Gandalf the Campervan is enjoying views of Exmoor this weekend, we are staying at Halse Farm on the outskirts of Winsford and about 8 miles from Dulverton.

We arrived after a relatively smooth journey south on Saturday morning, following horrendous flooding in our area the day before. To be honest I couldn’t believe we’d made it!

Our arrival at Halse Farm was interesting let’s say. Unfortunately as we came off the motorway we totally lost phone signal for almost an hour at the precise moment that Keith got a notification on his phone from his online banking that he’d had a fraudulent transaction occur. Also for some reason we’d envisaged a hard standing pitch for our weekend at Halse Farm, however on arrival it was all grass and soggy grass at that.

We decided to pull off site immediately in an effort to drive until we could use a phone to sort out the banking, which actually turned out only to be 5 minutes down the road. We then decided to go and check out the facility block at Halse Farm before we made a decision as to whether to stay or not. In hindsight I think we were absolutely knackered and probably not dealing with anything too well!

Thankfully though the showers were outstanding and we got on with our arrival set up swiftly followed by a very welcome beer.

We decided to walk off our stress and try a pint at the local pub, the Royal Oak in Winsford, which turned out to be a beautiful old pub with roaring hot fire and a food menu that was irresistible. Local venison and lamb jumped off the menu and out at us and we made the decision to enjoy our dinner there.

The Exmoor ale and Exmoor cider slipped down beautifully and the food was simply outstanding.

Nothing could dampen our spirits as we made the journey back up the hill to Gandalf for an early night!

The next morning we were treated to a phenomenal sunrise. Keefy wasted no time in sending his drone up and we were thrilled to see the scenery that surrounded us.

We offloaded the bikes after breakfast and cycled down to Dulverton, which is dubbed one of Somerset’s prettiest villages. It is lovely but we also really adored the smaller village of Winsford which is where our campsite was.

Keith got a good phone signal so got back onto the bank, whilst we enjoyed a couple of drinks before making our way 4 miles up hill- thank goodness for our electric bikes which were AMAZING!

Our afternoon and remainder of the evening was spent chilling.

Halse Farm was a nice base for us, although the pitches were a little rough around the edges and the welcome was a little bit chaotic. The showers were excellent with great pressure and hand held hoses. There is no phone signal and the WiFi was shocking. It didn’t bother us (once we sorted the banking problem out)

Before we left the area on Monday morning, we made the short journey in the van to Tarr Steps. This isn’t possible for anything too much bigger than a LWB Crafter van despite there being a fairly large car park nearby.

Tarr Steps is a medieval river crossing that dates from at least 1000BC. It’s known as a clapper bridge and crosses the River Barle at a particularly scenic point. There are lots of good paths around the area and a delightful pub which also served food and cream teas too. We really enjoyed our walk here, and indeed our time on Exmoor.

We’ll definitely return!