Don Ricardo's crispy bases

Ok get ready everyone, this is Sophie and I'm DOING THE BLOG! The only problem is I only got back a month ago so let's just forget about February, March and April... this is what's been happening in May!
So when I got back it was already looking pretty good, there were plants all over the place (not necessarily in the ground, but you know, pots are good too), and we'd received these huge crazy 1000 litre rainwater butts that are hooked up to the shower block drainpipes and are currently very very full.

To be fair the planting was actually well underway by the time I got back at the end of April, and now almost all the hard-standing pitches are planted up, with some nice new trees and loads of shrubs and grasses in between the pitches. I have been planting grassy things in the bank between the road and the hard-standing (the photo on the left helpfully shows the bank before I'd started).
The conversion of Chalet 5 into "La Cabane de Don Ricardo" was also going well, and at the beginning of April the pizza oven arrived in a big lorry, along with its friend the dough mixer. Paul helped Don Ricardo set it up in the chalet, and then last week the rest of the equipment arrived. Don Ricardo was keen to try it all out, so last weekend we had a pizza tasting night. Everyone agreed they were the best pizzas they'd ever tasted (in the whole of Navarrenx) and a few people came back for more on Tuesday, the official opening night. Seriously though, I've eaten a lot of pizza in my time (oh yes), and they really are very very good. You can even come and marvel at his dough-spinning abilities while you wait, and chuckle inwardly at his (possibly) Italian-style pizzaiolo cap (from which he draws his amazing pizza-making skills).

Earlier in the month we also had a bit of a mad moules-frites night to try out the new chip fryers, and this weekend it's the paella dishes' turn. So the marquee's seen a lot of activity so far, and hopefully there should be more action during the summer!
Other excitement includes the construction of the recycling area at the entrance of the site, where you can now choose from a colourful array of bins depending on your mood (and what you're throwing away, technically).

Well there's a quick update for you, I'm leaving the campsite this weekend but hopefully the blog will be resuscitated this summer (it might help if you moan at my parents... give it a go anyway). I leave you with a photo taken by Bruce on one of the innumerable sunny days we've had since the beginning of May...