Rockhill Rendezvous 2013

This year our Airstreams ranged from a 1954 Globetrotter to a new 5 berth European International. It was Dolly, new to Rockhill, the Globetrotter that won this year's Open House, People's Favourite prize. The glass bauble is so sweet and delicate, and a tiny prize really, but it's just a little gesture, a bit of fun. I would expect that we each love our own Airstreams the best, but on the whole people don't vote for themselves (on the whole!!!). And our favourite vote slip this year said, "My favourite Airstream belongs to... everyone's)

Numbers were down this year, sadly. We had explanations and apologies from most absentees, and we missed them. As I'm sure I've said before, you get a growing core group of Airstream buddies who come to the gatherings, then we have newbies who join that core group, and some who try it once or twice before deciding it's just too much fun and we don't see them again. Some dip in now and then, some come to every meet. It's a very fluid sort of community. This year seven of the Airstreams were newbies, and they fitted right in. What a lovely sight, seeing new people being welcomed into the group. Not everyone finds it easy to break into an established crowd, and it's up to all of us to make the effort to help them feel a part of it as quickly as possible. This year I think that worked really well. Over time proper friendships get forged, and even future travel buddies hatch their plans.

Our trusty marquee came in very handy this year, with the weather trying, and failing, to spoil our fun. Actually, I think that contributed to us spending more time all together.

At this point I ought to mention the meeting that we had to discuss the future of UKAirstreamers. It was a good turnout. Pete and I had thought that we would be handing over the running of UKA, worried that there might be a perceived conflict of interest, now that we're servicing Airstreams. But the gathered Airstreamers let us know that they don't see a problem with that and they want us to continue. We really weren't expecting that, agreed to go away and think about how we can manage to do that, and the topic continues to be discussed for a limited time on the forum.

Anyway, that was just the serious, business end of the weekend. The rest was the usual abundance of warmth and enjoyment and beautiful countryside, topped off with those shiny Airstreams that are the random element that brings it and us all together.

Win an Airstream!

Open House at Rockhill Rendezvous is a couple of hours on the Saturday when everyone gets to mosey and nosey around each other's Airstreams and admire the ways they have been preserved, restored, upgraded and adorned.

Like everything at the Rendezvous it's just a bit of fun, and in that spirit we decided last year to present a tiny but perfect prize for the 'peoples favourite'. We couldn't think of anything more small yet perfectly formed than an Airstream bauble from Vintage Vacations. It is an exclusive and proper glass bauble, designed just for them. They have generously donated this year's prize, it arrived in the post today and it is up for grabs for whichever Airstream wins, for whatever reasons (we just count the votes!). 

Rendezvous Return

Is this our annual blog post? Well our travels may have slowed temporarily, but the Airstream Gatherings go on. And here we are again, preparing for another Rockhill Rendezvous. Another long weekend of great company, Airstreamy chat, shiny beasts, drinking, dancing, putting the world to right around a campfire, pampering, knitting, exchanging news and views on all things Airstream. Did I miss anything? Probably. There's a lot going on in our heads at the moment.

We were very fortunate to have a small but perfectly productive team of helpers with us this weekend, and we got the marquee up, plus most of the bunting and string lights. It's a great start and has given the preparations a real boost.

Rockhill Rendezvous Countdown

We returned to Rockhill Farm almost two weeks ago, warmly welcomed and tucked into our freshly-mown little pitch. We had spent a couple of months here last year and it is really special to be back. The local village had asked to use our marquee for a bit of a do of their own, and part of the deal was that we would get some help with putting it up. And, although we felt a huge sense of achievement last year, having raised the beast with four young-ish adults, three boys and a grandad, it made a real difference having a few more grown men (and my best friend visiting from London) on the team. It was good to get it in place in good time too, because now that the weather is improving Carl should be combining during the next few days, and hoping to get it done before the Rendezvous.

removing rain water from the canvas

The weather has obviously been on everyone's mind this Summer, it being so wet and all. I must admit that it has bothered us a bit. So many events have been cancelled this year. But we made the most of a sunny weekend to get the tent up, this fine weekend has also given us a boost, and a whole bunch of Airstreamers are crossing their fingers and spreading optimism on the forum.

Starting to look like a marquee

It's up!

Pegging out

Rockhill Rendezvous is getting close and the excitement is growing. The village 'do' happened last night, and Pete and I attended. It was fun to see another crowd enjoying themselves in our marquee. We had a good evening too. Plus, the site looks so pretty at night with all the festoon and fairy lights. I started to imagine how thrilling it is going to be next weekend, to see it with thirty-plus Airstreams sitting there. So, as I write, we have four days to go, bookings are still coming in and we are currently expecting thirty-three aluminium beauties.

