The Hawksworth's July Diary - Holidays
| Published: 6th September 2007 22:49 |
Holidays and Travel
Now Carol and I had not had a foreign holiday for some 18 years, mainly due to getting married, having children, having no holidays! Or even spending too much time just keeping the house in order...
The Hawksworth Family
Left - Right: Jacob, Paul, Olivia, Lauren, Carol, Alex and Fraser
So, this year we thought, kids are growing up, Lauren, Alex, etc will soon be thinking of taking their breaks with there friends,we must take them away to a sunnier climate!
Perhaps we have now put if off for another year, but that's part of the commitment of this year to keep that carbon footprint down and to just show what effects that foreign holiday has!
Devon it was to be, Mortehoe to be precise, a beautiful village just outside of Woolacombe. We had rented a large old Victorian House with friends, complete with pool table, games room and a large lounge.... And Lauren decided that it was going to be Tenerife for her!
Not such a bad thing though as it did give us some comparisons!
VT day (Video Tape to you and me!)
We had Sally and the cameraman Dave turning up to cover us getting ready for our holiday, loading up and heading off - A dry run effectively!
So me stuck up a ladder getting the cases and bags down from our lovely newly insulated attic! Carol getting bundles of clothes out, kids getting their kit ready.. you know wet suits, snorkels, body boards... Then several runs up and down the stairs, with bags to load into the Scenic. And yes we can certainly fill one up with 2 adults, 4 children and all that's needed for a week away!
Now the so called "outshot" of the VT was to go up to the island at the top of the village to effectively exit at the same time as a plane takes off in the background!
Not that easy at 5.00 p.m. midweek with traffic everywhere and for some reason a lack of planes taking off!
Picture this, a jet is preparing to take off, I'm ready and waiting to go from the aeropark exit, traffic everywhere..... thumbs up from Dave... several laps around the island and exit when we get the nod!
Sounds easy.... 45 minutes we spent trying to get that shot!
Live Day Tuesday 17th July: Venue - Woolacombe Beach!
Weather - yes Raining again!! & Jacob's Birthday!!Well the weather could have been kinder!
We had a few nice days a couple of rainstorms prior, but the Tuesday morning when the BBC turned up it chucked it down! Again kids and all up and out to be on site for 05:50 ready or a 6 a.m live hit! (And we just made it! - Carol and the kids were definitely finding it hard to relate fun to this!)
We did some shots on the beach, met the owner and Jacob got to dress up in his wetsuit to get some Surf training in!
It was wet, cold and dismal... but we still had a laugh. Declan had rain pouring down his nose, one of his colleagues had text him to ask if he had wet himself he was that wet!
The beach staff kept us all happy with Coffee and teas..... and, yes the sun did come out just before the last hit at 8:20.
And then as soon as the BBC leave... glorious sunshine... and we did enjoy the rest of the week although glad we didn't set off back on the Friday as the M5 had major problems with flooding and was closed for some time!
The BBC looked at costs, benefits, and that Carbon Impact .
- Surprisingly Lauren's trip to Tenerife gave 700kgs of Co2.
- The family holiday to Devon only 200kg, by ourselves stopping in the UK we only used 10% ish of what a foreign holiday to say Majorca would have given us ..
- A staggering 2.5 tons!
But - when it comes to holiday's I feel that everyone should have a choice, Be it Spain, the US or further a field, enjoy ! But now and again just try the UK, wonderful scenery, beautiful beaches and don't forget a holiday is what you make it!
If going abroad and you want to also feel that you are doing your green bit, think about looking at Carbon Offsetting... something I'm sure we will cover somewhere over the next coming months!
p.s. Though I have promised the family that we will take to the air next year for a holiday!
Useful Links
Follow this link to the BBC webpage and view a short video of the July BBC Breakfast broadcast of the holiday VT.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/6272451.stm Carbon Offsetting and various links
http://www.cromlech-house.co.uk/index.htm where we stopped
http://www.woolacombetourism.co.uk/ Official Tourist Office
http://www.nickthorn.com/ Surf School on Woolacombe Beach
I have set up a temporary email address for those wishing to seek any further advice or submit useful ideas - please feel to contact us HFM@ntlworld.com
Paul & "The Hawksworth's"
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