Burrrrrr(s)… Where’s Mi Big Coat?

6 weeks ago, on site at Broadway, toilet clean just finished, cuppa in hand, a quiet moment to check the emails. There’s a couple regarding training, one saying we’d had a parcel delivered and another asking for short term winter cover at a couple of sites. Working just over an 8 month contract away from home, we relish our time off. Three words jump out at us from the email, ‘Burrs Country Park’, 6 miles away from my Mum and Dad but 5 hours away from home. 17 days cover required starting a week after we finish at Broadway. For 10 out of the 17 days, we just happen to actually have a booking at Burrs, a trip booked to snatch a few days catching up with my parents. We look at each other over cups of steaming tea and a chocolate digestive, are we thinking the same thing? We must be mad..

Our two season’s at Broadway safely tucked away, Cheerio Broadway, we head home for what is set to be a busy week off. A long weekend away in Dorset celebrating our eldest Jellybean turning 30, surely I’m not old enough to have a toddler that age. Emily booked us all into a fabulous house in Charmouth and we spent 2 days making memories and consuming calories that should have taken 2 weeks to achieve … oops.

A caravan service including a fridge repair, our fridge turned up it’s toes in our final week at Broadway and is hopefully having a new element fitted. A Christmas present gifted in 2019, Paul Weller in concert in Oxford. Our Modfather concert is in Oxford the night before we are due to drive to Burrs Country Park, not exactly a relaxing, recharge your batteries week.

We decide to break our journey up by taking the caravan up to Burford for a night. Caravan dumped unceremoniously on a pitch, we didn’t set the van up. Legs down, contents of the car tipped into the van, bed cleared and off we head into Oxford for the gig.

On route we discover Mr.Weller was on stage for 3 hours the previous night meaning our last bus to the Park & Ride would be missed, a desperate Google search for town centre parking less than the price of a house followed … every penny was worth it, amazing show.

We slept like logs at Buford and were up and at ‘em bright and early ready for the drive over to Burrs. 3 hours later we arrive on site to be shown to a lovely pitch facing the office. Site’s quite busy, in fact almost full, lots of folk enjoying a bit of winter caravanning. Shifting stuff around and trying to remember where things go, we haven’t had the van out for more than two nights at a time in this last year so lots of things to remember. Stuff suitably crammed away and we sit down to a lovely feast of meatballs, pasta and garlic bread. A quick trip across to Notlob, (only those of a certain age will understand that reference), to visit my parents and we drop into bed, exhausted.

The following morning the sunrise that welcomes us back to the north west is beautiful. It’s 15 years since we moved away to start a life in Hampshire, the air is cold, I’d forgotten the difference in temperature between the north and the south. Where did I put my big coat…

Did I mention that we responded to that plea for help from work? We are here at Burrs to work, two birds with one stone. Seeing as we planned to be here visiting we figured we may as well offer our services and wear the steel toe caps for another few weeks. Our view from the office door, it seems we’ve just swapped one steam train for another.

We do also have another ulterior motive for being here, Burrs Country Park is to be our home for just over 8 months next season so it will be nice to get to know the place a little before we start work properly next year.