Looking Back on 2019

2019 started with a bang, 6 weeks this time in Lanzarote. 6 whole weeks of nothing but sunshine and recharging our batteries in readiness for our season at Longleat. The Jellybeans flew out and had a lovely week with us too.

Just days after the plane hitting the tarmac at Gatwick we are hitching up and heading to our new home for the season. Settling in quickly we soon learned to savour the noises of the animals from the Safari Park next door. There’s nothing quite like waking up to wolves, eating lunch to the sound of sea lions and settling down for the evening with the roaring of lions.

Again this year we were finding it hard to do a whole 8 months without a holiday and in June we took the awning down and decided that every third week when we had a couple of days off together that we’d hitch up and have a few days away. In the main this worked really well with us enjoying mid week weekends at Burford, Hurn Lane, Crossways and the Centenary Club sites.

Our 6 month contract turned into an 8 month contract and Longleat went down to being a 2 couple site. Working for the main part of the week on our own we settled down with the onset of Autumn. Longleat is a heavily wooded site and the leaves just kept dropping. The rain kept falling and the temperature started to fall.

Early November and we were finished, cheery waves as we headed up the long lane for one last time. Home for a week, time for a Jellybean birthday and to find somewhere to stow all our work stuff. We hit the road for a month over November and December, 29 nights and 10 sites booked. A month on the road was devine, even in winter. We endured some horrific rain but cosied up in the van it didn’t matter. We caught up with some great friends and saw some amazing sights that this great country of ours has to offer.

Finally, home, this time just for 4 days and we’re packing the car for a family Christmas in a cottage in Shropshire. Just the four of us, unbeknown to us when we booked it in the heat of summer, it would be the last family Christmas where we’d all wake up in the same house. A new chapter in the lives of the Ludford’s.

Altogether over 2019, including 8 months working on site we managed 258 nights in the van, taking in 14 sites. Not bad for assistant wardens working a full season.