Drayton Manor Theme Park - UK

GPS: 52.60859N 1.71469W

After feeling stuck in the rain for 2-days stuck in Birmingham, we needed a fun outing. Browsing the tourist stuff, I found Drayton Manor Theme Park, just outside of Birmingham. Best of all, they allow camping - even have an offical campsite for just £11 per night. As we are so big, we were placed in the coach parking lot so we wouldn't sink in the grass.

We arrived just after 2:30 and as there was no 1/2 day price or 2nd day discount for us (they discount camper's tickets by about £8 each and thus, don't offer a compelling 2nd day pass), we decided to just hang out for the afternoon and spend Friday in the park. Let's just say if you aren't playing in the amusement park, there's nothing else to do.

Drayton Manor Theme Park - entrance as seen from inside the RV.

I took the kids out for a walk - we found a cute little forest path that runs along the river. A little spooky with the high humidity and a bit of fog rising off the river. We were in the middle of a small forest when a massive downpour started. By the time we walked back around the outskirts of the park, we were thoroughly drenched! There was at least a half inch of water running down the hill as we were walking up it. Not the best way to discover that only Megan's jacket is waterproof.

Around 10pm, we noticed a really big rig pulling in. I said to Dan, "Do you think that could be Robert and Diane?"

"Well, is there a jeep behind it?" Dan asked.

Sure enough, at just that moment, a jeep pulled in as well. Suddenly, we were meeting up with fellow Americans who are travelling Europe in a 45' rig. We met on RV.Net, just prior to our leaving the States and have been trying to meet in person ever since. We had been in email and phone correspondance with Robert and Diane, but they totally surprised us by showing up at Drayton Manor. It was great to meet the people we've been sharing information with for the past year and see the difference that an additional 10' make!

American RV's dominating the coach parking lot (there was a small German-made motorhome between us, poor guy!)

On to the themepark review...

My recommendation to this park is to differentiate from Disney. Go back to being the family fun park. I know you all will say that we've been spoiled with Disney Anaheim and Disney Paris. In all honesty, the rides where Drayton Manor didn't try to imitate Disney were fine. The Disney clones were awful. The "Pirates" ride was a cheap rip off of "Pirates of the Caribbean" - soft music, animatronic characters that were falling apart, and just plain no energy (we won't talk about the grime and dirt). It would be nice if the amusement games were free - we would be happy to give up the prizes just to let the kids play games without doling out an additional £1+ per attempt).

I was able to coerce Megan with a "Quadruple Dog Dare" and a promise of ice cream to go on the "Apocolypse" with me. This is the grown up version of "Cranky the Crane" (see below) where they take up up high and it feels like a free fall. It was more fun that she thought, though for the wait, they should have raised and dropped a few more times.

On the flip side, the new area, Thomas the Tank Engine as fun - the kids loved it and the rides were just right for them. Sophia went on the Cranky the Crane drop (mini version of the full scale Apocolypse) and giggled uncontrollably the whole time. She didn't want to leave!

Photo opp with Thomas!

Cranky the Crane ride

Cranky the Crane - going up!

The park runs on a much smaller scale than other big theme parks with no hurrying to load rides, so waits can be quite long for short experiences. Gates opened at 9:30 am but rides didn't operate until 10:30 or after (annoying mostly in that there was no signage to let you know - so we spent 45-minutes wandering around, wondering why there were no rides running). Gates closed at 5:00 pm, but then in the middle of the day, signs were updated that rides would operate until 6:30 - so I guess some days, the park closes at 7:00 pm.


Dan & Megan on Drayton Manor's version of "Splash Mountain"

We didn't use it, but apparently this "human drier" can fit up to 4!

There was a zoo on premises, which was fun for the kids. Sadly, many of the cages were quite small and smelled badly (most notably the monkeys and reptiles). I think it's a shame to see tigers in enclosures where they can be taunted by and chased by the kids outside the pen, (Yes, it's true. The cage was a double chain link fence, leading into the glass walled enclosure. As we were walking out, a group of kids were chasing the tigers back and forth, yelling and waving their arms...)

Best bet for downtime was the huge playground in the middle of the zoo area. Filled with tons of kids, it has plenty of activities to keep the multitude of ages busy. We loved the sand play area, complete with chutes, buckets and a conveyer belt to move sand around.

Huge playground with sand feature.

All in all, we had a good day and the kids were quite simply exhausted by the end. The weather was fantastic - warm and the rain held itself in check. A round of Chinese food from up the road (thanks to Robert and Diane having the jeep on premises) and we were ready to call it an adventure and head out the next day.

