Back early

Hello all, I hope you're all well.

We decided, on the spur of the moment early this morning, to come home today instead of Saturday.  Several reasons - we'd have to be out of the caravan by 10.00 am Saturday morning anyway, and I'm not too keen on rushing around like a mad thing to be out by the deadline, I'd much rather do it all leisurely.  The weather has been brilliant really, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were all beautifully sunny and warm, yesterday it rained on and off throughout the morning but had stopped by lunchtime and was sunny most of the afternoon, albeit with a pretty cold wind.  However, last night we had some really heavy rain, which kept me awake, it continued as heavy showers throughout the morning, and the rest of this week is forecast to be showery, very windy and cold.  

If you've stayed in a caravan before, you'll know that heavy rain is very noisy inside the van, and it always seems to be draughty and cold when it rains too, even with central heating.  And trying to get a muddy dog cleaned up in a caravan is a bit of a nightmare.  So we decided to come home. 

We have had a lovely time though and feel very relaxed.  The caravan was a brand spanking new model for this year, we're only the 2nd or 3rd guests to stay in it so all the furniture/furnishings were lovely and comfortable.   It was much roomier than the van it replaced (we've stayed at this park in the same number caravan several times now, we always ask for this particular pitch as we like the spot), the bathroom especially was much more spacious.  However, it was very badly designed, clearly by someone (most likely a man!) sitting at a computer just pressing a few features buttons.  For example, although the room was very spacious, the toilet was far too close to the side wall, despite there being loads of floor space on the other side.  The toilet roll holder was set way back behind your shoulder on the same side wall, making it very awkward to get to when sitting on the loo.   The towel holder was also on this side wall, right beside/above the toilet, so whilst sitting on the loo you had the towel draped all over your face and shoulder - how idiotic!  Especially since there was a large expanse of bare wall the other side of the loo, right outside the shower - surely the most logical and ideal place for the towel rail.  More hooks and shelves were needed too, there are never enough - only 1 small hook provided, and no shelves in the shower for your shower gel/shampoo etc.  On the plus side, there was a very large mirrored bathroom cabinet with lots of room for all your stuff above the basin, and the shower was huge - big enough for two, which is very rare in a static caravan.

Out of the 5 nights we were there, I slept very well indeed for 2 of them, had 1 average night and only 2 bad ones, so have caught up on some sleep.  Taking all our evening meals ready cooked from home was good, it meant I had very little cooking to do.  Husband did us a cooked breakfast a couple of times, and we had mainly salads for lunches.  

Betty's a bit of a problem in a caravan though, partly because of the lack of space for her to run around, and the fact that she's allowed on the furniture at home, which of course means that she thinks she's allowed on it in the van - she's not.  She persists in trying it on though, being the stubborn little madam she is, so we did spend quite a lot of time telling her No.  Also, she likes being outside, at home we have the door open a lot and she spends most of the day going in and out of the garden as she pleases.  Well, caravans on holiday parks don't usually have enclosed gardens, so we couldn't have the door open, which meant she was frequently running to the door and asking to be let out.  It did mean she got lots of walks though, they have several large dedicated dog walking areas.  And she liked watching the ponies, donkeys, goats, sheep, chickens, guinea pigs and rabbits.  One of the ponies snorted practically in her face, making her leap back in astonishment.  Very funny.

I did take a few photos - not loads, mainly because I forgot most of the time.  Haven't looked at them yet, I'll put some on in my next post.

We did come home on Tuesday for neighbour D's funeral, I'll post about that next time too.

Back to reality - there are workmen in next door, but whatever they're doing, it's not too noisy at the moment....other than the fact that they're in and out all the time to their van and keep slamming the front door!