We're back in Devon trying out Sedgewell Farm campsite and buying beds

View from our caravan door 

We're due to pick up the keys to our new Torquay flat on Wednesday and so are back in Devon again, making the most of our few remaining nomadic days by zooming around furniture shops and seeking caravan storage. Don't get the wrong idea though. This isn't the end of our touring adventures! We just want to have a static base for a while so our caravanning life will be an exciting contrast again.

In our attempts to try out as many campsites near to our new home as possible - we want to be able to make recommendations to potential camping visitors! - we have chosen the Camping And Caravanning Club site at Sedgewell Farm this time around. Previously we have stayed at Widend, Dornafield and Lemonford. Sedgewell Farm is near the village of Olchard and very conveniently located just off the A380, although, as we discovered, the turnoff is easy to miss. It is considerably smaller than the other three, officially just having fifteen pitches, and is

Bailey at Sedgewell Farm 

nicely laid out with five level caravan pitches along a terrace with a good view out over a wooded valley. Space for tent pitches is on a second terrace below. The prices quoted on the website are a bit out of date and we are paying £20 a night (it is highest season) for the pitch with our own electric hookup and water tap. Waste and waste water are a short distance away. There is also a nice timber building with toilets, good showers and a washing machine. Some kind soul has installed tempting snack vending machines too!

Despite being the first week of the school holidays and the lower part of the field being packed with families in tents it is pretty peaceful here. There is some traffic noise from the A380, but it isn't intrusive and there is often enough quiet to hear the birdsong. The campsite is pitch dark at night too because the proximity of a bat colony apparently means even low level lighting cannot be kept on at night.

Sedgewell Farm is about fifteen minutes by car from the edge of Torquay and also handy for Newton Abbot which was good for us today as we wanted to revisit the British Heart Foundation furniture shop on Queen Street. They have a wide range of good condition furniture and electrical items on display, but the only item I really liked this visit was this vintage green sofa which is actually for sale through the BHF eBay shop. We then drove on to Paignton where we very very tempted by a sofa and chair suite which arrived at The Bargain Box at the same time we did. We saw it being offloaded! However, we haven't yet measured the flat's doors so couldn't be sure it would fit through. Hopefully ino one else will buy it before we can return! The badly spelled, but well stocked Half Price Bedz shop was the only one to actually take any of our money today and they've done rather well! We've found a new bed and mattress for ourselves, plus those all important beds and mattresses for the guest room, and the first of two deliveries is due on Friday. Hopeful visitors may now form an orderly queue!

Sunny Torquay! You can't see our flat from here