10 Days, Two Awesome Sites and Breaking News… Pt 2

11 Sunday Jun 2023

Posted by Simon Barlow in General, Hanworth Country Park, Lincoln

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On Sunday we left Cherry Tree Springs as close to the departure time as we could as the GPS gave us a travelling time of about an hour… which would have put us arriving before the arrival time at Hanworth Country Park. We headed west towards Lincoln following the GPS. I’d flown over Lincolnshire many times in the past… one glorious sunny Saturday actually flying over most of the old WW2 airfields, or where they once were trying to spot the outlines of now long forgotten runways. I’d never driven much around Lincolnshire, except for a stint while working on the AWACS project, Alpha Dispersal at RAF Waddington or “Waddo” back in the late 90’s.

The weather was good, traffic light and apart from me missing a turn after a late call from the GPS a great drive. We got to see some really lovely parts of Lincolnshire. I do really like trips where you have two or more stops as you drive through parts of the country you would normally mis in a ‘home to site and back’ trip. (keep this in mind for later!)

Hanworth Country Park

Hanworth Country Park in Potterhanworth is a bit more than just a park. Created by two chaps, one a farmer who’s family had owned the farm since 1931 and the other a builder who shared the vision of what Hanworth Country Park could become set about transforming the land and are still at it today. It’s not just park with caravan pitches… it has glamping pods, luxury lodges, leisure lodges, shepards huts and lakes… lots of lakes… it has to be on any fisherman’s list of places to fish. (I don’t fish… so may be talking out of my Bass)

It’s also got a rather fine cafe. Well when I say cafe…. “Brewers” is a bit more than just a cafe you would expect to find at a country park…. in fact it seems to be a go-to place for locals too!

Check-in at reception was quick, easy and the staff were welcoming. You get all the information you need in an arrival pack. We booked a full service pitch, which was firm… very firm… I had to use rock pegs to secure the sun shade. Phone signal on O2 was a tad weak, I had to tweak our router to only connect at G3…. but it was fast enough for internet and tv streaming of iPlayer and Netflix.

Monday we did a few odd jobs and caught up on things while our friends that we had arranged to meet up with traveled down from Edinburgh. We got the text message they had arrived at the Petwood Hotel where they were staying. So we set off to drive over and spend the evening with them. Henry wasn’t best pleased as I think he was expecting an evening curled up on Sue’s lap receiving belly rubs… Henry is our cat by the way!

Petwood Hotel

Petwood Hotel is rather a special place for any one with a remote interest in aviation. During WW2 it was the officers mess for 617 Sqdn, probably better known as “The Dambusters” . It’s amazing to think that Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC DSO DFC may have thrown a ball across this lawn for his dog (who I’m not allowed to call by name) to fetch while having a pint with his fellow officers.

Wandering around the hotel there is an amazing collection of photos and historical items from that period. I did take photos of many of them, but not wanting to breach copyright, they will remain for my own collection.

A splendid evening with friends was had along with an excellent meal and a great catchup as it has been over 12 months since we last saw them.

Tuesday…. we take on Lincoln

There is a great resource in Lincolnshire called the Water Rail Way. It’s the route of the original Lincoln to Boston rail line that has been turned into a cycle way. From the site you have to navigate to “5 Mile Bridge” which unsurprisingly is 5 miles from Lincoln.

The route however from the site to 5 Mile Bridge is a little wiggly….

The distance we cycled was around 18.7km and took us 1h 22m… but that did include a couple of stops to check directions and a bit of a back track when I got it wrong. We eventually got to 5 Mile Bridge…

The MiRider bikes are really outstanding bits of kit!

… and turned left to cycle the remaining 5 miles into Lincoln. Sue was rather pleased with her performance as it was the first long ride since being diagnosed with a heart condition. The Water Rail Way was a wide tarmac track that generally was in a good state of repair and easy to ride. The total climb for the trips was only around 20 metres. On the stretch into Lincoln however, there is no where to stop for refreshments…. so pack water, and if it is a hot day make sure you have enough for the whole trip.

The section into Lincoln gats a bit confusing as you approach and it’s handy if you have had a look at the map and got a bit of an idea where to go as it involves going through a car park and crossing over a rather humpy bridge…. well it does the way we went.

We found somewhere to sit outside and have coffee and as a treat, squishes before heading back. No, we didn’t tackle “Steep Hill” (I challenge anyone to tackle Steep Hill and not say part way up “Bloody Hell this is steep”) on this trip, however we decided we will be back and I think I have found an easier cycling route from the site to the Water Rail Way that reduces the distance by about 7km in each direction. The total cycling for the day was 36.1 km or 22.4 miles.

Wednesday was a bit of a relax (read: a bit tender) so we only managed a cycle round the grounds of Hanworth Country Park and a strawberry cornetto from the cafe…

We Interrupt You Scheduled Programming with some Breaking News…

I know you have only been reading down to this point to find out what the breaking news is…. so here goes….

We are selling our caravan! Yep it’s as good as sold all bar the paperwork… is that someone cheering I can hear….. Graham is that you… the Caravan Vlogger…. I guessed as much.

