Chirk - Only a few miles from home

Leaving Leek today, so we packed the ‘van up and then took the awning down, we had a good laugh, as it was raining so much we ended up soaked even through our waterproof trousers and jackets!  Singing beautiful renditions of “It’s raining rain” and dancing about, the neighbours must’ve thought we’d escaped!  The drive to Chirk went smoothly, the last bit seemed strange because we were suddenly back in a place that we knew well, after 11 months of driving unknown roads it felt weird to know where we were going!  Lady Margaret’s Park Caravan Club site is set within a lovely wooded area of Chirk Castle grounds, and feels a very secluded spot. 

While at Chirk we had our youngest ever visitor. Phil’s 6 month old niece, Sophie, came to visit. It was great to see them and Sophie was really smiley and happy, probably because she dribbled all over Phil!   We also took time to visit Phil’s aunty and uncle, who live right on the canal. They have recently returned from a 3 month trip on their canal boat, so we spent some time catching up and comparing stories.

The site isn’t far from Phil’s Mum’s , so we went over to theirs and had a look around their new house, which is being built in their back garden!  We walked the dogs round the block and saw Jamie Oliver the Alpaca. (We think they are the spit of each other – do you?!)  

While we were here we also went out to Erddig.  This huge National Trust country home has a huge estate surrounding it so we took the dogs for a walk first. Prince found a river to jump in and we walked through the fields and woodland which surround the house. The dogs then waited in the car while we went into the formal gardens and had a look around the stables and workshops of the house.  The house itself closes for the winter at the end of Oct, but we will be back to explore the rest as we had such a good time looking round the gardens and the outbuildings. 

The journey to Shrewsbury took longer than it should due to a very slow, depressed, driving speed. Arriving back at the house, it looked like nothing had changed, we went next door, had a nice welcome and a chat and retrieved our key so that we could get in, they were very pleased to see us and it was a lovely welcome home!  

One more blog post to follow!