Barnstaple

Barnstable has a lovely traditional pannier market which is housed in a building that dates back to 1855, with local crafts, antiques and food producers all selling their wares, as well as the floral decorations the town is well known for.

The town centre street is pedestrianised and is wheelchair and buggy friendly too.

A must see are the quaint alleyways and courtyards, the speciality shops and the open fronted shops near the market. Despite the history and tradition, Barnstaple is not a quiet backwater; there is a modern shopping complex too, if that suits you. If you fancy a bit of culture, the Queen’s Theatre has a busy programme of concerts, plays and shows.

If you like walking or bird watching, then head off to the salt marsh estuary of the Taw and Torridge rivers, where at low tide the mud flats and sandbanks are an important food source and habitat for several species including lapwings, curlews, and other migratory wading birds. It’s not unknown for there to be over 20,000 waders at any one time.

The Tarka Trail runs by the estuary and at dusk you can often see bats flying. It’s well known for using part of the former railway tracks as a cycle way and is well used by walkers; it’s a scenic figure-of-eight180 mile walk if you feel energetic!

Did Tarka the otter in Henry Williamson’s classic novel written over 80 years ago really do all this wandering? If you walk from Barnstaple to Landkey, for example, you can catch a bus back to Barnstaple; don’t forget your bus pass.

Ilfracombe

The aquarium at Ilfracombe is an award winning attraction and although indoors and a great place to visit on a rainy day, perhaps when the weather is hot, it’s a place to go to keep out of the sun.

The Landmark Theatre, not perhaps the prettiest of buildings, has entertainment for adults and children and great sea views from the café. Watermouth Castle, just outside the town, on the no 30 bus route, is family orientated and could keep everyone amused for a whole day whatever the weather, with indoor and outdoor attractions.

But when it’s hot, if you want to go down to the beach, there are four tunnels leading to the impressive north Devon coast, with many hidden coves, and a Blue Flag beach. The tunnels were carved by hand in Victorian times, when bathing became popular, by Welsh miners employed specifically to dig six tunnels though the hillside so the hoi-polloi could don their hand-knitted cozzies and head to the beach.

Ilfracombe was at that time a small fishing village but soon became a popular and busy seaside town.

Today, the beaches are in a designated AONB, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a marine conservation area with a tidal swimming pool. There are fabulous views over the channel to the coast of South Wales.

Where to stay

We really like Stowford Farm Meadows Caravan and Camping Park, at Coombe Martin. It is a family owned and run park set in 700 hundred acres of north Devon countryside, but not far from Barnstaple and Ilfracombe with a bus stop nearby.

www.stowford.co.uk/

For more information:

www.visitdevon.co.uk

www.northdevon.com

Experienced caravanner Liz King suggests an idea for your next touring trip.

Situated 5 miles east of Shrewsbury on the B4380 is the Roman city of Wroxeter (or ‘Viroconium’ as the Romans called it).

It was established in the 1st century AD as a fortress and became the fourth largest Roman city in Roman Britain before becoming a prosperous civilian city, inhabited by retired Roman soldiers and traders.

Extensive and exciting archaeological discoveries in the last century have revealed an insight into the last years of this legendary Roman city and show that it’s likely that it was later converted for a 5th-century British or Irish warlord as a headquarters.

Much of the old city remains below ground but is impressive nonetheless, like the remains of the huge wall that separated the 2nd-century municipal baths from the city’s exercise hall.

Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in AD122 and following this, the city was enlarged with the construction of one of the largest and finest civic centres in the country.

It’s now owned by English Heritage and the site museum and audio tour take you back in history, to the daily lives of the 5,000 inhabitants of Viroconium and the recently built Roman town house which featured on the Channel Four TV Series “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day” is open to the public. It gives a close up of fourth century building methods and materials used by 21st century builders to re-create a Roman house. You can wander around at leisure, imagining how the city of similar styled buildings would have looked 1600 years ago. Who will look at our buildings in 1600 years time and marvel at building methods?

Replica Roman furnishings, along with explanation panels describing the purpose of each room and its social importance in Roman culture give an authentic lived-in look at this remarkable structure. If your children are learning about Roman Britain, then Wroxeter’s a great place to take them! Wroxeter is also one of the few Roman cities not to have been built over by a later Saxon or medieval town.

