on being an eco traveller - part two, going on holiday

I am starting to think about my holidays this year although I realise that according to telly adverts I am way too late. I should have done it in January just after I bought a sofa for Christmas.

I do not holiday by plane so that restricts me to Britain or Europe. In the past I have had amazing holidays in Scotland and Wales. In my mind a holiday should have a number of elements:

1.You need to be far enough away to not nip back home to check you have not been burgled and that the guinea pigs are OK.

2.You have to be either more luxurious (posh hotel) or slumming it (camping) so that it feels different.

3. You have to be convincingly out of range of mobile contact. This is not the same as actually being out of range but allows you to not be in touch with various people.

These elements in place I can relax and enjoy myself. As a child I loved going to our caravan at Kelling Heath in North Norfolk. We still have it and holiday in it as well as renting it out ( contact me for details!). It is set in a woodland with a village centre. In practice this means a pub, outdoor pool and shop that sells as interesting selection of tent pegs, bread rolls and t-shirts made from bamboo. Oh yes you heard right. In amongst the camping equipment are an assortment of clothes by Braintree.

You can also travel there by train from Norwich although it can take a while and is partly by steam train.

One of my best days ever came about not through any environmental concerns but just because we ran out of money and could not travel far. We spend the morning catching crabs at Stiffkey which being vegetarian at the time we did with feta cheese. The crabs had soon had enough and started just grabbing the cheese off the hook and then scarpering. So we just laid in the grass and watched clouds drift by and tried to imagine what they looked like. It was one of the best days out I ever had.