After more than a month without, we have had some good steady rain today. It will fill up the water butts and seep a good inch or more into the soil.
I made bread and did the ironing ( and all the egg stuff of course) and C spent a short while tidying his workshop ( He needs about three days in there really!), sorted out some bits to mend the broken poly tunnel frame, cut some wood and, in a dry spell, fixed the broken post in the fruit cage so that we can get the net over the top soon.
When people have asked about our campsite via this blog, I've always referred them to our site number in The Camping and Caravanning Club Big Sites Book or on the C&CC website, then yesterday I thought I'd better check that searching via our site number on the web site actually works.Whoops......it doesn't! So I've added a sort of link to the top right of the blog where the address can be copied and will take you straight to the page. One of the Clubs new rules is to stop us advertising our site anywhere other than via the Club book or website so I hope this doesn't break their new rule. ( Ya Boo Sucks to them if it does!)
The C&CC Big Sites book is sent to members of the club every two years and all the bumf for renewing our entry in it arrived in the post the other day. Although we can get a free entry, it is very basic, allowing no extra wording to inform people of whats around about in the area. So I've always paid about £40 to have up to 20 extra words. They've now increased this to £180!! Telling us how many more people we will get to our site if we pay the extra. ( How do they know?) There is even a more expensive package for £345!! I certainly can't afford that. That would seriously erode the profits.
Working out how to say everything in 20 words for the book is difficult. I came up with
Rural location.Good for birdwatching.RSPB Minsmere 5m.On Suffolk Coastal cycle route.Circular walks nearby. Tourist information available.
However this "enhanced package" allows an extra 150 word on the website. Somehow writing 150 words about our campsite is even harder. I shall need to work on this.
Thank you for all the interesting comments yesterday.
The Weaver of Grass ( sorry I keep forgetting your name which I've seen mentioned somewhere) said that on a new campsite near her farm the owner makes scones for new arrivals. In theory this sounds lovely but here in practice it would be jolly hard work! Sometimes people arrive at midday, others arrive late evening and some days there are 3 or 4 caravans arriving, sometimes all at once!
Our friend has a holiday cottage on her farm and when they first opened she started baking a sponge for new arrivals. Then people mentioned this in the visitors book and now she feels she has to bake every time, and whereas when they first opened they had weeks empty between visitors, now they have someone there every week. Worst of all is that sometimes she finds the cake in the bin when she clears up the cottage between visitors. People are odd!
Sue at Our New Life in the Country said that on a site near her the owner is going to use shepherd huts in place of some caravans. The Camping and Caravanning Club have varied the rules so that small Certificated Site owners like us can have shepherd huts or movable pods that can be put on and off the site for visitors to use instead of them bringing their own caravans or tents. Seems like a lot of extra work to me and the cost of these huts or pods is VERY EXPENSIVE! We won't be doing that. I've got enough cleaning to do without cleaning a shepherds hut or camping pod!
I hope what most people want is a friendly welcome, quiet, tidy campsite with short grass, clean loos, and rubbish bins emptied. That's what we aim for here.
