We seem to have been up to quite a bit, there is so much to see and do here. The base for the last 28 days has been The Lychett Manor Campsite, Lychett Minster Poole Dorset. A privately owned campsite really well run with a very helpful and friendly team. Our plot has been spot on, a great view with visiting Deer, sometimes they have been really close to us, on one occasion so much so Jarjar decided it was time to show off his butch side using his very deep bark to alert us to the big scary deer. The big scary deer looked up its mouth rotating as it chewed nonchalantly and looked down again to carry on with its dinner. Jarjar was most put out, he continued to protest now giving off a low gurgling growl big scary deer continued chewing so he assumed his position normal in his seat and back to sleep.

Big Scary Deer 1 Butch Hungarian Vizsla 0.

The bird feeder has been well visited with Jays and Nuthatch’s entertaining us along with Owls being very vocal at night. The owls were not so much entertaining as creating a slightly spooky feeling some nights. I was confused one night when I heard what I could only describe as a dog screeching. Google explained it was in fact Owls calling each other. Good old Google to the rescue again, saved me from heading out with a head torch looking for an injured pup and looking a bit stupid when the “twitchers” on the site spotted me. Phew.

Its been that time of year where happiness can be dented with loss and sadness. We have said goodbye to 3 family members which has meant a couple of unplanned trips. One to Wheathampstead to say goodbye to Auntie Connie and the other back to Derby to allow Denise to go to Blackpool with her Mum and Brother to pay their respects to cousin Annette’s husband Eddie. We are thinking about our Nephew and Nieces (and of course their Mum and Dad) as their Grandmother Hilda passed away. The trips although for not the best of occasions meant we could catch up with friends and family which is always good.

How many of you remember visiting Stonehenge when you could get up close and personal? We certainly could so when we decided to revisit and saw the massive visitors centre with coach parks and hoards of visitors some wearing face masks we did think we had made a mistake and would spoil our precious youthful memories of school trips and stop off’s on journeys to see relatives who lived in Ferndown and Plymouth. God I feel old now, in those days I think there were only two motorways! Well shame on us, it was a great. The visitors centre, complete with two Druid ladies was informative and full of great memorabilia from those free for all scramble on the stone days. This visit added to the list of World Heritage sites we seem to be drawn to so much, we even joined English Heritage. Free car parking and places to visit on a budget has to be a win win.

Feeling very pleased with ourselves and a tad patriotic with our new windscreen badge we have been enjoying the Jurassic Coast. Having had an impromptu visit to the local vet as Jarjar was very off it one day (£50 and a jab from the lovely vet sorted him) proved very informative, we were given some “tips and ideas” (for my IKEA friends). One of these was to visit Lulworth. Lulworth cove is very picturesque and as the weather was clear and sunny but very windy we set off for a smashing walk. This area is surrounded by military establishments and firing ranges, it was clear on our way to the cove that it was a firing day because the red flags were out. These were apparently advising that there was some awareness of the firing required and not that the sea was rough as I thought much to Denise’s amusement. Now revenge can be sweet! There were a number of road signs indicating that tanks could be on the road. This became a mission for Denise to spot a tank and she did out side of a military establishment. As I drove passed she snapped away trying to capture evidence of tanks, failing to see to the big bold warning sign on the tank. No photography! My turn to laugh as my law abiding partner justified her misdemeanour with “well its not in focus anyway”.

“Well it’s not in focus anyway”

As reported previously Jarjar is scared stiff of fireworks but not apparently by rifles, machine guns or tanks firing. All of these were heard and felt on our walk and not a twitch did he give yet we get back to the motorhome and some fire works were set off and he turned into a gibbering wreck. makes no sense.
Another day out took us to Arne where the RSPB have a reserve. Off we trotted on the long walk round, camera and bino’s with us. Jarjar securely on his lead as snakes live there, we didn’t see any but the signs assured us they lived there. We really enjoyed Arne and visited twice. On the second visit Jarjar “pointed” to our amazement he spotted a deer very close by, he stood so still and we watched for ages, no butch barking or growling today.

