By now everyone had set up camp and we took a walk around the quiet and woody campsite. There was a nearby forest and it was so peaceful and quiet and you could hear some birds chirping away to each other. On the ground there were newly fallen pinecones, which covered the forest floor like a blanket. Apart from the birds you could hear nothing else apart from the golden leaves crunching under our feet.
Our gentle stroll ended quickly and we headed back to the tents to have some lunch. We set up a little barbeque that was complete with a set of frying pans (for the eggs) and saucepans (for the beans). I helped my dad get food out of the tent and I opened all the cans and I filled the shiny metal kettle up with water so I could make everyone a warm cup of tea.
Me and my new friend Nicola went in search for some firewood, although it wasn’t hard because a dense forest surrounded us. We found some straight away and being careful not to get ourselves dirty we carried quickly to the camp area where my dad was sitting waiting to light the fire for the barbeque. Whilst dad was lighting the fire we got some camp chairs out and positioned ourselves around the barbeque. You feel the heat coming off the barbeque whilst we sitting patiently with our plates on our laps waiting for the food to be thoroughly cooked. Eventually Dad dished up everyone’s meals and we got stuck in. The food was gorgeous, and you could smell and hear the sizzling sausages and the sound of eggs being fried.
We all had chores to do after lunch; I got the worst one-washing up! I brought all the dirty items to this shiny basin, which smelt freshly clean with a sweet fragrance that was attached to an outside wall, sheltered by a roof. After washing everything up I returned to the tent and placed them in a stackable trolley to allow them to dry. We decided to go out and see what entertainment was on at the camp village, so we put everything in the tent and zipped the tent door up and made sure everything was secure.
My family and I headed down to the camp village. To get there, we had to walk down this stony little lane with overgrown wild flowers hanging into the country lane. By now the sun was setting and the sky was a mixture of reds and oranges fading into the horizon. In the far off meadows you could see and hear some children cheering after scoring a goal against their friends in a game of football. The smell wasn’t as fresh as it was in the afternoon as it was a bit damper. The lane was winding and taking us past this meadow where we saw a deer grazing on the grass, but unfortunately it ran away when we got any closer. Eventually we could some voices and we looked ahead and we could see the entrance to the camp village.
As we walked in to the camp village we came across the entertainment board. The karaoke wasn’t starting on for another hour, so we decided to go and join another family who were also waiting for that night’s entertainment at a bar. We got on well with the barmen and the family and they also liked the campsite. The husband (Mark Dowles) thought it was:
“A quiet and relaxing environment’
I think we all agreed on that opinion. We continued chatting until we heard music coming from the entertainment stage. We got up and started walking towards the seating area. And yes! The karaoke was just starting. Throughout the night we got up onto the stage and danced and sang a few numbe3rs. The atmosphere was great and alive with the chatter of the increasing crowd. The evening was going really quickly so we decided to get some tea. We stopped at a really nice restaurant just down the road from the bar.
As we entered the restaurant a waiter seated us around a little wooden rustic table. The whole restaurant was like a wooden cabin, and smelt like fresh pine. The whole place was so cosy and in the corner there was a fire. At some points throughout the meal when there was silence among us, all you could hear was the sound of the fire crackling away, and you could see the shadows of the fire upon the ceiling.
The food was again delicious and filling. We all had three courses and by the end we couldn’t eat another bite. After all enjoying the meal we all decided that it was time to return to the tent.
You could hardly see anything as we started walking back to the tent; it was so hard you couldn’t see one foot in front of another. But it was ok because further down the road were some lamps that lit the path in front. As we walked back down the stony lane, the flickery lights continued to guide us to our tent. It was so quiet to the earlier atmosphere, here it was quiet because all the visitors were laying dormant til morning sleeping warmly in their sleeping bags.
We got back to the tent and went to get changed in the toilets nearby. As we walked there and back we tiptoed passed numerous tents and tried to walk quietly above the sound of the crunching leaves. As I walked back I was listening to all the sounds of the wind. When I eventually got back into my sleeping bag, I laid there thinking about the day and enjoying it from waking up really early to relaxing around and listening to the sounds of nature. I opened my eyes and I looked around and all i could see were the shadows of the various objects lying lifeless around the tent, I could also hear the owls calling AND my dad snoring!
