Casa Mansfield, Spain 2009, 2010 and 2011

Casa Mansfield, Spain

Following on from our Eurocamp exploits in Europe we have had three fantastic years at Casa Mansfield, just a couple of miles south from Guardamar del Segura and just a couple of miles north of Torrevieja, Spain with our good friends David, Beverley, Amy, Grace and Oliver.

2009 Barcelona and Casa Mansfield

Our first year with the gang at Casa Mansfield and we elected to fly into Barcelona for three nights of sightseeing before hiring a car and driving the 364 miles. The drive took us about five and a half hours. We arrived mid-afternoon to a very excited Oliver who had been keeping an eye out for us.

Our time in Barcelona was all about sightseeing. We had an afternoon out at Camp Nou the home of Barcelona Football Club which Lewis was excited about visiting. I had previously been on 26th May 1999 when my team (Manchester United FC) beat Bayern Munich in the 1998/99 Champions League Final by 2-1.

Other sights that we did was the open-air bus tour, Sagrada Família church and of course a walk down the famous La Rambla. On La Rambla Josh found the pet street sellers and wanted to buy a pet terrapin of all things!

Once with the Mansfield’s we had a relaxing but enjoyable week with them which included a trip to the local water park and a couple of evening meals out at their favourite restaurants.

2010 – Straight to Casa Mansfield

This year we flew straight in to Alicante airport where we picked a car up for the two weeks we were at Casa Mansfield.

We were with the Mansfield’s this year for Michele’s 40th birthday. All of the kids had decorated the villa with balloons and banners. The evening of Michele’s birthday we went out to Stan and Ollies a restaurant on the same estate as where the villa is located. The day after David and I had the fantastic job of clearing up all the confetti and balloons that were used an had now blown in to the street. The balloons were the worst to clear up as the sun had melted them to the tarmac!

Days out included the obligatory trip to the water park, a day trip to Benidorm for us and an evening trip out to see the local football team called FC Torrevieja.

During our stay we had to return our car to the hire company and be issued with a new car as there was a crack on the windscreen!

2011 – Casa Mansfield

Our third and final visit to join the Mansfield’s in Spain. As usual the weather and company were excellent.

Another trip to the water park at Torrevieja. We even tried to arrange a sea fishing trip but didn’t manage to get it organised in time though. Oliver and I did manage to watch the 2011 Vuelta a España as that came through very close to where we were staying. This year Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished first, with Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) second.

We didn’t hire a car though this year as David and Beverley were kind enough to loan us their car as they had driven over from the UK in their Range Rover.