Well where did that week go. We have now been in our new job for one week. We arrived on the site on Tuesday. The wardens were out but We were greeted by other wardens and shown to our pitch. We set up and wandered down to the reception later to meet the wardens who are running the site. You know when you get that feeling that everything is good. Well that’s how we felt. A real great bunch of peaple and the site is so nice.

We were not starting work until the Friday so the next day we drove down the supermarket to get some food and to find our way about. Got to make sure you know where to get food and wine/ beer supply’s from. Thursday we walked into Cirencester through the park. The campsite is situated in the Bathurst estate. The grounds or the park as it’s known are huge. You can walk from the campsite through the park into the town, it takes about 15 minutes. The town is great, lots of nice old buildings, lots of nice looking pubs etc. I must admit I am a beach bum or country boy and towns are out my comfort zone, but Cirencester is such a nice town. Nikki loves it. I think for me it helps that I can walk for hours in the park if I need to and talk to the trees etc. At the entrance to the park is a huge Yew hedge. The tallest in the world apparently and when it has its annual trim it takes two blokes two weeks to trim, using cherry pickers and various machines.

The Yew hedge, I will get better photos.

We walked around the town and had a coffee and a hot chocolate in one of the many cafes. Nikki loves charity shops so we had to visit one or two. She knew she was in a posh area because of the quality of cloths in the charity shops. I also pointed out they don’t smell of wee, like a lot of charity shops do. I loved this writing on the entrance to one of the pubs.

This is part of the walk into the town, I aim to take the same picture but at different times of the year just to compare. if we are still here autumn should be nice.

As I said we have been at work for a week now and they have not sacked us, made us stand in the naughty corner etc so we feel we’re doing ok. There are some food vans that come on site, fish and chips, pizza, breakfast van, steak van all on different days. The deal is that they are allowed on site which is nice for the customers but the best part is the staff get free food. Yum yum. Nikki has been in reception all week which is her strength. We also clean the shower block, and I have been outside doing the bin run, painting, clearing up, driving the John deers tractor etc. There is so much to do but we are both enjoying it. We work a three week shift pattern so every week is different but every third week we get a long weekend off which is nice. We never work more than four days without time off. Today we finished at 5.30pm and go back to work on Tuesday at 8.45am. The rugby is on tomorrow so I will be watching that and then Sunday or Monday we are going into Cirencester to visit a pub or two and have lunch. Just for research of course so we can recommend them to the peaple staying on site. The things we have to do.

This time next week, Friday the 8th of March we will be nearly finishing our first day in our new jobs. We are both really looking forward to it and so is the bank balance. We have enjoyed our two weeks here in south Molton on a campsite we used to stay on a few years ago. There are a lot of changes gone on. My friend Chris who keeps his caravan here and loves his wildlife, not the party all night and drink all night wildlife but the wildlife as in nature. He has put a hide up in the woods here and gave me a key to use after he went back home last weekend because I also like the wildlife. There is a kingfisher that visits the pond and Chris has got some great photos. Unfortunately I have not managed to get a photo of the kingfisher and have only seen it twice. I have always wanted to get a good photo of a kingfisher but on this occasion it’s not going to happen.

The hide where I have spent some hours watching and waiting.

I have seen deer in the woods and a variety of birds including, blue tits, coal tits, long tailed tits, nuthatches, goldcrests, heron, song thrush and a robin came and sung to me.

Also the frogs starting to spawn right in front the hide. You have to look closely amongst the weed and then you see little eyes looking back at you.

We have caught up with some friends while back in Devon but not had time to catch up with everyone. Nikki has caught up on her washing, well and mine so we have some cloths to wear. I have had the camper remapped so it’s better for towing. When we leave here on Tuesday to head for Cirencester we will have the car on tow.

We have a full days training on Monday at Paignton. Machine training so Nikki will be a tractor driver after that. We then leave on Tuesday for Cirencester, get set up on Tuesday and have a couple of days to look around the area before start day Friday. That’s us up to date. Will let you know how we get on. One last photo just because I liked it.