With a Little Help...

Three more days until Rockhill Rendezvous kicks off. Yesterday Pete and Carl went to pick up the Airstream stage that is being loaned generously once again by Vintage Airstreams. It always makes a cool and shiny feature in our lovely, old-fashioned marquee. We feel pretty well prepared this year. We always have to work around the weather and Carl's commitments on the farm. He has some very useful heavy machinery that makes lighter work of heavy lifting and  banging in of the giant iron pegs for the marquee. We have also been lucky this year to have some volunteers from the UK Airstreamers community. More are arriving early this week, and some are staying on to help with the clearing up. It's a  lot to ask of people. Everyone has their own stuff going on, we know that, so we count ourselves very fortunate that people have rallied around this year.

So, the stage is in place and getting wired for light and sound. We're having live music on both the Friday and Saturday nights - something fairly gentle and Hill Billy-ish on the Friday, and the return of the popular Cellar Boys, who got us all stomping and making merry fools of ourselves last year.

Now, it's an odd thing, perhaps, to be proud of your loos. Or is it? A couple of years ago we transformed two sheds into beach hut-style features, with actual flushing toilets in them. Every year they get a fresh coat of paint and look as pretty as a pair of outdoor loos can look. A bit incongruous in a field in Shropshire perhaps, and shamelessly using gender stereotyping by painting one pink and one blue. Who cares? Like I've said before, it's just a bit of fun.

A Very Big Tent

Before the 38 Airstreams arrived for the UK Airstreamers' September Gathering, Rockhill Rendezvous, there was a bit of a build up.

Recently added to our list of favourite things: our marquee, reminiscent of an old fashioned beer tent, dressed with 200 metres of homemade bunting and 320 metres of fairy lights. (You can see us and the whole Huntbatch family raising the marquee on our other blog here). When Gaynor said it would be "worth it" to make our own bunting rather than buy some sub-standard stuff, she was right. We spent large chunks of the following two weeks passing a bag of fabric triangles and tape between the farmhouse and our Airstream. She must have been experiencing some spooky intuition when she ordered 200 metres instead of the agreed 200 feet of tape.

When I fractured my tibia a week before Rockhill Rendezvous, sewing up bunting was the most productive thing I could do. That and make endless 'To-Do' lists!

Ready to Rock and Rendezvous

I was getting my hair cut and coloured last week and was describing our Airstreaming life and where we are at the moment, at Rockhill Farm, and the imminent Rockhill Rendezvous, and my colourist and I got the giggles. She loved the sound of it all, and I'm sure she had never heard of anything like it. She kept saying how amazing it all sounds, and we just kept laughing.

Mostly, this way of life is amazing. We chose it, we made it up as we went along, it keeps evolving. And we've got to a point where it is self-perpetuating. What I mean by that is, we have met some great people, we hold these events, people invite us to stay with them, we meet more great people, we visit and meet up with them. And where we are right now is the epitome of that wonderful organic process.

We have been staying at Rockhill Farm and getting ready for Rockhill Rendezvous which is happening this weekend. Carl and Gaynor and their three boys came in their 1959 Tradewind to our very first UKAirstreamers Gathering, a very informal, try-it-and-see meet in the Spring of 2009. They weren't sure if it would be their scene, and neither were we to be honest. But all along we have tried to avoid the cringe-inducing, enforced group activities and formalities of a 'rally' and that mission seems to be attracting a mighty fine crowd of Airstreamers.

Carl and Gaynor have a farm in the beautiful Shropshire countryside and invited us to hold our September Gathering here last year. The trickiest part of holding a meet or gathering is finding a location where we can fit our plans in or around the rules of a campsite or land owner. A couple of examples; no noise after 10.30, no fires, and no flags!!!! Imagine. Why don't they just say, 'Don't have too much fun'!?! But here, we already see eye-to-eye on what you do or don't need for a good weekend of laid-back yet stylish camping. And so far we have never been told, 'you can't do that'. So we arrive nice and early, and bit by bit we all tick things off the 'to-do' list.

On top of that, we get to camp here in a lovely field, all to ourselves, only to have it 'spoiled' by a load of Airstreams turning up for a long weekend of catching up, laughing, drinking, sitting around a big camp fire, making as much noise as we like. As we say, sucks to be us!

Only three days to go. There might be bunting.

Glamping Essentials

I enjoyed seeing the glam accessories at the Spring Gathering last weekend. Since I am such a fan of bunting and tea cosies myself I was happy to see I'm not alone (see previous post). Other lovely extras included Trudie's Union Jack awning, some multi-coloured, striped deckchairs with co-ordinated wind-breaks, the obligatory pink plastic flamingos and an over abundance of fairy lights as John and Pete tried to outdo each other (John triumphed, just).

Our friends in Brazil just placed a huge order at my Little Tin Hut shop which is obviously fantastic in itself, but also because I get to make more stuff to fill the gaps. Luckily I have some red and white bunting ready to add and a turquoise, red and white tea cosy that is almost ready.

Happy Cool Campers

Well, we have reflected and discussed, we have caught up on our sleep and on Wednesday we moved from the site of the Gathering, back to our little Worcestershire hideaway. Now we will now get ourselves organised for taking part in a convoy to northern Europe. Very excited about that.

