Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

April 1 - 4

Cinema show

Post from John

Each year, our friends Barbara and Clive take their motorhome for its annual service, back to the dealer who supplied it. They usually combine this with a short break at a suitable nearby site. This year they asked us if we would like to join them; we thought it was a great idea, and then more friends, Gordon and Diane, were invited along with their motorhome as well. A mini rally! The chosen venue was the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Woodhall Spa.

We were looking forward to getting away in Amelia after several months of work on the house. However, the aforementioned work gave us a slight problem in preparing to go, as our drive was occupied by a skip full of garden rubble. Ruth then had the bright idea of seeing if we could book the van into a local Caravan Club CL for a couple of nights, to make it easier to load up. We found Hollow Meadow CL just outside Stratford, and moved Amelia there on the Thursday. The CL was very nice; quiet, well-tended, with hook-ups but no other facilities. We may well use it again.

Friday was spent loading up, and we enjoyed a peaceful night in the countryside, setting off for Lincolnshire on the Saturday morning. Arriving at the site a few minutes ahead of Barbara and Clive, we were all soon settled in. Whilst they opted for a walk in the afternoon, we relaxed in the van, trying to remember how everything worked.

Sunday dawned dry and bright; Gordon and Diane arrived and were soon set up; then more friends, Colin and Maureen, joined us for the day, having driven up from Cambridge.

Amelia, Felix and Molly

After a coffee and a chat, we all walked the 40 minutes into Woodhall Spa, where we had an excellent lunch at The Mall to celebrate Maureen’s retirement. The afternoon was spent strolling through the town and the adjacent woods, past the Kinema in the Woods (of which more in a moment), finishing up for tea on the terrace at the Petwood Hotel. During WW2, this elegant building had been the officers’ mess for the nearby airfield; there is a small museum honouring their most celebrated occupants – 617 Squadron, otherwise known as The Dambusters.

We had another lazy day on the Monday, then the six of us headed back to the Kinema in the evening, having booked tickets the day before to see “Beauty and the Beast”.

The Kinema was opened in 1922, and is the only screen in Britain to use back-projection of the film. It is a real throwback – the cinema is small, with splendidly old-fashioned décor and an intermission during the film for ice creams, costing the princely sum of £1.50!   During the intermission, an organ rises up through the stage and an organist entertains the audience (providing sufficient tickets have been sold).

Tuesday saw us heading home, ready to launch into the next round of jobs.