🌞 Sunshine, Sipping, & Splashing: The Borowaters Rally Week! 🏕️

18 Caravans & Motorhomes | 7 Days of Mayhem | High 20s Heatwave | July 2026

🌳 25 Years in the Making

Way back nearly a quarter of a century ago, the local landowner had a modest idea: chop a little patch of grass out of a hay field, dig an irrigation lake, throw in a few tiny fish, and try a bit of farm diversification.

Fast forward 25 years, and Borowaters has matured like a fine wine! The irrigation pumps are long gone, leaving behind a picturesque paradise of towering trees, thriving wildlife, crystal-clear lakes, and a lush green rally field.

🎪 The Dream Team at the Helm

Running a full Sunday-to-Sunday holiday event is no walk in the park—especially when trying to keep track of members drifting in and out while keeping everyone entertained.

Enter our heroic Marshals: Dawn & Kevin, brilliantly supported by Lynn and Den! 👏

They kicked things off by setting up a command centre on the rally field, complete with a double event tent (the ultimate social hub) and a daily Bingo board pinned to the awning. With temperatures soaring into the high 20s all week, the sun was shining, the banter was flowing, and the stage was set for an epic week.

🚂 ALL ABOARD! A Fantastic Day Out at the Railway Museum

A High-Speed Excursion on the Local Rally Itinerary

When we first pulled up to the local railway museum, we weren't entirely sure what to expect—but it turned out to be absolute proof that looks can be deceiving! The place was vastly bigger than it appears from the outside, packed to the brim with incredible railway history.

📜 Locomotives, Signboards, and Steam!

The main exhibition hall was a total feast for the eyes! One wall was entirely covered in vintage metal station signs, classic railway notices, and historic badges, leading all the way down to a grand black steam engine standing proud at the end of the line.

We had a fantastic time walking through train history, stepping inside everything from charming old vintage compartments to fairly modern carriages.

🎟️ Riding in Canadian Style

The absolute highlight of the visit was the train ride itself. While the track route was nice and short, the experience was top-tier:

Special Seating: We got to ride in a genuine, beautifully restored Canadian carriage!

🔧 Meet the Driver: The engine driver was brilliant—he gave everyone a hands-on look at the cab and happily explained all the controls and inner workings of how the steam engine operates.

It was a brilliant, nostalgic detour for our rally group, and everyone left with a big smile and a bit more train wisdom. Highly recommended if you're ever pitching up in the area!

🎲 Trivia, Lawn Games, & "Low Skills"

The evening socialising started strong with a game of Dipsticks trivia. "Friendly banter" quickly turned into speed-quiz chaos—answers were being shouted out so fast they were landing before the questions were even finished being read! 🧠⚡

On Wednesday afternoon, we took to the lawn for some glorious sunny-day competition:

Cornhole: Aiming bean bags at wooden target holes.
Ladder Toss (aka Monkey Ball): Slinging stringed balls at wooden frames.
Mölkky (Skottle): Pin-bowling finesse!

There were oohs, there were aahs, plenty of laughs, and—let’s be honest—some aggressively low skill levels on display. But hey, it’s the taking part that counts, right? 😉

🍺 The Wibblers Brewery Tour: Eight Glasses of "Research"

A two-mile minibus trip delivered us straight to the gates of the Wibblers Brewery & Tap Room. The entrance ticket came with a Golden Ticket: a tasting card for 8 free glasses of beer. Naturally, we took our testing duties very seriously. 🍻

Dengie Gold and Dengie Red went down a storm.
Dengie Porter hit the spot for the dark ale aficionados.

After a few "preliminary tests," owner Phil took us on a brilliant tour of the Grade II listed building, walking us through the kettle, the Mash Tun, and the story of how Wibblers came to be. Some stayed on to devour delicious food at the restaurant, while the rest of us returned to the bar to finish off our allocated pints before the minibus carted a very happy group back to site. 🚌💨

🎣 Fishing & Slapstick Comedy

With two fully stocked lakes on our doorstep, lines were in the water every single day. Nobody went home empty-handed—massive Carp and deep bronze Bream were coming out of the water left, right, and centre.

Saturday brought the main event: The Competition Match!

Marion (Maz) took an early lead with a quick Carp and a basket of Bream, but the real drama came from Steve...

🎬 The Great Bush Blunder
Steve hooked an absolute monster. But as he reeled it in, the handle snapped right off his reel! 😱
Refusing to give up, Steve resorted to pulling the line in by hand—two inches at a time—wrists burning against a fish that was definitely no tiddler. He landed it! But as Andy rushed over with the scales to weigh and release it:
Steve stumbled backwards and tumbled headfirst into a bush, sending his glasses flying. 👓🌳
Andy tripped trying to help and plastered himself into another bush!
It was pure Fawlty Towers. Meanwhile, the landed fish sat quietly on its unhooking mat, watching the chaos with what looked suspiciously like a wry smile on its face. Both anglers recovered unharmed, and Mr/Mrs Fish was safely returned to the water. 🐟
(Full angler breakdown coming soon in Steve's official Fishing Report!)

🍔 The Grand Finale & A 500-Rally Milestone!

To wrap up the week, we pulled our tables together in one long line down the field for a massive communal feast. Everyone fired up their own BBQs and brought their freshly grilled spreads over to eat together as the sun set. 🌅

We closed out the evening with Flag, officially thanking our fabulous Marshals for an incredible week.

🏆 Special Milestone: We had the absolute privilege of presenting a special award to Mick & Marion, who achieved an astounding 500 rallies over 40 years of rallying! Hearing them share their favourite memories from four decades on the road was the perfect end to a perfect week. A separate report will follow for this achievement.

A massive THANK YOU once again to Dawn, Kevin, Lynn, and Den for making Borowaters one to remember! Here's to the next 25 years! 🎉 Caravanners, roll on the next one!

The North Essex Centre