Prepped and Primed

The first UKAirstreamers Gathering of the year is just around the corner. We are having two this Spring, one in the South and one in the North. Even though lately our Airstream has become as much a home for us as a means to travel, it feels as though having a Spring Gathering is a good way to kick-start the dusting off, the airing out and the towing for anyone who hasn't ventured out yet. It's also a jolly good shindig.

So, this time next week we will be hitching up and heading to Dorset in time to greet the 18 (at last count) other trailers and motorhomes that will be rolling in. We are going to be on a camp site for this one, but it's an Airstream-friendly one with a separate rally field where we can be all Airstreamy together. Looking at the list, almost half of those coming will be vintage, and there are a couple of motorhomes too. It will be a lovely, varied selection for us all to feast our eyes upon. We are also expecting a few new faces, as well as some old stalwarts, and some who we haven't seen for a while. Should be quite a dynamic crowd.

The weather around here, and most of the country, has been tediously crappy in a grey and wet sort of way, so we'll need a lot of luck if we're going to pull off the al fresco bits of the weekend. We are bringing a cool shelter with us, and we have survived hoolies and hail storms at past Gatherings. It leaves you with a distinctive memory of the event, but sunshine makes it easier, naturally. So fingers crossed and good vibes all round!

T

Rockhill Reflections

Two weeks ago we finally wrenched ourselves away from Rockhill Farm. The best thing, in fact the only good thing, about breaking my leg was that Carl and Gaynor encouraged us to stay, at least until I was discharged by the hospital. In the weeks that we were there we hung out with the family and became neighbours, but in a really good, matey way; not in the chilly, curt way that I remember from my urban, pre-Airstream life. And since we had arrived there in late August to prepare for Rockhill Rendezvous, we had become pretty attached to the place and the family. But as we prolonged our goodbyes we consoled ourselves with the realisation that, in no time at all we will be back round the kitchen table planning the next Rendezvous.

We're actually not so far away. We have moved back to the bolthole in Worcestershire that we hunkered down in last winter. So, what we haven't got around to until now is reflecting on the UKAirstreamers' September Gathering, or Rockhill Rendezvous. Unless a blog entry is prefaced with something like, "Today we did this amazing thing" you can probably assume that we are usually recalling something from some weeks back. And there are all sorts of reasons for it this time.

I broke my leg four days before the start of the gathering. That meant that, apart from finishing off the two hundred meters of bunting with Gaynor, I simply had to stay out of the way in the lead up, during the event itself, during the clean up and during the post-gathering-blues period. Post-gathering-blues is something that Pete and I have observed ourselves sinking into after each of the UKAirstreamers gatherings so far. It's the kind of slump you get following on from being really focused on one thing and hoping that thing goes well, plus a little bit of "What now?" Anyway, the whole time Pete was too busy having to do everything I would normally do, on top of his own responsibilities, to be able to think about sitting down to blog.  So here are some photos taken by Pete, and some observations from someone who did a lot of the planning but didn't actually get to see how it all went (me).

We had decided to make it a long weekend event this year, from Thursday till Monday, and it was a popular idea. For some reason which has now slipped my mind, Keith and Jane who own a 1966 Overlander, had a surplus of cheese and wine that they offered to share with the Thursday crowd. So that got things off to a lovely, convivial start. My movements for the whole weekend were limited to manoeuvring myself on crutches between our trailer and the marquee, and that's where the cheese was, so I tucked in and received sympathy whilst getting used to having people bring me drinks. And as far as I can remember, that was it for Thursday; a gentle getting together with introductions and catching up. Pete, meanwhile, was up at the farm house watching the world's slowest printer meander it's way through the first twenty copies of the brochure.

Friday was when the majority arrived, and from our trailer window I could observe Pete, Carl and Gaynor and other willing helpers finishing off preparations. Meanwhile Andrew enthusiastically donned a UKAirstreamers high-viz waistcoat (donated by Paul and Jules at Makerelbus, who also printed our T-shirts and giveaway stickers, and were gutted they couldn't attend due to their replacement axle not turning up), welcomed arrivals and guided them to their pitches. Later, from my outpost in the farmhouse where I was finishing off printing the brochures, I caught a glimpse of a mini convoy arriving, which included Axel and Jack who had travelled all the way from the Netherlands specially.

On the Friday evening, with sponsorship from Airstream Europe, we laid on drinks and nibbles (including two rather fine local ales form the Ludlow Brewery). Tony and Elaine, Airstreamers and folk singers (and all round good sorts) provided us with lovely, gentle music whilst the rest of the crowd mingled, made introductions and got reacquainted.