By far my favourite walks have been along the seafronts in all weathers. We have had some extremes to deal with. Storm Angus with the two or three days of mad rain fall, very cold -5 and -6 during the night and this week a barmy 12 to 15C.

On a nice day we decided to walk along the promenade and get an ice cream. Ice creams of the Mr Whippy 99 type fall into the best treat ever category for Jarjar where the person with said ice cream becomes the centre of his world. He once nearly stole a childs ice cream as we walked around the country fair at Chatsworth. Fortunately he was yanked away in the nick of time! We found a nice place to get a whippy ice cream and two 99’s and one chocolate free whippy were ordered. They were presented in tubs because they were “a bit soft”…… Hmmm I guess he had run out of cones. Anyway as a way of compensation we got two flakes each, thank god he ran out of cones.

As is the norm me and Jarjar scoffed our ice cream before Denise was a third of the way down her tub. In an effort to distract Jarjar I took him to the waters edge to play. Picture the scene, I am excitedly encouraging him to dig holes because it must be there that something he always digs for, he looks at me like I am stupid turns round runs straight back up the beach and sits in front of his other Mum giving her his undevided attention. I looked like the poor sod who is left hanging on a high 5!

During her childhood Denise often visited her grandparents for holidays, they lived in Ferndown. Over the past few years as she travelled the area with her work she tried to find the church where they were buried. She never found it. We spent some time looking at maps and asking her Mum for directions to try and find the church eventually having been up and down lots of roads and studying Google earth in detail we found All Saints Church in Hampreston. Excited we found the Church we begun to look around the headstones to try and find Sallie and Fredrick’s resting place. Unsurprisingly there were a few to check, so we split up and began our searches. As I was diligently checking my search grid stepping over fallen stones and uncut grass and mole hills I felt quite pleased with myself when one of the mole hills moved I didn’t embarrass my self by having a matching bodily movement. The earth mound was being worked, and it was successful in making me suggest we contact the church to see if their records showed the exact location. Denise did exactly that and we visited again a couple of days later to lay some flowers at Sallie and Fredrick’s resting place.

There are definitely some affluent people living in this area. We watched a program about Sunseeker boats that are made in Poole. It was fascinating to go to the Quay and see the boats in various stages of completion. The houses in Lilliput and Sandbanks are stunning we certainly saw many we could have done justice to. Apart from looking at great architecture with green eyes we managed to go to a couple shows; Catherine Tate was hilarious and The Bowie Experience was excellent. We have again enjoyed seeing our friends who came to have lunch with us. It was a really cold eerie day with a strange fog hanging over the harbour. St Peters finger is the local pub, dog friendly and Jarjar has some new best friends, some customers and some of the members of staff. Whilst we were in with our besties a lady and gentlemen were beside themselves to interact with him giving him all of their dogs treats. When Jarjar went to say Hi to their dog he got growled at, not surprising really as he was scoffing all of the poor dogs food.

This campsite at this time of year is no where near full there are no tents and most people are here for a few days not just the weekend. The recent arrivals have set up with full Christmas decorations and sparkly lights. Not to be out done and having been slightly shamed for not getting into the spirit of things we have some twinkles ourselves. There are some great characters but my most enjoyable people watch is those going for the showers. PJ’s dressing gowns, towels well anything what’s funny is seeing the bed head hairs do’s going into the shower and the transformations on the way out. They go in head down hiding and come out like they have been at the spa and had a full treatment. We have seen people with birds of paradise with them and this last week our neighbours have bought their cat with them. Its great how life is normal and how people make things work.

We are nearing the end of our stay here, just a couple of days before we head back to Derby, a few days at home then its off to New York for a special treat. Before we go home we have a walk planned from Christchurch to Hengistbury Head with our friends Debbie and Alan. I am guessing we will have a nice lunch with them, looking forward to finishing this part of adventure off with a great walk fingers crossed the weather is kind to us……… see I am English and its part of my heritage to be talking about the weather…

Some more photos of our time here