ALFORD CL SITES

EVER PLEASANT John Bateman discovers fine CLs in an unchanging oasis ❖

LFORD IS one of Lincolnshire’s be much like yesterday. ‘Pleasant’ is the However, one almost frenzied burst of Ordnance Survey little market towns that offers the word that comes to mind in a town that lies activity has seen an upsurge in the number Landranger Map 122 A visitor a calming air of permanence. at the foot of the Wolds. Gently undulating of CLs ringing the town. So if a quiet and There is an unhurried pace of life measured greenery is studded with hamlets and restorative break is on your agenda, Above: Alford’s by agriculture’s timeless partnership with villages whose residents drift into town Alford, with its five-sailed windmill and five-sail windmill is a major landmark the passing seasons and the feeling that every Tuesday to browse the small market thatched manor house, fine church, tomorrow, and probably the day after, will that has been a weekly event since 1283. seasonal festivals and craft fairs, could see

May 2011 The Caravan Club Magazine 61 CL SITES ALFORD

Market time – a centuries-old Alford tradition

and there is an open outlook across meadow and farmland towards deciduous woodland. Full-time farming days behind them, Nev and Jill now indulge their hobbies, and stables behind the house are Labradors enjoying the walk beside Mandy’s Plant & Garden Centre CL home to their ponies and a donkey. DID YOU With Alford on the doorstep and INFORMATION KNOW? Sutton-on-Sea, and the At one time there Wolds easily reached, this site makes SITES were four-, five- and Details of the CLs featured can be found on p409 of the six-sailedin Alford windmills another attractive proposition for a Sites Directory & Handbook 2011/12 get-away break. There is B&B available your stresses subside with the untroubled at Wellbeck Farm House, too, for TOURISM ease of an Australian batting collapse. non-caravanning companions. n Mablethorpe TIC – call 01507 474939 or see I like locations that match the mood and A couple of years back Trevor Rogers e-lindsey.gov.uk character of their locality – particularly if and his partner Sue set up their Green they offer dog-walking options straight off Acres CL, in Sutton Road, , midway site. One such is Mandy’s Plant & Garden between Alford and Mablethorpe. The Centre, Ailby (Alford), which is the home, site is a green and flat, acre plot, with business and CL enterprise of Mandy and well-spaced hook-ups and a picnic Andrew Bluff. The land it occupies is part table-seat unit for each pitch. of what was once the family farm owned The bungalow and garden form one and run by Mandy’s parents. Now retired, site boundary, while hedging and they live in nearby Well and have their own trees shape the rest of the CL, providing CL – more on that anon. shelter and muffling what road noise Waterside charm— Grange CL’s fishing lakes Back at the plant centre, you will have there is. Trevor and Sue are experienced little cause for complaint if you want a site CL caravanners and knew exactly offering electrics, rural peace, nice walkies what they wanted when they set up the and the chance to find a shrub or two to Green Acres site where they are also ATTRACTIONS take home. The CL, a lawned, informal developing a plants business. n The Five-Sailed Windmill, Alford – investigate the working acre plot behind house and shop, is Eat-out or eat-in options are good here. mill, built in 1837, and tea room. See alford-windmill.co.uk sheltered by natural hedging and woodland The Crown at Maltby will please real-ale n Alford Manor House – house, tea rooms, exhibitions and and has a small fishing lake beyond one enthusiasts and, in Alford, the Anchor Inn gardens. Call 01507 463073 or see alfordmanorhouse.co.uk boundary. The site has been thoughtfully serves Italian as well as traditional food and n Watermill and Wildfowl Gardens – call 01507 450687 or see claythorpewatermill.fsbusiness.co.uk designed, with a curved gravel drive leading will deliver to your caravan. n Mablethorpe – sandy beaches, sports facilities and more to a couple of hardstanding pitches. Finally, if you like wide skies, broad n Cycling – call 0845 113 0065 or see sustrans.org.uk Other hook-up points give the option of horizons and a spot of fishing, Strubby n Fantasy Island, – family theme park grass pitches towards the back of the site Grange, Strubby, four miles north of 20 minutes from Alford, near . where there is access to a pleasant walk Alford, could suit you. Here, Alistair and Call 01754 615852 or see fantasyisland.co.uk along a now-grassy former railway track. Julie Harvey’s CL sits almost alongside n Sandilands Golf Club – links course. Call 01507 441432 or see sandilandsgolfclub.co.uk Nature has performed its wonders in their fishing lakes, which create a leafy reclaiming the route, and my autumn oasis at the heart of a broad expanse of wander offered an abundance of arable farmland. The pitching area is blackberries, sloes, hips, elderberries, unsurprisingly level, while a gravelled nuts and much more, and provided a safe driveway and hardstanding pitches are set exercise route for the dogs. Bike fans will into a neatly maintained lawn. The site find the region appealing (not too many has hook-ups, and a modern unit between mountains!) and there are a number of the CL and the fishing lakes provides dedicated cycle routes in the Alford area. toilet and shower facilities. Mandy’s parents, Nev and Jill Brown, Strubby Grange CL has open views and live at Wellbeck Farm House, Well, where no neighbours but I suspect that if the their ¾-acre, rectangular, grassed CL sits wind blows there’s not a lot to stop it beside the B1196 Alford-Willoughby road. except you. Still, it’s clean, fresh country St Wilfrid’s is the ancient parish church of Alford Hook-ups are set along the hedge air and your rosy cheeks will be evidence separating the site from the owners’ garden of a bracing Alford break. n

62 The Caravan Club Magazine