The first outing of 2014 and the Sat Nav was taking us North to Alnwick. The Shepherds Rest Inn is a CS site residing in the grounds of the pub, 5 pitches with concrete flagstone runways for the wheels on all pitches, so hardstanding in theory, but the rest is all grass. And as we found out during the weekend, a very wet and windy weekend, the grass became boggy and very slippy resulting in us using the mover to position the ‘van. Cath also took a reverse dive onto the ground whilst pitching up, covering her in mud from waist up! No spare clothes, a think a trip into Alnwick town is in order – to find the nearest clothes shop! This we duly did once the van was pitched and the heating on. We found a nice clothes shop in the town and some new clothes were purchased, WH Smith just along the road proved useful to stock up on some essential reading, following which we headed back to the site.
Upon return, the water utilities were set-up and then we started cooking our tea for the night, fish and chips! The rain kept on raining, darkness fell and soon we fell into our Saturday night routine of cooking, eating, washing up and then TV and books! Good TV reception on site, no need to even raise the aerial!
Sunday arrived and in the rain we headed off to church. St Michael’s in Alnwick, a beautiful building, a little cold but what do you expect from these massive stone buildings. Although the cold was probably more due to the rain sodden clothes than anything else! Following the service we headed for the Aln Valley Railway (oh yes, first train fix of 2014!). Unfortunately it was closed for the Winter and from the locked gates you can’t see much, but I’d been there, next time we’re in the area we’ll look it up again. On the return to the site, we stopped by Barter Books at the old railway station in Alnwick. This is a fantastic bookshop with a model railway running along the tops of the bookcases! A treasure cave of good second hand books, a nice edition of the story of the Tornado was discovered and purchased. Back to the ‘van now.
As it was the birthday weekend for Cath, Sunday dinner was going to be a treat in the pub rather than our usual ‘van cooked meal. So we headed to the pub, all of a few steps and were greeted by Bob who treat us to a superb Sunday lunch and a few glasses of wine. A smashing little pub, very friendly, quality food, highly recommended! The rest of Sunday came and went and Monday morning once again beckoned us to return home.
Packing up was as interesting as the setting up, still raining. Fortunately we had brought a tarpaulin with us which proved invaluable for cleaning things on whilst packing. The three ducks followed us around, quacking away as they do. Cath fed them some bread which they enjoyed and then decided to sit on the tarpaulin. Hitched up we headed back for the A1.
A great weekend despite the rain. A smashing little CS site. Alnwick is a beautiful town and there is enough in the area to reside there for a week easily. Toilet and shower on site in two small wooden huts, accessed by keys. 16A electric at all pitches, water point and CDP – what more do you need!
- Date: 25th January 2014
- Nights: 2
- Pitch #: 1
- GPS: 55.407714, -1.721720
