Gutted but it's going

ChrisSue said:
Check Chertsey. Think it is due to close for renovation. CAMC site at Abbeywood is a short walk to trains to London Bridge
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Chertsey closed on the 16th January for renovation, But the Twynersh hungry horse just down the road from Thorpe park allows motorhomes to overnight in the car park providing you use the pub.
 
Are we there said:
We have 10 grandsons, aging from 6 to 18. When we take them away we choose our sites with things for them to do. 11 yr olds get bored very quickly. There are sites with lots for kids to do, but if he struggles to make friends, and he has no one to go off with i can see why he maybe unhappy. Its a hard choice if its your dream. Butt i expect he used to flying on lovely lively all inclusive hols. So if you want to keep him happy i get it. You only have your kids a short while so make happy hols. You can always come back to motorhoming in few yrs.
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He makes friends easily and he isn't used to flying off abroad. He would love to have beach holidays in hot places and we booked to go to Marrakech in 2019 but Covid put a stop to that. The motorhome doesn't live up to what he was expecting of his holiday to Morocco. Will see.
 
Grasmere9 said:
He makes friends easily and he isn't used to flying off abroad. He would love to have beach holidays in hot places and we booked to go to Marrakech in 2019 but Covid put a stop to that. The motorhome doesn't live up to what he was expecting of his holiday to Morocco. Will see.
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If he likes beach holidays then I'm not surprised if a couple of wet weekends didn't live up to his expectations! :LOL:

Obviously hot isn't an option this time of year, but how about getting him involved in planning a summer beach holiday? I remember as a kid looking through the campsite directory each year and pointing out campsites that looked fun. Maybe give him an area or two to focus on and get him looking online to find somewhere he likes the look of? Google maps is a great resource to check out what fun things are available on a campsite.

I'll start with one for you: the area around Biscarosse & Navaraosse in SW France. Surfing in the sea, campsites with pools and slides if you stay near the coast. If you stay inland there's a lake with all sorts of watersports and a floating assault course. Of course with the motorhome you could easily do a few days in each area ;)
 
Hope you sort it. I'm sure its a lovely holiday for children if you get the destination right. I've been on CLs in the cold and rain, and on big sites in the cold and rain and didn't like it at all either. Now we try to choose places where we can at least get a bus to somewhere or walk up the road to a pub.. What about Monkey World near Poole. Yoiu can camp next door.
 
So tonight we have booked 4 nights at a caravan park in Looe, Cornwall (Tencreek). Not our usual type of place to stay but...it has indoor pool, basketball net,football pitch, games room etc. Going to go on Monday and make our way back on Friday. Nearby is an outdoor adventure place and the monkey sanctuary. Hopefully it will be reasonably dry! We do have wet weather gear though. He also loves seafood so some treats in store in Looe.

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Just checking in to make sure you are going to keep the MH after so much persuasion & positive ideas from the season hardened adventurers that are lovingly known as Funsters.(y)
I am pleased on one hand that you or son for now are prepared to give the MH another try, and that you have sussed out what is suited to him in Looe Cornwall.(y) On the other hand though, you couldn't have picked a worse week to go down there, the weather will be crap, and even though there should be more kids around, many I guess will not be there due to the weather.
Looe is a busy place, with lots going on, but not so good in the wind, rain & cold sea.
What ever you decide to do though, I wish you all every happiness, in what has become a hard sell to an 11 year old.:pray2::pray:
Best wishes.
LES
 
I hope you have a great time,i mentioned your son cooking the evening meal in an earlier post,but i omitted to say ,fun cooking like firepit or barbeque, lads love playing with fire lol,i think a bit of responsibility is good for them,even down to giving him a certain amount of money and going into town to buy the tea,have a set budget and its a different person every evening,you do it one night ,your partner next and your son the next,then the winner (cos you all have a vote) picks where to eat on the last night when you eat out;if its windy you could try kite flying,might you manage to get out on a boat trip, my sons are big strapping men in 30’s and 40’s and their nana taught them to knit ,of which they are quite proud ,it kept them amused on rainy afternoons, my mum said.or croissants in a tin, easy to get out and bake forbreakfast(wats with my obsession with food lol)
again have a great time,best regards pampam
 
TinaL said:
Just checking in to make sure you are going to keep the MH after so much persuasion & positive ideas from the season hardened adventurers that are lovingly known as Funsters.(y)
I am pleased on one hand that you or son for now are prepared to give the MH another try, and that you have sussed out what is suited to him in Looe Cornwall.(y) On the other hand though, you couldn't have picked a worse week to go down there, the weather will be crap, and even though there should be more kids around, many I guess will not be there due to the weather.
Looe is a busy place, with lots going on, but not so good in the wind, rain & cold sea.
What ever you decide to do though, I wish you all every happiness, in what has become a hard sell to an 11 year old.:pray2::pray:
Best wishes.
LES
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We have been to Cornwall before, in all sorts of weather (granted he was younger). This is a very different site to our usual choice....in fact I am suddenly having second thoughts 😱... It really shouldn't be this difficult. 😫
 
Grasmere9 said:
We have been to Cornwall before, in all sorts of weather (granted he was younger). This is a very different site to our usual choice....in fact I am suddenly having second thoughts 😱... It really shouldn't be this difficult. 😫
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If in doubt, do nout as they say.
Wait a little longer for the spring, and get a better chance of some warmer sun, plus get your son cooking burgers & sausages on The BBQ, they always taste great outdoors.
LES
 
Just off jcn 17 of the m5 is the wave surf lake. It's not cheap £45 an hour but he might like a go. There is also a pub, The Fox, at Easter Compton that allows overnight stays in their car park which you pass on the way to The Wave if you need a stop over.

