Birthday Bumble: A Trip To Dreamy Hollows

My little campervan, Honey, was a birthday present to myself and so it seemed only appropriate that I should wake up in it on the morning of my 60th birthday. But where to go? Mid October can bring inclement weather and I had no idea how cosy the camper would be on a cold night. So I settled on somewhere reasonably local so that if I got too cold I could come home.

A bit of searching on pitchup.com led me to what looked like an absolute gem of a camp site. Nestling in the shelter of an old quarry, Dreamy Hollows seemed to be an ideal spot. It’s less than an hours drive from home, has water, showers and toilets and is dog friendly. But what cinched it for me was the opportunity to have a guided tour of the adjacent WW1 training trenches.

I showed the site description to my eldest grandson, J, and he agreed to join me on this adventure so we booked our pitch likety spit – before anyone else could.

Dreamy Hollows Camp Site – does what it says on the tin

The trip over to Dreamy Hollows ran fairly smoothly that Saturday afternoon. The weather forecast wasn’t particularly promising but although the sky was grey, the rain held off until the early hours of the morning. J navigated and thank goodness he did, the entrance to the site was hidden in the hedgerow. We found it ok though and used the code we’d been emailed to get through the gate.

Wow! what an amazing site! Totally sheltered by the contours of the land and by beautiful woodland it was remarkably peaceful, Harry, the warden, came and greeted us and showed us to our pitch. We’d pre-ordered a bag of firewood and that was all ready for us, safely stowed in a nice dry dustbin next to our very own fire pit.

Once we’d set up camp – J pitching his tent and me faffing about with table, chairs, cooking stuff and dog bowls, we took a walk around the site. What an impressive layout. Each pitch was set into its own secluded hollow and not at all overlooked. All around were bird feeders and signs that wildlife was well and truly welcome throughout the site. We found the entrance to the training trenches in preparation for the tour we’d booked for the next day. And also spent some time admiring the memorial to the troops who had trained here before being sent to The Somme.

After a hearty tea – Wraps cooked by J on my little gas stove, we boiled the kettle, made hot chocolate and lit the camp fire. I won’t lie, it did get chilly after sundown, the heat from the fire was lovely though and we chatted for ages about this and that. But all too soon, the cold drove us to our beds.

Milo walked with me to the toilet block so we could both have a wee before bed and on our way back to the van in the pitch dark he suddenly went rigid and started growling. Scary! Milo isn’t normally one to get agitated. The torch on my phone soon revealed the reason for his agitation. A young looking hedgehog was snuffling its way across the empty pitch beside ours. I called Justin over to see it and we wondered if it was big enough to survive the winter. I hope it did.

The peace and quiet on that site was amazing. Harry said there were two other campers that night. We saw one gentleman the next morning. Apparently he stays in one of the tents several times a year it’s one of his favourite places to be. We didn’t see anyone else.

I wasn’t sleepy and spent the next couple of hours reading a great book. Talliston is an intriguing story set in a house of the same name that I’d visited with a friend the week before! I heartily recommend the house tour and the two books that relate to it.

Was I cold in the van? Nope, not at all, nobody can feel cold when they share a bed with Milo.

It rained overnight. I stayed dry and J was ok in his tent, but breaking camp was a miserable affair and it took a week to dry the tent out when we got home.

Touring The WW1 Training Trenches

Wow, what an eye opener this tour is. Well worth every penny! Our guide, Ian is ex military and has a deep interest in all things relating to the history of warfare. He explained how WW1 began and gave some context as to how and why a group of Scottish Gillies came to be digging trenches just inland from the Norfolk coastline.

As we walked through the trenches, Ian introduced us to some of the elements of life on the Somme – for that was where this group of soldiers were preparing for. We got to handle a rifle and a pistol, learn how the fighters had to defend themselves and what daily life would have been like (sheer hell!)

Part way around the tour, with a amazing views over the Norfolk countryside, Ian showed us a huge collection of artefacts he’d picked up off the ground whilst visiting the Somme. Pieces of uniform and kit, spent ammunition, shrapnel, and various bits of bombs and grenades that we’re still recognisable.

A visit then to a replica of the officers quarters. A sturdily built timber hut with a wood burning stove, a bed and a desk. This apparently is an Air BNB and our fellow campers (the ones we didn’t get to meet) had stayed there the previous night. They left behind the glorious aroma of cooked bacon. Yum.

Our tour finished with a walk up to the memorial built in honour of the Lovat Scouts who had dug the trenches and done so much to influence the outcome of WW1. It’s a poignant piece of sculpture and well worth a visit.