GREENACRES CAMPING

Family camping near Glastonbury, Wells and Shepton Mallet, Somerset, UK

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16-Jun Where did the Spring Go?

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Where did the Spring go?

It seems only five minutes since we were opening the gates and welcoming our first visitors. Now the season is in full swing, with preparations being made for the influx of our first Glastonbury Festival at Greenacres.

It has been a wonderful blend of feast and famine. We’ve had incredibly busy times around the two Bank Holidays when the site was stuffed to bursting and the air filled with the excited sounds of children playing. We have also appreciated the quieter times mid-week, with just a handful of campers helping us enjoy the tranquillity of our surroundings. I’m really undecided which I like the most!

Everywhere there have been signs of new life. In the fields, with baby rabbits hopping about, digging up our lush grass; or the timid little Bambi fawns we sometimes see very early in the morning. “Calf Watch” has often consumed our girls’ attention, scrapping for the binoculars whenever Nick, our farmer neighbour, is spotted walking across the field with a rope in his hand. But the highlight for me was definitely last Sunday morning when our baby swallows first fluttered out of their nest out into the big wide world. We have been closely watching their development for a few weeks, from scrawny little beaks to fully-fledged young birds. Seeing their first “launch” was magical. It began with a couple of days of wing-stretching, then brief hops out of the nest onto the ledge. Finally came the big moment – first confused fluttering, banging into the walls of the shower block, turning in an instant to sheer grace as they soared off across the camp site field. Immediately they became masters of the sky, with effortless agility and amazing speed, often just a few centimetres above the ground.

Our own “re-birth” project has been the construction of our new house on the site of the former bungalow. Things are going very well and we can now see the final shapes of all our rooms as the timber stud walls are all in place and plaster boarded. The roof tiling is complete and the last windows are being manufactured now. Plumbers and electricians descended on us last week, while one of the window fitters loved the place so much he came back to camp with his family!
This has been a bigger project than we imagined, but our Building Contractor (John Walton) and site foreman (Jon Goodliff) have been real stars. The team effort that has gone in by our tradesmen and technical advisers has been outstanding. I must be careful because we’ve still a couple more months to go yet, but the commitment and professionalism shown by all of them has been an example to all.

Architects Michael & Lucy – www.mjwarchitects.com – are so pleased they want to submit the project for a national design award.

Maybe we won’t make Grand Designs, but we’re still pretty chuffed.

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