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I am overthinking things now. I just hope that the site is ok.. so not like our usual sites.
 
If the opinion of your 11 yr old child is so paramount in your decision making why on earth did you not consult him prior to the purchase of the motorhome , which presumably cost a significant amount of your hard earned money ?
I’m hoping that your inclusive trait will extend to future major decision making , changing mortgage provider , voting , pension options , future partner choice or retention , investment portfolios , medical decisions regarding your health , the list of contributions the 11 yr old can make is literally endless , please keep us all informed what the lad advises .
 
Good luck next week Grasmere9, we love Cornwall out of season, hope you end up with a fun trip for everyone. Sure it will be easier when the weather improves.
 
Hi Grasmere

I used to take my kids to Tencreek, they loved it. However, it is not somewhere I would go, as an adult, a bit like Butlins, with arcades, and chips, and kiddies hour in the club house.

Mind you, it was probably 18 years ago!!! Feels like yesterday now I know I sm getting old....er.

Looe has lots to do,
Go for it, although it's a long drive, but the WiFi and tech will help with that.

Let us know how you get on.
 
Our kids were into adventure sports such as kayaking so the vans we had were ideal for that. A hot indoor shower was the height of decadence :) as was a "proper" toilet rather than the portaloos that were normal during kayak slalom meets.

Other things they enjoyed were panning for gold and fishing. We had a lovely holiday on the north coast of Scotland one summer and even did a day trip from JOG on the foot ferry (leaving the van for the day) over to Orkney. They loved Skara Brae.

After our children flew the nest we took our nephew and nieces children away with us (all begged to come again .... "if we leave home at 3 am we can be there before breakfast" was one interesting comment when two of them were making plans to come up) and now we take our own grandchildren. We do things that we probably wouldn't do as a more mature couple but they aren't young for long.

11 is probably the worst age for boredom as he is too old for soft play and the like and still needs close supervision (which will be resented) but he isn't quite old enough to have firm interests / hobbies of his own to become absorbed in.
 
Grasmere9 said:
So tonight we have booked 4 nights at a caravan park in Looe, Cornwall (Tencreek). Not our usual type of place to stay but...it has indoor pool, basketball net,football pitch, games room etc. Going to go on Monday and make our way back on Friday. Nearby is an outdoor adventure place and the monkey sanctuary. Hopefully it will be reasonably dry! We do have wet weather gear though. He also loves seafood so some treats in store in Looe.
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Sounds like a plan

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I've read all the way through this thread but haven't commented, until now!, cos I've never had to plan around kids. I just want to send you lots of 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞 for your future trip(s) away.
 
We occassionally take the 10yr old grandson away and have him monthly weekends. (Sees us more than his dad). The switch is vital to our survival, an additional DS is also taken, battery charging is vital and proding can be required to make it happen. (You sometimes have to think for them about the mundane things) battery luls are a good way to introduce strange things like books (diary of a wimpy kid). Card games used to be a family favourite, we still play card games together but on these electronic devices. We have been extremely lucky with English heritage sites where staff have taken an interest in him and made his experience much better than I could have imagined.
Ive read some of the "previous advice " my view/ experience is you are wise to listen to your son and discuss things but dont let that tip over into him dictating things. That is bad for him and you. We went through a period that was extremely difficult and my (middle) 14yr old son took it upon himself to be a third parent . This was useful for us real parents for a while but luckily with help we were able to give him back the ability to be a child. Sometimes children sieze family power without the maturity to deal with it. This is meant to be helpful and not a lecture.
 
Haven’t read all the posts on this, but, would he like to have a ‘pup’ tent as his quarters?
With better weather on the horizon, hopefully, and maybe his own sleeping quarters you might be lucky and get a happy child!
 
Shrimp said:
Haven’t read all the posts on this, but, would he like to have a ‘pup’ tent as his quarters?
With better weather on the horizon, hopefully, and maybe his own sleeping quarters you might be lucky and get a happy child!
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Is 11 a bit young for that? Or do you have an enclosed awning (safari room) where the tent could be placed?

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Grasmere9 said:
He actually likes the drop down bed in the MH. We are off to get a Mifi today. We don't have a safari room...quite new to this and building our kit slowly.
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Think very carefully about buying a safari room - expensive, a pain in the b*m to put up/take down, heavy, and (probably) not used……IMHO!;)
 
Northernraider said:
Id definitely get rid of the 11 year old

Babysitter , relative , adoption agency , boarding school the choices are limitless
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send it to ru-ss-er they would soon,i said sooooon be back, oki.pj baby its cold out side
 
Any good? Need to get a Sim that works in Cornwall 🙈

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