Camp Sparkle

We'll be in the reasonably-close vicinity of Chatsworth, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and very beautiful (see here for details), and of Alton Towers Theme Park (see here).

I suggest that we do Chatsworth on the Tuesday and Alton Towers on the Wednesday. If we have groups of sufficient size we can get a group rate on tickets, which seems worth doing. For Chatsworth we need 15, which we may not be able to manage; for Alton Towers, just 10.

Have a look at the websites, and comment if you would like to go.

I propose that we potter about locally on the Monday (and possibly eat at the terrific and perfectly traditional pub we discovered on our Exploratory Visit last year), and we can have a look when we get to the Chapel and discuss other possibilities for tourism on the Thursday.

I'd like to do a quick check on who can eat what, so please comment if you have any dietary requirements that are more complicated than "Feed me", ie if you're vegetarian, or prohibited from eating anything in particular, or have evil allergies, or a pathological* hatred of certain foods.




* Your definition may vary. I myself will not eat grapefruit, but I don't consider that pathological, simply sensible. Disgusting things, grapefruit.

Hi guys,

I'm posting this to urge you, if you are intending to come to Camp Sparkle, to register as soon as possible. Thing is, I have to pay £800 to make certain of our booking, and I have to do it *this week*. It'd be a great relief to know that we're definitely going ahead.

The post with registration details is here, and we aren't asking for any advance money, but let's face it, if there are only a dozen of us we don't need to rent a cottage. Or at least, not one with a pulpit!

So please, if you're coming, let us know.

It's time for that post again, where I ask you - what would you like as 'formal' discussion topics during Camp Sparkle? I think our discussions last time went really well, and I'm hoping turloughishere or someone equally capable will moderate as before. But we'll need some topics!

Suggestions, please! (And do feel free to add approval to any suggestions someone else has made.)

I'm more than happy to do the minibus run again, with a Stansted pickup at around lunchtime on the Friday. IE if you are flying in to Stansted, you'll ideally arrive sometime during the morning on Friday! (Offer also open to London-dwellers who can get to Stansted in time.)

If anyone happens to be able to fly in to Luton, it'd be best if I could pick you up and then travel onward to Stansted, so an early/mid-morning arrival is best. Or arrive a day or two early, that's also fine.

Heathrow, however, is just not going to work, because of the geography. I don't think I can deal with driving the minibus for an hour to Stansted, a couple of hours back to Heathrow, and then another three or four hours northwards to Derbyshire. So, if you are arriving at Heathrow (or Gatwick), you'll need to

a) arrive early - I'll collect you on Thursday (or earlier), quite happily, and there will be beds available chez Pen, or else go into London and come up to Stansted by bus/train on Friday;

b) get yourself on a bus to Hemel Hempstead or to Stansted (both are possible, from the Heathrow bus station, but I have not investigated the timetable);

c) get yourself to the vicinity of Camp Sparkle by bus and/or train.

Anyone who is able to fly in to East Midlands airport or to Birmingham airport (may be a possibility for flights from the USA) will need to arrange collection details with nopseud. If you are only staying for the weekend, not the full week, it'd be *ideal* to fly in to East Midlands, because we can be sure to get you back there easily for your return trip.

As for the return trip at the end of the week, ideally you'll be departing from Stansted fairly late in the afternoon on the final Friday. There is an airport shuttle service that connects Stansted and Heathrow, so anyone with an evening flight from Heathrow can use that. Or, overnight at my place and have a lift to Heathrow on Saturday or Sunday. (Or, you might make arrangements to visit other London-dwellers for that weekend, in which case you can get a train or bus into town from Stansted.)


Obviously the details will have to be worked out when you know what flights you can get and where you'll arrive, but I wanted to let everyone know what's likely to work, and this should give you a place to start planning.