One word? When seven would do…

My very drawn out holiday blog – I started it when we got back last night but have only managed to finish it tonight so it now included today as well. It’s good to be back and it was a lovely break :).

We’re back a night early from the first holiday we’ve had just the four of us in several years. It had initially started as a holiday for several of us, at a different location, but ended up just being us and actually was rather nice that way. It took a bit of shaking down, with quite specifically a few fall outs between Scarlett and I – I think things have been sliding between us for a couple of weeks now with me failing to react in the positive and calming way I mastered earlier this year to much success. After a particularly unpleasant episode on Friday, followed by a big meltdown on the beach on Saturday (Very Public Parenting – yuck!) we had a Big Chat on Sunday and things have been fine ever since with her really trying to modify her behaviour and me really trying to modify my reactions – feels better already, although of course I anticipate it always being a work in progress…

It also takes a while to adjust to the changed dynamic of having all four of us together, both parents around full time and all of us getting used to new surroundings. We are still fairly virginial in the whole camping and outdoorsy stakes and we’d gone away with a budget of £100 for the week meaning food and entertainment were pretty frugal pursuits, so that posed an added challenge. I won’t lie and say the week was all sweetness and light and without it’s tense moments, but we did by far outweigh the sticky bits with lots of great times and as it is the first ‘holiday’ with the big label of ‘holiday’ hanging over itself rather than ‘home ed camp’ since we severely readjusted our financial situation it was pretty much a success I would say. 🙂 We all came home today having agreed we’d enjoyed it and looking back at pictures it was certainly filled with loads of good trips and adventures. In all, we had a lovely time but I didn’t want to skim over the bits which were slightly more trying in favour of a rosy picture.

Thursday We got away dead on time at 10am and the route finder anticipated us arriving at midday (it is only just over 100 miles so 2 hours is about right) which sounded perfect for going and finding some lunch before heading to the campsite. Unfortunately we hit traffic at Chichester and then again about 15 miles from Swanage so it was more like 1.30pm by the time we actually arrived. The campsite was through a rather rough looking area which had us both silently with sinking hearts (I’d booked it online with no real idea of what it would be like and it was very cheap so I sort of feared the worst) but the woman who booked us in was really friendly – all the camp wardens were sitting on a bench together outside the office and all looked really outdoorsy types – full of enthusiasm, showed me an aerial view picture of the whole site and explained we’d paid to camp at the bottom of the hill near all the facilities (showers, loos, chemical loo point, launderette, kids playpark etc.) but if we wanted to we were welcome to drive to the very top where the views were amazing. We thought we’d drive around and explore the site and then decide, but once we reached the top and saw the views we decided straightaway to pitch at the top of the hill. It would have been slightly cheaper (and at £90 for six nights I thought it was pretty cheap already) to have booked for there as it was away from the facilities but as we have the portapotty anyway and passed the washing up area and showers on our way out of the campsite every day it was fine to be a bit further away from them. The Crap Tent went up pretty well, although we still didn’t manage to pitch it totally square, unlike Chris and Alison’s Eurohike which we’ve got on long-term loan (;)) and seems to almost pitch itself despite our lack of experience the Crap Tent seems to need a protractor and set square and someone with a maths degree to work out the angles for us, and of course as soon as you put the inner pods in it pulls it all out of shape again anyway. We got pretty much set up and then headed back down the hill to Swanage to have an explore around.

We had bakery sausage rolls for lunch, eaten sitting on the beach, perched on the only few square centermentres of sand which didn’t have people cooking themselves squashed onto it. I guess living with a beach at the end of our road sort of spoils me for wanting to join the masses, and as I don’t really ‘do’ sunbathing or flaunting myself in swimwear sitting on a crowded bit of sand while overdressed and feeling my skin fry is so not my idea of fun. I do adore the beach and the sea, but actually I think I like it most of all during the winter when it is all windy and rainy, with just the odd person about and you just get contrasts of grey rather than blue. It is a lovely beach, just made massively less attractive for me by it’s likeness to one of those ‘saucy’ seaside postcards filled with windbreaks, people with knotted hankies on their heads and way too many giddy with excitement crazily barking at everyone dogs. Yes I was having a moment :blush:

We got a windbreak and had a play in the park. Now despite my documented dislike of parks this was quite a good one with an excellent swing with a full seat including back, moulded with straps so children could *really* swing and a massive seesaw with room for about 4 people on each side. So even I had a go on the seesaw. Then we gathered supplies from the CoOp and headed back to the campsite to finish setting up camp and have tea. We gathered lots of brochures and leaflets about things to do nearby and the campsite had given me a magazine aimed at tourists to the area too, but actually I wish we’d done a little more advance research on what there was to do as I’m sure we missed things and could have been slightly better planned. Curry for dinner eaten looking out over the sea, watching the sun set and finally the stars come out, people watching the rest of the campers (only a handful that first night) and congratulating ourselves on our luck at such a good campsite based on pure fluke!

