February Glamping – it’s a thing.

It was only a few years ago I would have shuddered at the very thought of sleeping anywhere that didn’t involve bricks and mortar.

Squeamish and precious to the nth degree, my mum nicknamed me Margo years ago (see 70s sitcom The Good Life – my blogs are nothing if not for the lover of all things vintage)…

And so now the fact that I camp and I glamp astonishes nobody more than me (maybe fractionally less than it does my mother).

Camping in February is a touch too far and so in a very ‘me in Dec 2016’ fashion, when we saw 2017 in, in a pod, I remembered that I survived sleeping in a wooden box once before and so decided to give it another go.

My partner in crime and I chose Stanley Villa Farm, Fishing and Camping as the location for our February escapade. I say we, it was my Valentines present to him

Nothing says I love you like a night in a field in February

The added appeal to Stanley Villa was its proximity to where I grew up on the Fylde Coast meaning

1. Nostalgia
2. A return to that lovely sea air
3. I had several options for a bed for the night, should I find my inner Margo and need rescuing by family.

Situated in quiet countryside, Stanley Villa is positioned by a beautiful lake (pond?) where free fly fishing is offered for those inclined.

The pods were the prettiest I’d seen, with charming little carved windows and each one provided with a firepit.

Each comes equipped with two wooden beds and mattresses, bedding must be supplied by oneself.

I think some were provided with BBQs too but we didn’t look further into that – in our bid to find charcoal and matches – Charnock Richard services you suck at selling those commodities – we went to the charming Smithy Farm Shop just up the road, where we picked up firewood and a disposable BBQ.

I should add at this point, the sun was in danger of setting and so we were against the clock. Therefore whilst a BBQ was probably available and firewood definitely was available at Stanley Villa, we had to work efficiently.

That old fashioned thing ‘the box of matches’ still proving elusive – Smithy Farm Shop we still love you – we were armed with a back up lighter and settled into life at the pod…

That basically entailed me sitting in one of two chairs we hired (£3 each) because we forgot ours (to say we’re supposed to be seasoned campers/glampers, we made a shocking mess of coming prepared this time round) whilst he made fire with wood (available for £5 a bag), a lighter (purchased begrudgingly from WHSmith at Charnock Richard) and sheer manliness, grr.

I also got out the champagne (I didn’t say I roughed it all the way)…

Light fading fast, we performed a speed BBQ. Me making some sort of current commitment towards Slimming World, brought out the no fun, skinny burgers and fat free bacon, dropping said fat free bacon on not dirt free floor (amateur) not long after…

Four passable burgers later (one sans bacon), we settled down to the matter in hand – sipping (glugging) our champagne and beers, whilst the fire took hold.

I’m now reminded of the facilities – a lovely communal lodge can be located next to the lake (pond?) with tables, a small kitchen area, vending machine and, most importantly, toilets/showers. All clean, all heated, all a hop, skip and a jump from the pods.

One of the things I miss about the Fylde Coast (although I should say Stanley Villa has a Preston postcode but is also near Singleton, Poulton-le-Fylde, Thornton-Cleveleys and onwards to Fleetwood in one direction, Blackpool and Lytham in the other), now living in Manchester, are the clear skies at night.

Lucky with the weather, we were treated to a largely cloudless carpet of stars as the sun set, little light pollution dimming our views…

To quote Brian Cox, we saw

Billions…of…staaaaars

(My husband does a fine impersonation if you ask him nicely. Not after the hundredth time of asking though)

I’m not a performing monkey!

(he is).

At this point I shall bitterly point out that two fellow glampers asked to borrow our precious lighter for their firepit,

We’ll bring it back!

Will you lads, will you.

Charming. I miss you lighter I owned for two hours.

Special mention to its two owners for ramping things up and using deodorant to get their firepit going.

We were freezing over night. Bloody freezing, but I won’t hold it against Stanley Villa. It was particularly cold that night and we laughed in the face of advice concerning hot water bottles.

Laugh, we did.

Laughing at 2am in the pod, we did not.

In summary, Stanley Villa provided everything needed to give good glamping, be it for a couples, friends or full-on 2.4 families (that a thing still?) with dog.

We’ll be back (not least to find that precious lighter).

All the Deets