Tag: Motorhoming

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Autumn Escape

Our motorhome has been back in action this week, on an autumn trip to Cranborne Chase, in England’s south-west.

The area is designated as a National Landscape, which is the new official name given to what were formerly called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The name may have changed, but the landscape certainly hasn’t – not for hundreds of years in fact. This makes it a perfect environment for long country walks across an expansive, rolling green terrain. Gentle climbs take you up high to reveal dazzling views, while paths weave their way through water meadows with clear trickling, bubbling streams past ancient mills. There aren’t many people around and it is really quite remote. Am I painting a clear enough picture here?

It is particularly special this time of year because, as everyone knows, the countryside generally looks even better with autumn colours.

My main photo at the top of the post shows Philipps House, dating from the early 19th Century. It is at the centre of the massive grounds of Dinton Park, which is fully open to public access. We had very clear skies, and from the highest points it was possible to see the spire of Salisbury Cathedral to the east.

The intricate network of footpaths and bridleways takes in some very old buildings and traditional pubs. This photo shows St. Mary’s Church in Dinton village, dating from the 12th Century.

This photo was taken on a walk through woods and across fields to Baverstock, where St. Editha’s Church is located. It has been here since the 15th Century, and provided a perfect lunchtime picnic spot.

We pitched our motorhome in a small site in the middle of some woods, and spent the week off-grid with no electric hook-up. It is just as well the skies were clear and the sun shone as, along with our gas tank, we were rather reliant on that solar panel on the roof 🙂 .

In such a remote location, with no shops anywhere around within walking distance, we planned in advance and took a week’s worth of food and drink. Home-made butternut chilli soup helped keep us warm in the evening.

Quiches made the week before and warmed up in the gas oven came in very handy – those 10k treks certainly give one an appetite!

The solar powered battery helped keep my phone charged overnight, which meant I could still listen to the David Bowie Playlist I’d downloaded to my phone from Spotify. No first world problems here, mate 🙂 .

I can’t quite believe that it in just a few months it will be 50 years since the release of Young Americans, which is probably my fave album of his. Here’s a great track from it: Right.

There is one more motorhome trip planned for 2024, so watch this space for developments.

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Blog Drink Mains

Atlantic Coast Express

The next adventure on our foodie travels around Cornwall is a trip to Padstow, by bike along the Camel Trail.

Padstow, shown in my photo above, is a compact, picturesque and very popular little fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall.

The Camel Trail follows a disused railway line along the bank of the River Camel estuary all the way from Wadebridge.

This coffee stop along the route is housed in a refurbished railway carriage. It takes its name from the train service that used to travel this line back in the day: the Atlantic Coast Express. You place your order, then collect it when the toot-toot of the old steam whistle sounds.

There’s a relaxed vibe, with people chatting, checking the map, or just enjoying the views across the estuary.

It’s a good place for a spot of bird watching.

The cakes at Atlantic Coast Express are all locally sourced and look great. We shared a peanut butter chocolate brownie, giving us the energy boost we needed to complete the 5 mile ride into Padstow.

Padstow has been rather thrust into the foodie scene since celebrity chef, Rick Stein, set up his seafood restaurant here. It’s proven such a success that he’s followed it up with a cafe, deli and cookery school. Other restaurants and outlets have followed,  meaning the town now boasts a varied and quality food offering, whether sit-in or takeaway, to suit every taste and budget.

We bought these fillets of Cornish hake from the wet fish counter in his deli.

Arriving that evening at our next motorhome stopover, I cooked them in a foil parcel on the Cadac (my gas bbq). Ten minutes was all that was required, then a squeeze of fresh lemon and a few twists of black pepper. We served them up with Cornish new potatoes and broccoli.

A bottle of Cornish IPA was a perfect accompaniment to the meal, also biked back to the van in my pannier, from the Padstow craft brewery.

We had live music at our campsite last night, and this timeless classic is one of the tracks the band performed. It could be a motivational song when it comes to cycling, considering all the hills here in Cornwall! This is Jackie Wilson with (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.

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Blog Mains

Baked Mackerel Al Fresco

This weekend we spent a few days down in the New Forest in our motorhome. A short cycle ride down to the beach, and along the coast, brought us to Mudeford Quay, a local sea fishing centre and home of a fresh fish stall.

