A good nights sleep set us up for a long day at the castle. it was only a short walk from the campsite we were on, next to Warwick Racecourse.

Lots to do at the castle, expensive to get in I will say and then for things to cost money inside was a bit of a cheek. However a few very well planned and demonstrated talks about bows and arrows, birds of prey,

armour,

a live episode of Horrid Histories, a live Jousting, some knights training for Toby and a wander through and over the castle,

not to mention the surprise peacock,

After all this, and with very tired legs, we headed into the town centre. I like the centre of Warwick it seems calm and European.

We were sadly unable to do what we wanted to do tomorrow so we will save that for another time.. no hints..

So instead we decided to drive home.

After the night at the Britstop which wasn’t the most restful (nothing to do with the pub mind you, a reasonably noisy road and a badly parked motorhome!) it was however in a quite nice location.

We left Sherwood Forest and headed for Warwick with the idea of stopping over in Nottingham on the way.

Nottingham looks like a nice place from the roads, but the council have seen fit to make it impossible for motorhomes to park (a lot like other cities) so we drove through and targeted Leicester instead. Well that was a good choice, apparently they have the National Space Centre there, and so we aimed for that

This was a good day, we didn’t stay for long but had a interesting time. Toby liked to dress up..

After this we headed for Warwick for the evening.

Up reasonably early this morning as we had a lot to pack away. We emptied the grey water tank on the site and set off for Sherwood Forest. We arrived around midday and there was a “Robin Hood Festival” on. This involved stalls of period equipment, skirmishes, where the sherrif’s men fought Robin and his merry men. Archery (which Toby is amazing at) and a good go on the crossbows. he also threw a pot, which his mum intends to use as a vase.

He was so good in fact, the staff got jealous and well…

After a brief aerobie we headed back to the van and onto a Britstop public house which we had a nice meal in.

You find me in a pub car park and there is a castle on tomorrow’s cards. In a town with a name that resembles conflict in the centre of a candle.

I lied and I’m sorry. We didn’t leave Chatsworth House, we decided to stay another night. Laundry had something to do with it, but so did the draw of the gorgeous house we’re staying next to. Also Toby’s found some good friends so..

We had a slow morning and then a wander around the house. The campsite reduced the cost of entry but the lady wasn’t at all helpful, giving us tickets that were only good for the house and gardens but not the adventure park and farm. So we had to let Toby down.

However the house and gardens were beautiful..

After a wander around, and an appreciate. We totally failed in the maze but had an amazingly tense game of lawn Jenga. April lost and it fell quite dramatically.

Then a slow saunter back to van to drive into Chesterfield for a restock. Found an Airobee for Tobes and back to the campsite for a quiet evening (hopefully). You find us tacking a colossus crossword.

So tomorrow will have Sherwood Forest in it, promise..

Getting up this morning was a struggle. All three of us had difficulty getting the motivation to get out of bed. However after a lengthy lie in we took stock of ourselves and with brekkie inside us, headed for Buxton. Near there are some caves we thought Toby would like to explore and they were impressive.

The tour took about 45 minutes and after we were done we headed for Buxton itself for a look around. Parking in Buxton for a motorhome wasn’t going to happen so we headed for Chesterfield which offered more alternatives however parking was still difficult. We ended up parking in an industrial estate and wandered into the town, which was mostly shut (we’d forgotten it was a Sunday. We bought a book for Toby and wandered back to the van. Then set off for our next stop, Chatsworth House. A caravan club site in the grounds. It is very busy here, but seems quiet. The staff are very helpful and have given us the lowdown for a visit to the house tomorrow.

Tobes has already found the play area..

Apparently we’re in a Brit stop tomorrow night in Sherwood Forest. Hopefully a guy in green will deposit some cash outside the van whilst I’m asleep.

It seems everyone had a good nights sleep, we didn’t fancy rushing today so had a bit of a lie in. After a slow breakfast we headed to just outside Buxton and a cycle trail was on the cards.

