CLUB SITES HURN LANE & BATH

Hurn Lane’s nearest crowd-puller is a makeover for Weston’s second pier, LEFT: A view from Leisure Park, which offers more than , at Anchor Head. on top of the 30 funfair rides and other attractions, Our second site, the well-establishedMendip Hills including indoor and outdoor swimming Bath Chew Valley Caravan Park, joinedABOVE: the Bath’s pools, live shows, bars, restaurants and an Club fold recently as an Affiliated Site.famous Roman baths and abbey 18-hole golf course. Further afield, Animal Hidden amid quiet lanes at the edge of Farm Adventure Park has a variety of , it is much smaller than activities for younger children. Hurn Lane. With delightful pitches – Burnham-on-Sea, a quiet Victorian increasing from 35 to 45 by the end of May resort that has seen better days, has an – set among lawns, shrubs and flower beds esplanade, the shortest leisure pier in (there’s even a pond of koi carp), it has a Britain and three lighthouses. One, real ‘garden’ feel which, along with the the Round Tower, reduced to half its >> original size and inactive since 1832, is on the esplanade, while the others, the High and Low lighthouses, are at the INFORMATION TOURISM northern end of town. NATURAL The High lighthouse, 99ft tall, was Bath TIC, Abbey Chambers, Abbey Church Yard, Bath BA1 NATURAL difficult for mariners to see at low tide, so 1LY. Tel 0906 711 2000 or email [email protected] the Low lighthouse was built on the beach Burnham-on-Sea TIC, South Esplanade, Burnham-on-Sea in 1832 to complement it. The only one TA8 1BU. Tel 01278 787852 or email still operating, the latter stands on nine burnham.tic@.gov.uk timber piles and is one of the more Cheddar TIC, The Gorge, Cheddar BS27 3QE. Tel 01934 unusual lighthouses around our coasts. 744071 or email [email protected] Sadly, neither was much help to the SS TIC, The Tribunal, 9 High Street, Glastonbury BA6 SELECTIONS Nornen, which ran onto the beach in 9DP. Tel 01458 832954 or email [email protected] SELECTIONS DON JOLLY VISITS TWO GREAT SITES FOUND WITHIN ONE OF 1897. The ribs of its hull can still be seen Wells TIC, Town Hall, Market Place, Wells BA5 2RB. DON JOLLY protruding forlornly from the sands near Tel 01749 672552 or email [email protected] ’S AREAS OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY Berrow Church. Weston-super-Mare TIC, Beach Lawns, Despite three miles of award-winning Weston-super-Mare BS23 1AT. Tel 01934 888800 or sands and popular attractions like email westontouristinfo@n-.gov.uk SeaQuarium and the Helicopter Museum, OMERSET’S are on the Channel near Burnham-on- 6-16 November. Burnham hosts one Brean and Berrow have excellent Weston-super-Mare is another faded classified as an Area of Outstanding Sea. A level, open site, it can be busy in July of them while others take place at dune-backed sands, but as this coast has Victorian resort, though presently INFORMATION CYCLING Natural Beauty (AONB). The term and August, but visit later and you’ll still , , Shepton one of the world’s highest tidal ranges, undergoing a multi-million pound facelift. S Plans took a backward step last summer may be officialese and not particularly find plenty going on locally. Mallet, Wells, Glastonbury and Weston. the sea can be rather distant at times. From Hurn Lane: National Cycle Network Route 33 imaginative, but at least it tells you what For instance, Brean stages a Country and Easily accessible from the M5, Hurn While waiting for the waves to come in, when the Grand Pier’s Grade II-listed passes within a few metres of Hurn Lane. It’s largely traffic- to expect on a visit to the region. The Western week in September, while at Lane is often used by overnighters heading you could wander over steep-sided pavilion unfortunately burned down, but free north to Weston-super-Mare or south to Highbridge. Mendips certainly are beautiful. Stretching nearby Weston-super-Mare, a popular for Devon and Cornwall. Some are tempted , one of Somerset’s most the hope is to complete a state-of-the-art For an easy, family-friendly ride from this site, download ❖ from near Bath almost to the coast at October event is the Beach Race weekend, to stay longer – one couple from Essex striking coastal landmarks. It’s really replacement by the summer of 2010. the ‘Cycle Notes’ from the Hurn Lane site page on the Weston-super-Mare, this compact hill when the sands are bulldozed into a testing were during my visit – to explore Cheddar an extension of the Mendips, and out While that is happening, a 60m big Club website (caravanclub.co.uk). wheel is planned for the seafront this From Bath Chew Valley: This site is close to the Ordnance Survey range offers great variety: countryside and circuit for international motocross and Gorge and Wells, England’s smallest city. to sea the little island of Landranger Maps coast; countryside and city; or, as this quadbike racing. Another pair had in mind retail therapy is a continuation of the geological line. summer. Other developments include Cycleway, a circular 85-mile route following quiet country 172, 182 month’s site duo boasts, all three. The site also stays open for Somerset’s at the discount stores of Clarks Village, Take your binoculars because Brean lanes. The route takes in the best of the countryside and Hurn Lane Club Site is 15 minutes’ walk Guy Fawkes Carnivals, which tour near Street. All agreed it is a very friendly Down has plenty of birdlife. There is villages around Bristol and Bath and can be done in from the beach between Berrow and Brean, several towns over 10 days, this year from site and has excellent facilities. also a Victorian fort to explore. shorter sections. See sustrans.org.uk for more information on both routes.

