Worcestershire another first

We are off to Cob House Park in Worcestershire despite having a Habitation door window held in with duct tape. The warranty claim is in progress but we cannot wait for a fix.

The route took us to Nottingham then onto the A42/M42 around Birmingham to the M5. I had seen we needed junction 5 on the M5 but the sat nav wanted to keep us on the motorway. Of course I ignored her and followed the A38 which took us around Droitwich and into Worcester, over the river and  up to the A4204. We arrived ok but looking at the map It may have been better to follow ‘Jane’ our navigator.

The Cob House Site is a Park with fishing lakes and a Cafe / restaurant. There are animals to watch and feed and several footpaths according to the information board. 

The Stewards were very friendly as they always are and after filling with water we were told we could park anywhere. We opted to go along a fence near the lakes where it is fairly peaceful. We have a small motorhome  one side and a van conversion has just joined us on the other side. The weather is warm and cloudy with the sun breaking through now and then. We put the gazebo up facing the lakes so we can watch the wildlife and be sheltered from the breeze.

I went for a walk to the cafe to get a wi-fi connection, I got one and downloaded some emails. One was from the Lincoln garage where the warranty work on Iona is going to happen, well it was but Auto-Trail have told them that my chassis is not registered on the system. The next half hour was on the internet and phone trying to sort it out. I have been told that Iona is registered and they (Spinney Motorhomes) are going to put it on the system again. Hopefully that will sort it out.

Tonight Sue had macaroni cheese for tea and I had chicken and a salad. We ate outside in the gazebo. We were going to watch TV at 9.00pm but for the first time we could not get a signal. After several attempts and retunes we could not get any programs so we watched a dvd, the Krays. Fantastic film and we retired to bed later than normal.

The MayFly Cafe

Day 2:

Woke at 8am and once all the jobs were done we left to go for a short walk but we met another camper who explained that the reception had several planned walks. We took all the leaflets and chose a short 5 mile circular route.

The route took us down an old green lane and then onto country lanes towards Martley. At Martley we found the church and apart from looking very picturesque it was open. Inside it was amazing for a village church, with the roof of open woodwork, plaques on the walls with prayers and Psalms from the 15th/16th century. Painted murals on the walls with animals and ornate designs. There is a carving in cedar wood of Jesus , the tree once stood in the churchyard.

In the church there was a system to listen to several explanations and history of the church. It was very interesting learning more about aspects of the building and it’s history. Outside in the millennium meadow is a chair carved from a tree and a couple of ponds where the clergy raised fish for eating.

We left the church and followed a footpath across fields and eventually joined a lane and followed it home. As we entered the park we were going to pass a swan on her nest but the Cob swan was nearby, however I got close enough to see the Pen swan off her nest and 3 or 4 cygnets in the sun, they were fairly small and probably only a few days old. We stopped at the Mayfly cafe for a cup of tea and free wi-if, we got the tea but the wi-fi was too weak to use.

By the time we left she had lost all 4 cygnets

The afternoon was sunny and very hot so not much happened, I went for a stroll around the lake that is being drained, ready to be filled in and become the site of a 21 pitch caravan site. Our neighbour was fishing in an adjacent pond so I had a chat with him while he continually pulled roach and bream out. I left him in peace and went back ‘home’.

On the way home I stopped to talk to another motorhomer who was just putting his Cadac together. He had the latest version so being nosey I was interested to see how it differed from our original model. It turned out it was the first time he had unwrapped it and he had left the instructions at home. So feedback will be another time. Tea tonight is a Bar-b-que on our Cadac.

Day 3:

It is a bit different today, overcast with some dark clouds but the forecast says it should brighten up this afternoon with sunny intervals. We went for a short walk around the park and we found the fish breeding ponds and what appeared to be the original farm yard. Yesterday there was a fishing match on one pond and today it was empty so we had a closer look at the fishing side of the park. The swan we saw the other day had moved ponds and she had one cygnet in the water with her, we assume the others were on her back under her wings.

He liked a scratch

On the way round we found the goats and pigs, the reindeer were in a shelter at the far side of their pen. We saw mistletoe growing on trees near the lakes, something I had not seen before in such thick clumps.

Mistletoe growing in the trees by the lakes

This evening was going to be a bar-b-que but I got distracted by the stewards and then it started raining so Sue cooked inside and we ate tea in the gazebo.

Day 4:

We had a walk around the park and after 6pm we walked around the lakes while no one was fishing. The afternoon was warm so I took the gazebo down while it was dry, we dried the carpet over a fence so that we were virtually packed ready for leaving on Saturday.

The sat nav recommended a different way home avoiding Droitwich and joining the M5 at junction 6 instead of junction 5. The drive home was uneventful and took 3 hours. Our next trip is into Cambridgeshire just south of Duxford.

Trip 8: 239.3 miles,  28.8 mpg, 39 mph, 6 hours driving.