Pots of gold

Today something happened that I have been trying to do since a child.  My Mum always used to say there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  Well, on pitch one this afternoon, I found the end of the rainbow.  There was no pot of gold that I could find...we will keep hunting for it!  I couldn't quite capture the moment but right is the best I could do, it was the most amazing rainbow I have ever seen and there was not only one but two at the same time. Obviously a rainbow would indicate rain followed by glorious sunshine.  That is indeed the case, showers on and off and rather chilly.  No sign of snow...but perfect building weather apparently.

Talking of building, I have been taking loads of bookings in the last few days and many of you have asked for more pictures of the toilet block.  So here are a selection of the build.  The concrete raft was a challenge, but went in well in the end.  We have had to build a raft for the new building because of the water table.  A raft is held in place by a vast steel cage.  Once the cage was in place they poured the concrete - note the length of the concrete pouring pipe - that was the longest the company could find!  Once the first lot of concrete was poured we then had to have more steel then a second pour on concrete.

Following the installation of the raft we were able to start the block work.  The existing building you can see has been thoroughly gutted and new windows, walls, drains and utilities have been installed.  The floor has been 'diamond grinded' in preparation for the new flooring.  The plumbers have been hard at it installing miles of new pipes.  This building will house the ladies facilities.  The new build will house the male facilities, family, and disabled toilet along with laundry and washing up area.

I will try and get our this week and get some more up to date pictures for you.

Away from the build it has been a busy time with bookings coming in thick and fast, we are getting pretty booked up in August so please don't leave it to the last minute to book.  Also remember that we offer 7 nights for the price of 5 at various times throughout the season, so why not make the most of a Cornish break.  To take up this offer please book direct with us either on our website or by giving us a call on 01726 843687.

Sarnies on the beach

We may not be able to get to the beach much in the summer, but days like today make up for it.  Yes, that's right, we had breakfast on the beach in January.  It was glorious.  We ventured onto the Roseland to Carne Beach.  We last visited there pre children many years ago and I loved it then.  But today I fell head over heals back in love with the beautiful open beach.  It is fantastically child friendly with parking right on the edge of the beach.  This is a big winner for me when I often go to these places solo with two under threes - we need near by parking!  Today the whole family went and we took our trusty camping stove.  Bacon sandwiches on the beach with a cap of tea...does it get any better.   It was truly glorious.

I nervously declare that I think there are signs that spring is on it's way down here in Cornwall.  We have now spotted snowdrops and daffodils out in full bloom which teases us with what is to come in the wonderful Cornish gardens.  I am going to make it our mission to visit as many gardens as we can this year.

At Little Winnick the new toilet block is ongoing.   We have a wealth of trades people onsite, tomorrow there will be builders, carpenters, plumbers, flooring experts and electricians...that is a lot of cups of coffee!  The project involves using what we referred to as the 'old block' to house the ladies, with a whole new block being built for the family, disabled, men's, laundry and dish washing up area.  We will take come pictures this week for you.

Happy Christmas from Little Winnick Touring Park

Enjoying the winter beaches

We would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2015.  We hope where ever and however you are celebrating you have a happy and relaxing time.  Here we shall hopefully, if the weather is on our side, start the day with breakfast on the beach - cooked on our trusty camping stove.  We are yet to decide which beach but the short list is Porthpean, Charlestown or Pentewan.  After a bacon and egg butty we will head to Richard's family for a Christmas lunch and dinner.  In the lead up to Christmas we will be visiting the big man himself at Heligan and maybe take in the decorations at The Eden Project.

Work is cracking on here at a fair rate of knots with the toilet block.  As with all building projects we have had some ups and downs already.  Last blog I said we were pleased we would only need strip foundations.  Well as we dug more out it became apparent the water table in places was just too high for this to happen.  So we are back to plan A and have been digging out for a raft foundation with vast amounts of steel in place, the concrete was poured creating a raft for the building work to get under way on.  We are really pleased with how it is going and can not wait to share with you all the end result.

The wildflower meadow

As for other work, yesterday saw 40+ laurels and various other shrubs being added to the already established planting that divides the pitches.  This will help make the pitches even more private in places than they are already.  The bottom field is starting to really take shape.  It was sown in early Autumn as a wild flower meadow with 25+ trees being planted there too.  The field is really starting to come to life and we hope it will attract an assortment of wildlife whilst providing guests with a lovely area to walk your dogs.

Steel before concrete was poured.

