Column of Victory, MoS and Uncle Grenville

On next to 4 days at Milford on Sea (or MoS as it shall be known as frankly I can’t be arsed to type it out). We love it here and it’s a firm favourite with many return visits.

Our usual stay is at a 5 van CL at Taddiford Farm near Barton on Sea but he’s always full and the walk down to the cliff has got increasingly difficult with more traffic and less verge. The owner of this site is a genius it has to be said, Robert used to farm all the land down to the cliff edge and sold out to the Golf Club, and sadly a lot of what was his land, I think procured by said

club, has since disappeared into the sea. Great business model, and his lovely dry sense of humour tells the story better than I. A wealthy and friendly chap, only ever seen him in one shirt though; bless him.

This time we elected to stay at Lytton Lawns, great location to be fair but the grassed pitch area is a lively and interesting experience potentially Favela like (google it). Note to self never to book for school holiday time. We upgraded for the last 2 days to an Executive pitch, which is only fitting for our illustrious careers. Fair play though our pitch for this stay was fine and feels far more peaceful and is well kept. That is apart from an apparently deaf chap who decided to have a voluminous, one sided conversation with a neighbour near our van at 6 something this morning. After 30 minutes of hearing all about him I snapped and had a quiet word or two myself.

On to the stay, Monday was sunny and we spent a lazy afternoon in the sun

before wondering down to The Wash House for a few beers. Still mad with the homophobic, racist opinionated idiot we ended up talking to as it turned out and more so we didn’t react, lesson learned to call out and challenge such opinions at the time. Knob, as Mrs H rightly said again later.

Tuesday we walked up to BoS with various coffee, ice cream and swim stops (for Daisy). Beach is always great, but aside from above story, it’s a shame to see so much of the cliff lost to the elements . We love the views over the Solent to IoW (there’s a pattern) and across to Hengistbury Head and beyond to Portland. I was delighted to get back in time for the England Germany game, and the aircraft landing size satellite dish was engaged in time for us to see the win. I was 1 year old last time we beat them in a knockout tournament, so a game to be remembered and worthy of part of the title of this chapter. The prior chapter talks about said column.

Wednesday got us on our bikes, and Daisy into her Buddyrider, for a ride into Lymington up to Boldre and back through Pennington for a scouting trip on new sites. Neither would suit as either on a main road or in the middle of nowhere on an industrial estate. Great day out, rounded off with a few adult beverages on the Green in MoS. Pooch got a lot of attention on the bike, the Buddyrider at £175 was not cheap but a great investment as it opens us up to exploring further.

Thursday took us on a pleasant stroll down the quiet lane to Keyhaven, with a lunch stop sat with a view over the harbour to Hurst Castle watching the world go by. Always an enjoyable walk then along to MoS where we spent a pleasant hour by the beach before a reinforcing pint before shopping.

As always we’ve loved a few days here and have discovered some new areas and quiet back lanes where there’s clearly some serious cash. Blackbush Lane is an example where there’s a property with its own private “Go Ape” in the grounds; really. A good few with pools as well. I thought the wealthy was front line BoS golf club, not so sure now. Lovely to be back here, it’s such a pleasant, friendly well kept village and area.

Finally some sad news on Monday to ground me after the football, lost a much loved Uncle. Thoughts with family x