Yep soon it will be off to a new owner to hopefully allow them to enjoy caravanning as much as we have done over the last 12 years. Are we giving up caravanning… ah that is the question. Lets just say the day after we came back from Hanworth Country Park we headed over to North Wales…. to Rhuallt to be exact to see George and Simon….. and see the next stage in our adventures.

That’s it for now.

Bet you can’t wait for the next blog post.

Or are you going to have a guess in the comments?

PS…. someone asked for more Henry….

10 Days, Two Awesome Sites and Breaking News…

10 Saturday Jun 2023

Posted by Simon Barlow in Cherry Tree Springs, General, Lincoln, Locations, MiRider, Sutton-on-Sea

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Cherry Tree Springs, Sutton-on-Sea

We have just got back from a ten day trip to two awesome sites. The first part of our ten day outing was back to Sutton-on-Sea on the east coast, located half way between Mablethorpe and Skegness. The weather on the east coast was not playing ball and we had some grey skies while the west enjoyed some glorious sunshine. Coming from Manchester it’s always a bit of a downer when the weather is better at home than where you are.

Sutton-on-Sea

After looking at prices for the C & M club site for serviced pitches…30th May to 3 June it came in at a whopping £231.00 ! So a quick search via the usual web sites came up with Cherry Tree Springs, for the same period on a serviced pitch came in at £147.50 a big saving of £83.50.

Cherry Tree Springs is a quiet site, only about half a mile from the C & M club site and Sutton-on-Sea is just as easily accessible. The staff are super friendly and the grounds people were always happy to stop for a brief chat and help out with local questions and advice on best places.

The facilities block was spotless and cleaning was at a sensible time too (yep been caught out on leaving day… just when the block was closed for cleaning!) The pitches were good firm hard standing and level. Th access roads were a tad narrow but we have been on a lot narrower sites.

I think that Cherry Tree Springs is one of those sites you don’t really want to tell people about when you discover it… you want to keep it all for yourself… so please don’t tell anyone else. We don’t want it booked up when we go back in autumn.

There is also a great dog walk that is off road and takes you right down to the beach in about 15 minutes. Ask at reception for a map.

We cycled up to Mablethorpe for morning coffee each day it was a round trip of about an hour on our MiRider e-bikes and really didn’t need any battery assist… apart from one day when it was a good 20 knot headwind heading into Mablethorp. A couple of times we had a cycle round either Sutton or Mablethorpe for an explore.

I’ve zoomed in a bit so you can see the route we took out of Cherry Tree Springs to get to the beach front. If you head right out of the site onto Huttoft Road, you are only on it for about 300 yards, then right turn into Bluestone Way follow that to the end on you will see a passage between two houses that takes you through to Walkington Way and some immaculate bungalows. At the end turn left onto Roman Bank and another 200 yards you will see a steep ramp curving round up to your right. Ride up this and you are on the “prom” with all the beach huts. Keep peddling north for Sutton and Mablethorpe

Saturday Night…. Film and Pizza Night!

Our Saturday nights are always film and pizza nights and have been for quite a few years. After having a mooch on line for a suitable purveyor of round Italian delight, we came up blank. Well there were quite a few but the reviews were… well we wouldn’t be ordering.

Helpful staff to the rescue… I asked in reception if they could recommend anywhere for pizza… (up to this point it looked like I would be driving to Pizza Hut in Skegness) The young lady came up trumps and gave a local company called “Pizza Square” (21 Hight Street, Sutton-on-Sea) a huge recommendation. I’d seen the reviews for a company at the same address that were really bad, however there had been a change of ownership and a new name and a growing reputation for providing excellent pizzas.

Square Pizzas…. best thing since sliced bread!

OK, here is the thing… pizzas are round, yep everyone agrees with that. BUT you are missing the four corners which if you think about it a 12 inch round pizza is actually missing a lot of real estate when you cut the corners off over a 12 inch square pizza. We ordered two 12 inch pizzas…. and we had slices left for the following day… and a couple the day after as well. Just glad we didn’t order a garlic bread (yep 12 inch square again) to go with it. It was delivered within 25 min right to the site and the friendly driver even had change which is unusual as in Manchester like many other cities, they don’t carry cash anymore.

Of course, pizza… or any food really is only as good as the last person to order it thinks. I would however say, check with the staff where ever you are staying and if they say it’s OK, then all you can do is give it a try. If it’s not up to scratch, let the staff know where you are staying and maybe the next person to ask them for recommendations might be directed somewhere else. For us though, Square Pizza gets our thumbs up. Ask in reception… they have some menus!

Sunday arrived and it was time to move on. Just before we left some friends who live in the Isle of Wight were actually up in Edinburgh and travelling back home via Lincoln as they were attending an IFFR (International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians) get-together and staying at the Petwood Hotel, which was 617 Dambusters Officers Mess during the war. We arranged to meet up with them while they were there and found a great site nearby… Hanworth Country Park located between Lincoln and Woodhall Spa.

But I guess that is for part two… along with the breaking news!