Saturday was fairly busy, but with time for people to generally hang out and do their own thing. There were pampering sessions in Kerry's My Little Beauty salon-in-an-Airstream, and in the afternoon there was the Open House. We had tried this out at the Spring Gathering, and it seemed popular. Basically, it's a two hour period where your door is open to visitors to show off your Airstream. Unless you don't fancy it, in which case you just lock your door. Like everything else, it's optional. But I get the impression that the two hours can go by really quickly.

But it has to come to an end because in the late afternoon and into evening there's the Bring 'n' Barbie. You bring food to barbecue for yourself, and food to share. It's a lovely communal activity and it's always great to see people mucking in and sharing and helping each other to all the goodies on offer. Our live music sessions took place in the marquee, on the Airstream stage which was generously donated by Sam and Hazel at Vintage Airstreams. On Saturday night we were entertained with blues-roots-folk, by the very lively, and occasionally gravelly Babajack.

Sunday was an altogether chilled out sort of a day, apart from the energetic ones who played softball, or rounders, or a hybrid of the two. It was supposed to be Vintage and US versus new European, but I think the teams merged a little to make up numbers. But somehow it was decided that the Vintage team won, captained by Carl, who may have since had a special plinth made for the cup he was awarded. 

  

The second ever Unhitch and Stitch took place in the afternoon. Blankets were crocheted, a homemade bow was repaired, young girls were taught the basics of crochet, knitting techniques were exchanged, and tea was drunk, naturally.

In the evening there was an impromptu get together to finish up all the food. And on the Monday the field gradually emptied. I know I've missed out a lot, but that's because I missed so much. We had a much bigger proportion of vintage Airstreams than before. We equalled our Spring record for the number of Airstream motor homes seen together in the UK (5). We beat our previous year's record for the total number of Airstreams and totted up 38 (plus the Airstream stage makes 39). But most importantly, lots of people came to tell us what a lovely time they'd had, and that's what it's all about.

T

Ready To Rock And Rendezvous

How many times have we said, "It sucks to be us."? Heavy with irony, of course. It's almost become a catch phrase, and a bit over-used since we arrived at Rockhill Farm to get into gear for the next UKAirstreamers Gathering. Henceforth to be known as Rockhill Rendezvous, only a few days away, and tweaked and plumped up to be just like last year's lovely weekend, but just that bit more special.

In precisely three days that view will start to be obscured by a "field of silver dreams", as one of our Airstreamers recently described it. With or without the aluminium beasts, what a beautiful place, and what a privilege to spend some time here. Carl, Gaynor and their boys make us feel right at home, and we all team together and do our bit to get the place ready for our Airstream chums, old and new.

We have a "new", bigger marquee so that bad weather won't be an issue. And we've got live folk and blues performances on Friday and Saturday evening. There are daytime events where Airstreamers can swap tips and help each other out, plus some fun and games on the Sunday for those who enjoy a bit of friendly, vintage-versus-new rivalry.

Most importantly though, we hope to simply provide a weekend of the coolest and friendliest camping, with a big camp fire to gather around and chat and laugh into the small hours.

If you are a UKAirstreamer and you haven't booked your ticket, what are you thinking? Click on this link if you've just realised you're going to miss out on something a bit special.

That went well!

The Gathering, that is, not the plan to blog about it every day. We were too busy having fun to summon up the energy to tell the blogosphere about it daily. Sorry if we disappointed you.

So, how did it go? Very well, I think! Wednesday and Thursday were filled with preparations and shopping during the day and drinks and laughs in the evenings. There were only a small handful of early-birds, but great company.



This is Eric and Bill arriving on Thursday, after pushing their 300 motorhome all the way with a bubble!


Friday was the big day, with almost everyone else arriving.


There were some really nice outfits...


including this one, which belonged to the site owners, Eddy & jackie.



We had some lovely trailers and 'vans, including this combo of a 1961 and a 2009 Bambi...


And FIVE Airstream motorhomes!




There were some smashing old British, European and American caravans too, thanks to some new friends from the My Cool Caravan Facebook page.












The weather was, shall we say, challenging at times. I managed to get a bit of a tan, but it could just be windburn. Strong gusts and the occasional horizontal rain made us run for the barn at times, but I think spirits were generally high, even for the poor souls under canvas!

This was our fifth Gathering and a bit of a departure for us. For the first time, we joined up with other caravanners and I think the result was spectacular. Everyone seemed particularly excited about the "open house" on the Saturday afternoon and the chance to have a nose around all these fantastic machines was taken up by almost everyone. Altogether we got 25 Airstreams and 11 cool caravans and motorhomes together, and they all looked amazing!

I don't know what it is that makes Airstreamers click, but they share a trait or two with vintage caravan owners. Everyone who came was a pleasure to meet, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them all for coming and sharing their pride and joys. And I'd especially like to thank Eddy & Jackie of Victoria Farm for being so helpful and accommodating.

I can't speak for everyone else, but we had a great time.