Friday I’m not sure if we had a plan in mind or not but we drove past Corfe Castle
which only a few miles from Swanage and visible from our campsite, so parked up and walked up the steep hill to the castle. It is a National Trust property and cost £13 to go in, so deciding that at best it would probably only make for a few nice pictures and half an hour of engaging the children we passed on that and had a look round Corfe instead. Having come home and seen prices for joining the National Trust online though we’ll join up next month as free entry into the various places just local to where we were staying would have made for a good week and I think there are plenty of other places locally we could visit too. There was a shop dedicated to Enid Blyton’s works in the village called Ginger Pop (which I can find a link for but it keeps crashing my firefox so I won’t put here :roll:) with a Wishing Chair and loads of Enid Blyton books, toys and other bits inside – all very expensive and touristy but nice 🙂 Apparently Corfe Castle was the inspiration for Kirrin Castle in the Famous Five and the railway station from Swanage to Corfe, between which runs a steam train was the one Anne, Dick and Julian arrived at when first they met George and Timmy. There was a small museum (one room with two open doors to walk through) with lots of bits and pieces on the history of Corfe including some policemens truncheons, helmets and stocks so we looked at that before getting cakes from a bakers and taking them to the station to sit and eat them while watching steam trains puff in and out. There was a small railway museum too with various relics from trains and stations so we looked at that and weighed ourselves on the platform scales to see what a family of Goddards weigh :). Then we walked back to the car over the hill again. Corfe castle is very high up on a very steep hill which would have made it a bugger to invade, Davies and I scaled it while Ady and Scarlett stayed below. Climbing up was alright, if slightly daunting, but all the time I was aware we’d need to obey gravity and be coming back down again. Ady stood, camera ready while we descended but I managed to remain on my feet (knees very bent!) and Davies – who does not have to worry about grass stains on the bottom of his shorts – slid down on his bum! We also had a look in a lovely church while we were there -we like churches :).

We left there and had something of a hiatus about what to do next. I’d been insisting I wanted to find a ‘proper’ supermarket to get value tins of food to stretch our meagre budget so Ady had found a Tesco on his sat nav which we started to drive to with the children making a fuss about wanting to go to the beach, me getting cross because I didn’t want to go back to Swanage beach (due to it being full of people and quite specifically people who sit on crowded beaches 😉 ) and ‘we have a beach at home and didn’t come all this way on holiday to sit on a different strip of the same beach!’. So we turned back and went to Lulworth Cove which looked lovely in the guidebooks but cost £2.50 to park at, which was way too much of our budget when I was already in a bad mood so we pulled away from there too. Scarlett and I then had a major falling out about her putting her seatbelt on, which is best with a triple line drawn under it but I think shocked both of us with the strength of my temper 😯 😳 After all that we ended up back in Swanage, found a free parking space and walked to the opposite end of the beach to the crowds. I did some sand sculpting which Ady and the kids were most complimentary about until we saw a life size sculpture of a figure lying down which was so excellent it almost looked real and made mine look very amateur. Scarlett did some drawing in the sand which was very good too. Davies redefined ‘paddling’ into going out to the depth of his neck which meant me getting him to take his shorts off and go in in pants and T shirt was a bit pointless :lol:. We walked all the way along the bay in the sea and then all the way back again alongside the rocks looking for fossils. We found some steps up from the beach a short way before we’d come down so walked up them and found ourselves on top of a cliff which led to the roads and eventually back to the car, by way of a sweet shop to spend 20p which Scarlett had found on the beach. Then back to the campsite for dinner. The site really started to fill up ready for the weekend with loads of people arriving and plenty of people watching potential including one very entertaining argument about someone pitching and then parking their car too close to someone else’s tent and ‘ruining their view’ 😆 I sat and mostly read my book.

