This month's caravanners
James, Alison, Millie and Matthew Rye
Outfit used
2006 Bailey Pageant Provence with 2004 1.9 Tdi Ford Galaxy Ghia
We've been in the car for a good 30 seconds when the demands for food start coming from the back seat. Out come the raisins and apples, and the kids settle themselves in for the journey to Cromer, on the Norfolk coast, with a potful of nibbles each and several episodes of Bob The Builder on DVD.
One of the trickier things about towing a caravan when you have young children is finding somewhere to stop quickly when they need the loo. Millie tends to leave things quite late, and finding a caravan-sized layby within minutes of an urgent toilet request has proved challenging on many occasions. Fortunately, when the call comes this time, we're close to a Little Chef on the A47 near King's Lynn; we occupy most of the car park while the deed is done.
There's much excitement as we arrive in Cromer, and the kids get their first glimpse of the sea. "Are we really in Cromer?" asks Millie, almost popping out of her car seat with joy. "It's my favourite and my best!"
We're booked in at the Caravan Club's Seacroft site, which is on the main A149 coast road just a mile or so west of Cromer. The wardens who greet us are very welcoming, and after a quick drive round the site we choose
a pitch close to the excellent new play area. With everything sorted, we jump in the car and drive into Cromer for fish and chips.
It's a beautiful warm evening, and we're lucky enough to get one of the benches overlooking the pier so we can watch the sea splashing in as we eat our takeaway from Mary Jane's fish and chip shop. The kids run round and round the bench pretending to be trains, pulling into the 'station' every time they want a chip.
Back at the site, my husband James gets to grips with the awning while I put the children's bed up and get them off to sleep. Although I do love our van, it's at times like this I yearn for a spacious end washroom as there tends to be a fair amount of tripping over each other as we go through the face and teeth cleaning rituals.
SATURDAY
James's eyes had lit up yesterday when he saw that the site offered cooked breakfasts on Saturdays and Sundays, so our first stop was the restaurant. There's a good selection of food at equally good prices – the most challenging meal on offer being the mighty Seacroft Big Breakfast at £4.95. Millie and Matthew settle down with the colouring books and felt-tip pens provided for them, and staff are happy to provide extra plates so we can give the kids the bits and pieces they want from our meals. They're not big fans of breakfast, so this arrangement works well.
On the way out, a couple stop us to say how well behaved our children have been. Feeling smug, and very much like model parents, we call into reception to hand over our £10 deposit for the baby and toddler washroom key, then get to work removing the felt-tip streaks from our angels.
Sheringham is our first port of call, and it's buzzing with life thanks partly to the bustling market next to the train station. While the kids demand handfuls of 2p pieces for the amusements, James heads to 'Joyful' West's shellfish bar on the corner of High Street and Gun Street for his favourite dressed crab. Meanwhile, Millie and Matthew have blown their cash stash and are looking hopefully at Ellie's, a little shop on the High Street where you can get child-sized 99s for just 45p each.
Continuing our walk down to the seafront, James pops into Rallentando for our order of takeaway coffee and biscotti, then we all sit looking out to sea – between mopping up the endless drips of ice-cream, of course. Millie declares that she's sad to see Sheringham has no beach (the coastline here is 100% flint rather than golden sand) but thinks her ice-cream is "very delicious indeed, of course!".
Sheringham is a lovely town, but the promenade appears to be made of bolted-together concrete blocks more in keeping with a multi-storey car park than a seaside resort. The kids don't care though – they're too busy admiring the small boats that have been dragged up on to the shore and trying to understand how a 'buoy' is different to a 'boy'.
Back at Seacroft, and with the sun still high in the sky, we give in to the kids' requests to try the heated outdoor pool. Millie reckons it's "just like Center Parcs", and it does look inviting. Her confidence in the water is growing all the time, but Matthew is more hesitant so he and I stay in the special shallow area for younger children. It's wonderful… for about 15 minutes. All of a sudden, the sky darkens, the temperature drops – and James remembers we've left the caravan roof-light open, so we scuttle back to the van just as the first drops of rain start to fall.
Within minutes, there's a full-blown thunderstorm under way and the noise is tremendous. "Can you turn the rain down?" asks Millie, as the rain pounds away on the roof of the van and the sky is briefly made brighter by a flash of lightning. Checking the awning, there's already a stream running through it, and a puddle forming on top of the dry ground. Good job we brought our wellies…
Millie's favourite thing today: swimming
Matthew's favourite thing today: ice-cream
SUNDAY
At the offer of cereal and toast, James snorts mildly and escorts us all to the on-site restaurant once more for another breakfast extravaganza. The TV is on, and the forecast is dire: it's due to rain, pretty much until the end of time as far as we can gather. Ever the optimists, we gather our kit together and head for… Cromer beach!
Millie and Matthew are thoroughly over-excited to be back on a beach, and run down the slope a bit too fast, almost tripping over their spades on the way. We set up camp on the west side of the pier, and while the beach has a fair few pebbles, there's plenty of sand for castle-building projects.
