England

Our first ‘Pub stop over’.

More and more people are appreciating the benefits of owning their own motorhome these days, and having the freedom of travelling around the country and stopping where you like can mean that an increasing number of motorhomers are searching for suitable places to stay overnight.

Since motorhomes typically have all the facilities you need on board, you do not always have to find an official site. Motorhome stopovers can include pubs, car parks and roadside lay-bys, so depending on what you are looking for, there is plenty of choice of places to park up for the night.

And oh boy do we love a Carpark, we’ve slept in some of your finest, five-star car parks in Europe!

Tarmac ones, gravel ones, grassy ones, sandy ones, one surrounded by flowers, the whole caboodle !

Many looking out over the oceans, mountains,lakes, ancient sites and rivers.

So why is England so different?

We seem to love our signs in this country, many car parks you can stay for 24 hours, but not sleep. Eat but not cook

So in England we have limited options, one of them being ‘Pub Stops’, take a quick look on search for sites and hundreds will appear.

One of the things we do in England is a proper pub, no where else seems to get even close and the Gloucester Old Spot is a perfect example, walking though the door to find a bar packed with locals, is always going to be a good sign

Nestled on the outskirts of Cheltenham it is a country pub passionate about providing high quality food and drink. (N51.933208 E -2.14918)

Better still ( for us motorhomers) they allocated 3 descent parking bays in their car park!

We grab a beer and glimpse of the special board and settled ourselves down in the corner, no room to sit at the bar in this packed out place.

Beer consumed , food and more beer ordered…..

we spent some time chatting away and before we knew it the food was served. Huge portions, piping hot, absolutely gorgeous flavours. We were officially in food heaven !

An expecpional braised pheasant for me

Ham and chicken suet pudding for Michele.

And dessert ….

As the evening went on, more and more tables came in, and we witnessed the same smiles and enthusiasm from the ever friendly staff enabling them to eat and enjoy what they fancied.

We ended the night chatting to the barmaid, who was more than happy to see more motorhomers using their stopover.

What it isn’t is cheap !

If you’re after the kind of low cost kipping you can get in Europe (you could easily never spend anything for a night’s sleep over there, ever) then it’s not for you!

Ok, visited a Michelin recommended pub and spent £74 on a meal and a couple of drinks, but it was an enjoyable meal.

A quick scan of campsites in the same area we stayed in comes up with costs around £15 to £25 a night.

So we could stay on a site, cook our own grub and drink Lidls finest procecco and we’d be better off, just.

But we didn’t cook for ourselves or drink our own stuff, the pub provided it for us, and with a smile too.

In the case of this pub,the food and setting were amazing !

Paul.

2 thoughts on “Our first ‘Pub stop over’.

  • Interesting read. You know the official Brit stops pubs you aren’t required to buy food or drinks?
    Food looked nice on your photos but I couldn’t warrant paying that for a meal for two….I’m from Yorkshire ??

    Reply
    • Shellthecobbler

      We were brit stop member before, but life got in the way and we never used it ! –

      There was a lovely looking vineyard not far from us in Devon, but we never found the time

      The food was fab, a little expensive but I don’t mind when it’s good, had it been bad on the other hand

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.