Have just returned from a very long weekend at Cand CC site at Drayton Manor. Friends were rallying on the top field and so we joined them for a party in the DM conference facility. An excellent evening, one course hot dinner, professional entertainer and a disco all for £8.50 each. (A good night but pricey drinks at the bar.) The site was lovely, well done the managers. Not one weed in the hard standing and even the edges trimmed. Nice welcome too. You can hear the screams from folks on the big one but surprisingly very few children on site and then well behaved. Good dog walks too. Monday saw storm Ophelia arrive and how interesting that was. The wind was no worse than earlier in the year but surprisingly two units arrived and erected awnings- in that wind. I was further surprised when one of the caravaners took out a full size ironing board and started ironing in the awning. Do others do the ironing on holiday? Next to us was a new twin axle. No water supply and no waste master. How did they manage? We visited a couple of places from here. The national memorial arboretum is about 12 miles away and always something new. Free entry and only £3 to park. We visited the recently built world war 1 trenches- excellent. Heart of the country shopping village is on the A38 at Swinfen and has a number of individual shops cafes etc. The newly opened Lichfield tea company was interesting and the cake delicious. On site gripes- speeding cars, electric cables in a coil, cars parked on junctions making towing difficult. Still a very nice stay.