Caravan parks nearby

Mill Farm Holiday Park, www.millfarmcaravanpark.co.uk Oxon Hall Touring Park. www.morris-leisure.co.uk/oxon-hall

Ryton Farm Holidays www.rytonfarm.co.uk (only for grown-ups)

Further info

• Wroxeter Roman Town, Wroxeter, Shropshire – SY5 6PH
• T: 01743 761330
• Opening times from April to 4th November 10am to 5pm
• Prices Adult £5.00
• Child (5-15 years) £3.00
• Concession (Students with official student card, and visitors aged over 60) £4.50
• Family (2 Adults, 2 Children.) £13.00
• Admission free to English Heritage members
• Disabled parking is not far from entrance, in the coach bays with a setting down point at the entrance gate. There is a £2 charge for parking that will be refunded on entry to the site.
• For more information
• www.english-heritage.org.uk

The Ardèche départment of southern France was the setting for the Channel 4 TV series “A Place in France: An Indian Summer” produced by a journalist and television producer Nigel Farrell, who wanted to open an Indian restaurant despite his fundamental lack of knowledge about Indian food and being short of French vocabulary. A book of the same name followed, one that I have read many times.

I persuaded my husband that he’d like the area, and after some careful map-reading we arrived in this part of France that is not well-known, yet turned out to be breathtakingly beautiful.

Philippe, the campsite owner told us that it’s an interesting area known for growing chestnuts which are used in purée, jam and marrons glacés; he introduced us to chestnut liqueur mixed with sparkling white wine as a pre-dinner apéro. It was a drink we took to rather readily.

The old town of Montélimar, he told us, is famous for nougat, made with nuts and local honey. We’d driven by it en-route but didn’t stop other than for fuel. We went to an olive oil mill in an seventeenth century mill at Brès, just a few kilometres from the campsite; which was such a pretty drive through olive groves.

It didn’t take us long to drive from the campsite down into the village of Largentière to find the Château de Montréal nor to find several of the restaurants that Nigel Farrell considered for his self-set culinary challenge.

There is a fabulous tourist office tucked away in this medieval town and a weekly market too. We drove to Antraïgues where the streets are so narrow that there was barely room for two cars to pass; we parked near the church and walked the narrow streets.

Joyeuse, mentioned in the book, is where an elephant called Baby was paraded through the cobbled old city as part of the marketing plan for the restaurant; so even as we walked past the tall houses with shutters at the windows and sounds of family life from inside we had mental pictures of Baby and couldn’t help giggling at the success of such an incongruous marketing plan.

We visited the pretty village of Labeaume on the river Beaume, where the hapless Nigel had tried to woo the fickle Céline, and with the river at its lowest we were able to follow in their footsteps along the bridge and on the dry river bed.

Then we found what we were really looking for; Le Relais Fleurie in Rue d’ externat in Laurac-en-Vivarias, a small village not far from the campsite. It was the small, yet very fine, restaurant that well-known chef Christiane Touchou had run for twenty five years and signed over to Nigel. It became known as L’Eté Indien but as you may have guessed the story has an unexpected conclusion, which we’ll let you find out for yourself from the book. Reservations are advised at Le Relais Fleurie and at the time of our visit €24 was what you paid for a 3 course set menu, no credit cards accepted.

Where we stayed

We stayed with our touring caravan at Kawan Village Domaine Les Ranchisses, a family owned and run 5 star campsite at Largentière in the south of the Ardèche region. Here you can expect hotel style standards, set in acres of countryside, even with its own vineyard, from Philippe, Véronique and their team.

It also has a lovely tree lined dining terrace, as you can see in the photo above.

Our visit to Annecy was a trip down memory lane, and we found lots of lanes to explore in this historic town in the French Alps. Historically it was part of Switzerland until it was finally reunited with France in 1860. It hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1992 and is a potential host for the 2018 Winter Games.

It’s a thriving town, with a small historic centre and a booming cosmopolitan tourist centre, a lively student population and markets held on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday throughout the year, set on the beautiful Lac d’ Annecy. There are numerous historic buildings, museums and monuments to see, far too many to see in a day. Since the 12th century the castle has dominated the old town which has kept its arcaded houses, its churches, its narrow bridges and its sluice gates, its canals and its fountains.

