Off exploring today in Smart Arse. Lots of the roads round here are so narrow that a car as small as ours is just perfect and we have noticed there are quite a lot equally small and often Smart too. We headed for the Needles which is West and went as close to the coast as the roads allowed. First stop Compton Bay where the high chalk cliffs are crumbling away and we wondered how soon the car park would crumble over the edge. We passed Freshwater Bay but didn't stop and carried on to the Needles. Have to say this was a disappointment. Commercialised like Lands End but with less natural attraction. We parked in the car park and got a £2 reduction in the parking charge as Smart Arse has a (valid) National Trust ... read more

Still glorious weather today but forecast warned that it would come to an abrupt end this evening (and it did). Making the most of the lovely sunshine we set off first to the stately home only a couple of miles from the campsite .. Stansted Park. First thing we spotted was that the house was not open until 1pm and it was a good 2 hours short of that. Second was that this is really a rather commercial enterprise with garden centre, farm shop and the first gardens we came to, taken over by a very busy restaurant, tea room. We had a walk round the gardens we could access but decided not to wait for the 1pm opening and instead got on my phone to prebook us entry to somewhere else. An excellent decision as ... read more

Lovely pretty boring drive to start the holiday but no other way to get from Staffordshire to Kent, East Sussex really so we hit the M1, M25 and headed south until we came to Crowborough. Some really slow stretches of motorway on the Ml and M25 but no specific accident holdups. Nearly came a cropper when an almost complete tyre appeared in front of us but Bob managed to steer us past it otherwise suspect it would have done something quite nasty to a beautiful motorhome with a little Smart Car behind. We were staying in Crowborough for just one night to enable us to drop in on Bob grandson Pete and family a few miles down the road. The dog just about agreed to a photo so I took one and Dani's cake was delicious. ... read more

Home again. An easy drive if a bit wet but nothing like as bad weather as was forecast. Delighted to find we still have a gorgeous garden (thanks to Jack next door wielder of the hosepipe) and it is full and in glorious bloom. The photos are all of the garden but taken the day after we got home as the sun came out and the sky turned fully blue (first time in more than a week). The garden is also full to the brim with bees and butterflies. Beautiful. I love my English Country Garden. Time to tidy it a little, some dead heading and maybe we will head out again in our lovely motorhome with Smart Arse in tow in a week or so. Verdict on our new motorhoming arrangements... Chausson and Smart Arse.... ... read more

A National Trust sort of day today and two beauties on our doorstep. First stop Blickling Hall, an early 1600 mansion of beautiful proportions and balance. The lady in the car park was delighted to see us as she had a tiny weeny parking spot just waiting for a Smart Arse like ours. She said they are super busy at the moment and yesterday they had to close the carpark as it was full. This is of course because there are so many people holidaying in England because of Covid who would normally be abroad. Oddly that has nothing to do with why Bob and I are most unusually visiting Norfolk and in August. We are here because we took the opportunity to meet up with daughter Jenny and family while they were holidaying in Suffolk ... read more