California Club Meet Club Meet - Warren Farm, Brean Sands - This Weekend

[SimonB]

As we are (very!) local, we wouldn't really need to stay over but would you object if we came along on the Sat or the Sun, just to say hi and talk all things van with fellow vannies... ?

It will be nice to see you there. I've put some local(ish) attractions on this thread earlier on. Some people are coming quite a long way for the meet and may want to explore the general area.
Are you able to add some more local attractions based on your knowledge of the immediate area please?
Many thanks Simon

 

[Strong]

No problem at all. It'll be good to see you all too.

I can think of a couple of others to add to your excellent list of Brean Down, Cheddar Gorge & Caves, Wookey Hole, Puxton Park and Clarks Village.

• Very local to the site, of course, there's the drive-on beach at Berrow and there's also Berrow Nature Reserve with fabulous (and very sociable) dog-walking routes in superb surroundings.

• A bit further afield, there's the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton which is an amazing (if pricey) day out and The Haynes Motor Museum at Sparkford (around 5 miles down the A303 from Yeovilton). North of Brean itself (and reachable without going back on the M5, if you're clever) is the pretty resort town of Clevedon.

• National Trust Properties worth seeing in the area are Montacute House and Lytes Cary (near Yeovil) Barrington Court (near Ilminster) and Tyntesfield (near Clevedon). Montacute is my favourite of these.

• At Muchelney near Langport, there is a ruined Abbey. Nearby at Thorney, there is the Pottery of John Leach (Grandson of Bernard Leach) who produces unique pieces, fired in a willow-fuelled kiln.

• No trip to Somerset would be complete without a visit to a Cider Farm. There are lots of them in the area. The closest is almost within a long walk of Warren Farm along the back road to Weston Super Mare. The most infamous (locally) is Roger Wilkins's at Mudgely, near Wedmore - Roger's motto is "You only pay for what you take away!"

• But the most sophisticated Cider experience by a mile and most definitely my TOP recommendation for a visit of any description in Somerset is Burrow Hill. This is home to The Somerset Cider Brandy distillery where they produce and sell the most wonderful local crafted spirit from 3-year-old to 20-year-old.

• There some picturesque small towns and villages in Somerset. Somerton is my favourite of these. The City of Wells is very close by. And no trip to Somerset would be complete without visiting Wells Cathedral and The Bishop's Palace.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it. But there's plenty to go on there, I think.

Chris

P.s. If you want any advice on local pubs, good for both food and drink, I can most definitely help there!

 

[SprintGT]

No problem at all. It'll be good to see you all too.

I can think of a couple of others to add to your excellent list of Brean Down, Cheddar Gorge & Caves, Wookey Hole, Puxton Park and Clarks Village.

• Very local to the site, of course, there's the drive-on beach at Berrow and there's also Berrow Nature Reserve with fabulous (and very sociable) dog-walking routes in superb surroundings.

• A bit further afield, there's the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton which is an amazing (if pricey) day out and The Haynes Motor Museum at Sparkford (around 5 miles down the A303 from Yeovilton). North of Brean itself (and reachable without going back on the M5, if you're clever) is the pretty resort town of Clevedon.

• National Trust Properties worth seeing in the area are Montacute House and Lytes Cary (near Yeovil) Barrington Court (near Ilminster) and Tyntesfield (near Clevedon). Montacute is my favourite of these.

• At Muchelney near Langport, there is a ruined Abbey. Nearby at Thorney, there is the Pottery of John Leach (Grandson of Bernard Leach) who produces unique pieces, fired in a willow-fuelled kiln.

• No trip to Somerset would be complete without a visit to a Cider Farm. There are lots of them in the area. The closest is almost within a long walk of Warren Farm along the back road to Weston Super Mare. The most infamous (locally) is Roger Wilkins's at Mudgely, near Wedmore - Roger's motto is "You only pay for what you take away!"

• But the most sophisticated Cider experience by a mile and most definitely my TOP recommendation for a visit of any description in Somerset is Burrow Hill. This is home to The Somerset Cider Brandy distillery where they produce and sell the most wonderful local crafted spirit from 3-year-old to 20-year-old.

• There some picturesque small towns and villages in Somerset. Somerton is my favourite of these. The City of Wells is very close by. And no trip to Somerset would be complete without visiting Wells Cathedral and The Bishop's Palace.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it. But there's plenty to go on there, I think.

Chris

P.s. If you want any advice on local pubs, good for both food and drink, I can most definitely help there!

for all the fantastic tips Chris. We are definitely spoiled for choice, far more than we could visit in a weekend. We would definitely like to visit all of the attractions but as we will be accompanied by our two dogs I expect we will be restricted to the beach and walks. Maybe one day, I certainly would like to visit Haines Motor Museum.

David

 

[T6 CFO]

Been to The Cider Farm at Mudgeley a few times but not for a while. I recall sitting on a hay bale eating cheese and drinking cider. Strangely I rarely remember much else.
My favourite pub is the Hunters Lodge up on the Mendips also ran by a bloke called Roger. Best pint of Butcombe.......anywhere.

Neither place changed in years.

Hope to visit the meet but dependant on a couple of things. Hope to have gone to France by then but if not we have a good friends 60th to go to near Minehead on the Saturday so plans hazy.


Mike

 

[Strong]

for all the fantastic tips Chris. We are definitely spoiled for choice, far more than we could visit in a weekend. We would definitely like to visit all of the attractions but as we will be accompanied by our two dogs I expect we will be restricted to the beach and walks. Maybe one day, I certainly would like to visit Haines Motor Museum.

David

You're welcome David.