We took the ferry, it’s a short and pretty cruise, from Doussard on Lac d’ Annecy to the port of Annecy where we strolled round the Old Town, through the cobbled streets and along the canals, and stopped for a coffee. Lunch was a gastronomic regional speciality, a hefty cheese fondue made with local cheese accompanied by a platter of assorted cold meats and piles of cubed French bread which rendered us almost incapable of further activity so we sat beside the lake in Les Jardins de l’Europe and watched the world go by.

The Lake of Annecy is internationally famous and in summer sailors, board-sport enthusiasts, swimmers and fishermen take advantage of its temperate waters which vary between 22°C and 24°C from June to September. Its fame also depends on its clean water which is considered among the purest in Europe and this is partly due to the attention given to the water quality on a daily basis assisted by the surrounding marshes which help to purify it. Had we felt energetic, we could have cycled along the panoramic lakeside “green tracks” or hired a boat and gone for a sail; you don’t need a permit to hire a craft on the lake. There are nine beaches situated around the lake but they are popular even early in the day.

Aix-les-Bains, a favourite haunt of Queen Victoria, was an interesting spa town, but we decided that the lake is nowhere near as impressive as Annecy.

Annecy is an expensive area, but not as expensive as Switzerland. About one hours drive away from Annecy the village of Yvoire was also recommended to us as being nicer than Geneva, but we didn’t have time to visit it. Will you?

http://www.lac-annecy.com/gb/index.html

Where we stayed

Camping La Ravoire on the west side of the near Doussard is a busy family run site, so we suggest booking in advance. It’s just 800m from the lake and 18 kms from Annecy. It’s ideal for motorhomes as you can cycle or take the ferry to the town. English is spoken.

http://www.camping-la-ravoire.com/index.php/en

If you are travelling to France this year make sure you have European travel included on your motorhome insurance policy.

The Jura Mountain range stretches over 200kms and form part of the Swiss border with France. It’s an area of France that was on our list of places to go touring with our caravan and we are so glad we did, and sorry we’d not visited sooner.

There’s plenty to see and do whether you like walking, cycling or driving around and we enjoyed our time on foot exploring the beautiful town of Dole which has a magnificent Baroque collegiate church and forty three historical monuments. Set on the banks of the river Doubs, where you can stroll, we arrived to discover it was market day and the market stalls curved their way through the narrow streets selling, amongst other things, local Jura wines and Comté cheese both of which we sampled and enjoyed. We also discovered that Louis Pasteur the French chemist and biologist who discovered germs and invented pasteurisation, was born in the town.

Arbois is the capital of the region’s wine production and gastronomy and there is a Jura Wine Trail which was voted European Tourist Destination of Excellence in 2008, that has over 150 wine tasting cellars open to the public. It’s a small wine producing area that produces light red wines and several white wines including a golden sparkling wine. Jura wines are not often seen in high street wine stores in the UK.

We wandered in hot sun through the beautiful village of Baume-Les-Messieurs and its Imperial Abbey, saw the waterfall, enjoyed the spectacular views from the canyon. We recommend getting there early as parking is at a premium.

We headed underground in the spa town of Salins-les-Bains to the Salt Museum for a guided tour which lasts an hour, but despite the external temperature we were advised to wrap up warm as the temperature underground is just 12°C. Too late we discovered that strappy sandals were inappropriate footwear. In the subterranean salt spring, water is pumped from a depth of 240m up to the surface and its density is higher than that of the Dead Sea. There are walking routes of the town with maps available in the tourist office.

The Jura is an area overlooked by us Brits as we dash through Burgundy to the West, on a North to South assault of the autoroute to the popular and often overcrowded South Coast. It is worth turning off at Dijon and heading east to enjoy an area not spoiled by tourism.

http://www.jura-tourism.com/uk/index.php?Rub=1&L=2

We picthed our caravan at Camping La Plage Blanche, a lovely camp site on the outskirts of the small village of Ounans in the foothills of the Jura Mountains. It’s owned by Franco-British couple Alban and Clare who are friendly and welcoming.

http://www.la-plage-blanche.com/spip.php?page=sommaire&lang=en

If you’d like to feature in the next instalment then see the details at the bottom.

How long have you been caravanning?