Airstreaming Plans for 2011

UK Airstreamers are gearing up for an eventful and adventurous summer. Having spent the winter months in one spot, by the time May comes around Pete and I will be ready to hit the road again and get a fresh outlook. We are looking forward to the fifth and sixth UKAirstreamers Gatherings, in May and September respectively, meeting some new Airstreaming friends and catching up with our old ones. It's hard to believe that it is only two years since Pete first put the word out on this blog that we would be heading to a campsite in Wiltshire and would love other Airstreamers to join us.

The UKAirstreamers community is talking and meeting and sharing experiences, and it is still growing. At our Spring Gathering this year we are also looking forward to meeting some cool and retro non-Airstreams since we are joining forces with the team at My Cool Caravan. Just three weeks later we are taking part in a convoy of ten to twelve Airstreams, boarding a ferry together (just imagine that) and chugging along, hopefully still in convoy, to meet up with a fleet of European Airstreamers in Holland. Organised from this end by fellow Airstreamer Andrew, and from the European end by Dutch Streamers Kai and Pieter, we will apparently be part of a 40-strong throng. What a great chance to connect with and become part of the extended Airstream community.

And from there a couple of us are planning to stay in Europe for the remaining summer months and explore the North. It's going to be an inspiring summer. I think it is timely for us too, since last year our movements were largely dictated and guided by visiting friends and family and didn't necessarily take us to new places. This year there should be plenty of new experiences to keep us on our toes. It feels good to have an adventure to plan and look forward to.
T

Ready to Rally

Lots of Airstreaming news this week...

There is less than a week to go before the Spring Rally in Cheddar. Click here for details if you haven't booked yet, or to confirm your booking and let us know when you are arriving.

Having been in our bolthole in Somerset for almost six months we are gradually gearing ourselves up to moving on to the rally site. This has been the longest we have stayed in one place since starting our travels just over two years ago. Until now, the longest we spent in one place was three weeks. Most of the time we would book in for five nights initially, and if we liked the place, or needed more time to explore the area, we would extend our stay for another few days.

I'm sure our old routines for hitching up and pitching up will soon come flooding back. It's like riding a bike, right? At least this week we will only be moving within the county of Somerset, gently easing ourselves back into the nomadic life.

When you're moving regularly you are vigilant about not accumulating excess baggage. Now we are finding that we need to have a bit of a clear out. The discipline or ruthlessness has to be re-awoken so that we can ditch clothes we don't wear, guidebooks for places we won't be returning to anytime soon, crockery that doesn't get used enough. We've got to make allowance for our new fire pit anyway, getting its first trial by fire at the rally.


Last week we made the short trip to Taunton to see American Retro Caravans. Tucked away at the end of an uninspiring road in an industrial estate sits the little ARC workshop. And it was staggering to see what was going on there. They had four vintage trailers in various stages of restoration and a team of skilled tradesmen and craftsmen beavering away on each of them. Plumbers and electricians, carpenters and metal workers, carpet layers and polishers were all industriously working, occasionally on the same trailer at the same time.

Darren and Kathy, the owners of ARC, very kindly tore themselves away from looming deadlines to show us around. They specialise in high quality restorations, as you can tell from their (very attractive) website. They oversee every aspect, from the custom-built furniture (Darren is a carpenter by trade) to the hand-crafted upholstery. Beautiful.


The same day, this very blog received it's 15,000th hit. Staggering! When we started it, shortly after deciding to buy the Airstream, we thought it might get looked at a couple of times a month by our mums. We had no idea what it would grow into, or that we'd still be writing about Airstreaming two and a half years later. Thank you to everyone who has looked in on our journey.

Finally, we saw Airstreams on the tellybox last night. Tracey sums it up (much better than I could) in her blog.

See you at the Gathering (even if it rains!).



T & P

Get Polishing For The Spring Rally

The word has gone out about our next Airstream gathering. It feels a bit like throwing a party. We are excited and at the same time attempting to use the strength of our will to conjure good weather and plenty of people with Airstreams.

Our first gathering last Spring was a lovely, casual event where we attracted nine Airstreams of varying vintage and newness to a campsite close to Marlborough in Wiltshire. The campsite warden had been unable to reserve us an area to ourselves so we were a rather higgeldy bunch with a few conventional caravanners trapped in our midst. But you could already feel the connection between a load of rivet heads.

The second one was last September next to the Forest of Dean. This time we had a rally field within a campsite and we were able to make a circling wagons-style formation. We were thirteen Airstreams this time, so it looks like we might just grow gradually, getting to know each other and enjoying the way that your aluminium pride and joy can bring a group of individuals together.

This Spring, which so far has been glorious, we are meeting in a field in Cheddar from 21st to 23rd May, so get polishing. Details and how to book can be found through the UK Airstreamers website.