May bank holiday family getaway

Another bank holiday was upon us and I couldn’t wait to spend time away with my family for a short break to the National 2017 at Sandringham. Unfortunately I had left it too late to book a pitch at the National as it sold out very quickly so OH and I decided to just go for 2 days and stay overnight nearby and then visit the National on the Sunday as day visitors.

The three of us – OH (Mark), son (Sam) and myself - set off on the Saturday morning with a fully loaded car – seriously how much do you need to take for a 14 month old?!

We decided to stop off on the way to break up the journey at Shepreth Wildlife Park. It would normally be a 2 hour drive for us but we got stuck in traffic. Fortunately Sam slept for the first part of the journey and a big bag of crackers kept him happy for the rest! As we got towards Duxford we were greeted by an air display, what we think was a TF-51 Mustang (a small fighter plane that flew right past us) and a B17 (large bomber) - wow what a sight! It just happened to be the American Air Show at the Imperial War Museum, celebrating the opening of the newly transformed American Air Museum which tells the story of American and British collaboration over 100 years showing the impact of the American forces on Duxford and the eastern region from the First World War to the present day. We couldn’t have timed our arrival better (thank you traffic!)

On to Shepreth Wildlife Park, which supports animals that are endangered in the wild, and we had a wonderful time. The price isn’t unreasonable for what there is to see at £11.95 per adult and free for Sam as he’s under 2. We spent a good few hours there so we got our money’s worth. Tip for anyone planning to visit, you can book online to get a reduced rate.

It was a lovely sunny day and Sam absolutely loves animals so there was lots of pointing, oh's and aw's from our very happy little boy. We saw the otters being fed, watched the cheeky meerkats, walked through the bat cave, admired the wise owls, stared in wonder at the maned wolf, laughed at the cute little prairie dogs and Sam also experienced his first ice lolly (as you can see from the video he wasn’t very impressed)!

After much fun at the wildlife park we left to get to our destination for the night. We arrived quite late so after giving Sam his dinner we put him to bed in his new travel cot – a genius invention, the NSAuk travel cot, which pops up into a tent and has an inflatable mattress. Sam was very comfy, and fortunately I had brought all his essential items including his favourite jelly cat soft toy, owly, so he slept through the night (although the 6am awakening was a little earlier than what I would normally prefer). If you’re looking at buying this travel cot make sure you have space in your caravan or motorhome as it is quite large (especially the deluxe version that apparently lasts until they are 5). One word of warning, you need to zip up the mosquito net and trying to do this quietly to not wake up my light sleeper was a challenge! Once he was settled we enjoyed a Chinese takeaway and a glass of wine - bliss! 

As we were up early – thanks Sam! - we made our way to the Sandringham Estate. The sun was shining again, so lucky with the weather, and we were excited about the day ahead. And what fun we had. I had arranged to meet up with some of our CTers. It was great to catch up and show off Sam. Talking of which, Sam had a wonderful time. He was spoiled by everyone, lots of hugs and smiles, lots of space for him to toddle about and lots of friendly dogs for him to wave at, he even met the famous Marcel Le Corgi. We had fun in the tourer explorer tent and cheered on the cyclists taking part in Cyclefest. I did a bit of shopping at the trade stands and in the craft marquee, OH was tempted by the electric bikes, and we admired the vintage caravans on display. We watched the stunt show at the arena and the Punch and Judy show at the SsangYong stand (whilst OH looked at the cars). It was so much fun for the whole family. Later we headed to Sandringham Estate and visited the farmers market. Sadly we didn’t have time to go into the house and gardens so we will have to come back again another time – hopefully a visit to Seacroft Club Site, Cromer may be on the cards!

What a wonderful way to spend the bank holiday weekend with family. Next year we are hoping to pitch up and stay at the National (making sure we book early) so we can take advantage of all that’s on offer including the evening entertainment, but it’s great that we were able to go as a day visitors and not miss out on this event.