The Mollycroft

We wanted somewhere lovely and not too far to drive where we could all hang out together for a few days and be comfortable enough if it should happen to rain! This beautifully restored 1948 showmans caravan called The Mollycroft in the middle of a peaceful bamboo garden near the Yorkshire Dales National Park was just the place! 

It was colourful and charming and we just about all managed to squeeze in. There was a teeny double bedroom, a long wood paneled living room with a wood burner and a sweet kitchen with two cupboard bunks. The whole place was full of cupboards and compartments with games and books and maps and other surprises to discover.

It had a couple of rings to cook on inside

but LOADS of space outside with everything you could need for outdoor cooking

and marshmallow toasting 

and lounging around under the bamboo.

We all loved the outside shower. The water was always toasty warm and showering at night under the stars was the best!

There was much Scrabbling 

and reading

and exploring.

We had a lovely misty evening stroll up the lane.

The Mollycroft has it's own woodland and a lake a short walk away.

Swimming in the lake was suggested in the Mollycroft handbook

 but we decided we'd prefer to photograph the pond life, rather than get in with it!

The bamboo garden is the passion of the Mollycroft's owner Greville Worthington and it added an exotic twist. As my holiday reading was a travel book about hitchhiking round Japan it wasn't hard to be transported back to those beautiful bamboo groves....especially when I found green tea from Kyoto in the kitchen and a hundred Yen coin in the grass! 

It was altogether a lovely place to relax. I can still feel the freshness of my early morning yoga on the decking with swallows darting over head against a blue sky. I can still hear the wood pigeons cooing their funny little song. I can still smell the wood smoke in our hair and taste those fresh eggs from Greville's Mum's chickens.

I don't miss the earth closet toilet much to be honest but I guess it did add to the adventure!

Thanks Mollycroft. Hope to see you again sometime. x