Our Spring Gathering last weekend was a big success. Phew! If you fill a field with beautiful trailers and vans and friendly people, what can you expect? Everyone mingled and chatted and admired each other's pride and joy. There were some very chilled out scenes, sitting in the sun, cups of tea being made, flags, bunting, lights, flamingos, stripey deckchairs.

Children played, food was blackened, fire warmed us as the night chilled. A downpour during the Sunday breakfast didn't even dampen our spirits (having a barn to shelter in helped heaps). It was just lovely.

As usual I didn't get to spend time with everyone. I think that I need to be on the site as people arrive. That way, at least I get to say "Hi". 

Pete and I really appreciate everyone's help, contributions and enthusiasm, and we will definitely take up those offers of help for the next one. Everyone knows it's the people who really make an event a success, and so many comments were about what a lovely bunch had turned up. It was also fun to have a mix of the Airstreams and the European vintage caravans. It made for a field of style and character.

the view from our trailer

Cool Airstreams

The countdown is on and I am getting very excited about our Spring Gathering next weekend. For this one, we at UK Airstreamers have teamed up with Chris Haddon and his My Cool Caravan Facebook followers and we are going to have an eye boggling and mega groovy weekend in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

It is time to dust off the pink flamingos, unravel the bunting......

..... untangle the fairy lights, 

and prepare to chill, laugh and generally relish being surrounded by some of the finest trailers, caravans and RVs in the country. More information can be found here.

Crafty Airstreamers

Last weekend at the fourth UKAirstreamers Gathering near Ludlow we had the first 'Unhitch and Stitch on the Sunday' afternoon. There was some knitting going on, and some exchanging of techniques. I learnt how to cast on with my thumb and other crafties who had forgotten how to knit, had their memories jogged.

I got engrossed in teaching four young Airstreamers how to make sock creatures. Alice and Will had to go home before finishing so I hope I'll be getting photos of their creatures sometime. Jordan and Rory weren't in a hurry, as this is their farm, and they each managed to make a creature in one afternoon. Check them out! Aren't they brilliant?

There is much more about the completely fabulous time we had at our UKAirstreamers Gathering on our other blog, Pete And Tracey On The Road.

The Airstreams Are Coming

The fourth UK Airstreamers Gathering is happening this weekend and the new bunting is ready. Thirty-plus new and vintage Airstreams will be wending their way to a beautiful spot in Shropshire. Airstreamers, Carl, Gaynor, Connor, Jordan and Rory are welcoming us all to their farm, and it promises to be a stunning and unprecedented gathering of Airstream travel trailers and motorhomes in the UK.

On a crafty note, on Sunday there will be 'Unhitch And Stitch' under our awning, where Airstreamers can bring a project of any kind, and partake of tea and cake. The cake part is a twisted form of enticement because I'm not an experienced baker, but I sometimes have beginner's luck on my side. Let's hope that will be the case this weekend!

Anyway, onwards, there's lots to do today. I might get another go on the sit-on grass cutter if I'm lucky, having already fulfilled a long-held wish yesterday. I can't help it. I'm a city girl. I've only ever had a balcony and some window boxes. I digress. A couple of early arrivals will be turning up later today, then everyone else tomorrow.

If you're in the Ludlow area around lunchtime, look out for a lot of shiny aluminium beasts on the roads. I'm off to drape bunting. You can't have too much bunting!

A Village Fair

On Monday we went to the Kingsbury May Festival in Kingsbury Episcopi in Somerset. It was a proper village fair, but bigger. There were people demonstrating their crafts and skills, like spinning, stone masonry, bee keeping, archery. There were stalls with all kinds of handmade products from knitted children's clothes to pottery, from felt bags to turned and carved wooden bowls. There were places to have cream tea, there was live folk music in the street and a brass band outside the church (playing an Abba medley at one point!?!). David and Ali, our Airstreaming friends who have been our neighbours here in Somerset, explained that the festival has grown over the years. It now spreads through the village and into two fields.

In the children's area there was the funniest and most inspired thing of the day, a medieval fruit machine. In a box, painted to look like a mini castle sat three jesters. When you rang the bell they would each hold up a piece of fruit. Beautifully bonkers.



I noticed that, at a festival there is no such thing as too much bunting. It looked so pretty and celebratory flapping around in the breeze.

Fun Bunting

I am making bunting for the Airstream.

My mini sewing machine is coming into its own. I bought it a little while ago, thinking it would be handy for stitching up the sock creatures. And, of course, any new arrival into the Airstream has to be carefully considered. We can't just keep filling it up with stuff. Every time we buy something we ask ourselves, where will we keep it? So getting this little thing was not a rushed decision. So far though I have found sewing the socks with it a bit fiddly and I missed the hand-sewing. But now it is the perfect tool for the job.

We have been having such a beautiful, sunny spring and thoughts of summer are in the air. There are two rallies, or gatherings of UK Airstreamers planned for the summer (details on the website) and the trailer will be adorned with jolly little flags as well as the usual strings of lights. Sometimes when we all gather in a field we new Airstreams can all look terribly smart and all the same. Not this time!


I have got some smart-looking blue and white fabric and some red and white which I will make up later. For now I'm thinking sunshine, barbecues and fun.