Caravan Site: Cressfeild Caravan Park

Area Visited: Ecclefechan, Dumfries & Galloway

Date(s) visited site: 26th - 30th May 2007

Number of Night(s) stopped on site: 4

Number of People: 4

Towcar Used: 2005 Renault Espace 2.2 dci Expression

Caravan Used: 2005 Abbey Avantage SL

Distance towed on holiday: 190 miles

Notes from this trip: We started the trip off by collecting our new to us 2005 Abbey Avantage SL from Robson’s caravans of Wolsingham, we crammed the caravan packed with all of our caravan accessory goodies and set off for Ecclephecan the next morning. This was the first time towing for my mam in just over twelve years and both the car & the caravan were larger and heavier than our previous models. The caravan towed smoothly up to the caravan site, and when we arrived we were shown to a pitch and set up. With not touring in twelve years we hadnt put an awning up for twelve years, so we got our Pyramid Tuscany awning out of its bag to find that we had left the instructions at home!! Oops!! So we put the awning up using common sense, so it took a little longer than it would have with instructions but we got there in the end. Then it was time to start and peg it down, but realising we only had 4 rock pegs with us we thought we may have a problem, so we tried to knock one of our thin metal pegs into the ground and..... the peg bent and the mallets head came flying off its shaft!! So with a little improvisation later of a newly shafted mallet we knocked in our 4 rock pegs in the corners and placed rocks around the awning to keep it pinned down for the night!! The next morning we went out and bought a pack of rock pegs and a metal claw hammer, after returning to the site we had the awning pegged down and it was much more secure. So it was time for some sightseeing. We visited Caerlaverock castle, Kirkcudbright Wildlife Conservation Park and the surrounding area, and then we had lunch at Castle Douglas. On return to the caravan site we noticed that the awning wasn’t looking how it should!! The front few poles had collapsed so we got them re-tensioned and the awning was once again alive!! The next day we did some shopping in the local village of Gretna Green famous for weddings, and had a meal in a lovely bar in Gretna Green. Outside the bar there was a Honda Gold-wing meeting going on, so i snapped a few pictures as I love these bikes!! The next day we packed up in the lovely sunshine and headed for home, now having our first trip under our belt.

Short Site Review: When we arrived at the site we were shown to our pitch by one of the wardens, all of the touring pitches were gravel hard standing and were separated from the static caravan pitches by a large hedge. The toilet blocks were well maintained and were normally kept warm. The only thing we had to complain about was the cassette toilet emptying point being at the opposite end of the site to where the touring pitches were, so people with tourers had to trek to the other end of the site to empty their cassette. I understand that the site has undergone a lot of work since our last visit, so a lot probably will have changed compared to what is written above.

Our outfit outside the reception at Cressfeild Caravan Park.

Our rig pitched on the Cressfeild Caravan Park.

Honda Goldwing meeting at Gretna Green.

Caerlaverock Castle.

A lighthouse at Kirkudbright.

A parrot at the Kirkcudbright Wildlife Conservation Park.

A Bag-pipe player at Gretna Green.

All Photographs are Copyrighted to Matthew James Watson.
Copying and taking photographs is prohibited and is illegal under the copyright law.