Midges in Scotland

The threat of midges made us think very hard about island hopping in our motorhome in Scotland, but luckily, it did not put us off and as earlier blogs tell, we had an amazing holiday. We were relatively fortunate where the little blighters were concerned, however, because we went in early September, and not in the peak midge season which is June - August. Tiny as they are, midges DO bite, and leave a nasty itchy scab, which takes time to heal. Now the male half of AvailablePitch has buffalo hide, through which nothing penetrates, however, I am not so lucky and clearly have an invisible notice on my body which says “all flying insects please feel free to bite any time, any place, anywhere”.

In theory, campsites by the sea should suffer less. In reality, whilst they are less bothered than non-coastal sites, there will still be a few midges around. However, we found it tolerable, and there are things you can do which DO help. The day time was fine, the problem came early evening – 5-ish onwards. If the weather was fine and we wanted to sit out in an evening, we pulled the motorhome’s awning out, and lit several sticks of incense both citronella and lavender which was extremely effective. The smoke and fragrance from the incense was held under the awning, and we were able to sit out trouble free. The campfire also helped alot, however, you do end up smelling of wood smoke!

The other thing you can do is to use Avon Skin-So-Soft Dry Oil spray (blue bottle), which, whilst not being designed as an insect repellent, if used dilligently, seems to help. More about this in a later blog.

In summary, pick your time of year, go prepared, and don't let the possibility of midges put you off.

Picture above - Sunset, motorhome with awning out, campfire burning, 6 pm-ish, Muasdale Touring Park, Kintyre.

Are you looking for a Seasonal Warden's Job?

Looking for seasonal or temporary work on a campsite / caravan park for the summer season? Fancy working on a new quality caravan park in the beautiful grounds of a private country estate? Got your own motorhome or caravan and maybe a dog or two?

Well Woodland Caravan Park, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire has a vacancy for a campsite / caravan park warden from June to October 2008 and would like to hear from you.

As this site only opened in May 2007, all the facilities are brand new and in pristine condition. Comprising just 39 level, hardstanding pitches, all with hook-up, the pitches are in a natural woodland setting which requires minimum maintenance.

Duties will include meeting and greeting caravanners, Reception and booking duties, dealing with queries, cleaning the facilities, helping customers with pitching if necessary and a very small amount of ground maintenance.

Whilst this vacancy is open to anyone, it is particularly suited to someone who may be approaching retirement, or retired, maybe a couple, with their own unit, looking for a few months work in the summer. Salary is negotiable and depends on experience and qualifications and will include a performance bonus.

For further information please see the banner advert on the home page of AvailablePitch.com then contact catherine@availablepitch.com, who is managing the recruitment for this vacancy.

Island Hopping Scotland - What You Really Need to Know!

Here's a quick checklist of what we learned on our fabulous Scottish Island Hopping Tour:

1. Island hopping in Scotland in a large motorhome is much easier than you think
2. “Hebridean Island Hopping” by Martin Coventry, became our bible and is well worth buying either in advance or on the ferry.
3. Fill up with diesel when you can - there are some extremely long stretches of road with no petrol stations
4. The islands are incredibly friendly places – expect waves from random car drivers and white van men as you are travelling round – particularly on Islay.
5. Parking a large motorhome is generally not a problem in Scotland or the islands we visited
6. Most supermarkets are Co-Ops, the occasional Tesco and a rare M&S
7. Midges are not such a problem as you might expect in September, and can be minimised with incense and Avon Skin-so-Soft
8. Wild camping is permitted in Scotland as long as you are considerate and get permission if appropriate. We didn’t do it, because we prefer the security and facilities of campsites, but plenty of motorhomes did.
9. Mobile phones (02) work in most locations
10. Expect bad weather, anything better is a bonus. Have a range of clothing, particularly good waterproofs, including over-trousers.
11. The ferries might seem expensive at first, but compared to Cross Channel ferries, they represent extremely good value for money.
12. Give the CalMac office your mobile number so they can contact you if there are ferry changes – and these DO happen quite regularly.
13. Our tour took us two weeks. We never felt rushed, and when we got back, it seemed like we'd been away for at least a month!

You will come back with many photographs and even more wonderful memories, so just get out there and do it!

Greendale Farm Adult Only Caravan and Camping Park, Rutland

We are very fortunate in our job that we get to visit lots of caravan parks. We’d been trying to get in at Greendale Farm Adult Only Caravan & Camping Park, Rutland, for three years, but such is the popularity of this site, that we had never managed it. Then last September an offer dropped into our inbox – we were invited to Greendale’s end-of-season knees-up by special invitation only. We accepted immediately!

If you could take the best of all caravan parks and distill them down, if you were lucky, you’d end up with Greendale. So what are the elusive ingredients that makes this small, adult only park, such a success?