So we parked outside a quarry (as we wouldn’t fit in the car park) and walked down to a bike rental shop where April and I rented power assisted bicycles, and we rented the bike Toby wanted from the range they had (honest he didn’t want a power assisted one).. My word, April and I are both interested in one of those bikes.

We cycled for a while along a disused and concreted over railway line into Bakewell, a distance of 8.5 miles. The scenery was breathtaking. Stopped for a very nice lunch and a brief wander around. We then turned around and cycled back. I will admit the electric bicycle certainly took the brunt of the effort and hat off to Toby, he managed the whole thing without too many complaints. 17 Miles!!!

So we left there with three very numb bottoms and headed back to Hayfield Campsite for a relaxing evening. It is raining with gusto this afternoon so, maybe not as much fun for Toby as he’d have hoped but we’ll tempt him with a game of cards..

There’re Caves in the cards for tomorrow.. And Chatsworth house has been mentioned..

Alarm set for 7am… Groan.

Packing up and being off site by 8am… Groan.

Rush hour traffic turning a 20 minute drive into a 45 minute one… Groan.

Cadbury World.. Hurrah!!

Had no idea what to expect from Cadbury World except for maybe an excess of Chocolatey Goodness. We turned up for our tour at 9am and collected our tickets, presented them to a lady to check and she gave us chocolate. Then a tour around the world of Cadbury alongside an interesting cocoa bean history lesson we ended up on the factory floor watching dairy milk being packed. Then a brief trip inside a 4d cinema which Toby loved and we set off for our next campsite, Hayfield.

We arrived in the mid afternoon to a gorgeous site, next to a babbling brook, pitched in record time and wandered into the local town for fish and chips (cooked in beef dripping hmmm.) Sat in the park ate the food and wandered back to the campsite for some peace and quiet. April is very taken with the place and is talking house prices. Not much on tomorrow so we don’t have to get up early.

Maybe a cycle over a viaduct tomorrow.. Or a wander through some caves.. Who knows?

Today we’re heading for the centre of Birmingham so we got up reasonably early, had a hearty breakfast and drove to Birmingham International Airport to park, £5 for the day isn’t half bad and a 10 minutes train journey and we walked out onto the streets. Busy, very busy so we tried to find the information centre which was cunningly located in the library. Not much there but a lady gave us a map and an idea of where we were..

We walked along the canal system, allowing Toby to help some people to open a couple of locks, he seemed to enjoy that. A long walk later and we’d made it to the cathedral and then on to the science museum.

Then science museum was OK, we feel spoilt by Winchester and London’s science museum as they are both bigger and more interactive, however Toby seemed to enjoy the water garden, and the model heart that beat in time with his when he held a metal handle.

We left there once it had closed and after a brief wander around the shopping centre made our way back on the train to the airport, back in the van and back to the campsite.

All in all, there’s no plan to go back, we weren’t all that impressed and we now turn our attention to tomorrow, and Cadbury World and the next campsite.

Ok, so Oxford has bin collections every day, another bad nights sleep and a busy and long day ahead of us.

A breakfast inside of us we headed for Woodstock as April wanted to visit Blenheim Palace today. The drive there wasn’t bad and the palace was outstandingly beautiful.

We we purchased a gardens only ticket as there wouldn’t have been enough time to visit the palace as well, but we were not upset, the gardens were truly awe inspiring. Firstly we got totally lost in a maze and then Tobes was allowed to run riot in an adventure playground.

We we then decided to walk around the gardens, which led us to this,

And a gorgeous rose garden.

And if if those weren’t enough we stumbled across this “cascade”

after the walk and a brief sit for a drink we headed off for our next destination, Kingsbury water park. Epically failed at the no Motorways or major A roads on this leg.

The site seems very quiet (after Oxfords) and we’re looking forward to seeing the beauties of Birmingham tomorrow.

Anyhow it’s getting late and I should put Toby to bed. Nunight all..