Winter is our time to take holidays.  At the end of November we went to Norfolk to visit my mum and dad, followed by a midweek break in Center Parcs for just the four of us - our first family holiday since Bethany joined us, it was really lovely to stop and have a well deserved break.  We ended our trip with a weekend at friends in London - I was spoilt with afternoon tea in London....a real treat!

We are also using our time wisely to visit places - obviously so we can help guests with places to suggest when you visit!  Our latest is The Beach Hut Cafe on Watergate Bay,  dog and child friendly it offers the most amazing hot chocolates and scrummy breakfasts along with lunch and dinner.  The sausages were the nicest I have had in ages.  This week sees an outing to the Eden Cafe for 'Vicar on the Fiddle'.  The local vicar has quite a well known band that plays every year in the Cafe whilst you can sip mulled cider and such delights...I am very excited about the prospect of a night out to get in the Christmas mood.  As always we are spending lots of time on the local beaches.  We went to Pentewan the other day, where strangely there was a whale that had washed up, sadly it was already dead before it came ashore, but it was quite a strange site!

Once again we wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas.

Best Wishes
Richard, Heidi, the girls and our merry band of helpers

As one door closes another one opens

We waved farewell to our very last guests yesterday after an amazing 2014 season.  But as we wave goodbye we are busy in the office as we have officially started taking bookings for 2015 as of the 1st November. (How is it the 1st November already?).  You can make bookings on online or by emailing mail@littlewinnick.co.uk or calling us on 01726 843687.  We are already looking pretty busy in August with people requesting particular pitches they like so make sure you book as soon as you can to secure your pitch.  All bookings require a 25% deposit with full payment 4 weeks prior to arrival.

This week we had good news regarding the foundations for the new building work.  We had planned for a floating raft foundation (I should put a caveat that I am no builder so if I get the terms wrong I am sorry), any how when we started digging, with a structural engineer and various other experts on site we had the welcome news we only need strip foundations (those channel ones, that normal buildings have) so that is a massive relief.  With good news come other irritations.  The week has been spent on our version of spagetti junction.  The main water and electrical cables for the site are having to be re routed, which is a head ache for the guys doing this.  New trenches have been dug and as of Friday only one more electric cable needed to be moved.

On Friday there was lots of water pumping taking place.  On top of the toilet block is a large water header tank.  This has had to be emptied as we start knocking walls down the weight would be too much until they have been re built in their new places.  We normally do this over the winter, but this year we did it a lot quicker than normal.


Saturday also saw yet more tree planting in the bottom field where we have sown the wild flower meadow.  We have now planted over 20 new trees to re landscape the open field.

As for us, well at home we are having our own building project take place over the next 8 weeks so we have been very busy preparing for that.  Poor Richard is on a building site at work and at home!  I did manage to pop to The Eden Project this week.  It was 'Halloweden' so there was lots on for children; it was nice but it has got very, very expensive for food and drink there.  We also ventured over to Lanhydrock for our second walk there in a week.  You can park for free and with bike tracks, including balance bike tracks, walks and a fantastic play area over looked by the cafe serving amazing hot chocolates it is fast becoming one of our favourites.

Pulling the plug after a long season

We pulled the plug for the final time on Monday of the newer toilet block and today I can officially announce it is no more. (it took a while to come up with that headline!) The digger, which is amazing to watch as it picks away at the building like a hand, got to work on Monday removing the building and today the final wall came down.  It was a frustrating job as the walls were lined with insulation so each wall had to be separated and certain bits removed.  Whilst the digger has been outside the builders and a few of our family have been working hard on the inside of what was formerly known as the old block knocking down all the walls to make way for a full reconstruction.  Currently reception is like a bathroom show room - if you would like one of 7 toilets and hand basins please do get in contact with us.

Excitedly watching the digger

inside old ladies block

It is exciting to see work happening so quickly, we are already making decisions about finishes and fittings to ensure that we have excellent quality and highly practical facilities.

So, please don't be thinking we are having a nice rest now.  No, officially we are still open for a few more days, despite the lack of facilities there are a brave few on site too.  Richard is coming home each night looking frazelled as the scale of the project becomes clear along with the number of major decisions that are needed each day.  And as for me - my soft little hands have nearly recovered now after planting up over 1000 bulbs over the weekend - hopefully they will be out in full glory when we open in March.

The smell of bacon...