James starts to dig out his trademark 'car', and the children help by hunting for stones (headlights), shells (dashboard instruments) and sticks (gear lever). Sadly, before the kids can try out the seats, the rain comes and it's time for another sharp exit. In the way of our strange British weather, though, the beating rain departs almost as quickly as it arrived, which leaves us free to make our way to Matthew's favourite destination – the ice-cream shop!
Our visits to Cromer always include a stop at Windows Ice-Cream Parlour, which is near the seafront on New Street. The pink boards on its walls list the many icy temptations on offer, but Matthew knows what he likes and, as ever, places his order for a 99. James has more sophisticated tastes, though, and takes delivery of a large 'blue goo' – soft, whippy ice-cream with blue swirls running through. The kids are fascinated, and he doesn't manage to hang on to it for long!
After lunch at the site, rain sets in once more and keeping the kids happy becomes… challenging. They're playing in the awning, but the ball keeps crashing into the washing-up crate, the elastic holding the curtains in place is in serious danger of snapping under the onslaught of general twanging, and Matthew insists on zipping and unzipping one corner of the awning and poking his little head out into the downpour.
In desperation, we decide to make creative use of the facilities and head over to the baby and toddler washroom to give the kids an impromptu bath. Both children love the room: it's warm and cosy, featuring a half-size bath with a built-in seat, plus hairdryer, nappy change unit, sink and child-size toilet. Millie points at the toilet and jumps up and down, saying, "Everything's just the right size!". High praise indeed from this demanding customer.
Leaving James to finish off, I go back to the van and start to chop onions and garlic for spaghetti bolognese. Two shiny children and one soggy husband soon reappear, making positive noises about the yummy cooking smells. Reaching for the kettle, I realise the electricity isn't working – and a quick peep out of the window tells me that in the five seconds our backs have been turned, Matthew has been busy with the EHU bollard. He gets a firm telling-off, but general hysteria seems to have set in, and at 9pm the kids are still giggling and popping the window blinds up. Deep breaths…
Millie's favourite thing today: the seaside
Matthew's favourite thing today: ice-cream
MONDAY
Having sifted through the leaflets in the site's information centre (and seen the dark grey skies above), we decide to visit Let Off Steam, an indoor play centre in Sheringham.
The centre is perfect for pre-school children, and Millie and Matthew waste no time in climbing over the brightly coloured bumps and obstacles, whizzing down the shiny slides and traversing the rope bridge. Space bouncers roll around on the floor for the children to play with, and there are boxes of books dotted around the room if the youngsters want a quiet five minutes away from the action. James and I have a coffee each from the café, and the kids refuel between slides with a toasted teacake.
After obligatory stops at the ice-cream shop and amusement arcades, we wander along the promenade and down onto the flinty shore to watch the waves lapping in. Sitting on the huge rocks at the edge of the 'beach', you have to admire the swathe of flint that adorns the coastline here, even though it doesn't have the child-pleasing qualities of sand. Away from the shore, the flint is everywhere, decorating houses, walls, farms, barns, churches and all manner of buildings across the county.
After lunch back at the site, we drive into Cromer and, in a moment of dubious judgement, decide to climb the 50m tower of Cromer Parish Church (£1.50 for adults, free for under-5s). The well-meaning man who takes our money assures us that the climb is do-able with two young children but after trying it out I'd have to disagree. The staircase is steep and spiral, with concrete steps that get steeper towards the top: Matthew soon gets tired and Millie quite scared. The last thing you want is a tantrum on stairs like these, so we end up edging our way back down, the kids bumping down on their bottoms. By the time we reach ground level, both kids are filthy and unhappy, so this is not one to add to your 'must-see' list.
Millie's favourite thing today: Let Off Steam
Matthew's favourite thing today: ice-cream
The full version of the next 4 days can be found in the October 2007 issue.
TUESDAY
It's an extremely wet, windy and wobbly night in the van. James manfully gets out of bed just after midnight to put the big awning strap on, and at the same time rescues our Thomas the Tank Engine football which is rolling away. We are lucky though: the washing-up room is full of talk that someone's awning poles have simply shattered under the strain.
WEDNESDAY
We get up today to find that the caravan is to be turned into a hospital. It seems that both Fimbo (Millie's favourite toy) and Flat Ted (Matthew's) have got nasty cases of chicken pox and need some serious looking after. But with the kids' attention spans being firmly on the short side, their toys' woes are soon forgotten and we pack our swimsuits and drive the 10 minutes to Sheringham to try out the indoor pool at Splash Leisure & Fitness Centre.
THURSDAY
Oooh… what's that big yellow thing in the sky? Sunshine! As soon as we've recovered from the shock of seeing some blue skies at last, we set off for the Norfolk Shire Horse Centre, just
a few minutes away in West Runton.
FRIDAY
The yellow thing in the sky has disappeared again, which is our cue for another fun session in the pool at Splash Leisure & Fitness Centre. I'm almost starting to feel like a regular here! Then, sadly, it's time to head back to the site to make preparations for our trip home tomorrow.
|
