The Club has joined forces with tent camper Gav Grayston from website Get Out With the Kids to tour England in a Compass caravan. We’ve challenged Gav and his family to visit 20 great Treasure Houses and English gardens in 12 months. 

Their first trip with Casper the Compass Casita 586 saw them head to the south coast and enjoy a stay at Verwood Club Site and visit the Treasure House Beaulieu. In this second blog the Graystons take to the road, heading north to Yorkshire.
 

SLINGSBY CLUB SITE

 
The journey up to Slingsby was a long trip.
 
As we got close to the campsite, we approached the impressive gatehouses of the Castle Howard Estate. They looked a little narrow to take the caravan through though! Fortunately, there was another route signposted, which we took to avoid getting Casper stuck.
 
Slingsby Club Site is just on the outskirts of the small Yorkshire village of Slingsby, which is well worth exploring. It even has some impressive ruins, which we came across just as it was getting dark.
 
It's also not far from the city of York, which we decided to visit one evening.
 
Slingsby Club Site is quite a small Club campsite but it has all the facilities you would expect. Being a quieter site, the kids could play without us worrying too much about cars coming and going.
 

CASTLE HOWARD

 
Very close to Slingsby Club Site is the Treasure House Castle Howard. It was not what we were expecting!

It's located out in the middle of the countryside, so we thought it was going to be a traditional castle. Boy, were we wrong. It's a palace and a very grand one at that and could easily hold its own among the great palaces of Paris or London.
 
The advantage it has over those city based buildings is the vast amount of land that accompanies it. It even includes a lake that you can take boat rides on – which we did, of course.
 
There are plenty of walks and places for the kids to burn off some energy. There's also a woodland trail for children, plus a small amusement area by the boat house.
 

SCARBOROUGH CLUB SITE

 
While we were in Yorkshire, we also spent a few nights at the Scarborough Club Site. This is a large campsite that sits just outside the seaside town of Scarborough. Yet, despite its size, Scarborough Club Site didn't feel too big due to its clever layout. There are plenty of facilities on site including two large play parks for kids, and it even has a chip shop! We also noticed the Ready Camp tents were in a fantastic location on the side of a hill overlooking the site.
 
Although you can technically walk into Scarborough from the site, it's a lot easier to take the car and park on the promenade of the north beach. Here, you can either spend time on the long sandy beach or walk around the headland to the traditional part of Scarborough on the south beach – this is where the amusements are.
 
As we walked around the headland, we saw some porpoises only about 20m from the path.
 
If you are interested in seeing more sea creatures, there is a SeaLife centre by the north beach, a little closer to the campsite.
 

BURTON AGNES

 
A short drive from Scarborough Club Site is Burton Agnes Hall, which isn't a Treasure House, but is listed as one of Visit England’s ‘gardens to visit’.
 
Burton Agnes Hall is much smaller than Castle Howard, and it is also much older. It’s an Elizabethan manor house and still has an even older Norman manor house.
 
We really liked Burton Agnes Hall. It had a much more homely feel to it and many rooms that seemed quite modern despite the age of the house. It also had one of the best children’s trails we've seen. It takes you through the house, the woodland walk, and through its impressive walled garden.
The gardens are fantastic. You can easily understand why it won Garden of the Year!
There are lots of 'rooms' in the garden, complete with games for the kids or places to sit and chill out.
 

CARAVANNING VS TENT CAMPING

 
So, by now we've visited the south coast and the Yorkshire coast, and travelled quite a few miles with Casper. The caravan is proving to be a great base while we tour around the country and we're starting to feel like we're getting the hang of this caravanning malarkey.
 
Compared to travelling with the tent, pitching up and packing away the caravan is a lot quicker. That is, only when we are not using the awning - we still need a lot of practice with that!
 
It's nice to turn up to a campsite and not take too long before putting the kettle on.
 
Finding places to stop on our journeys has been a little more challenging with the caravan. So far we've restricted ourselves to the lorry parks at motorway services. These aren't the most picturesque of places.
 

YORKSHIRE DONE, WHERE NEXT?

 
We've got some other long journeys ahead of us. Stay tuned to see where we go next.