CLUB SITES HURN LANE & BATH CHEW VALLEY Hurn Lane’s nearest crowd-puller is a makeover for Weston’s second pier, LEFT: A view from Brean Leisure Park, which offers more than Birnbeck Pier, at Anchor Head. on top of the 30 funfair rides and other attractions, Our second site, the well-established Mendip Hills ABOVE: Bath’s including indoor and outdoor swimming Bath Chew Valley Caravan Park, joined the famous Roman pools, live shows, bars, restaurants and an Club fold recently as an Affiliated Site. 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 Bishop Sutton, 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 INFORMATION TOURISM High and Low lighthouses, are at the I Bath TIC, Abbey Chambers, Abbey Church Yard, Bath BA1 NATURAL northern end of town. NATURAL 1LY. Tel 0906 711 2000 or email [email protected] The High lighthouse, 99ft tall, was Burnham-on-Sea TIC, South Esplanade, Burnham-on-Sea difficult for mariners to see at low tide, so TA8 1BU. Tel 01278 787852 or email the Low lighthouse was built on the beach [email protected] I in 1832 to complement it. The only one Cheddar TIC, The Gorge, Cheddar BS27 3QE. Tel 01934 744071 or email [email protected] still operating, the latter stands on nine I Glastonbury TIC, The Tribunal, 9 High Street, Glastonbury BA6 timber piles and is one of the more SELECTIONS 9DP. Tel 01458 832954 or email [email protected] SELECTIONS unusual lighthouses around our coasts. I Wells TIC, Town Hall, Market Place, Wells BA5 2RB. DON JOLLY VISITS TWO GREAT SITES FOUND WITHIN ONE OF Sadly, neither was much help to the SS Tel 01749 672552 or email [email protected] ENGLAND’S AREAS OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY Nornen, which ran onto the beach in I Weston-super-Mare TIC, Beach Lawns, 1897. The ribs of its hull can still be seen Weston-super-Mare BS23 1AT. Tel 01934 888800 or protruding forlornly from the sands near email [email protected] Berrow Church. OMERSET’S MENDIP Hills are on the Bristol Channel near Burnham-on- 6-16 November. Burnham hosts one Brean and Berrow have excellent Despite three miles of award-winning 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 sands and popular attractions like INFORMATION CYCLING Natural Beauty (AONB). The term and August, but visit later and you’ll still Bridgwater, North Petherton, Shepton one of the world’s highest tidal ranges, SeaQuarium and the Helicopter Museum, S I From Hurn Lane: National Cycle Network Route 33 may be officialese and not particularly find plenty going on locally. Mallet, Wells, Glastonbury and Weston. the sea can be rather distant at times. Weston-super-Mare is another faded passes within a few metres of Hurn Lane. It’s largely traffic- 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, Victorian resort, though presently free north to Weston-super-Mare or south to Highbridge. 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 undergoing a multi-million pound facelift. For an easy, family-friendly ride from this site, download ❖ Mendips certainly are beautiful. Stretching nearby Weston-super-Mare, a popular for Devon and Cornwall. Some are tempted Brean Down, one of Somerset’s most Plans took a backward step last summer the ‘Cycle Notes’ from the Hurn Lane site page on the 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 when the Grand Pier’s Grade II-listed Club website (caravanclub.co.uk). 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 pavilion unfortunately burned down, but From Bath Chew Valley: This site is close to the Avon Ordnance Survey Landranger Maps range offers great variety: countryside and circuit for international motocross and Gorge and Wells, England’s smallest city. to sea the little island of Steep Holm the hope is to complete a state-of-the-art Cycleway, a circular 85-mile route following quiet country 172, 182 coast; countryside and city; or, as this quadbike racing. Another pair had in mind retail therapy is a continuation of the geological line. replacement by the summer of 2010. lanes. The route takes in the best of the countryside and villages around Bristol and Bath and can be done in 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 While that is happening, a 60m big shorter sections. See sustrans.org.uk for more information 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 wheel is planned for the seafront this on both routes. 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. summer. Other developments include 20 THE CARAVAN CLUB MAGAZINE MAY 2009THE CARAVAN CLUB MAGAZINE 21 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 I Animal Farm Adventure Park, Red Road, Berrow car-free pitches. Towing vehicles are parked Clifton Suspension Bridge – also designed TA8 2RW. Tel 01278 751628 in front of reception and site staff assist in by Brunel, high above the Avon Gorge – and or see animal-farm.co.uk manhandling caravans onto pitches. Club an excellent zoo. Beautiful Georgian Bath I Bishop’s Palace, members, Arthur and Eleanor McDonald, boasts an abbey, the Roman baths, a Wells BA5 2PD. on their fourth visit from Cumbria, were modern equivalent – the Thermae Bath Spa Tel 01749 677698 or see certainly pleased with the arrangements. with its rooftop pool – and the Italianate bishopspalacewells.co.uk “One of the finest sites we’ve ever been to,” Pulteney Bridge overlooking an attractive I Brean Leisure Park, Coast Brean Leisure Park they enthused. “And the owners are so weir on the Avon. Road, Brean Sands TA8 2QY. Tel 01278 751595 or see brean.com helpful, too. They can’t do enough for you.” But it is the Mendips that link Hurn Lane I Cheddar Caves & Gorge, Cheddar BS27 3QF. Club sites always have excellent washing and Chew Valley, its attractions within easy Tel 01934 742343 or see cheddarcaves.co.uk facilities, but those at Chew Valley are reach of both. Cheddar and its famous gorge I Clarks Village, Farm Road, Street BA16 0BB. something else. Ten beautifully-designed, are midway between the two – don’t forget Tel 01458 840064 or see clarksvillage.co.uk individually-heated shower rooms each to try some real Cheddar cheese (first made I Glastonbury Abbey, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury have a shower, a washbasin, a toilet and an around 1170) and to explore the caves. BA6 9EL. Tel 01458 832267 or see glastonburyabbey.com automatic air freshener – and are decorated Then there’s lovely little Wells with its I The Helicopter Museum, Weston Heliport, Locking Moor with pictures. All that’s missing are candles cathedral and Bishop’s Palace. Nearby is Road, Weston-super-Mare BS24 8PP. Tel 01934 635227 or see helicoptermuseum.co.uk and chilled wine. No, don’t – your fellow Wookey Hole, an impressive cave system I SeaQuarium, Marine Parade, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1BE. caravanners will be hammering on the door. where lurks the ‘blear-eyed hag’, the Witch Tel 01934 613361 or see seaquarium.co.uk Off-site, the village, two minutes’ walk of Wookey. Whole Cheddar cheeses are I Wookey Hole, Wells BA5 1BB. Tel 01749 672243 or see away, has a Spa shop, post office, butcher matured down there, too, if you wonder wookey.co.uk and pub – the refurbished Red Lion – which what the smell is. With your ticket, you can I Wells Cathedral, Chain Gate, Cathedral Green, Wells BA5 offers good-value meals. visit Britain’s last surviving handmade paper 2UE. Tel 01749 674483 or see wellscathedral.org.uk Chew Valley Lake, 800 yards away, is a mill, wander through the Valley of the haven for anglers and birdwatchers, and Dinosaurs, see caving exhibits and find your there are plenty of opportunities for way through a crazy maze of mirrors.