Priddy. (Saturday)

As may have been surmised we've been away for the weekend. Peter brought the camper to the house on Friday so that we could get everything ready for a quick getaway on Saturday morning. It's only a couple of hours to Priddy but the somewhat irascible campsite manager had insisted we arrive well before 11.00. The Satnav took us on  slightly different route to our usual one along the Cheddar gorge but we arrived in plenty of time to sort out the camper. As we walked along the road towards the village our friends pulled up alongside and Sam got out with their dog to walk the rest of the way with us. 

Priddy is an ancient and pretty village, in fact the whole area of the Mendip Hills is maintained as a quaint rural area where new houses must be built of stone to match the traditional buildings and are very expensive indeed. The structure above is not a building but a store of traditional style wood hurdles to build sheep pens for the annual sheep fair.

By the time we had gathered in the pub there were ten of us; our friends, their two daughters and a son-in-law and us with our two boys and Romas' partner Laura. Vytas' wife couldn't make it due to a prior commitment. The pub is very olde worlde and had a great atmosphere. We began by having lunch, very well done pub grub and the portion sizes were enormous. I had poached salmon with salad and a mountain of chips (fries) most of which I passed on to the boys. As it had been several years since we'd all been together there was much to catch up on and of course there was lots to talk about the new house.

After lunch most of us set off for a walk. Peter's knees weren't too good in the morning so he stayed in the pub with Ray. Of the rest of the group usually Sam and the boys race off at breakneck pace which I just can't keep up with but this time they got engrossed in a long historical discussion and the pace was fine for the rest of us. We didn't have a route planned but simply headed off up a country lane. A little while later two of our party turned back but we kept on until the lane crossed a busier road where we also turned around. 

However we decided to follow a cart track that veered away from the lane but was heading in the same general direction. Eventually we came to another road which we correctly guessed would lead us back to Priddy.

Back at the pub we found our party had moved outside for a change of scene. It was nice and warm in the sun but slightly chilly in the shade so eventually we moved sideways to different tables. The pub also sells tea and coffee so we broke out the cookies and Rocky Road which went down a treat. From there we all drove down to our campsite to congregate by the camper for tea and more cake & biscuits. Laura had made a delicious lemon drizzle cake and to Peter's great delight she and Romas had brought him some Staffordshire Oatcakes. (A yeast based oatmeal wrap only found in Staffs and usually eaten with savoury breakfast fillings.) 

All too soon it was time for friends and family to leave albeit with many promises to visit us in Wales and Peter and I settled down for an early evening reading in the camper. It doesn't seem like camping when you have electricity for lights and heating but we are still getting used to organising things inside the camper and learning how to move around in a tiny space. It was a clear cold night but we were nice and snug and it didn't take long to warm up in the morning with the fan heater.

More adventures tomorrow ..........