Pegasus Grande Palermo: our first time out - part one

After an early start (not as early as I would have liked!), we made our way to North Wales. Despite the caravan almost reaching the MTPLM, Andy found that its stability when towing was superb. We managed to get to our site in Abergele, North Wales with the Palermo still in one piece.

Arriving early on site gave Andy the opportunity to put his feet up and relax whilst waiting for a call to say our pitch was ready. Meanwhile, he kindly volunteered me to take the kids to the pool. By the time, the girls and I had finished splashing around and I had served my purpose as an underwater tunnel for the girls to swim through, the Grande Palermo had been sited and set up.

We sauntered slowly, across the crowded campsite, heading back to the caravan for some lunch before trying our hand at pottery painting onsite. Of course, the girls chose the largest, most expensive pieces of pottery, but they were elated with their uniquely, exquisite, masterpieces.

Finally, we enjoyed spending time together, after all that is one of the main reasons we purchased a caravan. The early evening was spent sitting outside the caravan playing Swingball and riding bikes. Andy even got to use the external BBQ point, you can imagine the joy on his face. He was honestly as elated as the girls had been when painting their pottery.

The following day, the girls enjoyed enhancing their creative skills further, making hats and baskets whilst Andy and I enjoyed a cool drink in the sun. As the afternoon turned to evening, the girls and Andy prepared for the Pool Party. I managed to dodge this one as we were off to Colwyn Bay shortly afterwards to meet up with a friend. It would therefore not be possible for me to get wet, washed and dried and be ready in time to meet our friend!

On arrival at Colwyn Bay we wandered down onto the beach and like pirates seeking treasure, the girls began to load their pockets with shells and pebbles. Meanwhile, Andy realised that we were on the wrong section of beach and so we set off across the beach enjoying the soft golden sand between our toes. Eventually we found our friend, Bruno, and Hetty enjoyed playing together digging down into the moist wet sand in search of salty seawater!

Back at the Caravan, we had one sandy dog to contend with. As the sun had already gone down, darkness had descended upon the campsite meaning the most logical place to remove the mountain of sand from Bruno’s fur would be in the Palermo’s shower. Luckily, there was ample room for our sandy cockapoo, and we were able to wash the sand from his coat to prevent him turning our caravan into something that resembled the Sahara Desert.

As the girls hid behind their bedroom curtain, the ‘Easter Bunny’ hid some chocolate eggs around the caravan and in the awning. Despite some peeking from the smallest of the girls, they collected an equal number of eggs. They then enjoyed a naughty, delicious chocolatey breakfast. Afterall, if you can’t have chocolate for breakfast at Easter, when can you?

Later that morning, we headed to the National Trust’s Bodenham Gardens for the Cadbury Easter trail. More delicious chocolate, as if we had not eaten enough yesterday! As we walked into Bodenham gardens, colour and beautiful aromas emanating from the abundance of flowers that encompassed the garden surrounded us. Possibly one of the most beautiful gardens we had ever seen. I hope that Andy was inspired to recreate such beauty in our own garden! Whilst Isla and Livvy hunted for clues, we took in the splendour of the gardens.

Halfway around the garden, we took the opportunity to sit down and create our own Japanese haiku poem, using the words on the stones and slate provided. Later, we continued with our search for clues before finally meeting the Easter bunny and receiving more chocolate treats, as a reward for our hard work.

Back at the campsite, we joined the Easter activities and the girls had their faces painted before meeting up with friends at the caravan. Their friend came inside to play and seemingly had a fascination with the caravan toilet, needing to use it several times! After tea, we strolled over to the show bar where the smallest of the Morley’s enjoyed watching the other children dance. Eventually, they were lured up by the ‘Baby Shark’ dance.

A day for travel was in store for the fourth day of our holiday, 149 miles to cover, down the length of Wales. We set off around mid-morning and threaded the Palermo down the windy roads of Snowdonia and into Pembrokeshire.

It was a testing drive for Andy, whilst I chose to look at the back of my eyelids (occasionally) to be woken a couple of times by a sudden application of the brakes when a Lorry passing the other way, got a little closer than Andy would have liked.

After leaving the very full Parkdean Resort, the Celtic Parks Croft campsite was like a breath of fresh air. The small-grassed area offered 39-hedged touring pitches, which looked out onto a large communal grass area, where the girls were able to play and ride their bikes.

Whilst Andy set up the caravan, the girls and I took a dip in the heated, saltwater pool and to our delight, we had the pool to ourselves! Two hours later, we returned to the caravan where Andy was sat with his feet up and a lukewarm cuppa in hand. Apparently, it had taken the whole two hours to set up the van!

After dinner in the caravan, we spent the remainder of the evening at the Onsite Park where the girls enjoyed playing on the climbing equipment and putting on a performance for Andy and I.