Dover Castle
As we parked the camper van at Dover Castle I jumped out with excitement.  First we went to some underground tunnels that had been used in the 2nd World War, the first one we went to was Operation Dynamo where they organized the evacuation of Dunkirk Beach where lots of soldiers were trapped.  The second tunnel was a hospital where the soldiers went if they got sick or hurt.  After that we went to the castle that King Henry II built

But 1st you had to go through a defensive wall, then another one, then one more then you got to the castle, wow the bad guys would have had a very tricky job.

The castle looked amazing and huge and it looked spectacular in side.

After that we went to the Roman lighthouse it looked very old, then we went to the Saxon church it was the shape of a cross.  It was very cool inside.  

Lastly we walked around the battlement wall back to the camper van.  Wow that was an impressive day.    By Amy

The New Forest
 As we stopped in the car park in the New Forest we hopped out and saw a whole load of wild New Ponies, they looked so lovely.  I walked slowly up to one and it seemed to like me so I patted it.

 Lots of the ponies were lying down as they were going to have a foal soon.  The New Forest went on for miles on end, we walked through a bit of it and then we turned back to the car and had a picnic and then we went to a pub and I had a delicious hot chocolate and the cup was half full of marshmallows yummy!

 By Amy

Fishbourne Roman Villa
We all had a fan-diddley-tastic time at the Roman Palace today, it was amazing.  First of all we entered the 1st block and there was a long table with ink wells and bamboo sticks (which I was soon to realize was for writing with) and lastly small pieces of brown paper.  We sat down and the lady gave us each a piece of brown paper a bamboo stick and a small dark ink well, oh and I can’t forget the small white piece of paper with roman letters on it, lucky thing that we got those or I would have completely mucked up when it came to do the writing.

  After that we headed to the makeup room and urg the make up the Romans used to wear was disgusting. No I’m serious this is only some of the gruesome stuff they wore. Squashed flies as eye shadow uck, and lead to make them look pale, but the thing is, they didn’t realize that lead was poisonous.  

The next place wasn’t as disgusting, in fact is was not disgusting at all, only that your hands got a little bit mucky but that doesn’t matter because we were making pots, in the end mine ended up looking a little bit like a bee hive.  We were told to leave them there until we were ready to go so they would have a bit of time to dry, even so mine was still really squishy. Laura

The girls also got to try lots of other Roman activities like going to school and being a Roman scholar and trying their hand at weaving.

There were even artefacts dug up from the site of the villa, and some pretty amazing mosaic floors that had been painstakingly uncovered and can be viewed from a platform above them.  All in all really cool day out.

Stonehenge

At Stonehenge we had a super duper time. When we got there we were all  handed a hand sized audio device with lots of what I thought at first very confusing small buttons, but I worked it out in the end.  Then suddenly Stonehenge was in sight and I stopped for a minute to look admiringly at the dark shaped rocks with the sun setting in the back ground, wow.  But I couldn’t stand there looking at Stonehenge for long because suddenly my device started nattering and it is right because how could the Neolithic people get all those monstrously heavy rocks up on top of each other?  Well it is said that the Neolithic people used long planks of wood as ramps, bone to dig with, and of course pure muscle.  But that doesn’t tell you what it was used for does it?  So it is said that because Stonehenge has twelve different doorways people think that it was used as a calendar for the different months of the year (very smart).  Laura

Stratford
‘Well this is William Shakespeare’s house’ Dad shouted as a load of zooming cars passed us and it is also the house he was born in.

 So we had seen the house where William had been born and now we were going to see the house he died in and along the way we saw the school he went too.  Soon we were there at the house where William died it was quite an old, pretty looking house,

 So we set of,  on our way we saw the American Fountain it was a little tower clock that the Americans had given to England because they loved William Shakespeare’s stories so much and because it was Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.
 Then we saw his daughters house, after that we went to the church where he was buried.  Amy

The River Avon all iced over!

 Even the bank and lamp posts were pretty cool.

We parked for the night at Silbury Hill the largest prehistoric mound in Europe, it is around 37m high and about 30m across the top and about 1/2km around its base.  Nobody can be sure why it was built but it seems to have been started around 2400bc, and again nobody can be sure when it got to its present hight but it seems that it took anywhere between a 100 years and 400 years.  The build started with just a very small mound of about 2m high made from gravel and clay and topped with soil and turf, and the hill seems to have grown from there over the years through a number of building stages to its present hight.

Wolverhampton

From Wales we headed to Wolverhampton to spend the weekend with some of my relatives. We had a great weekend parked up on Len and Mo's drive, and the girls had a great time getting to know some of their second cousins which was lovely.

But then after a weekend of bowling and wii dancing it was time to move on and to start to head South.

Well after lots of looking we have found a camper van, yippy...... but its all the way up in Sheffield! So we decide to hire a car and head North again.  We stayed the night in a fab hotel, the family room was huge with really nice comfy beds, a great big flat screen tv, and a shower that worked. What more can you ask?

The next morning we woke up to lots of snow, which the girls thought was great, especially as the hotel car park had been closed to cars due to the fact it was on quite a slope, which made it perfect for sledging and they had it all to themselves.

While Pete went off to seal the deal with the camper van and return the rental car the girls and I went to the Cooper Art Gallery in Barnsley, and had an enjoyable and warm afternoon looking at the art and spending time in the kids section which had lots of cool activities. 

Once we get our hands on our new camper we head out of Sheffield to a lovely area on Timber Lane near Chesterfield, with the intention of staying the night to get settled into camper life.  

The snow and ice in the car park of Timber Lane helped us choose our parking spot for the night! Luckily there were no other campers in the area as we found ourselves stuck in the snow!

 Pete getting a bit exercise, and the girls having a ball.

Once we start to get ourselves set up in the camper we find that we are a little short of water, so the girls go snow collecting.

The next morning the friendly neighbouring farmer gives us a much needed pull out of the car park, and we are on our way.

Once we're on our way we head into Chesterfield for water and other supplies and find a church with a crooked spire.

After we have stocked up we head into the Peak District and start looking for a camping spot for the night, and after what seems like a very long time, we come across a diary farm with camping available so we decide to stay the night and as we start to reverse towards the camping power supply box to hook up to the electricity we get stuck in the snow....again.

The next morning while we waited for the farmer to finish milking the cows the girls made the most of their time..... Yes they were on the sledge again.

Then it was all go......

.....and before we knew it, we were on our way again.

Our next stop is just outside Castleton to the Blue John cavern where we went down some 300 feet into the Blue John caves to see the semi-precious stones know as Blue John.  The sparkling fluorspar comes is many different colours from blue to yellow and the veins can be seen quite easily down in the cave.

Parts of the cave tour are very narrow,

While other parts of the cave open up into large chambers, and the largest is know as Lord Mulgrave's Dining Room as the lord once put on a banquet for the miners there.

The girls looking up at the sparkly veins of Blue John.

Back up to the top at last.

From the Peak District we headed West to North Wales and stayed the night at the lovely village of Betws-y-coed. We arrived in the early afternoon and found the wild camping spaces very easily at the back of a very large carpark.  We decided to have a walk around the village and had some fun jumping boulders and breaking ice puddles down at the edge of the beautiful Llugwy river, which flows right past the centre of the village.

During our walk we crossed the Conwy River using the Snapper suspension bridge,

Then headed back to the camper to spend the rest of a wet afternoon doing a bit of home baking, yum.