The Chaotic Campervaners go to Chichester Camping and Caravanning Club Site
Chichester Camping & Caravanning Club Site
Cosy site, bird song chorus, coffee & cake, Roman Palace, delicious food and so much more!
We arrived at the Chichester Camping and Caravanning Club Site in beautiful sunshine (which is quite a novelty for us)! We were welcomed very warmly and shown to our pitch which was a lovely flat grass EHU pitch with small trees lining the fence behind us. Chichester CCCS used to be an orchard and has small trees dotted around, which makes it feel very cosy. As the areal photo on the CCCS website shows, the site is surrounded by houses. However, this doesn't detract from the site at all and we definitely didn't feel 'over looked'! After we had pitched our tent (having taken several breaks just to sit back and enjoy the sunshine), we set about deciding where we were going to eat. We had already decided not to cook and upon arrival, the campsite managers had given us a very handy local information sheet that contained lots of suggestions for takeaways and places to eat. We finally decided to go for a meal at the Bosham Inn.
The Bosham Inn is only a 5 minute drive from the campsite and has ample parking. We sat in the oast house section of the restaurant which had a lovely feel to it. There are plenty of different areas of seating including a spacious patio and garden. The Bosham Inn is a dog friendly pub which allows dogs in the bar area. So it is perfect for anyone who brings their furry friend camping with them. I always think that the toilets in any establishment say a lot about a business. Let me point out here that I don't usually take photos of toilets (other than for campsite reviews). But the toilets at The Bosham Inn were immaculate, beautifully decorated and were definitely worth taking a photo of!
We decided to order Sourdough to start, followed by 3 main courses and a couple of desserts. We were very impressed with the delicious food and the friendly, helpful staff. But the stand out dish for us was the amazing dessert, a Mango and Passion Fruit Pavlova.
We highly recommend the Bosham Inn! Next time that we are in the area, we will definitely be returning!
The next morning, I woke to the most wonderful dawn chorus! I felt that as I lay in my sleeping bag, I was surrounded by a choir of birds. I have never heard such amazing bird song before!
When we are camping, we love to get out and explore the local area. Being less than a 10 minute drive from Fishbourne Roman Palace, we decided to spend the first full day of our holiday there.
Fishbourne is the site of a Roman Villa and formal gardens that was the largest residential palace of its time in Britain. It was first discovered in 1805 and further excavations then revealed the beautiful mosaics that you can still see today.
As it was half term, there were a number of activities throughout the day.
There were also several people dressed as Romans that we encountered as we explored. Fishbourne Roman Palace is an interesting day out and if you have as beautiful weather as we did, the gardens are definitely worth spending time in.
The next day, after briefing stopping at Southbourne Farm Shop (more about that later) we headed towards Portsmouth. When visiting large towns or cities we tend to use a Park & Ride if there is one. The Portsmouth Park & Ride was very easy to use and is a lot less bother than trying to find somewhere to park in Portsmouth. The Park & Ride bus drops you at the Bus Station at Portsmouth Harbour (AKA: The Hard Exchange) which is a great location from which to explore.
Our plan was to visit The Historic Dockyard. However, a large number of other people had also had the same idea and the queue was rather long! Usually, before a day out, we research the attraction. But on this occasion he hadn't! So whilst we were standing in the queue, we did a bit of research and found out that we would have saved a substantial amount of money if we had booked on line the previous day. As we live about an hour away from Portsmouth, we decided that we would visit another time and take advantage of the pre-booking discount.
The other place that we were keen to visit while we were in Portsmouth was The Spinnaker Tower.
We then walked up the stairs to the Sky Garden. This is a smaller area that has been decked out with AstroTurf and greenery walls. There is also The Clouds Cafe on View Deck 2 and if you prefer to keep your feet on the ground, there is The Spinnaker Kitchen and Bar on the ground floor. We really enjoyed our visit to The Spinnaker Tower. We would love to return, but even when we do, you still won't get me to walk across the Glass Sky Walk!
What we didn't realise until after our visit was that when buying our tickets at The Spinnaker Tower, we could have saved 20% by showing either our English Heritage or Camping and Caravanning Club Membership cards. We will remember that for next time!
After lunch and a wander around Gunwharf Keys, we stopped to speak to the lovely ladies at Gunwharf Keys Guest Services. They suggested that we spend our afternoon by following the chain walk to Old Portsmouth. The walk takes you along the waterfront, past the ferry terminal, past weatherboarded houses, a cobbled street and a cannon, down to a small beach. Because it was a hot day, there were plenty of people enjoying the sunshine on the sand and pebble beach. We sat watching the boats coming and going including the Wightlink ferry and a large vessel carrying parts for wind turbines!
After walking back to the bus station and returning to our campervan at the Park and Ride, we drove back to the campsite. On the way, we stopped at Southbourne Farm Shop (which we had visited briefly that morning). Southbourne Farm Shop is a 5 minute walk from the Chichester CCC site. It stocks a large selection of goodies including local produce and baked goods. It is definitely well worth a visit! In the car park of the farm shop there is a wonderful coffee trailer called Our Little Place where they sell fresh coffee and delicious cakes. We took advantage of their deal of coffee and cake for £5 several times!
That evening, we settled down ready for our last night games night. It has become a family tradition that on the last night of our camping holidays we spend the evening playing card games. The games we play vary each time but we always finish the evening with a game of Donkey which, if you have read our keeping kids amused whilst camping blog post, you will know that it is one of our favourites. Anyway, I was very pleased with my first hand of Uno!
The next day, it was time for us to head home. We had really enjoyed our little camping trip to Chichester. The campsite had everything that we needed, we'd had some fantastic food and we'd enjoyed exploring Portsmouth. We will definitely be returning to the Chichester CCCS!
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