Saturday We spent a very nice morning lazing about the campsite – I read most of a book and indulged in loads more people watching and tea drinking. Chris and Alison were coming to visit but their journey took way longer than expected, so although the lesser time spent with them was a shame it was nice to have nothing to be doing. Ady even took Davies and Scarlett down to the little park on the campsite which meant I had total peace, aside from twitters ;). They arrived, we spent ages more lounging around and chatting before heading down to the beach for an hour or so, via the shops to stock up on barbecue food, before coming back up to the campsite for a barbecue. They stayed until it got dark – and a bit later before heading off for yet another epic journey home, meaning they spent more time on the road there and back than they did with us, so thanks, for coming, for the horrid journey, for the company and of course for all the food 🙂 😉 xx. We dragged Davies and Scarlett away from the posse of small children roaming the campsite in the dark with torches and put them to bed.

Sunday We decided to head along the coast towards Weymouth and see if we could spot any car boot sales along the way. I spent my first mini break away from home in Weymouth, staying with my then boyfriend and his family, so the town has many memories for me (from, gulp 15 years ago!). I was telling the children about it (not all about it, obviously, Weymouth was after all the scene of my infamous vomit inside my jeans adventure!) and how my ancient Ford Escort had to make the journey along the coast in installments cos it kept running out of water in the battery. Odd to stand on a bridge I’d stood on drunkenly exchanged promises to love each other forever with someone some 15 years later with my children by someone else! 😆 We had chips for lunch and having seen some lads crabbing over the side of the marina wall and doing pretty well we bought the kids a crabbing line each from the pound shop, but having no bait were unsuccessful in catching anything.

We decided to head across onto Portland for a look round, it being somewhere we’d never been before but knew of. I had in my head it was a complete island with no road access for some reason which it isn’t so we drove across the road with beach on both side and up to the viewing areas for amazing views of Chesil Beach. We’d spotted a boat in Weymouth harbour with the name ‘Davies’ on it and there was a war memorial at the viewing point with another ‘Davies’ on it, so we talked a bit about war and memorials. Ady and I also talked a bit about just how beautiful England is. I know the sun was shining which always makes things pretty but we are quite used to sea and hills where we live and often acknowlegde how lovely Sussex is but Dorset is particularly lovely I think.

We drove along to Portland Bill lighthouse and parked with the intention of getting some photos from outside but it was only £6.50 for a family ticket to go up inside so we did it. There is a museum / tourist centre in the base with various interactive bits and then you go up the stairs to the very top. The children did really well given it is quite head swimmy going up steep spiral staircases (Scarlett was only just tall enough to be allowed in to climb it) and then the final 19 steps from the viewing platform up to where the actual light is are ladder style. That done and photos taken we all had to climb back down again! 😆

We came down and found the amazing rocks to clamber on. Now Davies and Scarlett are rock clamberers extrodinaires so they wasted no time at all in scrambling about on them. There is an amazing rock at the end called Pulpit Rock which actually has hand and foot holds so you can climb it (which people do and then jump into the sea afterwards). I think Davies and I might have had a go if we’d not been wearing crocs and if the way down – jumping into the sea or back the way we came – hadn’t been so daunting. We amused ourselves by dangling our legs off the side, laying down close to the edge and leaping over the big gaps between rocks with waves crashing below though, so still felt quite brave :).

We then had a very entertaining half an hour where we tried to get some self timer shots of us with the lighthouse in the background. Entertaining because the place was swarming with (mainly foreign) tourists who saw Ady taking off a shoe to wedge the camera in the right place, or balance it on rocks, or leave it in the middle of the grass and run back to us and kept offering to take the photo for us. Which we sort of couldn’t help but smile gratefully and accept really. Except not only did that mean it wasn’t a genuine self timer, it also meant that in every single one of the taken by someone else shots (and I think there were about 5) they’d managed to chop the top of the lighthouse off. So we have a selection of nice shots of us with half a lighthouse and less good ones of us with Ady swiftly leapt in at the last second but with the lighthouse in shot!

We picked up a leaflet while we were there about Marine Week happening currently including various events such as glass bottomed boat rides from Fleet lagoon, which looked fab and very reasonably priced. Somehow I completely missed the bit saying booking was essential, so we planned to do that the next day and headed back off to the campsite hoping for a good nights’ percy thingys spotting. The weather which had been clear all the time to that point and stayed clear while all the stars came out suddenly clouded over at 1030pm with the visible stars shrinking from a panoramic sky view to the tiniest patch, to nothing pretty much at about 11pm when it was all due to start happening. We gave it ten minutes or so to clear up before rain set in and we gave up and went to bed.

