Classic Camper Show & Vintage Fair

As we knew we had no work today, we'd roughly planned a trip over to the Classic Campervan Show & Vintage Fair at Langford Museum of Power.  

Dan's dad was visiting for the day, so for once we didn't rush to get out by a certain time, we just went when we felt like it and arrived at around 11.30.  

As this wasn't a full on VW show I had no idea whether there would be many campers there but it was a pretty good turnout, mostly VW's but also a group from the Classic Campervan Club.

We had a mooch around the vintage stalls, something I love doing.

I was made up with my one purchase of the day, a fantastic 70's style lounger....

It's already been tested out in the garden and I'm now thinking I need to get my swing chair recovered in matching fabric (with the obligatory white tassels that swing chairs used to have!)

We bumped into our friend 'Alice'....

She is one cool dog, who also has a very cool ride..... 

We tried to keep out of the heat with mixed success...

It was incredibly hot and there was very little shade so I didn't spend as much time looking at the campers on display as I normally would but I did manage to get snaps of some of them.  It was mostly bays & it was good to see they appeared to be family campers that are used for exactly what they were designed for rather than the 'show n shine' ones that tend to be on display at the big shows.  Not to say that these ones weren't lovely and shiny because they definitely were.

There was a few nice splits as well....

including of course our Nigella, it was so nice to over hear some lovely comments on her when people stopped to look, not realising we were with her.  I chuckled when several people commented on what a pretty girly camper she was, as I always think of Nigella as Dan's camper out of all of them.

We popped in to the Museum which is not really my thing, lots of mechanical engineering models etc but my father in law seemed to think it was pretty good (I'm guessing it's a blokes thing?!?)

We headed off home for a barbecue around 3pm as my head just couldn't take any more sun but it was a nice relaxed day, the bands were good but quite loud & I'm a bit puzzled that one of them had a song about date rape, sung very loudly out to the family crowd, bit odd (I think I must be getting old as I longed for something quieter and lots of shade)  

I've put a few more pictures up on our facebook page here

Kerry x

Matilda The Pug

For the last couple of years our oldest daughter has been more than a little bit obsessed by Pugs.  She had cushions, phone covers, calendars and anything else except the actual Pug.

We already have our Agent P who is a gorgeous laid back ex racing greyhound.  We rehomed 'Perry' as she's affectionately known at the same time we bought our first camper, so she's been with the Custard's right from the off.

As some of you might already know greyhounds make excellent pets as they are very gentle souls who love cuddles and only need two short (20 minute) walks a day and will spend the rest of the time snoozing on the sofa.  For a good few months now we've been thinking of getting a 'friend' for Perry and I'd been looking at so many beautiful dogs that needed rehoming particularly from Clarks Farm Greyhound Rescue as this is where we got our Agent P from,  however our daughter had other plans.

She really wanted a Pug of her own but the price had always been a major hurdle, so when she found out Dan worked with someone who's wife Julie rehomes ex breeding Pugs, her dreams gained momentum but several months later no Pugs had come up, so she'd just about given up hope of owning her own and I was trying to persuade her to get a greyhound instead.

Zac, a 10yr old Greyhound who is still looking for a home of his own..

Then early one Monday morning Dan received an urgent message that Julie had 'Matilda' a four year old ex breeding Pug that desperately needed a home but if we wanted her it we had to make a decision fairly quickly as she had to collect her by the end of the week.  Our concern was not taking on another dog as we've always had dogs and they've always been rescue ones so we were confident we would cope with any issues, however we weren't so sure Perry would accept Matilda as she is quite unsure of other dogs and doesn't know how to play with them.  Julie was more than happy to take Matilda on herself if Perry and her didn't settle so it was all agreed, Sunday we would have a new member of the Custard crew.

She's a funny looking thing, a bit over weight and due to having too many puppies she's definitely got some 'udder' issues but she is cute and does make us laugh.  My daughter is besotted with her and Perry while not 'besotted' has accepted her and reluctantly lets Tilly (as we call her) onto her bed.  I wouldn't say their mates but things are going well.

Tilly hasn't come out in the campers yet but hopefully she'll love them as much as we do otherwise it's going to be a bit awkward to be a custard dog!

Kerry x

Engine Rebuilds, Weddings, & Late Nights

We went in to the season with a pretty busy diary for our Delia, she duly set off on a weeks holiday to the Lake District and came back with some happy campers aboard...

What more could we need to get us back in the full time swing of it but sadly Delia then had other plans, she set off down to Cornwall but then had some niggling starter motor issues and ended the week with her engine completely giving up the fight.  Regular followers of our page will know we invested heavily in having large parts of her engine rebuilt (twice!)  The first time we were badly let down by the mechanic we were using who took much longer than promised and didn't complete the job in the end for reasons that we haven't managed to fathom, oh well we thought (well they weren't quite the words I used..) but onward and upward we thought and paid someone else to sort out the mess.  The job was done properly this time but only a couple of hires later the engine had died, which no one could of foreseen.  We bit the bullet and bought a new reconditioned engine and had that refitted. 

We're happy to report Delia now has been back out on the road and has 'ran in' her new engine on a trip to Glastonbury.  Her hirer's loved her and I feel relieved that our Delia is happy and working hard once more.

I think our Delia's being drinking while partying on at Glastobury......

I'm fairly confident that any camper hire company will have similar tales to tell as these campers are classic vehicles after all and they have to work exceptionally hard.  I'm not about to shout from the roof tops about problems we sometimes have but I'm happy to be able to say that when we hit a problem we work incredibly hard to resolve the issue and offer alternative campers etc whenever possible to try to minimise any inconvenience to our customers.

Floyd has been a star so far this season and has stepped in on a couple of occasions to take on some of Delia's hires when she was poorly.  Now he's got all his new upholstery he is a very smart looking camper, and I always think he's got an exceptionally smiley face.  If Floyd was a person he'd be the one always cheerful and happy to lend a hand I think.

We've been busy with weddings this year mainly in Nigella but Mrs Beeton has also been out on a couple and we received some lovely feedback on her...

"Hi!

Me and adam just want to say a huge thank you for making our wedding day so perfect and fun! We loved the camper to pieces and dan made the trip easy going and relaxing.

Thank you so much again!

Rebecca jenkins ... Now hilton lol x"

So now we're heading full steam into the silly season for camper hire, lots of campers to wash, maintain and get out on hire = lots of late nights at the barn.   It's once again a case of juggling work with the kids and all the normal dull stuff that needs doing, like the weekly shop etc.  One day I will get more organised but until then we'll keep muddling through like we always do and hopefully we are instilling a strong work ethic in the younger custards!

Right Dan's home from the barn so I'm going to wrap this up now but I will be back very soon as I have lots of new blog posts to share.

Don't forget if you need vw camper hire in Essex or London then the Custard's could be just who you need ;)

Kerry x