Seaside holidays

We’ve always done seaside holidays and we are at Weymouth right now on our annual family trip. We hire caravans, do all the seaside things, donkey rides, arcades, ice creams, fish and chips, paddling/swimming if the weather lets us. There is myself, my daughter, her 4 grown up children and partners and one Grt GC and they all love re-enacting their childhood holidays we have a lot of fun.
Sadly this is our first year without DH?.

Gosh JackyB setting out across the sea like that as a family! Were you scared? That wide expanse ....
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Oh Day6 how poignant. I love that you kept that pebble.
x

Ah mosaicwarts I bet you’ll be glad to stay beside the sea!

I live 1000 km from the sea in any direction, and I so miss it.

For most of my childhood we went and stayed in a little bungalow right on the top of the cliff at Scratby. On rainy days we would go into Yarmouth and eat fish and chips and play in the penny arcade.

I used to be an early riser and would sometimes scamble down the cliff and walk on the beach before everyone else was up. Until my cousin came to find me as everyone was worried sick what had happened to me! I never saw a donkey or a Punch and Judy, but we were sometimes allowed to have a stick of rock, and one to take back home for our friends.

When we were older we had to give in to our father's dream of having his own boat and we spent a few holidays on hired boats (Falmouth area) and eventually on our own boat. We would sail across to Ostende, Knokke, and the Dutch towns along the coast.

There is something about walking on the beach that always makes me cry

Oh I know what you mean gillybob.

I love being by the sea, and especially on empty beaches. I am not religious as such but do have a strong spiritual side and I think the sea, the big sky and the wind makes me feel quite vulnerable - just a little speck in the Universe.

I remember just after my divorce I took the children on holiday to Filey, alone. It was dusk and we'd just had fish and chips. The children ran off along the empty beach and I followed on, walking alone, watching the sun set over the sea. I have never felt so alone, vulnerable and unloved and the tears just poured down my face. I trod on a pebble in the sand and it worked its way into my sandal. It was a white, flat heart-shaped one. Then the floodgates opened and I let it all out. I caught up with the children about ten minutes later. I had to tell them through my plastered on smile and red face that my eyes had been watering because the breeze had blown sand in my face. I still have that pebble.

Our childhood family holidays were few and far between. We used to travel long journeys down on the coach to Bournemouth or to Tenby. We didn't have a car so most summers were spent doing local bus tours to places of interest.

They were definitely 'beach holidays' as we had very little money. Mum would pack a picnic and sit in a deckchair and Dad would go for a stroll late afternoon and maybe grab a quick pint before coming back with fish and chips for supper. We'd play on the beach all day and splash in the sea. Mum packed a huge bottle of lemonade and odd cups from flasks for us to drink from. We'd eat our fish and chips on the prom and chase the seagulls before going back to the B&B and our big family room with shared bathroom for all down the corridor.

I remember thinking we were so lucky and that I'd love to be on the beach every day. That feeling of 'needing' a beach hasn't left me and I envy those who live near the sea.

It's good to read your posts as I have now lived on the east coast, ten minutes from the sea, for twenty years. I am selling my house and dithering about inland/coast but so many of you say you still miss the sea, thanks, I think I'll have to stick with my coastal choices.

Polzeath North Cornwall. Wooden seated bus from Delabole. Take pasties my aunt had cooked. Hired wooden surfboards and built big sandcastles that we would stand on as the tide came in.

Beach always reasonably empty and always able to sit in our spot. Tin tray of tea from the beach cafe. Ice cream from the van on the beach Kelly’s of course and back then we had a dollop of clotted cream on top. Glorious days.

I had a marvellous childhood and adolescence. We lived only a few hundred yards from a beautiful beach, hardly ever cluttered up with holiday-makers. I'd walk the dog after school and, in summer, go swimming with my friends. The next town had a large tidal swimming pool where we sometimes went after school to swim and sunbathe. It was always sunny on the Firth of Clyde, wasn't it?
When the holidays came, we stayed with Granny in Fife, about 12 miles from St Andrews which has lovely beaches with sand dunes where we could shelter from the North Sea breezes. Most afternoons, when Granny had her afternoon nap, we went to the West Sands and swam, dodging the breakers. No visit to St A was complete without a cornet from Janettas - still a famous ice cream parlour to this day.
When we moved to central Scotland, we were far from the sea which was hard on my mother who had lived all of her life bin the town were I grew up. It wasn't a problem for me - I went to St Andrews Uni.