MondayWe all slept in in the morning and showers followed by washing up the previous nights dinner made for a slow start to the day. We headed back to Whke Regis for the glass bottomed boat, picking up stuff for a picnic lunch at Asda on the way. We located the jetty where the boat left from and sat nearby picnicking and then spent some time watching people crabbing using bacon in a washing powder tablet bag on the end of a line. This was the method we’d been told was successful at Pagham Harbour last weekend and sure enough they were pulling two or three large crabs out every few minutes. The boat pulled in with the previous tour all getting off and saying how wonderful it had been. The fisherman running it (who looked just like Captain Birdseye!) asked if we’d booked and when we said we hadn’t radioed to the booking office to discover it was fully booked for all the rides that day :(. They were not expecting to run on Tuesday due to the bad weather forecast and we were coming home on Wednesday so that was that – no glass bottomed boat ride. 🙁 I was the mostb upset I think, it had looked so good, although having peeked at the boat to see that yes, it really did have a glass bottom panel the children were very keen too so I’ll have to see if it is something that we can do locally at home.

We stayed and watched the crabbing for a while before deciding to go back to Lulworth Cove again and see what it was like there. This time someone kindly gave us their carpark ticket as they were leaving with over an hour left on it, so we walked round the museum centre and then down to the cove. It was very pretty and we watched a crab being dressed in one of the little shacks selling freshly caught fish, paddled in the rock pools and found some tiny crabs and a teeny tiny octopus like creature before deciding we had budget left over from not doing the boat ride to spend on ice creams. We found a shop selling fantastic Dorset ice cream and as the sauce machine wasn’t working properly she gave us the flakes for nothing 🙂

The children are still at the stage of ice cream eating where they need an adult on hand to keep licking it into shape for them so Ady took on that role while I had a whole one to myself. 🙂 It almost made up for the boat ride.

Back at the campsite the rain suddenly set in while Ady was cooking the kids’ tea. We battened down as best we could, took our tea in the tent too and sat reading Milly Molly Mandy stories until the children went to sleep, then chatting for a while longer before trying to sleep through as much of the howling wind and lashing rain as we could. We suspected the tent would not hold up well to the weather and had evacuation plans in place ready should the worst happen but we did manage to make it through the night.

Tuesday In the morning though it was apparent that all three bedroom pods had leaked and bedding had started to get soggy in places. The tent, which had already got a few tears in points of tension was showing distinct signs of not being able to take much more so we put towels around the outsides, stuck marquee poles in to keep the outer off the inners and planned that if the weather didn’t dramatically improve through the day and dry out then we’d pack up for home that night rather than the following morning. We had a speedy breakfast and headed off down into Swanage to find a free parking space as close to the bus station as possible. Donning waterproofs and wellies we ran back to the bus station to catch the first bus to Poole. For £14 we got a family explorer ticket which was unlimited travel for the day on Wilts and Dorset busses. Some were open topped, although the one we got on wasn’t, but it was double decker so we sat at the top and watched the countryside go by as we drove through Dorset, over the chain ferry and towards Poole and Bournemouth. We pulled up behind an open topped bus just outside Poole so leapt off our bus and onto that one and sat at the front on the top getting blustered about in the wind and rain. Ady and Scarlett decamped downstairs but Davies and I lasted it out, laughing the whole way. 😆

We stopped at Poole and got off to find some food and tea and coffee as we’d run out of milk and water at the tent so hadn’t had a caffiene fix yet. More bakery goods and hot drinks later we headed back to the bus depot to find our bus had just left and the next wasn’t due for another hour. The depot was at the back of a large shopping mall which we’d walked through to find the bakers and found ourselves feeling like country bumpkins in. Not only were we camping, which always gives you a slightly ‘simple life’ look and feel, it’s also been a while since we frequented shopping malls really. For once I wasn’t filled with a sense of longing for plastic to go and thrash in the all the shops, I was filled with almost relief that I don’t feel the need to do that anymore and a slight panic and the frantic-ness of the atmosphere, which used to excite me and encourage me to spend but now makes me feel out of control and likely to do something silly – like an alcoholic in a pub or a gambler in a betting shop I guess – I know the high of spending could so easily be submitted to again but I also know the price of it – on all levels and it’s nice to feel I can walk away without longing for it and head back to my tent! 😆

So, not wanting to spend an hour back in the shops we caught a bus back to Swanage by a different route past the castle rather than on the ferry. This was a regular bus, with steamed up windows you couldn’t see out of, miserable people not talking to each other and tutting at the childrens’ laughter and chatter and that depressing feeling that public transport can sometimes give you. It is that aspect of busses and trains that makes me long for my car, with the music on, the ability to choose my own route and not worry about how many traces of bodily fluids a swab test might find on the seats. I apologise now to all green minded bus users but I spent the journey wanting to retreat into my coat and glare at anyone wanting to sit within three chairs of me :lol:.

