Big Brigadier Goes Wild on NYE!!!

New Year's Eve 2011 was our first experience of 'wild camping', which is where you just pitch-up somewhere that is not an official camping or caravanning site. In Scotland this is common practice and you're legally allowed to camp anywhere, but in England you are only supposed to camp if you have the owners permission. We didn't let that stop us though!

We decided to embark on this adventure of freedom in Kingston, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. It's a tiny village up on the hills above Swanage, and having done a little reconnaissance a few weeks before, we knew the perfect spot.

For our NYE activities we were booked into The Scott Arms, which is a delightful country pub with stunning views of the Dorset countryside overlooking Corfe Castle. About 500 yards further up the hill from the pub is an enclosure off the road, where Big Brig would be out of the way and causing no harm. So early evening on 31st December we drove over to Studland, up through Corfe, and into the village of Kingston. Apart from a lone dog walker, there was no other activity in our camping spot, so we parked up and got settled.
The pub was hosting a 'Hollywood Glitz & Glamour' night, so we donned our party outfits and headed down to join the fun!

We enjoyed a fantastic night - the food was top quality (as you can see!), and the drinks were flowing nicely!

Yummy goats cheese to start!

Delicious sirloin steak for main course.

You can't beat a good cheese board to finish off a lovely meal!

The pub had organised a roulette table for the evening which proved to be very popular, and when the disco kicked off after dinner everyone was in the mood for a boogy!

Midnight was greeted with a count-down, cheers and party poppers, and the disco continued cranking out the tunes, taking us well into the early hours of 2012.

The weather was miserable as we left the pub at the end of the night, but it didn't dampen our spirits on the short walk back to our camping spot, and of course Big Brig kept us lovely and warm, ensuring the cool January air remained outside!

A soggy start to the 2012!

The following morning we drove down to Swanage, and enjoyed a hearty breakfast at Ocean Bay Cafe, before heading over the Sandbanks Chain Ferry back home to Bournemouth.