Belated Happy New Year

Well November, December and January have all been a bit of blur, but in a good way filled with fun and frolics and lots of good quality time with family and friends and a little bit of work thrown in.

End of November saw us attending our first wedding fair organised by Field Day Site Hire in Barmby Moor near York, glorious Winter's Day and 'The Baron' and 'Penfold' looked lovely all dressed up for the special occasion.

Then early December Henry and I headed on a mini break down to London, where we got to catch up with friends and my sister and Henry attended his first birthday party and his first visit to the park, both were a huge success

Christmas was quite short with Jolly having to work Christmas eve and the day after boxing day at Zephyr Bar but we made sure we made the most of the free time.  Henry did not know what was going on when we both went to wake him Christmas morning but seemed to like it.  Then after loving his first taste of croissant we headed to York to Jolly's Parents to spend Christmas Day there. 

Then after the added bonus of spending the night in Cedar Court Hotel whilst leaving Henry at the Grandparents we headed to my folks to celebrate Christmas all over again on Boxing Day in Macclesfield.  It is definitely my favourite time of year.

Now we are in 2012 with a house move to look forward to (yeah!), me returning to work (not yeah!) and who knows what else, can't wait to find out.

Jolly Campers

Dear Aly and Jolly,

We had an amazing time taking The Baron out for a spin this summer and wanted to write and tell you how much our whole family enjoyed it.

We didn’t plan to go too far for our long weekend, just over to Filey near Scarborough, a couple of hours from our home in Bury for a few days of sun, sand and surf. (Well, maybe not the sun, this being summer in England, but definitely sand and surf.) Neither my husband nor I had ever spent much time in a campervan before, so when we first saw The Baron it was such a fabulous surprise. The campervan was gleaming, spotless, ingeniously designed and thoughtfully packed with every kind of thing we might possibly need, from a corkscrew to chocolate biscuits. How could we not be delighted?

We stopped on the way for lunch at Howard Castle, a go on the adventure playground and stocked up with supplies at the estate’s excellent farm shop. We enjoyed pootling along the motorway, but the van really came into its own on the smaller roads. Going at a more leisurely pace, you really do have more time to notice things, and from our high perch behind the extra-large windscreen we had a great view of the beautiful countryside around us. It’s a lovely way to travel.

When we rolled into Filey Brigg campground, a nice council-run site with fabulous seaside views, it was looking increasingly grey. We didn’t let the weather bother us but got stuck in to getting our new home set up. Once we figured out how to put up the tent (with the help of a kind neighbour more experienced in the ways of campervan tents) we found it very snug. Molly (3) and Bella (1) loved having the big canvas ‘room’ on the side of the van, it gave us a safe place to let the kids play under cover, and it made eating meals a lot more comfortable when it started drizzling. It was their first time camping and it’s wonderful to see your children getting excited about the mundane parts of camping we all take for granted; cooking sausages on the grill outside, carrying the washing up to the sinks in a bucket, or even going outside to brush our teeth, it’s all new and magical for them.

Though the weather for our weekend wasn’t the best, it was nice to have such a well-appointed home from home in The Baron. Bella and I shared the very comfortable van, while Molly had her first experience of sleeping in a tent (with her dad there to make sure she didn’t go for a night time wander around the campsite.) We loved the campervan, it just felt so much more comfortable having that dry and snug place to come back to, and the little kitchen was invaluable.  I honestly don’t know if I can go back to tent camping now. The Baron has spoiled me!Molly and I have played ‘camping’ many times since we returned, and for her having a campervan is clearly essential to the whole thing. I have a feeling The Baron may be travelling with us again…

All best wishes,

The Roe Family – Kate, Richard, Molly and Bella

Bury

Til Death do us Party!

Just wanted to share this bit of JollyCampervan press in the 'Yorkshire Brides' magazine this month.

  thanks Teri and Simon at FP Media

Also we are attending our first Wedding Fair on Sunday 27th November at Barmbyfield Barn, Barmby Moor, York YO42 4HP so if you fancy a nice day out would be great to see you there.

A week in the life of a lady on maternity leave

Have been loving these glorious autumnal days as me and Henry have been going about our business this week.

View from Henry's bedroom Monday morning

Monday headed to White Rose for lunch with a couple of friends also on maternity leave. Then headed to Country Baskets to pick up some bits and bobs to decorate our VW Campervans as we are attending a Wedding Fayre on Sunday 27th Nov at Barmbyfield Barn, Pocklington, free entry so would be great to meet you if you fancy coming down.

Tuesday was Henry's first train ride as we set off for Marsden for the day, met up with another friend for a token walk then back to hers for lunch.  Marsden is a gorgeous village in the Colne valley and if you ever find yourself out that way totally recommend Riverhead Tap Brewery for a local pint and scrummy food (part of the transpennine real ale trail). Also the annual jazz festival they have early October is always well worth a visit.

Wednesday was Henry's swimming lesson, gorgeous weather and love my walk up to the hotel.

He still looks a little confused by the whole thing but this week we went under the water with them so totally loving the nirvana album cover shot.

Thursday Jolly's brother, wife and niece were holidaying in North Yorkshire so we went and met up for lunch at the Tempest Arms , Elslack nr skipton.  This is where we got married 3 and a bit years ago and we head back every year on our anniversary and anytime we can find an excuse as the food is excellent and the pub is always very welcoming.

Friday was another lovely sunny day so figured should try and burn some of the excess off from the week so headed to buggyfit.  

Walk to Buggyfit pass the allotments

Low attendance this week as I think a lot of people away on half term but meant I had a personal trainer for an hour for the bargain price of £2.50, can't complain about that.

Saturday and sunday headed to my folks in Macclesfield as my sister Mandy creator of Belle and Boo was up visiting from London so caught up on gossip, ate nice food, wandered round some shops and played a bit of scrabble.

Who says maternity leave is all hard work!

Jolly Campers

More Happy Campers...


Dear Aly and Jolly,

Thanks for the hire of your campervan Penfold during the summer. We thought you might like to see a few photos of Penfold that we took after we had arrived in Durham and the sun was setting, and just before we headed inside for beers! 

We absolutely loved Penfold. This was our first time in a Vdub and we definitely caught the bug. Once we got used to the different driving experience we revelled in it. We were amazed by how much we were being checked out as we were parked at the services eating our egg sarnies and as we were driving into Durham a fella walking down the road gave us the VW wave, finally we were cool!!! 

Just love how ingeniously everything is hidden away, and was amazed by how comfy we were. We'll definitely be hiring again, for longer than a weekend next time. 

One tip I picked up - sometimes changing down the gears can be a little tricky for those of us used to modern gearboxes, the trick with Penfold is to "double-clutch" - clutch in once and move to neutral, clutch out and back in and move to the gear you want. Definitely helps prevent wrong gear selection. 

Best wishes,Emma and Ross

Photos of 'The Baron'

Just wanted to share a few of the photos from our photo shoot of 'The Baron' the latest addition to our fleet of VW Campervans.  To see further photos please check out our website and facebook page.  We are really pleased with how they turned out, would love to know what you think

VW Campervan Merchandise

I know there is a lot of VW Campervan merchandise out there, some good and some average, but how cute is this little babygro we received from the Kendrick Family for Henry.  It came with the hat and the worlds smallest waterproof dungarees so he is fully prepared for whatever the weather.