Being a working quay, there is always lots going on to watch and do. Think you can catch a crab with a line and some bait? This is a good place to have a try (see below). Just make sure you don’t fall off that wall into the Solent!

There are views over to the Needles on the Isle of Wight, and a little ferry traversing the strong currents between here and Hengistbury Head.

The sea fish stall is as unpretentious as the rest of this delightfully busy area. Here it is tucked away behind the nets and lobster baskets, its roof heavily weathered by the sea air.

Inside, local catch of the day is sea bass, mackerel and bream. We chose a couple of mackerel, which this helpful lady cleaned and filleted for us, before biking them back to the camp site.

That evening, I wrapped them in foil parcels and cooked them on my Cadac Safari Chef. This is a portable and versatile grill that plugs directly into the gas tank of the motorhome. It makes al fresco cooking a breeze.

As you can see from my photo, it is obligatory at this stage of the process for the chef to have a chilled craft beer alongside 🙂 . Today’s choice is Neck Oil by Beavertown Brewery.

12 minutes later and the foil parcels are opened carefully, revealing the tender flakes of the baked fillets.

Cooked, freshly caught mackerel tastes great, so needs little added – just some lemon and a few twists of black pepper. We ate them with steamed new potatoes and broccoli as the sun was setting. Oh, and with a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio, of course.

From sea to plate in under 24 hours!

So what musical track can I pair with this post? There is such a choice: Hooked on a Feeling? Under the Sea? Maybe Rose Royce with Fishing on a Star? Anything by Fleetwood Mackerel?

I’ve settled on this one: Kayleigh by Marillion. The name of their lead singer? Fish, of course 🙂

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Blog Snacks

Higher Ground

This week we have been away again in the motorhome, enjoying walks and views like this one in my photo above, at Cranborne Chase.

On the edge of England’s west country, it is officially designated an AONB – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – and it isn’t difficult to see why. Rolling countryside provides a backdrop for long autumn walks and close-up interaction with wildlife.

You may think my photo below shows a random wide ranging picture of the English countryside. Well, that’s true – but if you zoom in on the white speck, slap bang in the middle of the shot, you will have located our motorhome. We were on a small campsite that is part of a sheep farm.

I took this shot after hiking high up on the ridge that hosts a long distance footpath from Shaftesbury to Salisbury. It demonstrates how remote we were: just us, our caravanning next door neighbour, and a flock of sheep to the east.

Incidentally, I did try counting the number of sheep, but fell asleep before I could finish 🙂

Cranborne Chase is also an International Dark Sky Reserve, which means that, when night falls, it is bloomin’ dark. There is, literally, no artificial light from anywhere around on this vast landscape, and so the star gazing is first class. There was also the twit-twoo of the local owl to keep us company.

Way out here, the only local shop is a farm shop, doing a great line in west country cheese. Regular followers will know that I require little persuasion to put together a regional cheese board, such as this one below. The best of England’s west country is represented here with (from left to right) Dorset Blue Vinny, Somerset Brie and Garlic Yarg, from Cornwall.

A few years ago I visited the farm in Cornwall where they make Yarg. The garlic variety is hard to come by outside of the west country. They wrap the cheese in leaves from local wild garlic plants, and these infuse it with the flavour and scent of garlic as it ripens.

The oatcakes are from Bath and the apples local.

An interesting feature in the landscape is the Fovant Badges. At the time of the First World War, the British Army were stationed here, for final training before travelling over the Channel to the trenches in France. The young soldiers amused themselves (or kept their nerves at bay) by carving large scale versions of their regimental badges into the chalk grassland on the side of local hills. Through careful maintenance and restoration, they are still visible today.

The lady (and sheep farmer) who owned our campsite told me that her father-in-law was one of those young men stationed here, while waiting for the call to fight in what became the Battle of the Somme, where thousands of young soldiers tragically died. On the morning when he was due to travel to France, he required emergency dental treatment, and was excused from going. He went on to live and have a son, that she had been married to for 60 years, and with whom she’d had a family. Ain’t it strange, sometimes, how life works out.

