Trial run

Although I spent all my holiday money on my trip to Canada at Easter, James and I decided that we would still like to have a summer holiday, so we were very excited when his parents offered us the chance to use their caravan! We've planned to take the last week of August to visit a camp site in North Yorkshire (destination unknown - suggestions welcome)to enjoy the English countryside in summer.

So, last night we had a trial run! His parents have a farm near Malton, North Yorkshire, so they moved the caravan into the field near the sheep and we went and stayed the night last night. We got there around 7pm and got the car unpacked and explored all the secret cupboards, tables, etc of the caravan. It's only a small (4-birth) and fairly old caravan, but looked great fun never-the-less. We had brought a disposable bbq, so we opened the wine, and lit the bbq. After quite a while it didn't seem to have got going much apart from one small corner. Luckily, he had another disposable bbq in his car, so we decided to light that one instead. A while longer and still no joy - do they go off? or stale? or run out of lighting ability?? So, James put on his boy scout hat (metaphorically, of course, although.....nice thought!) and set about getting a few dry twigs from the woods, some bits of paper and cardboard, and combined what looked to be the best of the coal from each of the 2 non-lighting bbqs. Eventually, he got a great fire going, and a while longer the coals were ready for cooking our steak and vegetable kebabs (ok, we hadn't exactly forraged in the forest a la Ray Mears, but we had brought supplies in a cool box. By this time it was past 9pm, the sun was setting and most of the wine was drunk. It didn't seem to matter so much about the food, but we still persevered. All the while, the sheep had been observing us, obviously thinking "what are those idiot's doing?".

Amazingly, it had been a dry and sunny evening. James's parents had been out at their tango lessons (!), so joined us around 9.30 for some cheese & biscuits.

By the next morning, and after a surprisingly comfortable night's sleep, the rain started. I suppose last night's sunshine was too much to expect to last! We had tea and croissants in bed (very warm and cosy). Then went into Malton to visit the Museum and market. By now the rain was torrential! Back to the farm and cooked pasta carbonara for us and his parents for lunch. (we gave up on the caravan at that stage and moved into the farm kitchen and used the Arga). After a delicious lunch, back to unpack the caravan, still with sheep looking on in amusement. However, I found them pretty amusing too by now, as they were all tucked under the trees sheltering from the rain! Ha!