Past Trips, UK 2008 Worksop

Worksop

April 13th to 16th

Looking for somewhere to take the twins at half term and Clumber Park came up in conversation.  Dot has wanted to try this place for ages so that is where we booked.

Worksop

Clumber Park Caravan Club Site

Lime Tree Avenue, Clumber Park Worksop S80 3AE

13th April

Arrived about one, I didn't realise how near the site was to the A1, about two minutes away but saying that I never noticed any noise from the road at all. Strangely this is the only campsite that I have ever been to that give you a warning letter about theft from the site and offers overnight safe parking for bikes.

It was cold and it had rained most of the way down but that didn't deter us, the girls were straight over to the playground and then off on their bikes.

We had lunch, setup the satellite, as there was no TV reception (you can plug the TV into a central aerial located on each electrical hook up but you need a very long cable) and then went for a short walk in the woods.

We took the bikes over to the secured storage and then Dot got the girls ready for bed over at the toilet block.

14th April

Today after a visit to the playground and a ride on the bikes, we set out for a longer walk to find the lake and the site of the old Clumber Hall (formerly home to the Dukes of Newcastle).  Dot went to reception and had to pay 50p for an almost useless map of the cycle routes through the park and I forgot to put it in the bag we took with us anyway.

   

The weather turned nasty as we were leaving the site and we had to shelter from a brief hail storm but within minutes the sun was back out.  We left the site via one of the side gates and headed down the bank and across Lime Tree Avenue (the longest avenue of lime trees in Europe) to the footpath for the lake.

The girls decided an unmarked path across the field was the better option for them and headed off that way, while Dot and I continued along the cycleway. Eventually they were getting too far from us and we had to call them back over to the path, they thought this was hilarious as they kept falling over on the deep grass. The walk to the lake was very quiet, we only saw about four other people but I would bet that in the summer it is very crowded indeed.

When we did get to the lake we headed in a clockwise direction round towards the village of Hardwick (the old estate workers housing). We stopped for a drink and snack to watched the swans and ducks on the lake, we even found some swans on their nests.

As we reached the bridge over the overflow from this manmade lake on the river Poulter, the weather changed again and it became very cold so we turned and headed back towards the site.

It did look a long way round the lake so tomorrow we would come back again but head anticlockwise round instead.  We took a slightly different route back and it was shorter than the way we had come, the weather also improved again and again the girls played in the long grass.

Same routine as the previous night only we didn't bother with the bike lockup.

15th April

Back towards the lake along the route we took back yesterday, this time Dot and I walked across the field with the girls much more fun than the path. This route did not take us straight to the lake but more towards the House (I say house but it was demolished in 1938) so we finally reached the lake about half way round at the end of what are called the pleasure grounds (a garden walk).

There was a cold wind by the lake but we found a bench seat set back in the rhododendrons out of the wind, that was quite warm for our picnic lunch. Emily and I took some close-up photos of some swans and ducks, so of course I had to go back and do the same thing with Georgia. The girls had a good run around and play in the trees, they could get right inside some of the older rhododendrons.

Then we had to find a toilet, quickly, I looked on the map and there were two options, to cut a long story short, we took a very long time to go a very long way round to get to the one that was closest. That was all because we though the best option, to be sure to get there, would be to follow the signs posts and not the map, anyway we made it, just.

We had a look at where the house would have been (apparently it was in a really poor condition when it was demolished but why was that?), and set off to see the bridge over the river but it started to rain.  We headed for cover and into the shop where I dropped my camera and now it doesn't work properly anymore (I have since broken three more cameras). We had a cup of tea in the cafe and as the weather looked like it was going to get worse, we headed back. 

Although it was fine and sunny on the walk back to the site we only just got to the van before heavy rain set in for the night.

16th April

Off home today, the girls played in the play park while we packed up and got ready for the trip back.

On the way back we popped into Catterick, to get fish and chips for lunch.  Then the girls had a good time playing in the beck before we got on our way.