Ciao!

Birmingham (UK)

Birmingham is one of the examples of our less successful city visits. It started before we even arrived in - people kept asking, "Birmingham? Why? No one goes to Birmingham!"



Maybe we've been spoiled by the other beautiful big cities we've visited (Koln, Antwerp, Madrid, Seville) or maybe the logistics just jaded our view. There's nothing inherently wrong with the city, it just wasn't anything special either.

This past weekend was a Bank Holiday weekend and it seemed Birmingham was the only campground available. So, here we are.

Next was the discovery that the bus only runs once an hour until 1pm, then not again until 5pm and, don't miss the 6:55 out of Birmingham - if you do, you're in town until 11pm. The bus also doesn't run on Sundays or Bank Holidays (in this case, Monday) - two of our planned 4 days in town. The campground is just rural enough to not be able to purchase the family ticket for the day (£8 inclusive of all transit in the area) so instead have to pay £8 RT.

Due to the holiday, rental car agencies were booked.

We set out on our bikes Friday to go to the grocery store and found it quite a haul. While nice to be outside, riding with Sophia and no gears on the bike proved to be a challenge on the rolling hills. The "mile" to Sainsburys was understated- there's no way we would be biking the 14 miles in to Birmingham proper.

We ventured in to Birmingham on the bus Saturday. It's a very large, overwhelming city. We followed the crowd and the promise of tents, right into the Birmingham Gay Pride event. Sadly, not much more than drinking going on. Wandering on, we found the Rag Market, a little of everything a person could want, under one roof. It was a little remnicent of the Mercado in Barcelona. Across the street is the Bull Ring, advertising more than 160 stores.
St. Martin's Church, a few steps down from the shopping district.


The Bull Ring curves around - this is the view from the top of the stairs.


One wing of the "Bull Ring" shopping complex.




Looking down the center of the "Bull Ring"

All in all, we didn't get an overwhelmingly comfy feeling in the city. There's nothing wrong with Birmingham, but it just didn't seem like a place you would want to be after dark. And, unless shopping or with a guide, the central section wasn't that conducive to sightseeing. The best part of the day was that a bistro was located just across the sidewalk from the bus stop - our traditional 30-minute wait in a bus stop was much improved by beverages and snacks.



Wish every bus stop had a bistro near by. (blue bar is where our bus stop was located)


Sunday, the weather set in. We had been watching the forecasts and we knew a major storm front was on its way. Initially, it looked like Birmingham might be right on the edge - so I was hopeful that we wouldn't be hit too hard. Saturday the wind started; early Sunday morning, the rain joined the party and literally didn't stop for at least 12 hours. We spent a lovely day inside, watching the low dips in the parking lot fill with water and the wind gusts blowing the rain sideways across the tarmac.

Monday we found the train station (about 1-mile away and easy to get to on bikes, if you take the correct exit off the roundabout) and made it in to Birmingham again. We have a new level of empathy for our friends Matt and Gretchen (who bike across continents for fun). As we made it to the main road, the wind gusts started again and along with it, came the rain. Ick. Sadly, the Wythall station was closed and the on board sales allow only for individual transactions - we couldn't buy the family pass (£8 inclusive of all trains, trams and buses for the day) and we couldn't buy joint train-admission packages.

My initial goal had been to visit the Black Country Museum. Upon further reading of the brochure, I found the train stop was a mile away from the Museum. You guessed it, the wind and rain had started again. So we made the call to exit in Birmingham and wander the Bull Ring (a very large shopping center). Soon bored, we wandered off to the IMAX theater and took in Speed Racer. The movie was great fun - the kids loved the IMAX screen. Noted - it was a bit more violent and explosive than anything our kids have seen to date - but we all had a ball!

Birmingham has plenty to keep you busy - providing you have a plan, transportation and the weather holds out. The city itself is not all that beautiful - it's a rather industrial presence with some older buildings intermingled. They look quite out of place in some instances (take the contemporary Bull Ring that sits overlooking the church).



Ideas for future visits:

• Cadbury World - The story of chocolate. I remain dubious, but a local assures me it's quite a fun day out.
• Black Country Museum - A Living Museum, recommended by our friends Phil & Des.
• Various walking trails - including Tolkein trails
• ThinkTank (basically a science museum - but it looked really cool & interactive for the kids - be sure to look into a package deal from the train station to save you money)
• National SEA LIFE Center
• West Midlands Safari Park (didn't think they would appreciate the motorhome rolling through - but who knows?)

