My apologies for the mini-hiatus.
What with going away and the half-term holiday it’s only really been now that I’ve had a chance to sit down and think “crap – I haven’t blogged”.
Not having learned from last year we went away camping on Whitsun bank holiday weekend again.
This time, we chose Kingsbury Water Park – a Camping and Caravanning Club site near Sutton Coldfield (it also welcomes non-members).
Despite dire weather predictions and the odd bit of drizzle, Friday was pretty dry and we arrived around 1pm and pitched without difficulties. As you arrive at the campsite, staff ask if you’ve been before then they escort you to the available pitches by hopping on a bike and going ahead. As a result, it feels really welcoming and stress-free.
I was also absolutely amazed at how level all the pitches were. While our folding camper can be adjusted to get it perfectly horizontal, obviously our awning area can’t – I think this was the first time we’ve ever camped when our picnic table in the awning didn’t wobble alarmingly due to uneven ground!
We pitched right by the playground, which was lovely and convenient for the children but in hindsight gave us much less privacy. As we had brought copious toys with us, we became a bit of a local hub for anyone under the age of 12. Next time I would be just a little further away – not far, just across the track, but far enough to render our toy collection less compelling.
The other slight disadvantage to Kingsbury Water Park is that it’s fairly close to the motorway and you are quite aware of the traffic noise. However, being a motorway, it’s a constant background white noise and you soon tune it out – if anything for me it aided sleep! If you’re looking for a near-silent country getaway, though, this may not be your first choice.
Saturday turned out to be a lovely day too, although a little on the windy side, so we set out to explore the Country Park next door.
You get to the park through very beautiful woodland pathways and through a tunnel under the motorway. There are apparently over 30 lakes and pools over the whole site, though I suspect we only got to see a fraction of them.
There are a couple of well-equipped playgrounds (one for under 8s the other for over 8s), a visitor’s centre and shop, a place to rent bicycles and trailers, a children’s farm (which we didn’t get around to visiting) and a miniature railway (guaranteed open only on Sundays and Bank Holidays, but fortunately they were open when we were there on the Saturday or I think the kids would have revolted).
All in all, you could easily spend a couple of days wandering around the village, Country Park and surrounding areas without ever needing to use your car, which makes it a pretty superb campsite in my book.
Sunday, we weren’t quite as lucky with the weather and it TIPPED it down. We spent the day hunting down camping shops, roaming the midlands for a decent family-friendly restaurant to eat and missing the closing time of the supermarket by THIS >< MUCH. Not our best day ever.
We also ran out of matches (bad preparation there on our part) and while the campsite didn’t have any replacements in stock, they did lend us a camping lighter which was very kind and yet another tick in the “this place is really friendly” checkbox.
Fortunately, Monday morning was overcast but not raining and the wind had dried the canvas nicely. We packed up the camper, drove off and the drizzle held off until we were on the motorway back home.