Kingsbury Water Park Camping & Caravanning Club Site nr Tamworth

The sun was out this morning. Nice blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Although there are only 3 showers for a site capable of taking 150 caravans, I didn’t have to queue for a shower.

After breakfast we embarked on one of the marked walks. About half way round the wind got up, the sky turned black and it hammered it down. Fortunately we were about 100 yards away from a bird watching hide so we sheltered in there for half an hour.

The sun came out again so we completed the circuit and continued on to Kingsbury village. We stumbled upon the Old White Swan pub and decided to have  a nice cider and a bag of crisps outside in the sun. Unfortunately within about 10 minutes it started to rain again so we headed inside. Unfortunately after we had drunk the first cider it was still hammering down so we had to have another one.

It eventually stopped raining and we managed to get all the way back to the van in the sunshine.

We spent the rest of the evening chilling. We did have another burst of rain but after that it was quite a pleasant evening.

Kingsbury Water Park Camping & Caravanning Club Site nr Tamworth

We set of a few minutes before 3 pm. And arrive about 4:10 pm. Although we had a few spots of  rain, we managed to get set up without getting wet. We had a nice level grass pitch close to the toilet block.

Kingsbury Water Park is a country park in north Warwickshire, not far from Birmingham and lying on the River Tame. It is owned and managed by  Warwickshire County Council. It has 15 lakes situated in over 600 acres of country park. Renowned for it’s birdlife it is bordered on it’s western edge by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.

The park has bridleways, marked cycle routes and footpaths. There are plenty of water sports activities and a 7¼" gauge ridable miniature railway.

We settled down for a quiet evening. TV reception was excellent. It rained heavily after dark, but only for about an hour or so.

Chester

We went into Chester again today to have a look around the Cathedral. It is certainly more impressive on the inside than from the outside.

Then we went to the Candle Workshop and Craft Centre, where we bought a candle and had it engraved for Amy's 18th birthday.

As we were now quite close to the Ice Cream Farm, it would have been rude not to pop in and try another one of their excellent ice creams.

W then made our way back to the caravan. Late we popped down the road to the Harvester for a bite to eat.

Chester

The weather was not good today. We went into Chester and did the Sightseeing Tour bus. We did the full round trip, andd then got off and dis the 2 mile walk around the city walls.

About half way round the wall there is a small tea Room, where we stopped for an afternoon tea.

We the had a wander around town for a while before heading back to the caravan.

Erdigg, Beeston Castle & Ice Cream Farm

After breakfast we went to Erddig Hall, a National Trust property on the outskirts of Wrexham, Wales. Located 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Wrexham town centre, it was built in 1684–1687 for Josiah Edisbury, the High Sheriff of Denbighshire; it was designed in 1683 by Thomas Webb (d. 1699), a master mason of Middlewich, Cheshire.

The building was sold to the master of the Chancery, John Meller in 1714. John Meller refurbished and enlarged the house (including adding two wings in the 1720s), and, on his death in 1733 unmarried and childless, passed it to his nephew, Simon Yorke (d. 1767) (first

cousin of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke). The house was passed down through the Yorke family until March 1973, when the last squire Philip Scott Yorke gave it to the National Trust. This followed the collapse several years earlier of a shaft from the nearby coal mine (Bersham colliery) under the house, causing subsidence of 5 feet (1.5 m), which seriously affected the structural security of the house to the extent that, without suitable underpinning, it would have become a ruin. It was strengthened using the compensation of £120,000 the National Trust was able to extract from the National Coal Board. 63 acres (250,000 m²) of Erddig Park (out of view of the house) was subsequently sold for £995,000 and this paid for the restoration work on the house. The restoration was completed on 27 June 1977 when Charles, Prince of Wales officially opened Erddig to the public, joking that it was the first time in his, albeit short, life that he had opened something that was already 300 years old.

Then we moved on to Beeston Castle, a former Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, England (grid reference SJ537593), perched on a rocky sandstone crag 350 feet (107 m) above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, (1170–1232), on his return from the Crusades. In 1237, Henry III took over the ownership of

Beeston, and it was kept in good repair until the 16th century, when it was considered to be of no further military use, although it was pressed into service again in 1643, during the English Civil War. The castle was slighted (partly demolished) in 1646, in accordance with Cromwell's destruction order, to prevent its further use as a stronghold.

The castle is now in ruins. The walls of the outer bailey, along with the walls and gatehouse of the inner bailey, are separately recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated Grade I listed buildings. The castle is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument, owned by English Heritage. It is rumoured that treasure belonging to Richard II lies undiscovered in the castle grounds, but the many searches that have been carried out have failed to find any trace of it. During the 18th century the site was used as a quarry.

On the way back we called in at the Ice Cream Farm, a great place if you have children with indoor and outdoor activities but also over 40 flavours of ice cream. Then off to the caravan for a relaxing evening.

Golborne Bridge Farm nr Chester

We set off from Mirey Lees about 13:50 bound for Chester. We arrived around 16:00 and was set up and had the kettle on by 16:45.

We popped to Sainsbury to stock up and then had a nice meal in the Brewers Fayre next door. before heading back to the caravan for a chill and bed.

Riverside Caravan Park nr Stratford Upon Avon

Sunday morning was quite a quite nice sunny one. We took down the awning, but it being wet we just put it in the back of the car to be dried out at home.

This was the last day of the season for Riverside Caravan Park and all caravans needed to be off site by 3pm.

We left about Midday and arrived home around 01:30pm. Possibly our last trip this year