We're headed next to the Drayton Manor theme park - which includes an all new Thomas the Tank Engine Land, a zoo, and amusement park. They have a caravan park on their grounds - though as we are too large to park on grass in such soggy weather, they are allowing us to use the coach parking lot. It should be loads of fun and the girls are looking forward to having 1 or 2 "kid" days!





Ciao for now!

Enjoying the Natural Hot Springs

A quick shout out to "The Roving Artist" as I think these are such fun keepsakes from our day in Newbury. Here are pictures of the two silhouettes Mr. Burns did of the girls - it was quick, painless and I'm in love with the idea! If you are in the UK and have a chance to work with this group, don't hesitate! These were created free-hand, not from a tracing. I understand from their web site that they will create silhouettes from photos as well.

Silhouettes of Megan and Sophia.

Bath (continued)

In the last post, I promised stories, so here goes my long-winded recount of our few days in Bath. First of all, the city is quite beautiful though I found myself more impressed with the countryside than with the buildings. Wandering around the area near our campground, we encountered magnificant trees that look like they are straight out of a sci-fi book (I've been reading out of Dan's collection lately...) - some looked like they were ready to reach out and grab you while others looked ready to pick up roots and walk away.

Trees along the walking path near the campground.

Our day sightseeing was fun - though we chose not to tour the Roman Baths as it just felt really expensive (£25 for the family). I found out, after the fact, that we could have gotten 2 for 1 admission via our Caravan Club membership. Oh well.

Entrance to the Roman Bath museum / exhibit.

Alternatively, we had a delightful tour of Bath Abbey. The site is known to have had a church as early as 757 and in 1090 a Norman cathedral was on the premises. The current abbey was founded in 1499 (source: Bath Abbey web site). They have activity sheets for older kids and it worked like a charm! Megan was completely distracted by finding answers to all the questions, which enabled us to take our time and enjoy the marvelous architecture. The curator of the museum entertained us with anecdotal stories and even stepped outside to point out the stone mason's marks on the buildings. Stone masons would place a stone, then quickly make a scratch on the side, which was their "mark." They were paid daily - and the marks showed how many stones each had placed.

On our way back through the Abbey, we were greeted by one of the staff. This is the first time that one of the clergy took notice of us and talked to us when visiting a church! He was quite interested in our travels and had even visited Seattle himself. Made the entire experience just a bit more personal and meaningful somehow.

Inside Bath Abbey (L) and view of the ceiling (R).

We biked in on our second day in town. It was just about as easy to get to the Bristol-Bath bike path as it was to walk up the path to the bus. With kids in tow and having to disembark a few times, it took about 30-minutes to bike to Bath city center. Part of the path was along the river Avon, which snakes around the city. Very beautiful and refreshing ride.

Kids were exhausted and it was a short day. But Dan convinced me to desert the family and go back to enjoy an evening at the spa. The Thermae Spa utilizes water from the natural hot springs. They have kind of a funky pricing model (in order to use spa services, which are extra, you must also pay for the time you are at the spa with a 1, 2, 3 or 4 hour "spa package" in addition to the cost of the treatment). But - they offer a "Twilight" special, with for £35 you get 3 hours to utilize the main spa facilities (minerva bath, steam rooms and rooftop pool), a main course entry, glass of wine and use of robe, towel and slippers. It was kind of weird being there by myself, but the setup is quite brilliant. Just grabe a float tube, wrap it around your shoulders and you just float around the minerva bath and roof top pool. Very cool. The food was simple but tasty. Downsides - there is no access to the "hot baths" unless you are receiving a "treatment" and the showers were on par with campground showers - small, with generic gel that is both shampoo and shower gel. I didn't think they would appreciate me walking around with a camera - so I've swiped a photo from their web site - probably one of the coolest venues to spend an evening.

Image courtesy of Thermae Spa web site. This is a slighly air-brushed view of the roof-top pool at the spa.

And finally, our campground host convinced us to stay an extra day. We were missing out on the "best" of England by traveling around in such a big rig. He heartily recommended we take the 20-minute walk to the Duchy of Cornwall, easily accessed from the path at the campground, but not accessible via motorhome. This turned out to be a pretty short walk, but well worth the day. The village is actually named Newton St. Loe and the property is owned by the Prince of Wales and leased to inhabitants though Prince Charles maintains offices in the village.