My parents tell me we had a caravan when I was a baby but I can’t remember it. I have always loved camping, from setting up the family tent as a boy and being allowed to sleep out overnight in the garden, to venturing further afield when I got my driving licence. I loved the freedom of a road trip and a night or two under canvas with my friends. Scarborough and Whitby were favourites and a weeklong trip to Wales is especially memorable because this is the first time I went surfing on Llangennith beach.

My parents bought a caravan when I was about 20 and were kind/mad enough to let me borrow it for music festivals. Probably only because my now wife Laura was in tow and deemed much more trustworthy than me!

Around the same time a good friend of mine had converted his own motorhome on a huge Iveco chassis for a snowboarding season trip, and slowly each of my camping buddies seemed to get their hands on some kind of leisure vehicle, from a converted transit to a cheap leaky old tourer. I can recall the entire group in hysterics when one friend was packing up just such a ‘van after a weekend in Wales; we heard a loud crash and turned round to see his tiny old caravan at 45 degrees after he went back in with the steadies up!

Who goes caravanning with you?

I still go for caravanning holidays with the same friends but now most of us have kids and the caravans are mainly water tight! “Team Wilbs” as we like to call ourselves consists of myself, my wife Laura and our gorgeous two girls Scarlett and Freya. Laura and I have been together since we were in high school and have now been married for 4 years. She is more of a hotel girl than a camper though and to this day I have never seen her spend a night in a tent – she was happy to try caravanning though as long as I do all the emptying of the Thetford toilet cassette! She actually really enjoys touring now and we have many miles and campsites under our collective belts.

Tell us a little bit about your van: What make is it? What are your favourite features etc?

We are the proud owners of a 1998 Knaus Sport & Fun. I am a bit of an extreme sports fan so it is the perfect ‘van for me. You enter the Sport and Fun from the rear and the door is oversized to accommodate carrying sports equipment. There is even a ramp and straps to carry a motocross bike inside though unfortunately our model doesn’t have this accessory!

There isn’t much in the way of soft furnishing so all the surfaces are easy to wipe down. A ladder at the rear allows access to the roof rack making it possible to carry surf boards, kayaks and there is a Fiamma bike rack built onto the A- Frame. The layout is perfect for two and I think it was one of the early adopters of the permanent fixed double bed layout.

However, there is no oven and only a tiny water heater making warm showers limited to a couple of mins. Now that Team Wilbs is four strong we are looking to potentially upgrade to a bigger model. There have been some exciting developments in caravan design in recent years but nothing quite excites me quite as much as the way the Knaus Sport and Fun did when I first saw it in 1998. The Deffleffs Aero Style caught my eye because it is also a little bit different but I think deep down I couldn’t say goodbye to the Knaus, so we may just have to carry on with the cosy living arrangements.

Where did you go on your last caravanning holiday and what was it like?

We toured the French coast and Zebrugge, Belgium all the way down to The Great Dune of Pyla, near Bordeaux, France a couple of years ago and La Rochelle sticks in my mind as a highlight of the Trip. After learning to Kite Surf in New Zealand a few years previously that was the first trip where I had my own Kite Surfing gear with me and I was amazed at how popular Kite Surfing is in France. So that is definitely a tour I would like to repeat.

Our most recent trip was a few months ago to tour the west coast of Ireland, and I can safely say we encountered some of the most amazing scenery I’ve seen anywhere.

Nagle’s campsite in Doolin near the Cliffs of Moher has to go down as one of the most fantastic locations for a campsite we have been a guest of. I also managed to squeeze in 2 kite sessions at Galway and Lehinch, so I came home with a big smile on my face. Until Scarlett was sick down my leg on the ferry home that is! All in all another great family caravanning trip in the memory banks.

What are your three favourite things about caravanning?

Adventure. Exploration. Nature.

What is the one bit of kit you couldn’t live without when away with your van?

My kite surfing kit and mountain bike. Oh and the BBQ!

If you’d like you and your ‘van to feature in our next E-newsletter then send 3-5 good quality photos of you and your caravan or favourite destination, along with some brief answers to the below questions, to info@caravanguard.co.uk. Whoever we choose to feature in the Freedom Newsletter will recieve £20 worth of a Marks & Spencers vouchers as a little thank you from us, as well as the chance to show off your new found fame to family and friends!

