We arrived in dribs and drabs at the campsite on our trip to Dorset, and pitched up our tents: Lee and Dan stayed in the Naughty Field; me and Alex stayed in the main field. The boys descended to the local pub, where I met them later on in the night, to test some of the local Six Penny beer (and continue to do so, later, in the camp-site bar).
Then, the next day, after parking in a near by village and a short walk, we went to the Great Dorset Steam fair. We wondered around on own but met up at various points at the beer tent. There was an arts and crafts tent, vintage cars, vintage bikes and motor bikes, steam engines, tents about the war and fair ground rides. As well as many pub tents, food tents and masses of trade stands and jumble sales. The main beer tent (where we met up for one drink) had the entertainment of live jazz music and a little boy making a tower out of beer cups. After the steam fair we drove on to a pub for the evening grub where we met Mike. The evening’s conversation was of club holidays, as well as many other things.
The next day we started the walk nice ‘n’ early from the campsite, where Mike joined us, as he’d stayed in Salisbury. The weather was perfect as the sun was shining but there was still a breeze to cool us down. We walked through farms, up dale and down valleys over Cranbourne Chase. We saw many great views, lots of wildlife including bird eggs, caterpillars, butterflies, dogs, rabbits and sheep; Dan and I also saw a skull and bones from a sheep. The walk was 14 miles so it took us through a good part of the day. At lunch time we leisurely stopped with a gorgeous view, and some managed to doze a little. We stopped off at another great pub with many good ales that we had never had before. After returning to the campsite, we packed up and went home. The holiday was a good opportunity to explore new territory and enjoy a social day out at the steam fair. There are more photos on my facebook page.
Jenny