The Rectory dates back to the 1700's; the "Mount" from 1500's (extended in the 1600's); and most buildings are authentic from that period. Pictures first - scroll down if you want more information - I took pictures of the text and have typed it up below. =)

Picture of Village plan and history that was posted outside the post office.

The Thatch

Holy Trinity Church - we got to peek inside and it's marvelous!

Here's the verbatim text, as recorded from the sign outside the post office building:

"The first record of the village is in 5A.D. When the Wansdyke, a ditch and dyke earthwork, passed south of the village. At this time it was called NIEWTONNE. In 300 A.D. A Roman General Marceus built a large Villa. Niewtonne is listed in the Domesday Book in 1085 and was given by William the Conqueror to Goeffrey, Bishop of Coutance in Nortmandby and on his death in 1100 the Manor passed to Roger St Loe hence the village became known as Newton St Loe. A farmhouse was built in 1100 A.D. By Roger Mowbray which was fortified in 1400 by Lord Bottreaux. The remains of this House are known as St Loe Castle.

THE OLD VILLAGE The Shop, The Thatch, Newton Farm and Spencer's Cottage form the centre of the village and all date from the 1700's. The Shop was also a Bakery and Beer House. The cottage adjacent to the Thatch was a Public House called 'The Rising Sun'. The Fountain and Horse Trough were donated to the village by the Gore-Langton family in the 1800's. The village Blacksmith was at the top of the road leading into the village known as 'Smith's Hill'.

THE SCHOOLS There were two schools in Newton St Loe, the oldest being near the Church which with the adjoining school house was built in 1698 from an Endowment of Richard Jones, a Bristol Merchant. He also founded a charity to assist young people of Newton St Loe to train for an occupation, this charity still operates today. The school provided accomodation for the school-master, rent free. The school was extneded in 1911 but had to close on 18th December 1970. After the closure one of teh school rooms was returned as part of the School House, making a lifing room with bedroom above. The remaining school room became the Parish Room. The school at the other end of the village was built in 1846 at the expense of the Rector George Gore. Both buildings are now used for recreational purposes.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH The list of rectors inside the Church date from 1297 as does the South Aisle and Nave. The Tower is 13th Century and contains a fine peal of 6 bells. The North Aisle was added in 1857 when the impressive Gore-Langton Memorial was erected in the South Aisle. The organ and windows are of great interest and date from the late 1800's. In the churchyard is a preaching cross which may pre-date 1297.

THE MOUNT, built it is believed, pre 1500's, has a superb view overlooking the Avon Valley. The house was enlarged in the 1650's to provide for servants quarters and again in the Regency period it nearly doubled in size iwth an attempt to 'Georginise' it in keeping iwth fashionable Bath. By 1870 Jon Lun Stothart and his family had moved into the house along with their 12 servants. The heir to the Gore-Langon Estate at Newton Park, The Hon. Capt. Chandos Gore-Langton also lived in the Mount from 1913-1924 with his family and added a further wing to the house. The Mount now remains a Grade II listed building of substantial size but still a family home.

The present Newton Park House was built by Joseph Langton in 1780, a wealthy Bristol Merchant who engaged Capability Brown to lay out the Park. Several large houses were built in the village at this time, The Hayes, Stonewalls, The Rectory, Spencer's Cottage and also most of the farmhouses and most cottages. The population is estimated at 200 in 1082 rising to 300 when coal was found and mined near the village. There are now 53 houses with a population of 150. The character of the village remained virtually unchanged from 1750 to 1950 when mains, drainage, electricty and water were installed, however Newton St Loe still has evidence of the past."

THE RECTORY Was the home of ten Rectors from the mid 1700's to 1952 when on the retirement of the Rev. Beaumont Russell it ceased to be the residence of the local rector. During this 200 years, the Rectory was the centre of village life and during World War II was the First Aid Post and A.R.P Wardens Post. After the War it became a Hall of Residence for Newton Park College before becoming the Headquarters of the Duchy of Cornwall, Eastern Region which manages Land Holdings for the Duchy stretching from Exeter eastwards."

Next up - Birmingham.

Ciao!

Beautiful Bath

Only one campground would accept us in Bath - it's the Newton Mill site. A little spendier than our usual choices, but probably one of the most beautiful we've encountered so far.





Stories later, pictures now - we are finishing up at Subway so no time! =)




Newton Mill Campground.


View from the path just outside our campground.


Bath Abbey - very cool!

