Jim’s Camping

When planning our first years anniversary we both knew we wanted to go camping, it was important for us to bring the element of our wedding into our anniversary and wanted to spend time on a farm, away from the world and camp, when Sam showed me Jim’s camping it couldn't have been more perfect. 

We arrived on the road to Jim’s Camping and Sam informed me there was no signs and was a little side entrance, the road had a number of caravan club sites along it and I was certain there would be some form of signage – how wrong I was. Sam suddenly recognised the side path (from pictures) and took a quick right into a beautiful serene open field with two other campers. We found our spot and unloaded our car, making our home for the weekend, my first thoughts were just blissful and happy, I loved the openness of the campsite but the peacefulness also and the wonderful surrounding nature hugging the campsite. 

We spent the evening wandering around the farm and even had the pleasure of meeting Jim, he informed us the peacock had passed away the week before after 25yrs of living on the farm, Jim talked of the birds that were left and the flowers he was growing for the flower farm on Sunday. I loved Jim’s idle way of living and basic need to get by, he explained he had owned the farm for 65yrs and made enough to just get by, he explained his days are spent tending to the growing vegetables and flowers and making bouquets up for the local markets, he explained most of the money comes from the flowers. I envy people who live so basic, I feel over the years I have taught myself better more ethical ways to live where tv is not the focal point of my life and spending more time looking after me with more holistic ways is better than partying and working long hours. I never understand people who commit so much to work when we were put on this world to live not to work – it’s so important to have that balance as when I grow old I want to look back and feel I got the most out of my life and not that I worked it away committing more time to things that don’t have any meaning or won’t have any meaning when I am older. Jim’s camping really made me go back to the basic routes of living and feel relaxed and happy in the environment I was in and not needing outside stimulus to enjoy a beautiful evening ahead. 

After cooking a delightful BBQ and making a toasty fire, with our tummies full and hearts warm the scrabble board made its first appearance for the weekend and we set in for a relaxing evening of 4 letter word making. 

We awoke the next morning, enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and went off for a day at the beach (and to collect some tasty fish for that evening BBQ). We decided to head to a National Trust owned beach called Studland Bay, it was beautiful the sun shone and the day was spent reading and relaxing. At around 4pm we decided to walk to Durdle Door, as a child we used to holiday to the south coast all the time I couldn't recall the Durdle Door so was excited to take the walk up a zillion stairs to see what was hidden at the end of it all. What an amazing site and beautiful walk, it was nice to take the walk as the evening was cooling and soak in all the wonders around it, you could see Lulworth Cove from the top of the stairs, the south coast is so beautiful and I can imagine myself coming back here time and time again. We walked along the trail and eventually came to the Durdle Door, I was so overwhelmed with the beauty of the limestone arch that we sat for some time taking pictures and just looking at the amazement of the naturally formed structure. 

We spent the evening similar as we had the previous one, relaxing with the fire and cooking some amazing fish with delicious salad. 

I did spend some time walking around the campsite with my camera; there were so many amazing flowers and oddments of old worn down pots where beautiful herbs were growing. The flower farm was so beautiful on the evening with the sun setting and I really did feel blessed with the experience we were having and the beauty of Jim’s camping. 
The next morning came and a year to the date was the day we got married, it was a surreal feeling that a year had passed, I can’t believe how quick time has gone and that a year ago I was preparing for such a special unforgettable day.  To celebrate we brought our letters from our wedding day, we had a typewriter on our wedding day which we asked everyone to type a letter for us to open on our 1st wedding anniversary also known as the paper anniversary. It was brilliant opening the letters with messages of all kinds being given to us, it made us both smile, shed a tear and laugh (a lot) at the drunk funny words written down – a number of them starting off with how difficult it is to use a typewriter. We then enjoyed a anniversary breakfast and prepared for another fun day at the beach. 

We decided to visit Ringstead Bay another beautiful beach on the South coast, it was another sunshine day and we spent the early afternoon again reading, relaxing and dipping in the freezing cold water. It was just such a perfect way to celebrate one year away from the hustle and bustle and just me and curly together, we decided to set off from the beach around 3ish to find a tasty public house to have a Sunday anniversary lunch – we found a relaxed pub with tasty eats and a big beer garden, no better way to complete perfect weekend. 

Our drive back home we reminisced our wedding day and our future to come, we smiled at how lucky we are and how our 2nd anniversary will be spent on a beach again somewhere in South East Asia, bring on another brilliant year with a world of adventures ahead.