It's so lovely to read all of your memories. I forgot fish and chips in newspaper! That was a highlight!! I wish I lived by the sea, but I suppose it makes it extra special to visit on holiday.

I am struggling with all these wonderful posts - it is completely impossible for me to explain how very much I miss the sea.

Ellianne - I know what you mean about Exmouth - it has changed so much. It had a innocence and charm that is now gone. I had my wedding reception in one of the terraced hotels at the top of the bay. When we went there a few years ago we went out on a boat trip and saw the esplanade from the sea - that Premier Inn and bowling etc is a complete eyesore - I could have wept.

Sar53 - give my love to Southend! We lived near Leigh-on-Sea and used to bike to the cockle sheds.

I was brought up by the seaside and often went swimming with friends after school. I love going back there for a visit but I now prefer the countryside and its wildlife and there's plenty of that where we live now so I don't miss the sea as I once did.

I lived by the sea for many years of my life and really miss it now. Love it in the autumn and winter when there are no visitors and its blowing a hooley.
Sadly now a lot of seaside resorts have become run down and shabby.

Luckygirl we live just along the coast from Southend and go to Rossi's nearly every Sunday for breakfast. Love their ice cream.
We look out across the sea from our second floor flat, very tranquil most of the time. My husband wouldn't live anywhere other than by the sea.

We used to go to Mablethorpe or Sutton on Sea along with most of Derby. I loved fish and chips from newspaper but mum thought that was really common so we had to have them back at the holiday bungalow on proper plates.

When the children were little we went to Woolacombe every year and then touring Europe on routes devised by dh but with hotels and campsites booked through Canvas holidays. One memorable time we had booked a cot for DD2 but, when we got there, they didnt have one so she slept in the bath with all the pillows and blankets we could muster. She cant remember it as she was only 1 but still complains about her miserable childhood - having to sleep in a bath!

Ellianne, sorry

Ellis next

Oh no! Can’t believe the swans have gone!
Just shows, it must be longer than I thought

I know what you mean about expense, we were recently in Swanage with our grandchildren , and they spotted a fair, twenty pounds was gone in ten minutes.

I used to like Exmouth because everything seemed a bit faded and dated, but I guess they have to move with the times

Oh yes, the ruched swimsuits. Mine was blue, though presumably I had others. Ot maybe the ruching meant it fitted me from the age of two to the age of twelve! I recall taking it off at home and small pebbles & gravel falling out of the little pouchy bits of the fabric.

For days out from London we went to Walton on the Naze, I remember running round the beach huts and going to the fair. In the holidays we went to Pendine, Tenby and Aberaeron and enjoyed soft ice creams and boat trips.

Would that these places never changed. Sara65 Exmouth seafront has undergone lots of regeneration recently and has smartened itself up. Sadly, however, the swans have gone, so has Jungle Fun and the model railway. Now there's a glassy Premier Inn, bowling, indoor soft play and lots of eating places.

Visitors to seaside resorts these days must spend s fortune on activities and food, whereas we always took picnics, and a bucket and spade provided us with hours of fun.

We’ve just come back from one Riggie, it was lovely

We still have an old fashioned uk beach holiday!!

Every year we went to visit our GPS on the SW coast of Scotland, for the whole of the summer. The beaches were all natural and wild with no commercialism. Often we were the only people there.
I think it’s where I got my love of wild flowers, insects, birds and shore walking from.
It was six weeks of delight after spending the rest of the year at school in Inner London.

You lucky people. I never had a holiday as a child. Didn't see the sea until I was 15 and a friend's family took me. Been to lots of lovely places as an adult though.

I have very few child hood photos of me but there is one of me aged about 7 wearing such a cossie.

I literally live 30 seconds from the sea and I love it I often go to watch the sun rise I rarely feel right when I m not by the beautiful beach and sea we really do have miles of silver sands