Most mornings as we walk around the park, no matter what time of year it is you get a whiff of bacon and sausages cooking.  It is hard when all you have had is cornflakes.  Today we created our own 'whiff' - we set the stove up on the benches outside reception, invited a friend or two and then created a breakfast feast of sausage, egg and bacon roll with a side of brown sauce and a mug of coffee...can a morning get much better?  Well I suppose if I didn't have to clean the toilets it might be slightly better...but all part of the job.

Talking of cleaning toilets, there are not that many left to clean as we have started gutting the old toilet block ready for the big re-build that is happening through the winter.  On Monday, rather excitingly we are taking down the new block, as the plans see the brick building coming out into this area.  It is an exciting but quite scary time.  Ultimately we are please to be creating toilets that we will be proud of with family and disabled facilities  and nice new toilets and showers.  Obviously there will be lots of updates through the winter about how it is going...just keep everything crossed that the weather is on our side.

The wild flower meadow that we have sown is starting to grow up now - it is about three inches high - I can't wait for this to come into flower, returning the meadow to it's formal glory.

The end of the season is days away now, which brings mixed emotions.  It is nice to have a tiny rest - by rest I mean a weekend where we have two days off in a row, the weeks are physically more demanding than peak season as we are usually out planting, digging, painting or something similar.  It is sad to shut the gates and see everything go into hibernation, but it is also nice for us to explore Cornwall a bit more.  Last night I went out with the girls to The Rashleigh in Charlestown.  My friends have long raved about it and I have questioned what all the fuss was about.  However I agree it is really rather lovely and worth a visit it you are down here.  The food it good quality, well priced and in a lovely atmosphere.  It is also child friendly- although we were well and truly child free :-) .  This week also sees a night out for Richard and I..a first since our family grew so we are looking forward to that.  We are off to the Kingswood which is just up the road from Little Winnick.  We have not been for a few years so we will let you know what it is like.

We hope you have a good weekend where ever you are.

2014 Season Review

I spent most of the 2013/2014 winter giving you updates about the winter battering us in Cornwall, and indeed most of the UK.  It was a wet and windy affair and made our opening season feel like a distant memory.  Now here we are coming towards the end of the 2014 season, it is October and I am in shorts - 2014 really is the longest summer in a very longtime!

The season started early in April, at the same time as we welcomed our second daughter Bethany into the world, adrenaline was what kept us going those first few weeks along with jolly members of first rally of the season.  Rallies have featured throughout the 2014 season, with the final rally booked in a few days time.  With a dedicated rally field where organisers can pitch an entertainment marquee rallies are very well catered for, with many already booking for 2015 and 2016.

Around May the weather turned warm - and so it stayed - with only an odd blip since then.  It has been exceptionally nice, with long evenings and clear skies the majority of time which meant June and July were very, very busy, then from the week before the school holidays we were completely full until early September.  The Indian Summer has then encouraged many people to take to road and turn up without bookings and meant September has been pretty full too.

To all of you who have visited us over 2014, thank you.  We really do appreciate your business and it is a great pleasure to see so many of you returning.  Now many people think on the 31st October we shut the gates and jet off somewhere for the winter.  If only!  No this winter see's the refurbishment of the toilet block.  The newer wooden toilet block will be coming down and the brick block is under going a full refurbishment.  The work will mean we now have a purpose built family and disabled bathrooms along with a new washing up area and laundry room.

We have also been busy over the last few weeks on the bottom field.  The 'wild meadow' has been sown in the bottom two thirds of the field.  Once this has grown we shall be putting in paths for people to enjoy walks around.  The goal posts are also now in this field for our younger guests to enjoy.

When we took over Little Winnick Touring Park in the depths of 2012/2013 winter our aim was to breath life back into the old site; we knew it had potential and had watched it go from a successful popular site to a site hardly used over a number of years.  We also knew it would take a lot of work and some very, very, very long days and summers.  In two seasons I think it is safe to say we are extremely proud of our achievements and thrilled to have put the heart and soul back into a fantastically positioned site. I just had to let someone in through the barrier and I had a little tear in my eye as I looked back across the site and thought about how far we have come and how many happy memories have been made at Little Winnick this summer.

So, in summary.   A blooming good year thanks to you the guests, and the great British weather.  We hope you will come back in 2015 and see us and see how the park and our family has grown.  In the meantime, keep an eye out for blogs over the winter to see how things are progressing here.  And don't forget we are open until the end of the month and 2015 bookings are being taken from 1st November when you can reserve a specific pitch if you wish.

Thanks from us all
Heidi, Richard, Jessica & Bethany x