Camping Coddiwomples: finding peace in the countryside

May 2025 round-up

Ringstesd Bay, Dorset

Hello gorgeous Coddiwomplers, welcome back!

Here I invite you to grab a cuppa, take a pew and join me for a slow, cosy May round-up in Kent and Dorset.

How are you doing? I don’t know about you, but May felt like it was a very long month. Don’t get me wrong, I love the month of May, but this one felt much longer than its 31 days. The days are longer and I’m loving waking up to Nature’s alarm clock of the Dawn Chorus gently easing me into a new day. The garden is full of nesting birds (we have a pair of Robins nesting in an old tin hat outside the kitchen door and pairs of Blackbirds, Sparrows, Blue Tits and Great Tits in our hedges.) They are costing me a fortune in fat balls and peanuts! (and the resident Squirrels are also very grateful for such an abundant cafe.) May’s beautiful weather enabled me to plant out some of my seedlings in pots. So far I have a large container of Sweet Peas, a few pots of dwarf sunflowers and some Cosmos. I was also chuffed to bits to see some flowers on a potted Wisteria that I planted about 6 years ago!

They’re getting there!

Camping Coddiwomples

As many of you in the UK know, May blessed us with some glorious long sunny days and we couldn’t resist a couple of camping trips. The first was an overnighter up on the North Downs of Kent, about a 90 minute drive from us, in a little village called Littlebourne. Tim had plotted a 4 mile walk through the countryside, even taking in views of the elephants at Howletts Zoo! We also met calves and lambs, saw some stunning old farm buildings and mills and enjoyed a woodland picnic with just the birds for company. The local pub, The Duke William was a 10 minute walk away from our campsite and it served the best ham, egg and chips we’ve ever tasted!

It was such a treat to be completely immersed in the countryside and I even heard my first Cuckoo of the year. We saw lots of Green Woodpeckers and heard Chiff Chaffs, Robins, Blackbirds and other songs I couldn’t identify.

Heffalumps and and happy places

The following week’s trip was to Dorset for a two night stay on a small campsite in Osmington, overlooking Ringstead Bay. We meandered our way west through the New Forest (in time for breakfast) and decided to stop off in Dorchester (in time for lunch.) A helpful lady in the Tourist Information centre gave us a map showing a guided walk of the picturesque market town taking in the town centre and the riverside.

We picked this area because we wanted to walk part of the South Coast Path to Durdle Door, a place that has been on my Bucket List for a few years. The Reef Cafe in Ringstead provided us with a good breakfast before we set off. Oh my, the Coast Path is stunning…and very steep in places…I have the grazes to show for it. It took us about two hours to reach Durdle Door in strong sun and humid heat and we were so grateful for a paddle in the cold, clear water in the picturesque little cove. We wanted to stay longer but we had another two hour walk back to Ringstead. The walk back was much kinder, more like the rolling South Downs. We worked out that it was an 8 mile round-trip and we decided that we deserved our ice cream (for me) and tea & cake (for Tim) when we got back to the cafe.

There’s so much more I’d like to share about this trip that I will do a blog post and share it here next month.

I’ve come to realise that I feel most aligned and peaceful when I’m writing or drawing or I’m out and about in nature either on my own or with Tim on our little Adventures. I didn’t have my phone on (apart from the camera), no iPad, no Facebook groups reminding me to join a chat session or a Live and not distractions from new YouTube videos. It was bliss and I’ve been making an effort not to fall back into these habits now I’m back home.

In other news:

I had enrolled in Beth Kempton’s free class “How To Get A Book Deal” before we went coddiwompling and it was a joy to work through it last week. This is the second one of her classes I’ve participated in and I loved it. Her classes are down to earth, easy to follow and very inspiring. It also helps that she’s a bestselling author already!

I could really feel how a second book could materialise for me. If you don’t know of Beth, please look her up here. I’ve just ordered her book “The Way Of The Fearless Writer” and I can’t wait to get stuck into it. I’m reading “The Salt Path” by Raynor Winn at the moment and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

There’s been time for a bit of painting and drawing too, although I still can’t show you what my latest big project. It is nearly finished and I should be able to reveal it next month.

So there we go, that’s been me for the last month. If you’ve made it this far, thank you SO much, I really appreciate you being here with me. I encourage you to ponder about where or what brings you inner peace and feelings of alignment…and perhaps do more of those things.

In the meantime, I wish you an abundant and joyful June and if you have made it to the end, please pop the word "durdle" in the Comments below. It really helps me with SEO and the dreaded algorithms <yawn!>

Until next time, lots of love and keep following your sunshine.

Wxx