If you're going to do a bit of dog walking, I can thoroughly recommend the Quantock Hills which range from Bridgwater to Taunton. My favourite piece of countryside in the world and completely under the radar tourism-wise. Brilliant place for mountain bikers too.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I will also be bringing my VCDS along with me if anyone wants anything done..

Hi Loz
I'm new to the idea that you can re-programme a car to do things that it didn't do on delivery or that VW want to charge a small fortune (sorry fee) for. Where can I find some options? (be good if auto folding mirrors was in that list but I already know they are not )

 

[BlueBottle]

Booked for myself and my husband aka BoomTriker! We're both looking forward to it! Do you know what field the meet is in, as we're book at this site for Easter.

 

[Martin]

Hi

Booked for myself and my husband aka BoomTriker! We're both looking forward to it! Do you know what field the meet is in, as we're book at this site for Easter.

Hi,

We have both sections of field 11 ( Sunnyside Touring) this is where the electric pitches were for Cali's on the Farm 2015. Good size pitches with plenty of room

 

[Blind Pew]

As we live not far from Brean I thought a few notes of things to do locally might be useful for your stay if you are not familiar with the area.

Brean and the surrounding districts

It is a lovely, generally flat area for cycle routes. The new path is being completed in April from Brean to join up with a section built last year. This will give a virtually off road route from Brean to Weston super Mare. It will be alongside Weston Road to Diamond Farm Caravan Park, then cutting over the sluices it will join onto an existing route towards Uphill. Here it goes along quiet roads to WsM seafront.
This link will take you to the Sustrans Map http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map?...YK4Pc0TfLx0XLrqP7IXHnbMcxgkAjTXhLmhoCByHw_wcB enter Brean in the search box to get the specific area around the site. The new path cuts out most of the purple section & joins the green Route 33 sections. Southwards the route joins onto Burnham.

The peninsular just North of the site is Brean Down which is a lovely walk. At the west end of it is Brean Down Fort https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brean_Down_Fort which is owned by the National Trust.
There are spectacular views of the Severn Estuary, South Wales and the various islands in the estuary from the top of Brean Down.

On the A370 just East of Weston and across the M5 is Puxton Park an all-weather adventure park with soft play, aerial climbing and slides in 40 acres of countryside. http://www.puxton.co.uk/ Great fun for children.

Cheddar Gorge is about 30 mins away with Wookey Hole Caves and numerous other attractions nearby.

Clarkes Village is an factory outlet shopping village in Street, Somerset, England about 45mins away. It was established in 1993 on the site of old C&J Clark factory buildings and has about 90 famous name stores.

This is just a selection, hope it helps
Simon

Five Star Toilet and Showers

Brean Sands Beach - Just a 5 minute walk from the rally field

Five Star Toilet and Showers

Brean Sands Beach - Just a 5 minute walk from the rally field

 

[Blind Pew]

We are booked! 1st season with our van so please don't laugh too much at our attempts to put up awning, etc. Look forward to meeting you all and any tips/advice would be much appreciated.

Andy & Karen

 

[SimonB]

We are booked! 1st season with our van so please don't laugh too much at our attempts to put up awning, etc. Look forward to meeting you all and any tips/advice would be much appreciated.

Andy & Karen

You'll find us a friendly lot. Happy to show others how to do things and avoid the mistakes we've made.
Share nice places we have found and extras that are worth buying.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Simon & Helen

 

[oryx white]

All booked, only 10 weeks today not that I am counting.....and hopefully I will have my new seat covers fitted by then as well

If they're the Brandrup ones, make sure you've a good couple of hours to do it. They are superb but need patience and persistence to get them looking just right!

 

[BlueBottle]

Hi



Hi,

We have both sections of field 11 ( Sunnyside Touring) this is where the electric pitches were for Cali's on the Farm 2015. Good size pitches with plenty of room

Thanks for the info that's the field we're booked in for Easter, it looks great! Looking forward to seeing everyone, especially TootToots new seat covers! Is George bringing his new scooter too?!

 

[Strong]

Well, I've booked up for the Friday and Saturday. I think I can safely say this won't be the furthest trip we'll ever make in the van!

 

[calikev]

This I see is going to be popular we have had 30 book in less than a week
I am booked in with my daughters T4 lol

 

[Rich20]

I will also be bringing my VCDS along with me if anyone wants anything done..

Hi Loz, this is a kind offer. Can you change mine to chirp on locking and is there any way to access any "hidden" menus on an RCD510? Mine does not dim properly at night. I have tried all the settings available.

 

[jess]

We are really looking forward to this meet, Brean is a great place and the kids loved the beach and the play area on site, if I remember correctly there is a great Chinese take away on site which was very welcome when we arrived at 9pm last time!!

 

[MattBW]

Booked

Will be bringing the slidepod for any beach owners who want a sneaky look

 

[GillianC]

Hi



Hi,

We have both sections of field 11 ( Sunnyside Touring) this is where the electric pitches were for Cali's on the Farm 2015. Good size pitches with plenty of room

Are the pitches level or will we need blocks?

 

[calikev]

Completely flat it is

 

[Victor_Tango_]

Booked. First club meet. Looking forward to it.

 

[jess]

Does anyone know if you can walk into Weston Super Mare please? Also is there room for awnings please?

 

[calikev]

I believe they were creating a walk last time we where there not sure if it's finished and yes there is room for an awning

 

[Strong]

Does anyone know if you can walk into Weston Super Mare please? Also is there room for awnings please?

You can, but it's a long walk. And Brean Down is in the way. Easily bikeable though ...

 

[Brindisi]

Does anyone know if you can walk into Weston Super Mare please? Also is there room for awnings please?

Simon ( Simon B) posted on first page that there is a walk connecting to Weston , worth a read