• How long have you been caravanning?
• Who goes caravanning with you?
• Tell us a little bit about your van: What make is it? What are your favourite features etc?
• Where did you go on your last caravanning holiday and what was it like?
• What are your three favourite things about caravanning?
• What is the one bit of kit you couldn’t live without when away with your van?

 

Sleigh bells are ringing around Christmas markets this winter, where the air is thick with the seasonal scents of pine, cinnamon, vanilla and ginger.

Top of our list of places to visit this year are the Christmas markets of Germany, where fairytale castles perch on hilltops in the Middle Rhine Valley, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The first German Christmas Markets are said to date from the 15th century with written documentation showing that Dresden had a market in 1434. Originally called St Nicholas Markets, the markets are now more widely known as Christkindlmarkt. Today, all the markets offer seasonal and local gastronomic delights, opportunities to shop for unusual gifts as well as a Yuletide atmosphere. Some offer ice rinks, firework displays and live entertainment.

In Rüdesheim from November 21 to December 23 the pretty town is transformed and has a special ambience. More than 120 stands from 12 nations offer their goods, specialities and customs in one of the finest market atmospheres, in the historical Rüdesheim Old Town. There are concerts, plays, precessions and weekend events with mass appeal.

Highlight of the festivities: the Thomas Night on 21 December with traditional customs and stories, illuminations and tricks.

There is also Siegfried’s Mechanical Musical Cabinet museum, a bizarre collection dedicated to all mechanical musical instruments.

Cochem is an historical, medieval old town with narrow streets and twisting alleys on the Moselle has a lovely castle which is lit at night. The Christmas market is festively decorated with wooden stalls. The highlight of the Christmas period is the “Castle Christmas” at the town’s 1000 year old Reichsburg Castle, where actors retell the story of the birth of Jesus to an audience of both young and old. A Christmas Eve programme in the Capuchin monastery is an unforgettable experience.

http://www.ferienland-cochem.de/nextshopcms/show.asp?lang=en&e1=-1

http://www.ferienland-cochem.de/nextshopcms/cmspdf.asp?id=93 (PDF)

On 18 November the season of traditional Christmas markets will once again be opened in Trier, Mainz, Koblenz, Kaiserslautern, Speyer and Worms, six historical cities located between the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Five of these cities are included in the best 15 of Germany’s oldest cities, thus looking back on a truly rich history. It’s hard not to be enthralled by the magic of the cities lying between the Rhine and the Moselle.

There is something on offer to suit every taste, from impressive choir and trumpet concerts to Christmas card printing in the famous Gutenberg Museum printing shop and romantic carriage rides, fireworks displays and guided Christmas theme tours. The mulled wine produced by local winemakers is a heart warming warm treat.

Wherever you go, we recommend warm clothes and sensible footwear as many of the streets are cobbled and the markets run on into the chilly evenings.

And don’t forget to check your motorhome insurance policy to ensure you have cover for your European trip. Caravan Guard’s motorhome insurance has optional cover to travel around Europe for up to eight months in the year.

Happy Christmas everyone!

A time of unexpected and enforced rest is how I came to read, again, Peter Mayle’s book ‘A Year in Provence’. Written over 20 years ago, it’s a witty review of the author’s first year living in the Vaucluse area of Provence. I wondered if the area had changed.

Within hours I had a map of France beside me; the route was planned and the medieval hilltop villages mentioned in the book were highlighted. Bonnieux, Gordes, Lacoste, Ménerbes and the town of Cavaillon. I suggested to Dave that we took the caravan to the Vaucluse this year.

Mr Mayle described Cavaillon as a trading town. He wrote about the Monday morning market, the pleasure of enjoying life drinking a coffee on the terrace of a bar… so we did just that at the Fin de Siècle café where we are told the author is known to imbibe.

His book had a big impact on the town’s shops. We saw the Fromagerie des Alpes cheese shop, where we were told that Mr Mayle buys cheese and the Boulangerie Auzet which had to rearrange its shop to welcome tourist groups, especially Japanese groups. The then owner, Gérard Auzet, was even contacted by a Japanese firm to market a baguette bearing his name in Japan.

This led Peter Mayle and Gérard Auzet to write a book called Confessions of a French Baker about the Auzet family and their know-how. The book is still available in the shop which is now owned by Frederic Frechet and is now called “Sol e Pan”. Twenty different breads are baked each day so we had another coffee and sampled some of the specialty biscuits baked on the premises. The shop serves food from 7am to 7pm. No, Mr Mayle had not been in on that day…yet.

