A Mother's Day campervan picnic

2899 miles on the clock
For Mother's Day weekend we picked Yarwell Mill caravan site and invited family to join us for a picnic on the Saturday. My parents had a caravan on this site throughout my childhood and we spent every weekend and school holiday here. I have great memories of canoeing, fishing, swimming in the river and so many other things.

The site is mainly dedicated to seasonal pitches which spread along the river banks or lake. Our touring pitch was on the mill pond and for the Friday evening we had the pond all to ourselves. The pond is adjacent to a river lock and weir and rather noisy from the water, but didn't it didn't prove problematic to sleeping.

We walked to the Queen's Head pub in Nassington on Friday night and enjoyed a couple of pints of real ale before walking back in the dark. We walked along the road and we'd learn on Saturday that there's a more pleasant route through fields.

We cooked corned beef hash for dinner and were in bed by around 9.30pm. The outdoors is so tiring!

Cheers!
On Saturday we woke to cloudy skies - so different to the sunny and warm weather we were promised earlier in the week! With no chance of sitting outside we set about making as much room as possible in the campervan.

We gained another 10 inches in the living area by moving the back seats further back and as it turns out we can easily keep the van like this permanently, giving us even more room. So the cold weekend served a purpose!

Our guests arrived at noon and bundled into Cleopatra with us. We served crudités and dips, followed by hot dogs. We gave our first courses a chance to go down during a walk around the lake before having coffee and cake back in the warm.

Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was rather like the old times. If we'd not bought a campervan I could easily see us having a seasonal touring pitch from March to October for the bargain price of just £1,500.

Inquisitive pig
We went for another walk when our guests had gone, to walk off more food. We took the Nene Way to Nassington, passing a very adorable and inquisitive pair of pigs. As we'd not come across any ducks at this point the pigs benefited from a bread roll we'd brought along. We just had one pint in the Queen's Head as we had been drinking since lunchtime!

Yarwell Mill has changed ownership since I was small but it remains largely unchanged. They've added more pitches but otherwise it's as it always was. It's a lovely location, bounded by river on three sides and with a lake at its centre. You're almost guaranteed a waterside pitch. Walking is great too with villages on all sides for a leisurely stroll to the pub. Yarwell Junction station is 15 minutes walk and you can catch the Nene Valley steam train into Peterborough.

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