We stopped for a cuppa at Glynis and Jim’s caravan before going back to the van.

Caravan & Motorhome Club National Rally - Ragley Hall - Warwickshire

We left Mirey Lees about 09:30am. We arrived at Ragley Hall and were sited on our pitch by noon. The sun was quite warm. 

We going Glynis and Jim and had a cuppa with the before heading down to the welcome tent to register and get our goody bag and free coffee. We had a very brief shower whilst partaking of the coffee but it didn’t amount to much. 

Then we went back and set up the caravan and awning. The a bit later had a walk dow to the arena area for a brief look around. We had a nice Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the sun where a semi finalist from last years Britains got Talent was singing from the bandstand. 

We had a walk back for tea before getting ready for tonight’s entertainment, “Jive Talkin’” a Bee Gees tribute act. They put on a decent show enjoyed by the crowd. I thought they were quite good. I gave them a 7out if 10. Barry’s falsetto was a bit in and out and Robin’s voice was a little weak but generally they were good. 

Got back to the van around 10:30. 

Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

A few dark clouds about this morning. 

We had breakfast a bit earlier as we were having afternoon tea later. 

Oxford

Once again it was a bright sunny morning. We were up early as Shar and Maddy were doing an open water swim in a lake nearby. Maddy had to give up after 120 metres because it was so cold it took her breath and she had difficulty breathing. Shar went on to complete the course but this is something she does on a regular basis. 

We went back to the van for our usual cooked breakfast, before donning the cycling gear for another ride along the river to Christ Church College. We did the tour of the college before heading back to the bikes to cycle to the Oxford Botanical Gardens. 

We cycled back down the river and called in at the pub by the Thames for a nice cider before heading back to the van to partake of fish and chips from the mobile van which came to site. 

Once again it was a pleasant evening so we sat outside the van until it started to drop cooler around 9pm.

Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

Cloudy with sunny spells

Watched Rams v wba

Chilled for rest of day

Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

Next morning we woke up to sunshine, but it was quite windy with a bit of a nip in the air. After breakfast and showers, we donned the cycling gear and got out the bikes. 

We cycled through the park down to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal up to Fazely Junction where it joins the Coventry Canal. We cycled alone the Coventry Canal, across the aqueduct over the River Tame and then followed the River Tame down to Dotshill Country Park when unfortunately the path came to an end so we had to re-trace our steps back to the caravan. We cycled 13.3 miles in all. 

After a relaxing couple of hours at the van we headed off in search of a local Aldi. I had left the blue toilet fluid in the garage and Aldi had some in their weekly specials.

On the way back from Aldi we found Boldmere Harvester at Sutton Coldfield, so we stopped off for dinner. 

We then Headed into Tamworth to the Odeon Cinema to see Long Shot starring Charline Theron and Seth Rogen, an enjoyable romantic comedy. 

We didn’t get back until gone 11pm so had to park in the visitors car park as the gates are locked at 11p m. 

Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

We left Mirey Lees around 3:30pm. We had a nice motorway free journey with no hold ups and arrived at Kingsbury Camping and Caravanning Club Site for our second visit around 5pm.

Just as we arrived it started to rain and we put the awning up in some quite heavy drizzle. Then as if my magic it stopped.

We had a nice cuppa and waited for the Fish and Chip van. There were people queuing in the rain well before it arrived. We gave it a while until the queue had reduced considerably before going out but still ended up waiting half an hour. They were worth the wait though and filled us up nicely. 

Due to the way the van was sitting the caravan door was catching on the caravan step, so we decided to use the small plastic step. Unfortunately the second time I stood on it, my foot went through it and I ended up with some nasty lacerations on my ankle and below my knee. 

After some first aid from Maddy we settled down for the evening.