♦Friendly owners, Sue and Ian Barron, who are passionate about their site ♦ An incredibly friendly welcome, with high levels of customer care ♦ Genuine interest in everyone who stays on the site – no strangers here ♦ A pristine site which is lovingly landscaped, tended, nourished and cared for ♦ extreme pride in the site, the surroundings and the environment ♦ The shop including info/ library/ refreshment area, run on an honesty basis ♦ Thoughtful items to buy - one plaster, a few Piriton tablets or single tealights ♦ Strong environmental credentials – Greendale has a David Bellamy Gold Award ♦ Information, education, explanation, pictures and advice throughout the site ♦ An extremely quiet site ethic, operated in a strong but friendly manner ♦ Sensible rules, gently enforced with humour, for the benefit of all ♦

The park is set in gentle rolling Leicestershire countryside, close to Rutland Water, with the market town of Oakham, and Stamford nearby. There is so much to do in the area, that a weekend simply isn’t enough. We managed to fit in a circular walk around the Upper Hambleton peninsula one day, and a very careful stroll (hangover permitting) on Sunday along the North Shore of the reservoir.

Back at Greendale, the highlight of the weekend was a barbeque on the Saturday night – something about as common as an orgy in a convent - to which all the weekend “residents” were invited. There was a great crowd and we met some lovely people including Pete (“Mate”) and Linda, Steve and Jackie, Pete and Isla, Terry and Anne and Jane and Clive. The party started at 5 pm and was still going strong at midnight, so not surprisingly, there were a few hangovers the next morning.

The peace and quiet of this site gently embraces you, and it was extremely difficult to leave on Sunday afternoon. Let’s hope we behaved ourselves enough to be invited back next year!

One comment in the Visitors Book sums it up for us “We arrived as strangers and left as friends”. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

Vacant Pitches Available for Easter, May Day and Spring Bank Holiday 2008

Looking for a vacant touring pitch for Easter, May Day or Spring Bank Holiday? There are hundreds of camping sites and caravan parks on AvailablePitch.com with pitches available now! Click Here to search for a campsite with vacancies for Easter, May Day and Spring Bank Holiday. Let's hope for decent weather!

Island Hopping Scotland - Loch Lomond to Lower Wensleydale - and home

Nearly the last day of our Scottish Island Hopping holiday in a motorhome, and an early-ish start was required to pulll in a visit to the Maid of the Loch the other end of Loch Lomond. The Maid of the Loch was the last paddle steamer and the largest inland waterway passenger vessel to be built in Britain. Launched in 1953 – Coronation Year, it was built for service on Loch Lomond, the largest lake in Britain. Withdrawn from service in 1981, and vandalised thereafter, the Maid was rescued from dereliction in 1992 and as the first stage in restoring her to service is now open to the public in a static role.

As luck would have it, whilst not fully open on the day we were there, a group of school children were visiting the Maid, the Winch House and Slipway, and the boiler in the Winch House was actually in steam, so we were able to tag along and see things we would not normally have been able to. After a couple of hours anorak time, we needed to be heading south as time was pressing on, and we needed to be in Yorkshire by the evening. The SatNav was set for Leyburn - 205 miles and 5 hours later (after a detour due to roadworks), we arrived at the Caravan Club Lower Wensleydale site, near Bedale.

As soon as we came over the border from Scotland to England, the sun came out, and apparantly, most of England had had hot and sunny weather the whole time we were away. Typical.

This was our last stop and was nothing more than a pitch for the night before our last 125 miles home to Derbyshire the following day. The Wardens were extremely welcoming, the facilities, as ever with the Caravan Club, were excellent, but as we were late arriving, our pitch was one of the least popular, with our nose against one access road and our bike rack abutting the other. We were pleased M&S had changed their carrier bags to fluorescent green, as two were deployed to stop any passing site traffic catching us.

Once set up, we got the chilled champagne out of the fridge, lit the candles, and sat in the last rays of the evening sunshine, and celebrated what a totally wonderful holiday experience we’d had.

Hodsock Snowdrops

"A magical sight you will never forget - myriads of flowers in the five-acre gardens plus a half mile walk through the wood with sheets of snowdrops to delight you. Certainly worth travelling a considerable distance to see"

Just up the road from Clumber Park Caravan Club site, Nottinghamshire, is Hodsock Priory, near Blyth, home to one of the best snowdrop collections and displays in the country, with 5 acres of formal gardens containing snowdrops and other fragrant flowering winter borders.

Not a Priory at all, but a stately home, Hodsock Priory, garden and snowdrop wood are situated in the middle of the 800 acre Hodsock Estate, which has been owned by the Buchanan family since 1765. The 700-acre farm is run by Sir Andrew Buchanan and grows carrots, sugar beet, wheat and barley. There are nearly 100 acres of woodland, which is actively managed and the whole Estate is run in an environmentally friendly way

Entry costs £4.50 for Adults, £1.00 for kiddies, with under-5's free. Dress warmly, with good footwear and allow a good three hours for the visit. Start off with a stroll round the gardens, taking in the wide variety of Snowdrops, Sarcococca, Daphne, Winter Honeysuckle, Leucojums, Golden Aconites, Cyclamen and Irises. Follow that with a gentle walk in the 12 hectare ancient woodland, with millions of snowdrops growing underneath the trees. Warm yourself by the bonfire and have a cup of tea from the cabin (or take a flask), and finish off buying some snowdrops, bluebells or winter flowering jasmin from the plant stall close to the exit.

The Priory is only open for 4 or 5 weeks during February and early March, and attracts over 40,000 visitors from all over the world. It's a magical day out for everyone young and old, with wheelchair/pushchair access to many parts, brand new tea rooms, an informative history room and the best toilets ever. Oh, and don't forget your camera to capture some beautiful and memorable winter scenes.

More information at http://www.snowdrops.co.uk/.