Southern Caravan and Motorhome Show

Motorhome shows are something else in this country. We arrived Thursday, 15.May and camped for the weekend. Lucky for us, Phil and Des were there to greet us, so we were able to camp together. Loved spending time with them again. They made the trip worthwhile. Des spent part of an afternoon showing Megan around the piano! It made quite an impression.

Des and Megan, plinking.

Camping on site included free entertainment, to which the girls provided a secondary source of entertainment with their raucous dancing. They haven't slept so well in a long time. But, it did mean that they were out late ('till 10 or 11 most nights) and over tired this week.

Dancing queen.

Sophia, tucking her head under the pillow after a late night.

We did wander in to Newbury Saturday. The town is quite cute. Of interest was the open art exhibit that we encountered. The gentelman was creating silhouette cutouts right on site! Within about 5-minutes, he presented us with a cut out of each girl - done in free-hand and while we watched. What a fun keepsake!

From Newbury, we move on to Bath, then Birmingham.

Ciao!

Headed to the Southern Caravan Show!

As usual, I've been slow to update the blog. Mostly due to the flaky Internet connection of late - but more as we've spent the last several days cleaning the motorhome inside and out (a fairly daunting task with 2 little ones running amuck!). Today we head out for Newbury and to attend the Southern Caravan Show in hopes of finding a potential buyer. We're planning to meet up with Phil and Des (who we met in Spain) so should be fun no matter how it turns out.

We've been busy in the last two weeks. Some highlights (will have to add narrative and pics later - most of my pictures are still on the camera):

• Canterbury - We opted not to tour the Canterbury Cathedral and instead, spent a wonderful afternoon visiting the ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey, founded in 597 AD. Very cute little city, full of history and fun for a day trip.

Sophia at Saint Augustine's Abbey.

We moved out to a village called Winterslow. It was supposed to be a good touring base for Salisbury and Winchester. It would have been, had we had a car. The bus worked - just was a long haul each time we wanted to get out. And, it didn't run on Sundays. The spot was a Caravan Club Certified Location - for just 4.50 a night, we were permitted to park in a farmer's field! The surrounding landscape is spectacular and it was very quiet at night.




Thatch roofed house in Winslow.

• Salisbury - Originally visited just to get to Stonehenge. What a fantastic city. The cathedral is still walled in and sits among a very beautiful, park-like setting. We enjoyed a bit of the Saturday market while enroute to Winchester - lovely local products on hand... such as a rabbit pie; fresh trout (caught the night before); sausages... the fruit and veggies were quite wonderful and we enjoyed yummy plums and cherries on our outing. Love springtime!



• Stonehenge - Required visiting when in the UK. I was dubious - especially when I found out the bus 3 from Salisbury was a "tour" bus and would cost about 20 pounds for us. Well worth the outing - the landscape and the structure are quite stunning. Our bus also provided a commentary of the surrounding area, including pointing out the area of a landing strip used by the US to coordinate Normandy invasions. I haven't written the entry yet of our trip to Normandy (back in March) - suffice it to say, I am embarrassed that I didn't pay more attention in my history classes. For me, actually visiting these sites has helped me understand the level of coordination required between the various countries. We've now seen the beaches of Overlord Assualt in Normandy, with memorials, grave markers and tanks left as reminders to visitors. In the middle of a farmer's field, we saw the area in the UK utilized to coordinate the troops (from the top of a tour bus, granted). We've seen the living and working quarters of the troops that orgainized the massive rescue from Dunkirk from the secret war time tunnels at Dover Castle. While in Salisbury, we heard that troops were told not to damage the Salisbury Cathedral as they were using it as an aerial landmark. A very rich history lesson.


• Winchester - We took at day trip to Winchester. On the way out, the route was Salisbury -> Romsey -> Winchester. Romsey turned out to be a very cute town. Their tiny Saturday market was in full force, with the church bells ringing. We were there for only about 20-minutes between buses, but it's such a beautiful town, it bears a mention. Picked up some yummy chiabata bread for a snack and moved on. Winchester is quite beautiful - will have to write a separate entry, including pictures. We visited the Great Hall, where a replica of Arthur's Round Table hangs, as the cathedral was closed for a private event, we wandered over to the ruins of Wolvesey Castle and were awed by the beauty of the area. Passed by the house where Jane Austen lived her last days.

The weather has been simply fantastic. Who would have guessed that we would be working on summer tans in the UK in May? Just today, it turned to rain - hopefully will pass soon.

Ciao for now!