You can find out more, here, about the Fovant Badges.

This weekend is, of course, Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, when we honour all those who weren’t quite so fortunate to escape with their lives. I have been wearing my poppy with pride this week, and will leave you with some fittingly inspirational music from Stevie Wonder: Higher Ground.

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Blog Snacks

Hit the North!

Travelling around Scotland for the past month in our motorhome has been super fun, but all great things must come to an end. We are now gradually making our way back home, and have broken up the journey by spending a few days sampling the delights of the North of England.

My main photo above shows the Yorkshire Dales, taken from a walk along Leyburn Shawl. I love Wensleydale cheese, which is made not far away in the town of Hawes. It is a pale cheese with a chalky and crumbly texture, and is readily available in the local shops.

I enjoyed this Leek and Wensleydale Pastry Roll that we picked up in a local deli.

Warmed up in the motorhome’s oven, it was delicious, served with slaw we made from fresh veg bought in a local farm shop.

In this part of the world they also serve a wedge of Wensleydale cheese with a slice of fruit cake – see below.

I have had this before, and liked it, so ordered it again at an afternoon tea stop in a local cafe. The combination may sound a little odd, but the tastes actually complement eachother and work well together. When you think that there are other rich fruited puddings and desserts that are served with a dairy-based product, like cream or custard, it’s maybe not that strange a choice. The fact that the cheese is missing any sweetener doesn’t seem to matter, as there is so much sugar in the cake!

I am interested to know if there are any other parts of the world where fruit cake is served with a slice of cheese? Answers welcome in the comments below, please.

The Yorkshire wit is nearly as sharp as their cheese – what about this sign welcoming us to our stopover site for the night.

Don’t worry anyone, there was no cause for concern. Everyone had a good laugh about the sign – the Yorkshire welcome is a very warm one wherever you go.

By the time this post is published, I will be back home. I hope you have enjoyed the posts from my trip. It’s been a celebration of some of the culture and natural beauty that the UK has to offer, as viewed through my usual lens of Good Food, Great Music. We have tried to buy and eat local, and feature some of our great regional food and drink.

And speaking of Great Music, spending a few days in the North makes me think of this wonderful earworm of a track from The Fall. They’re not Scottish, or from Yorkshire, but I did nod respectfully to the memory of Mark E. Smith as we passed Manchester on the M62. And played this on the motorhome stereo: The Fall with Hit the North – Part 1.

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Bakes Blog Desserts

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

At this point on our motorhome tour of Scotland we are at Brora, a small Highlands village on the north-east coast. Our camp site is a golf ball’s throw from a massive, deserted golden beach. I say a golf ball’s throw because, to reach the beach, you must first of all carefully traverse one of the many links courses that can be found along the Scottish coast.

The beach then stretches for 2 miles, along which there are several benches where it’s possible to sit to take in the views (like this one in my photo below), and listen to the sounds of the gently rolling waves.

The walk along the beach leads to this picturesque little harbour, where each afternoon we watched the fishing boat come in from the North Sea to unload the day’s catch.

Everywhere is beautifully maintained, with a real sense that the local community take great pride in their surroundings.

As if this is not idyllic enough, the village has an amazing cake shop, Cocoa Skye. On our first day, we shared a slice of hummingbird cake with our americanos. I hadn’t come across this type of cake before, but once the waitress explained how it was made, I just had to try it. It tastes like carrot cake but with pieces of banana and pineapple, with a reassuringly sweet and creamy frosted topping and chopped nuts. I will definitely be trying to recreate this cake when I get home!

On the next day, my choice was this raspberry and almond bakewell, which was also delicious.

Mild weather, beautiful views, a golden beach and delicious cake. A heavenly combination that brings to mind this track from the Eurythmics, featuring the voice of Scotland’s Annie Lennox: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).

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Arbroath Smokies

My foodie journey north in our motorhome has now reached Scotland. Climbing the east coast, we stopped in Angus to seek out the famous Arbroath Smokies.

The Smokies are haddock, caught fresh in the North Sea and unloaded from the fishing boats in little Arbroath Harbour (shown in my photo below), where they are then smoked.