We lunched at restaurant David and Louisa, on the Cours Gambetta. This was an excellent Provençal-style lunch cooked by David, a former French rugby player, who told us that Mr Mayle eats there and also at Maison Gouin at Coustellet, a butcher’s shop with an excellent restaurant.

We visited Café Clérici at Bonnieux also patronized by Mr Mayle; the panoramic terrace has spectacular views and Bonnieiux is known for its two churches, one at the top of medieval village, the other at the bottom.

Bonnieux and Gordes both featured in the film A Good Year, based on a novel of the same name written by Peter Mayle. We visited the winegrower at Château La Canorgue at Bonnieux, also featured in the film and were told that Mr Mayle had bought wine there recently; so did we.

The Restaurant de la Gare in Bonnieux, is still there. No longer owned by the old lady mentioned in the book, it passed to her grandson who ran it very successfully following the publicity given to it in A Year in Provence. It was sold two years ago.

I asked Mr Mayle if he thought the area had changed and he replied “Not very much. The local wines have improved, and there is a wider choice of hotels, chambres d’hotes, and pleasant restaurants. Apart from that, I haven’t noticed any significant changes. The sun still shines for 300 days a year, there are still plenty of places where you can find peace and solitude, and the pace of life is still on the slow side, which I like.”

I asked if anymore books are planned and had an intriguing answer “On average, I’ve written a new book every two years since 1990. I’m going to try to keep this up.”

I had to ask if Massot, his interesting neighbour, ever sold his house; he did and retired to Cavaillon on the proceeds!

For more information (French required): http://www.cavaillon-luberon.fr/en/

Recommended caravan sites to stay at:

Camping Les Fontaines, at Pernes les Fontaines.

Pascale and Pièrine are the delightful owners of this campsite. It’s a quiet and popular site, with Wifi, a quality restaurant and lovely colourful landscaping. English is spoken. Fab views of Mont Ventoux from some pitches!

You can use Camping Cheques as payment in low season.

http://www.campinglesfontaines.com/

Camping Nostradamus, at Eyguières near Salon de Provence.

A lovely unpretentious family owned and run campsite within a farm. The staff spoke English, the owner Gilles is charming and plans to develop the site over the next 2-3 years. There is Wifi (chargeable) and good quality food at the simple restaurant. You can again use Camping Cheques as payment in low season.

http://www.camping-nostradamus.com/anglais/anglais.htm

Durham City is the jewel in the crown of an extraordinary and small county. The dramatic skyline is one of the most stunning city panoramas in Europe, dominated by the iconic Durham Cathedral described by Bill Bryson as “the best cathedral on planet earth” and together with Durham Castle which dates back to the 11^th century and home to the powerful Prince Bishops forms a World Heritage Site.

Palace Green is a beautiful spot for a picnic while soaking up the city’s historic atmosphere and there are magical views of the cathedral and castle from the banks of the River Wear, the perfect setting for an afternoon stroll.

For those keen to get a taste of boating, rowing boats are available for hire, while the Prince Bishop River Cruiser offers a particularly stylish trip along the Wear, with a bar, café and commentary onboard.

If museums take your fancy then the university’s Museum of Archaeology at the Old Fulling Mill houses a fascinating collection including pieces from Ancient Greece and Rome. Durham City is also the home of the world renowned Oriental Museum.

One of the city’s hidden gems Crook Hall, a medieval manor house will please the green-fingered visitor with its typically English garden.

In the elegant winding lanes, specialist shops and markets co-exist with boutiques and cosmopolitan restaurants. If you want a great place to eat, then look for establishments displaying the TasteDurham award. TasteDurham is a national standard, awarded by Visit England to businesses based on their menu and quality of food, as well as the comfort and cleanliness of the establishment. The scheme also recognises businesses that source their produce locally.

If you feel the call of the shops, then a regular bus service (no.65) takes you to Dalton Park, the biggest outlet shopping centre in the region, just off the A19 – and save up to 50% off High Street prices on a wide range of top brands inn more than 60 outlet shops from designer labels like Joseph and Radley to high street favourites such as Next Clearance, Marks and Spencer outlet and Gap Outlet. But you must wander the cobbled lanes in the city too, visit Fowler’s Yard for handmade crafts and experience the Victorian charm of Durham Indoor Market.

