| 217;s a tradition in our family that we go camping in | | | | along the fields edge, just behind the boundary |
| the first week of July. The main reason is to try and | | | | hedge. |
| hold our various family members together for as long | | | | We spend our days enjoying the wonderful |
| as possible by meeting at least once a year. | | | | countryside and wandering through the lovely villages |
| You will need to know that we are a large family and | | | | and the hills, looking at the wild orchids that bloom |
| that we all live in various parts of Britain and abroad. I | | | | sometimes in great numbers on the chalk hills and in |
| was one of nine children and we have all married | | | | the evening we bar-b-q, drink wine and beer and tell |
| (sometimes more than once) and we all have children | | | | a lot of jokes. In one of the villages there is a pub |
| and some of those now have children too and it is | | | | called the Plough Inn (all the village pubs seem to be |
| great to have three generations of one family all | | | | called the Plough In for some reason) that till a few |
| enjoying themselves in this lovely part of the World. | | | | years ago, still served Brakespears real ale from a |
| So when I say the family goes camping I mean | | | | galvanised pitcher that the landlady brought up from |
| about 40 strong most years and we come from all | | | | the cellar every time we ordered. It was wonderfully |
| over to stay in Britain and as many of us as possible | | | | fresh and cool. Great beer but sadly the brewery |
| always make the effort. | | | | “modernised” it and both the landlady |
| We have a special arrangement with a campsite | | | | and the atmosphere have gone. Now it has a bistro |
| called White Mark Hills Camp site which is near | | | | restaurant instead and is the worse for it. The hills |
| Watlington, just off the M40 at Junction 6 and deep | | | | and land are very unspoilt and we have seen glow |
| in the Chilterns. This is red kite country and these | | | | worms most years in these fields and the bats that |
| lovely birds can be seen flying everywhere in the | | | | fly across the hills here are not your common or |
| updrafts all over the Chilterns and often even from | | | | garden pipistrels, these are big bats, probably |
| the M40 which runs parallel to the Chiltern Hills. | | | | horseshoe bats. |
| The owner of the site sets aside a field for the | | | | The site has all the facilities you could want – |
| family invasion every year. Its not that we are | | | | toilets, showers, wash facilities, an on-site shop and |
| particularly disruptive, but 40 odd people of ages | | | | facilities for motor homes – electric and water |
| ranging from 4 to 65, inevitably make a bit of noise | | | | hook ups, hard pitches etc. This is a well provisioned, |
| and need a lot of space, so we have a large field to | | | | clean and thoughtful site, set in a beautiful position on |
| ourselves set away from the other campers and | | | | a hill overlooking the River Thames valley. A site we |
| under the steep side of the hill behind the camping | | | | would highly recommend to any campers. |
| site, with the ancient Icknield Way running behind us | | | | |