Smokies are one of those delicacies that benefit from a Protected Geographical Indication, or PGI. This is a status that is given to regional speciality foods that use traditional methods unique to a particular location. It is designed to stop cheap imitations that are made elsewhere, or to lower quality standards, being passed off on shoppers as the real thing. Other famous examples of a PGI are French Champagne and Parma Ham from Italy.

In such exalted company, you would be excused for thinking that, nowadays, the Arbroath Smokie might be the subject of the full celebrity foodie treatment: perhaps a modern visitor centre with an audiovisual introduction, factory tour, cafe and souvenir shop with a coach park outside full of tour parties. Well, prepare for a surprise.

The process for catching, producing and selling the fish looks like it has hardly changed in decades. The centre of operations remains a modest-sized smokehouse and shop front on the harbourside, accessed on foot via some old narrow lanes.

The rear of the somewhat humble building still looks out directly on the North Sea. The whole operation is full of charm.

The service is friendly, with lots of free tasters over the counter, and the prices reasonable. We were momentarily tempted by the business’s other delicacy, Firecracker Salmon, which is local salmon smoked with a chilli kick, and which tastes amazing. However, we settled on a couple of Smokies to take away. The skilled shop assistant filleted them for us in seconds.

When we reached our motorhome stopover for the night, I wrapped the Smokies in a foil parcel and warmed them outside on the Cadac, for about 15 mins. The aroma that was released as the foil parcel opened was awesome. My main photo at the top of the post captures that moment.

I served them very simply in the evening sun, with a half of lemon to squeeze over, sweetcorn and some boiled new potatoes. They were delicious!

Coincidentally, around this time I managed to buy some tickets to see ABC early next year. With full orchestral backing, Martin Fry will be performing The Lexicon of Love in full, along with their other hits.

This tribute to a Motown legend just has to be the next track for the ADK Playlist, therefore: ABC with When Smokey Sings.

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Leicestershire and Rutland

I am off on my travels again – this time a motorhome journey north with my wife to explore Scotland. First stop along the way is the East Midlands which, at the time of our visit, was basking in temperatures in the upper 20s Celsius. Or maybe it is just always this warm up here?

We’ve based ourselves on the south shore of Rutland Water, the largest man-made lake in England, and one of the largest in Europe. It’s a great environment for wildlife, sailing, walking and cycling. We carry our bikes on the back of the van, so enjoyed the off-road, waterside cycle track to the beautiful Normanton Church, captured in my main photo above.

The local markets, delis and farmer’s shops have been great. Farndon Fields is an excellent farm shop in Market Harborough, well-stocked with lots of local fresh produce. We combined our visit with brunch in their on-site restaurant, the Farmer’s Kitchen. My Eggs Benedict had perfectly soft-poached eggs over slices of baked ham on a toasted muffin – chopped chillis topping off the Hollandaise Sauce with a spicy kick.

Saturday morning brings a foodie market to the village of Thrapston. I picked up these pork and chorizo sausages from a local butcher’s stall, to cook up later on the Cadac. The Cadac is my gas bbq that plugs directly into the motorhome’s gas tank via a socket on the outside wall. They tasted as great as they look here, glowing on the griddle in the evening sunshine.

The people like their cheese an orangey shade of yellow here. Red Leicester is nationally famous, of course, but Rutland Red less so. It is a more mature, hard cheese, an even deeper shade of orange, but still mild tasting. Here it is adorning my evening cheeseboard with customary glass of red alongside. The blue cheese is from neighbouring Derbyshire.

Speaking of Red Leicester, how about incorporating it when baking Welsh cakes? I bought these when I saw them at Thrapston Market. They were delicious.

I understand that a pork pie is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea, but I felt I had to try one of these famous Melton Mowbray delicacies when I found them in a butcher’s shop in Oakham. I found it had a good short pastry base, golden flaky top and soft salty filling – a very enjoyable lunchtime stop.

There you are – just some of the fine local produce I’ve been gorging on while visiting the scenic delights of Leicestershire and Rutland. It’s been a really enjoyable first stop on the journey north.

For the next track on the ADK Playlist I have turned to this band who were formed in Leicester in the 1990s. This track became a massive hit when it was remixed by Fatboy Slim – here’s Cornershop with Brimful of Asha.