20 THE CARAVAN CLUB MAGAZINE MAY 2009THE CARAVAN CLUB MAGAZINE21 CLUB SITES HURN LANE & BATH CHEW VALLEY

INFORMATION SITES

Hurn Lane

Full site details can be found on p180 (Hurn Lane) and p65 (Bath Chew Valley) of the Sites Directory & Handbook 2009/10

Bath Chew Valley The Low lighthouse at Burnham-on-Sea

‘adults only’ rule, makes for a more private the Matthew, a replica of the ship John INFORMATION ATTRACTIONS and tranquil ambience. Cabot sailed to America in 1497. There Heightening the garden experience are is also a lovely medieval cathedral, the Animal Farm Adventure car-free pitches. Towing vehicles are parked Clifton Suspension Bridge – also designed Park, Red Road, Berrow in front of reception and site staff assist in by Brunel, high above the – and TA8 2RW. Tel 01278 751628 manhandling caravans onto pitches. Club an excellent zoo. Beautiful Georgian Bath or see animal-farm.co.uk members, Arthur and Eleanor McDonald, boasts an abbey, the Roman baths, a Bishop’s Palace, on their fourth visit from Cumbria, were modern equivalent – the Thermae Bath Spa Wells BA5 2PD. certainly pleased with the arrangements. with its rooftop pool – and the Italianate Tel 01749 677698 or see “One of the finest sites we’ve ever been to,” Pulteney Bridge overlooking an attractive bishopspalacewells.co.uk they enthused. “And the owners are so weir on the Avon. Brean Leisure Park, Coast Brean Leisure Park helpful, too. They can’t do enough for you.” But it is the Mendips that link Hurn Lane Road, Brean Sands TA8 Club sites always have excellent washing and Chew Valley, its attractions within easy 2QY. Tel 01278 751595 or see brean.com facilities, but those at Chew Valley are reach of both. Cheddar and its famous gorge Cheddar Caves & Gorge, Cheddar BS27 3QF. something else. Ten beautifully-designed, are midway between the two – don’t forget Tel 01934 742343 or see cheddarcaves.co.uk individually-heated shower rooms each to try some real Cheddar cheese (first made Clarks Village, Farm Road, Street BA16 0BB. have a shower, a washbasin, a toilet and an around 1170) and to explore the caves. Tel 01458 840064 or see clarksvillage.co.uk automatic air freshener – and are decorated Then there’s lovely little Wells with its Glastonbury Abbey, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury with pictures. All that’s missing are candles cathedral and Bishop’s Palace. Nearby is BA6 9EL. Tel 01458 832267 or see glastonburyabbey.com and chilled wine. No, don’t – your fellow , an impressive cave system The Helicopter Museum, Weston Heliport, Locking Moor caravanners will be hammering on the door. where lurks the ‘blear-eyed hag’, the Witch Road, Weston-super-Mare BS24 8PP. Tel 01934 635227 or Off-site, the village, two minutes’ walk of Wookey. Whole Cheddar cheeses are see helicoptermuseum.co.uk away, has a Spa shop, post office, butcher matured down there, too, if you wonder SeaQuarium, Marine Parade, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1BE. and – the refurbished Red Lion – which what the smell is. With your ticket, you can Tel 01934 613361 or see seaquarium.co.uk offers good-value meals. visit Britain’s last surviving handmade paper Wookey Hole, Wells BA5 1BB. Tel 01749 672243 or see wookey.co.uk , 800 yards away, is a mill, wander through the Valley of the Wells Cathedral, Chain Gate, Cathedral Green, Wells BA5 haven for anglers and birdwatchers, and Dinosaurs, see caving exhibits and find your 2UE. Tel 01749 674483 or see wellscathedral.org.uk there are plenty of opportunities for way through a crazy maze of mirrors. Or walkers, including waymarked footpaths panic if you can’t. If you need to straighten like the Samaritans Way, the Monarch’s out your head after that, a two-mile walk Way and the Link. For bike brings you to leafy , a quieter, enthusiasts, Route 3 of the National Cycle wilder version of . Network passes through Bishop Sutton Beyond the Mendips but nevertheless and, using mainly quiet lanes, you can well worth the six-mile drive from complete a circuit of Chew Valley Lake or Wells, Glastonbury is England’s centre extend your ride to Lake. of mystery and legend. King Arthur is The site is also handy for exploring said to be buried with Queen Guinevere Bristol and Bath, each worth a full day’s in the town’s ruined abbey. Glastonbury visit. Bristol’s sights include Brunel’s Tor, with a tower crowning its summit, SS Great Britain, the world’s first makes a significant landmark visible propeller-driven ocean liner, and, nearby, from miles around.

Wells Cathedral

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