Castleward

Castleward

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Ivan |

It’s 7:30am on the 6th June, we are lying in a tent in Castle Ward and the rain is making a sound similar to seagulls walking on a caravan roof.

The weekend started off ok but we knew there was a fair chance we would get wet. When we arrived on Friday evening, the clouds were gathering but we were able to get the tent up dry. Linda had prepared a very nice mince and rice dish before we left home so it was just a matter of heating it up and settling down with a glass of red wine to wash it down.

Castle Ward Caravan park is laid out  ‘Cowboys and Indian’   style. The Caravans are round the outside and the tents in the middle. There is usually a large space in the centre for kids to play games (usually football). We had the tent pitched so that the door faced inwards, perfect for people watching.
There were kids of all ages playing ball. It was great to see the bigun’s looking after the wee ones amd making sure they all got a go at kicking the ball. Occasionally a dad or two would join but usually they couldn’t stick the pace. and descreetly sidles back to the tent for a beer.
It’s not just families that use Castle Ward Couples use it too and one such couple were sitting toasting marshmallows over a fire made in the bottom of a small BBQ. A lot of people stay for just the one night in transit to somewhere else.

James, the warden lives in a caravan on site so he is always in attendance to keep an eye on things and take the money. He does a great job and is very pleasant and helpful. Come about 11:00pm he will normally have a quiet word with the older ones who are still hanging about chatting and ask them to quieten down for the sake of the younger ones.
After that you couldn’t hear a thing.

Like I said, 7:30am Saturday and it is raining and it continued to rain until about 4:30pm so we just read our books, chilled out and drank coffee. Oh, we had a bit of a siesta as well.

At about 6:00pm we headed into Strangford for a bit of a walk and to get a few bits and bobs the a nice walk back to work up an appetite.
Lit the barbeque around 7:30pm and opened a bottle of wine, mmm nice.

Sunday turned out a nice day so we had a lazy morning and ate lunch about midday. Linda does a mean Ulster fry.
After lunch we went for a walk through the forest to the big house, it was really nice. We called in to the bookshop in the courtyard and bought a couple of book. They’re really cheap and all the money goes to the upkeep of Castle ward. There is also a really nice coffee shop, so we stayed around for one.
We walked back to the tent, packed up and got ready to go but unfortunatley had a bit of battery trouble so we were in need of a push. To our annoyance, even though there were plenty of able bodied men standing watching us no one actually offered to help. So Linda and I, both in our late 50’s started to push the car onto the path. Then a man about 60′ish came and help. I would like to thank him if he ever reads this(we thanked him at the time) and say a big “THANKS A LOT” to all the bystanders who stood and watched us and did sfa.
BUT we had a great weekend and would recommend Castle Ward to anyone.

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