Canterbury Tales

Summer is nearly here and for us that means a temporary end to our European travels. We’re headed to Canterbury to spend the next 6 months as Holiday Site Assistants at the Canterbury Camping & Caravanning club site.

It was just over a year ago that the idea to work for a campsite became part of our plans, as the high season is very busy with travellers and we thought it could get quite expensive to travel around Europe, so we figured we might as well get paid to camp… And here we are!

The Campsite at Canterbury is a fairly big campsite, but it’s tranquil and it looks great. It’s only 1 mile from the centre of town so it’s a great location to explore Canterbury itself. We’re here a few days before we start work to do just that, as well as set Rex up with his new drive-away awning to make our temporary home cosy and comfortable for the next 6 months.

We have chosen the Kampa Motor Rally Air Pro 330 Drive-away with small awning extension. We picked this awning for a number of reasons:

• it’s a ‘drive-away’ so we can still take Rex out without packing everything up
• it has air beams instead of poles. We think this is a bit sturdier in high winds.
• the canvas is good quality which we’ve been told cope with being up for 6 months although it might discolour in the sun (we’re not bothered about that, as long as it stays up and stays dry)

Setting it up was pretty easy; inflating it was easy with the electric pump. The fun part is getting the guy ropes over Rex… But we had been given good advice to use a tennis ball so even that wasn’t too bad.

Now our little home has been set up, it’s time to go explore! Neither of us has spent any time in Kent before, other than travelling to cross the channel. Now that we’re here, the weather is great and Spring has well and truly sprung. Kent is a stunning green place, with beautiful countryside. We enjoy some lovely drives through narrow country lanes, passing farms, streams, old country pubs and vistas across hills and fields. We can see why it’s called the garden of England.

We quickly learn that nothing is really very far from Canterbury in Kent and lots of lovely coastal towns are within half an hour drive from us. We visit Herne Bay, Whitstable, Margate, Folkestone, Fordwich, Sandwich, Deal & Walmer. We’re not disappointed anywhere we go! There is a lot of history and lots of castles to visit, there are beaches and historic ports. Perhaps 6 months won’t be enough to experience it all.

But for now, it’s time to start a brand new job! Happy Campers, here we come!