Having had to delay our normal September ferry crossing to the continent because of medical appointments, we’ve decided to surround said medical appointment with a couple of trips in the UK.
The first of these trips ( I refuse to that awful word “staycation”) is visiting Northumberland for 12 days. Francine has booked us into the Camping and Caravan Club site at Dunstan Hill, almost within sight of Dunstanburgh Castle. The site is 290 miles from home. In the days of yore I’d have thought nothing of dragging our caravan 290 miles in one day but now it has become less appealing, even though we’re now using a motorhome and not towing. So, with Frodo’s supplier being 100 miles away en route and having a free overnight facility for customers we booked in for a night to break the journey. [We’ve also booked in on the return journey for the same reason.]
We were in no rush so we broke Frodo out of prison at about 11:00. We’d need food so called in to ASDA in Milton Keynes for supplies and to fill Frodo’s tank. Fully provisioned, we hit the road at about 12:30.
An easy 2-hour drive got us to Brownhills in Newark-on-Trent where we got Frodo settled in their overnight area. It isn’t a particularly attractive area but it’s really quite similar to a regular Aire de Camping Car on the continent – hardstanding with electricity, water and dumping points. There are even toilet and washing facilities and all for free. Excellent.
One of the other appealing features here has been the Beefeater restaurant attached to a Premier Inn just a short walk away across the road. When Frodo has been booked in for a service, we usually eat over there for simplicity.
We planned to do just that today and went over for Francine to have a steak and me to have a burger. Several things were unavailable. Moves were clearly afoot. We knew that some Beefeaters were to close down but it seems that everything was to change. There will be a new Premier Inn in Newark, with a restaurant attached BUT the restaurant will now be for residents of the Premier Inn only. Cutting out passing foot traffic seems like an odd decision; this restaurant clearly gets a considerable trade from customers at Brownhills Motorhomes.
We learned that the change will take place before our return trip so we’ll have to be on self-catering. Bother!
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