Be thrifty too, by using Durham Deals; take advantage of exclusive money-saving offers on attractions, restaurants and shopping. Take a look at the Durham Deals website.

Durham City is served by three Park and Ride sites on the key routes into the city – great if you want to avoid taking your motorhome into the city. These are at Belmont, Sniperley and Howlands. A direct bus service runs every 10 minutes to the city centre from each site. The sites offer free parking for users of the Park and Ride bus service and unlimited daily travel into the city centre and back for just £1.70 per person. Park and Ride users can also use the cathedral bus for free. The Park and Ride sites have parking facilities for motorhomes and do not have height barriers. See the Durham County Council website

For more information about Durham City visit www.thisisdurham.com

You could even plan to stay near to Durham in your motorhome. Local campsites we found include:

Strawberry Hill Farm – www.strawberry-hill-farm.co.uk – 10 minutes drive to the centre of Durham City and 10 minutes drive from the Howlands Park and Ride site.

Finchale Abbey – www.finchaleabbey.co.uk – 20 minutes drive to the centre of Durham City and 15 minutes from the Sniperley Park and Ride site.

If you know of any great campsites or must-see attractions in or around Durham, please let us and other readers know in the comments below!

York is one of England’s finest and most beautiful historic cities. It’s been home to the Romans, the Saxons and the Vikings but the York of today is a fashionable city that successfully combines heritage and history with designer shops and medieval architecture. Its famous gothic Minster graces the city along with Georgian town houses, the Victorian railway station, smart restaurants, bars and cafés.

The historic centre of the city is virtually traffic free and there are Park and Ride services all around York’s ring road which are efficient and economical, and keep the city centre streets quieter, cleaner and altogether more pleasant.

There are streets with quaint and unforgettable names such as Coffee Yard, Swinegate, Grape Lane (formerly Grope Lane as it was the Red Light district), Mad Alice Lane and – most famous of all – the Shambles a famous street of medieval butcher’s shops.

Top things to do in the city are: -

Walk the Walls; circumnavigate the city as you walk around York’s famous medieval walls, the longest in England and enjoy fantastic views. You need to allow about two hours. There are five main bars or gateways, one Victorian gateway, one postern (a small gateway) and 45 towers.

Cruise along the Ouse; Take a cruise along the River Ouse and get a different angle of the city. YorkBoat offers various themed evenings, including ghost cruises, Summer Night parties and floodlit evening cruises.

Visit the Minster; it’s the largest gothic cathedral in northern Europe and religious architecture on a grand scale. You can view the largest concentration of medieval stained glass in Britain or tunnel underground to the Roman, Saxon and Norman remains in the undercroft and crypt. Or treat yourself to breathtaking views over York and tackle the steps to the top of the Minster.

Browse around the designer shops of Petergate, Stonegate and the Swinegate Quarter, explore the narrow cobbled streets of the Shambles or York’s antique centres.

Admission is free to the National Railway Museum, the largest railway museum in the world, which features Stephenson’s Rocket, the only Japanese Bullet train outside Japan, a virtual channel tunnel trip, historic royal carriages and special daily events.

Hop on the bus at the railway station; Red Line 7 bus whisks you off to York Designer Outlet. It’s Shopaholics’ Paradise just 10 minutes from the city with over 120 stores with up to 50% off all well-known labels including Armani Collections, Coast, LK Bennett, Hobbs and Jaeger. Or head off in the opposite direction by Silver Line 9 or Brown Line 13 to Monks Cross shopping for a huge TX Maxx, Outfit, Laura Ashley and much more.

After all that sightseeing and shopping you’ll need somewhere for your weary feet and aching arms. There’s no shortage of places to find a Yorkshire pudding and roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, a cappuccino and a muffin, a ‘fat rascal’ (they’re a delicious cross between a scone and a biscuit, studded with almonds and cherries) a biscuit and pot of tea or simply a convivial pint in a traditional pub.

You’ll be spoilt for choice in terms of campsites for your caravan or motorhome in and around York. Or you could even tie in your trip to York with a stay on the North Yorkshire coast with Whitby or Scarborough both just over an hours drive away.

York Visitor Information Centre: 01904 55 00 99

www.visityork.org

Email info@visityork.org