We got off at Swanage and had 45 minutes before the next open topped bus went off and headed for Bournemouth so we went to the little museum and heritage centre in Swanage for a look round. I wish we’d been before actually as it was pretty good with various interactive bits for the children to do and we could have spent more time there. We came out and looked at the sea for a while – a distinct contrast to the same beach two days previously with an odd double wave thing going on where the water hit the sides of the walls containing it and bounced back into the breaking waves on the beach.

Then we dashed back to the bus station and got the bus to Bournemouth. Another place I’ve never been to before and as it was raining with blasts of sea spray coming at you down on the front we ended up having a quick half hour wander before getting back to the next bus back to Swanage again. We did find a really cool surf board attached to the wall to pose for pictures on though – we’d have all had a go but a gaggle of students appeared and neither Ady or I wanted to do it infront of them 😳

One stop in on the way back to Swanage we were joined on the top deck by a woman who wanted to share her whole life story with us. Ady and the children ventured to the back of the bus but I stayed to chat with her as she was quite interesting and obviously lonely. There is something rollercoaster-like and thrilling about open topped busses normally, let alone when it’s windy and raining, so the ride home was good fun, especially the ferry.

We got back to the campsite, the children changed into pjs and got into the car to watch a film while Ady and I packed up. The Crap Tent was a real casualty of being unpitched in the wind and got further damaged, Ady and I got drenched in near torrential rain but we’d stashed dry clothes ready in the car so as soon as we’d packed up we drove to the shower block and got changed before starting out for home. We stopped at the chip shop to get food on the way and got home about 930pm which was at least half an hour earlier than I’d dare hope for so that was good. 🙂 The cat was utterly delighted to see us and sat purring, on my feet for about 5 hours. The children got changed into pjs they hadn’t been camping in all week and I read them another Milly Molly Mandy story before packing them off to bed and then relaxing in a very deep, very hot bath. It was a shame it ended in the wet but having spent the whole week at Kessingland in similar conditions it was fine to tolerate it for the last hour.

Today We spent the morning being very lazy, unpacking the car, sorting the washing out and not a lot else before having lunch. It rained all morning but cleared up at lunchtime so I was able to get a couple of loads of washing out before we left to go to the bank. I’d found some washing powder bags in the cupboard so set up the kids’ crabbing lines with bacon in bags and we drove to a little place just near the point that the River Adur joins the sea to do some crabbing. Davies and I pulled about 5 out of the water but with nothing to put them in we couldn’t get a proper look at them before they scuttled off back into the sea so I nipped home to get a bucket. By the time I got back the tide had gone out, reducing our water to a sandy muddy bank so we drove round to a different bit of beach but decided it wasn’t the right venue either. We collected some pretty shells washed up along the beach and then popped over to see my Dad and brother for an hour.

Three good things have happened today – I had a message to ring work and phoned to find out that my least favourite colleague has handed her notice in for the end of September. She works Saturday mornings when I work Saturday afternoons and they wondered if I’d like to change to mornings once she’s left – well yes! 🙂 This means even the Saturdays I do work I will be finished by 1pm so it won’t ruin the whole weekend – so hurrah for that :). Secondly I got a rabbit hutch off freecycle. The chickens are all tucked up in it tonight although I’m slightly concerned its a bit small. I know they would have about a 50th of the space each if they were battery hens and it is only at night as they free range during the day but at the very least it will be wood to use and a design blueprint for a bigger scale version if it’s not suitable. And finally having idly bidded on a tent on ebay because it was an Outwell which we like, and cheap, and the right size, and collection only (but only down the road really) we won it – for nearly a tenner less than my highest bid :). Have arranged to go and collect it next weekend. It looks to be around the same size as the Crap Tent – which is idea, we were happy with the dimensions of the Crap Tent, just not it’s weatherproofness or ability to pitch so hopefully this will be the tent for us. No idea if we’ll manage to use it this year as all our weekends seem to have filled up again but fingers crossed we’ve got something that will work for us this time.

And that’s it, I think I’m up to date. Back off to work tomorrow and Lovely Em is here tomorrow night so I expect I’ll be playing catch up again later in the week. It’s been good to have the break, we’ve done lots of chatting about where life might take us next and lots of planning maybes for the future, but at least, unlike Kessingland we really do feel like we’ve had a break this time, I feel refreshed and ready to get on with things again. 🙂