“26°”, my weather app whispered. “Last day of Summer!” All day Monday I kept glancing at my phone to see if the temperature might have dipped, but no… it stayed strong and high, despite the following days depicting RAIN and GLOOM and an enormous drop in sunshiney warmth.

I got busy. I booked a beach hut through www.beach-huts.com, ordered picnics from Buttercups Bakery (I’d seen Kate’s wares on Mersea Mogo’s (my beach hut’s) Facebook page) and packed our swimmers, and changes of clothes for us. Oh and nappies. And all the paraphernalia that goes with that… but essentially, we packed very light.