Tag Archives: National Trust

Tredegar House Country Park.

04 Thursday Feb 2016

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Tredegar House Country Park is within a mile of the M4 and only seven miles from Cardiff. The house itself is recognised as one of the most significant 17th century houses in the whole of the British Isles. The house is open between Easter and September and the park itself open all year as is The Caravan Club site. The site is about to be extremely busy with the Six Nations Cup.

The house and parkland is operated by the National Trust and is another example of the successful relationship between the Trust and the Club. The site is seven acres with eighty pitches and I stayed for a couple of nights and thoroughly enjoyed it. Immaculate – not easy in February with the recent weather – with an Asda round the corner should you have suffered as I did from a memory lapse. 

Christopher Macgowan

@motorhomenews

Kendal CC Site – get away from it all!

06 Saturday Jun 2015

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Recently I stayed at The Caravan Club’s Kendal site just off J36 of the M6 next to the tiny village of Sedgwick.

If you want a bit of peace and quiet but with all mod cons to hand this is the site to go for! The fast moving River Kent runs alongside the site, consequently there is stacks of wild life and it is clearly a botanist’s haven – pungent wild garlic at this time of year. For my part I walked to the nearby Strickland Arms – thirty minutes – and enjoyed a very nice evening there.

The site is National Trust woodland and is itself a former 19th century gunpowder mill. Basic data: 20 acres, 140 pitches, all hard standings, 9 serviced pitches.

Christopher Macgowan

@motorhomenews

Incleboro Fields, Norfolk.

21 Sunday Jul 2013

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20130721-103019.jpg Incleboro Fields is just outside Cromer and is one of The Caravan Club’s larger sites at 21 acres and 250 pitches. It has been with the Club well over 50 years but even after all this time it is easy to see that it used to be a golf course. The fairways and the greens form a number of bespoke mini sites and with the varying levels it is an interesting and surprisingly intimate site despite its size.

Access is by a long and narrow lane which threads its way through a lovely and very active golf course – the consequence of which is to urge Caravan Club members not to arrive before 1pm in order to avoid congestion. On one side is the National Trust property of Felbrigg Hall and on the other is the golf club, club house and a hotel. (I had an excellent evening meal in the club house which is open to all and overlooks the first tee. Almost unbelievable but in fact true, it was to this course that a young Gary Player came to work when he moved from South Africa as an almost unknown professional player.)

It is a lovely site maintained as you expect to the highest standards and I have just returned home from there having soaked up a lot of sun in this glorious weather. You have never seen an awning unwound and ready to go as quickly as mine on arrival on Thursday evening. Wonderful.

Christopher Macgowan
twitter: motorhomenews

Houghton Mill

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

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20130604-180725.jpgHoughton Mill is one of my favourite sites. It is owned by the National Trust, managed by The Caravan Club, is on the banks of the River Great Ouse and is on the edge of the delightful village of Houghton. It has fifty four all grass pitches and is much loved in particular by walkers and dog owners – and by twitchers like me.(Is everyone enjoying BBC2’s Springwatch as much as I am?)

Christopher Macgowan
twitter: motorhomenews

Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire.

17 Sunday Feb 2013

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I am visiting Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge this weekend and it is a delight. Owned by the National Trust is has wonderful garden walkways, the snowdrops are out and my photo is of the mill.

It was formerly a priory (it seems you have to have fifty monks to make an abbey and they only had twelve) and covers some ninety eight acres. It was also the former home of the Fairhaven family one of whom went by the astonishing name of Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton.

Well worth a visit. Free parking and small motorhome friendly.

Christopher Macgowan
twitter: motorhomenews

Apple says 40 billion apps have been downloaded.

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

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Apps for iPhones and iPads are starting to be more widely available in our motorhome world. One of my favourites is the National Trust. But today’s announcement from Apple is breathtaking!

Apple today announced that customers have downloaded over 40 billion apps, with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone. The App Store has over 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with over two billion downloads during the month.

Developers have earned over seven billion dollars from selling iPhone apps so far.

“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”

In 2012, the husband and wife team at Imangi Studios saw their game Temple Run downloaded more than 75 million times; Backflip Studios and Supercell, two emerging game development studios, brought in over $100 million combined for their leading freemium titles DragonVale and Clash of Clans; and emerging services including Uber, Flipboard, HotelTonight, and AirBnB attracted millions of users on iOS.

The 40 billion downloads figure excludes any re-downloads and updates.

Christopher Macgowan
twitter: motorhomenews

HOUGHTON MILL CARAVAN CLUB SITE

09 Saturday Apr 2011

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I am at the Houghton Mill Caravan Club site and frankly the setting is idyllic. This is a National Trust property managed by The Caravan Club and is just outside Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The River Great Ouse supplies the mill with water and in the area there seem to be dozens of marinas and caravan sites in this hugely popular part of the country.

If a staycation is on the cards you should perhaps consider this locality.

All 54 pitches are grass and it is a full facility site although no play area for children which is probably very sensible as, although not an adults only site, it is not a suitable spot for children surrounded as it is by water.

Over the years I have accumulated a rather ridiculously long list of “favourite sites” and my only problem with Houghton Mill is that just eight miles away is one of my favourites – Grafham Water. However, for a motorhomer, Houghton Mill has the added attractions of literally being in the village of Houghton with its shop and pub barely two minutes stroll away; it is indeed an idyllic setting.

Christopher Macgowan