Happy Christmas
So, here we are, Christmas eve; the ham is boiling and the smell of cloves is filling the air, Bing on Spotify and Strictly has finished so we must be almost there!
What a year it’s been, starting with deep snow, the coldest winter ‘since records began’ or some such nonsense, then an incredibly dry spring which gave many of you a wonderful start to your camping year, then it slowly deteriorated to a pretty miserable August. But you were wonderful, coming in spite of the weather and making the most of it. It was lovely watching children discovering the joy of swimming in the rain!
We hardly had any cancellations and bucking the trend of campsites saying that they were fed up with ‘no shows’ we only had two and one of those made his booking in 2010 and just forgot, everyone else rang and left messages if they weren’t able to make it! Visitors to Fforest Fields really are very special people, thank you.
We’ve had some good press too this year, our reviews continue to speak volumes of what you actually think of us and your post cards to David Bellamy help keep our Gold Environmental status. The inspection from the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust www.rwtwales.org in July continues to find new examples of flora or fauna, this time it was ‘dabchicks’, or Little Grebe on the Long Lake, one of the very few places in mid Wales where they are found, they successfully raised 5 young, in spite of sharing the lake with swimmers and boaters!
On a personal front we’ve had some notable events too. A new grandchild (I really don’t feel old enough to say that!) and a new daughter in law, that wedding on the Saturday of August bank holiday was only made possible by some incredibly kind friends. Thank you all who came to our aid and helped me shove George into his car, it really made all the difference knowing the site was in safe hands and to all of you who stayed, fitting in with our changes to arrival times. It was a beautiful day and we loved every moment because of the generosity and kindness of the Fforest Fields Ffolk!
Of course the most important change of 2011 is happening right now; the building of a new loo and shower facility. It was a huge decision and a commitment to the future that we wanted to make. George has been the driving force for the building, from design to conception, he’s overseen, altered, worried and worked on it. The experience of twenty years of cleaning loos and many campsites visited on ‘fact finding’ trips have led to a design that is simple and functional but that seems to sit in the landscape comfortably, in spite of its size. You will all be aware of our commitment to the environment and we have been able to incorporate a lot of systems to make its carbon impact less too. From an boiler that uses our own logs to heat the water, to light tubes, reducing the amount of electricity used, underfloor heating (mmmm!) to a timber building sourced from renewable forests and made by a great friend of ours Peter Drake www.kingsland.uk.com The work is being done by Will and George, with Carl a neighbouring builder making sure we do it right, and local craftsmen for all the fiddly bits. I am updating the photo album on here regularly and you can see daily updates on www.facebook.com/Fforest.Fields.
We are not setting an opening date, we hope to be ready by the first weekend in May but watch the website for updates.
So thank you all for visiting Fforest Fields, we look forward to welcoming you back next year and welcoming new faces too and it just remains to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a peaceful and happy new year.
George, Katie, Will and Natalie and our families!
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Show/hide commentswritten by Kate Weston, December 24, 2011
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