Southwold beach day

Had a fantastic day at the beach today in Southwold in Suffolk. I have never been there before but I will certainly go again. It was only an hour journey from Alex's Mum and Dad's house in Banham in Norfolk and apparently the Skinner family spent many a happy seaside day there when they were growing up.

When we arrived Benny went straight for the beach of course, we walked there, fully laden with our deckchairs, blankets, picnic, pop up tent, sun umbrella, wind brake (I am not kidding!) books, towels and togs (the children's not mine, I am not that game in England in September) only to discover it was high tide. But of course Benjamin is nothing if not resourceful, so instead of walking down the steps to the beach (the bottom steps were submerged in water) we lowered ourselves from the promenade onto about 1.5 metre width of sand (to be honest, at that point I was sincerely wishing I had brought my togs). Alex's mum told me (conspicuously from the safety if the prom' above) that it shouldn't come too much closer and we should be fine, but maybe we should keep an eye on it, just in case. I watched the dry seaweed with vigilance, ready to make a hasty doggy paddle escape should the need, and the tide, arise. It is a good thing I have been taking swimming lessons recently.

Anyway, you may have guessed the ending, the tide did go out, we did not drown, and we made it back home with enough time to brief you on the whole dramatic episode;)

After that, we did the usual English seaside things, made sandcastles, buried various people in the sand, walked along the pier, ate ice creams then put our socks and sandals back on, and came home again.

Here is one of many photographs I took of the beautifully coloured beach huts which span the beach front. They are approximately 4 metres by 3 metres, have no garden to speak of, back onto a carpark and can apparently sell for up to £100k, which is surely the price of a small house!?! This just goes to show how much the British 'do like to be beside the seaside'.

Yes, Southwold is a lovely place....(even though the IPad keeps suggesting i write 'Spitballs' every time I type it....just what exactly are Spitballs anyway?)

Love
Est xxx