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Bellagio | Growing Spaces

View from the private beach at Camping Europa A typical pitch at Camping Europa Exploring the promenade in Bellagio Picture-perfect Bellagio Public beach at Acquaseria LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND – MENAGGIO, LAKE COMO, ITALY 65.8km We stayed: At Camping Europa right in the centre of Menaggio on the waterfront of Lake Como. We stayed at this site for it’s location, which was easy walking distance into the centre of Menaggio with its shops, cafes and restaurants. The site also has its own private beach (a rarity in the area), although it was pretty dirty. Apart from that, the site doesn’t have a… View Post

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My aim to blog about in ‘real time’ about our road trip as it unfolded last year has well and truly fallen by the wayside, but I’m going to keep coming with the posts. The next stage of our trip was spent in Ticino, the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland (close to the border with Italy). We had an amazing drive over the Gotthard Pass through the mountains  and were really struck by how the scenery and general vibe changed so quickly from quintessentially Swiss to much more Italian. FRUTIGEN, SWITZERLAND – LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND: 132 miles by road and motorway –… View Post

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Pack kids’ clothes (and your own) into clear plastic zip-up storage bags – this makes it super-easy to see the clothes so you can grab them without having to scrabble around the bottom of a bag. Pack nice underwear. You’re going to have to hang it out to dry in full view of all your camping neighbours. Patterned clothes show up less dirt. And opt for darker colours too. Invest in decent sleeping mats. Go and try them out in a camping shop to make sure you get one that you find comfortable. You can’t have too many pegs. Ditto those… View Post

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I’m finding it a challenge to adjust to being home after our Europe road trip. I miss the freedom of being on the road, and being out in the open air camping. We’re slowly finding our groove, and working out ways to incorporate some of the bits from our holiday into our everyday life at home. Some of these are lifestyle-based (less TV, more eating outside in the garden etc), but some of them are aesthetic too. The last stop on our trip was the Allier department of the Auvergne region in France, where I was seduced by the beautiful spectrum of blues… View Post

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We loved being away with the kids for a month, but it can get tiring needing to keep them entertained 24/7, especially when most of the campsites we chose to stay on were on the smaller side – a compact playground (if we were lucky) and a swimming pool (maybe). When you’re camping, space in the car is tight, no matter how long you’re going away for, so we didn’t pack many toys, but what we did bring has kept the kids occupied and happy whenever required, so I thought I’d share what we took… Picnic blanket Better than a… View Post