Summer holiday...

It seems like pretty much everyone in our house has been sick for all of 2015 so far, but last night things started to look up, the sniffles and coughing subsided a bit and there were even a few smiles to be seen. Plus on the weather front there was definitely a glimmer of sunshine and blue skies so I couldn't help but start dreaming of holidays and camping! It's still a bit cold for any overnights in the camper just yet but it's definitely not to early to start dreaming and planning!

Here are some pictures from our summer holiday last year to get us all in the mood!

We took the campervan up the north coast, starting in portrush for the airshow. It's on every September and well worth a visit - airwavesportrush.co.uk

The views from the walk down from the campsite into town are pretty nice.

The harbour at portrush.

Saw this lovely car parked and couldn't resist taking a pic!

Some planes...

Having some refreshments!

I love the red arrows and can't wait to see them every year. They were excellent as always!

The next day after the airshow we headed towards our next campsite which was in Bushmills and stopped off to have a look round Dunluce castle on the way.

Although we were only travelling a few miles each day we always made sure to stop for tea along the way.

We also visited Ballintoy harbour which looked lovely in the sunshine. It's very popular with Game of Thrones fans as it is the setting for the Iron Islands in the show. There is a lovely cafe here too.

The camper parked up in Ballintoy.

We then took a trip over the Carrick a Rede rope bridge which is managed by the National Trust. It was much lest rickety than I remember! 

Although it was September, the weather was amazing and the sea looked positively tropical.

All cosy in the camper.

There were many spectacular views from our various tea stops.

The next camp site we stopped at was in Cushendall and the spaces were pretty much right beside the sea, which was excellent!  This is the view during the day.

And this is the amazing scene at night, the moon was very impressive indeed.

Finally we stopped in Carrickfergus, where we had a tasty picnic lunch and had a look round the famous castle.

And of course finished off with the obligatory cup of tea and a French fancy.

All in all we were only a way for a few days but we packed so much in it felt like ages! The north coast is beautiful and there really is so much to see and do although we were very lucky with the weather.

Now to start planning some trips for 2015!

First camping trip as a family...

At the start of September we planned to take a camping trip around the North Coast for a few days but we thought it might be a good idea to do a trial run first.  We decided to try one night at the campsite at Castle Ward as it isn't too far from home so at least if it was a complete disaster we could just pop home without too much bother! In the end it worked out just fine. The weather was lovely although it did get a little nippy at night so definitely need to bring a heater in the future.

All packed up and ready to go.  We did need considerably more stuff having a baby with us but it did all fit, just about!

We bought George ear defenders as the Land Rover is pretty noisy when it's driving.  He absolutely loves them and pretty much falls asleep as soon as they go on!

All parked and set up.

We went down on a Tuesday so the site was pretty empty.  Castleward is really popular and I think you have to book ages in advance to get in at the weekend.

The campsite is surrounded by forrest which will be great for exploring when George is a bit bigger although he seemed pretty taken by the light fluttering through the tree canopy as it is!

A glimpse of Strangford Lough.

A pretty foxglove - all the ones in our garden are long gone by September.

A tunnel under one of the lanes on the estate.

I have been to Castleward so many times and I don't really remember seeing this tree tunnel before, it was pretty cool.

Inside the tree tunnel.

Temple water.  There is a lovely walk all around the water.

The boats in Audley's Bay.

I thought this bit of wood looked a bit like the Lough Ness monster.

We were only there for one night but we packed a lot in, we walked into Strangford and got some ice creams on the first day then headed back for a picnic dinner.  After we packed up we headed in to the Castleward estate and had a cup of tea and a scone then a lovely long walk finished off with a nice lunch, a perfect couple of days and just what we needed to get ready for a bigger camping trip.

First Trip in the Campervan

For our first anniversary we decided to take our first trip in the Campervan now that it has passed its MOT.

We didn’t go too far, just down to the lovely campsite at Castle Ward, near Strangford.




The night before we headed off I had to make some curtains, as it was something I have been meaning to do for ages but of course I left it to the last minute!

We also decided that we were going to put the bunks back in but when we got them out of the shed we realised that one of them didn’t actually have any fabric on it and the one that did was quite badly torn….









So I had to make two new bunks as well as all the curtains - really should have started this earlier!

I had bought the stripy material from Ikea last year - we used it at our wedding, staple gunned to the not so pretty notice boards in the old church hall we used for our reception.




After nearly three years of working on the campervan it was amazing to be actually packing it up with all our camping stuff.

After stopping for a bite of lunch in Picnic in Killyleagh, we headed on down to Castle Ward and set up camp.





The campsite was very busy, completely full in fact. Its a really nice spot though, completely surrounded by trees.




We stuck out a bit in comparison to all the other caravans.

Once we were set up we had a glass of pimms and listened to some wimbeldon on our new but old looking Bush Radio




The campsite is great as it is only a short stroll into Strangford were there are nice pubs and cafes and then from there you can easily go as a foot passenger on the ferry across to Portaferry (which we did both days we were there for the grand sum of £2 each return)

The road into Strangford is very pretty with the verges covered in Red valerian…



For my first cooking experience in the campervan I went all out and decided to make eggs benedict, which was perhaps a little ambitious, but it was our first anniversary after all!  Although it was a bit of a palava it actually turned out very nice, and we washed it down with some buck’s fizz made with a bottle of fizz that my sister and her fiance had given us as a present.




Glastonbury was also on the same weekend so we spent both nights staying up late listening to the radio and drinking more pimms, which was very good fun indeed!



All in all it was a great first trip and I really hope we’ll be able to get away in it again soon!