Karen Wright: A cosy caravan birthday by the cathedral

With an empty nest I decided to travel up to where we keep our caravan on a site near Ripon and enjoy my birthday there.

It is only an hour's drive to get there which does make it a perfect home from home. I gathered my cards and presents and shopped for a few tasty treats, and we were soon settled in and relaxed in the van. We went up the day before my birthday and were pleased to discover that there was some entertainment on in the onsite bar, a singer from Castleford and he was brilliant people were up dancing straight away. He did two slots and we had a game of bingo in the interval, sadly I wasn't lucky, but I did enjoy playing it made a pleasant change.

Once we were tucked up in bed, it started to rain. I always love that, when you can hear the pitter patter of the raindrops on the caravan roof, it's so cosy! Next morning the rain had cleared away although it was still cloudy, but the grey sky did not dampen my birthday mood one bit. We made a cuppa and I got to work opening my birthday gifts.

We had thought we might go for a drive and pick up a bite to eat while we were out but as the weather was cold and grey we decided not to bother. Instead, we went into Ripon cathedral and enjoyed one of the morning services. It was beautiful in the cathedral, and the service was a sung Eucharist as it was the Second Sunday of Easter. It was a visiting choir and the singing was fantastic.

In the afternoon we settled down in the caravan, and I got stuck into one of the books that I had been given as a present and I opened a very good bottle of red wine that my husband had bought for me. We really enjoyed the wine alongside a tasty cottage pie that I had brought from home and then instead of birthday cake, as I havnt got a sweet tooth we had cheese and biscuits to finish off my special day.