Continuing the Story.

An early camping  book

Continuing this story, it is a kind of history of many campsites that have evolved over the years since the holiday with pay act of 1938. Some sites have become Caravan Parks and more, in many ways Tom's Field has attempted to capture a bit of the original concept of camping, however we continue.....

There was a building in the corner of what is known now as The Club Field that was so completely covered in ivy we had not even realised it was there. A tree was growing through the original structure, now known as The Barn. This building had been erected by the military in the Second World War as part of the searchlight installation and operation area. This was restored and used for storage. You can never have too much storage space on a campsite.

 It is needed for gardening tools, tractors, ropes, string, bins, buckets, notices for every occasion, taps and tools, paints and pipes, washers and screws and so on and so on. 

There was nowhere for us to sleep in the early days as the ancient caravan by the gate was rat-infested. So we put a sofa bed in the old storeroom in the shop. In the morning we would dress hastily and stumble out to meet the customers. It was some time before we were able to make the old blue caravan reasonably habitable and move in. Even so, rather delightfully, in spring, cow parsley, nettles and blackthorn pushed their way through various gaps in the caravan walls.