November - the days have started to get shorter and a little colder, the leaves of Britain's broad leaf trees turn from green to shades of orange, brown, and yellow. It can mean only one thing, Autumn is upon us. The year's penultimate season is one of my favourite times of year for outdoor activities, whether it's walking through the rustling leaf litter of the forest, or opening a tent to find crisp frozen ground. Colder temperatures warrant thick layers of clothing and the draw to a crackling camp fire is strong and primal.
It had been nearly a month since my last camp (see my Warbleton Farms post for more) and I was starting to get that itchy feeling that comes when you've had nothing but central heating and a comfortable bed for too long. I started to consider browsing Nearly Wild Camping for somewhere to spend a weekend away until my mind began to picture setting up and packing away our small three man tent in heavy rain and wind, and then spending an entire weekend tent-bound due to poor weather. Now don't get me wrong - by no means do I consider myself a fair weather camper - but normally, my camping trips at this end of the year are wild camps, in a small tent or hammock, which is much less hassle in the wind and rain, than a bigger camp setup. As the trip that I was attempting to plan would not be a wild camp, my thoughts turned to other avenues of outdoor accommodation, and they landed on a website that I have previously heard of, yet had never used - Canopy and Stars. For a more 'luxurious' option to camping when the weather is less than ideal, their website has so much to offer and I would definitely recommend a look. After browsing the site, filtering by locations, price, and style, we eventually settled on the Bivvy. Located in the countryside just outside of Ludlow, the Bivvy seemed the perfect option for us - near walking routes and in a quiet setting, it would make an ideal weekend getaway. We booked our stay almost at once, and began to count down the days until it came.
When we arrived at the location (sent to us by the host) we found ourselves outside a fully operational cowshed, complete with a tractor riding farmer! For a split second I assumed that we were in the wrong place, and I started to look for space to turn the car around so that we could leave and get the map, but before I could move the car anywhere, a friendly looking man in boots and overalls jogged up to the car, and as we spoke through my rolled down window, he told us that he was our host, and that we were in fact in the right place - phew! After a brief introduction and some basic directions, we were off, heading through a grassy field, towards our beautiful and rustic home for the weekend.
As per the listing on Canopy and Stars the Bivvy had everything that we needed for a taste of simple and rural living, from the composting toilet and outhouse shower, to a log burner inside. As we arrived at three in the afternoon, there was only an hour or so until the night started to draw in, so we added a few logs to the log burner and started to make an evening meal, whilst enjoying a glass of wine in the cosy and peaceful setting of the Bivvy.
We had arranged to stay for three nights over the weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, and of course being this late in the year, the forecast didn't have warm sun and hot weather in store for us, but fortunately, the Friday was predicted to be dry at least, so we chose this day to explore the area, and go for a forest walk. After some very brief research online, we decided to walk from Vinnalls car park, as it was a starting point for multiple routes, and we could decide which to take once we got there. Three weeks prior to this trip I had suffered a sprained ankle, which was only in the early stages of healing, and as I didn't want to put too much strain on it, we decided to take the shorter blue trail walk. Although it was a short walk, we got to see some beautiful deciduous woodland, showing its Autumnal colours, and also some dense spans of tall evergreens.
There were also a few small ponds on the route, which proved to be very scenic in the low light of the late afternoon, and no doubt provided habit and drinking water for a vast array of the wild life that inhabit the woodland.
Aside from the Friday, the rest of the weekend was rather wet and windy, but this allowed us to enjoy all other aspects of our rustic stay, with no guilty feelings that we ought to be outside walking. I particularly enjoyed using the small log burner within the cabin, not just for keeping us warm, but also for cooking on, and heating the kettle - it really added to the feeling of spending the weekend in a 'bygone age' and we both felt so much satisfaction from completing simple tasks that at home would have been nothing but mundane.
In addition to this, the fire infused the space with a homely smoky aroma, and a faint crackling sound that was wonderful to fall asleep to.
Overall, we had a fantastic weekend at the Bivvy, and
thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the surrounding area, and all of the rustic
and homely comforts that our accommodation had to offer. This is one spot that
we definitely hope to return to.
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