“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.
Then on Tuesday morning we hopped in the car at around 9am and were on the beach by 10:30am. I couldn’t believe it. We were on the beach in 1hr and 23 minutes from London. London! Zone 3!
We walked the 30 seconds from the car to our beach hut, entered the magic code and ta da! We couldn’t believe our luck…
I have never booked a beach hut before and didn’t really understand the magic of them, but now I can say I am well and truly hooked. The hut transformed our day. We didn’t have to bring anything with us as it was all there – a parasol, deckchairs, tables, a KETTLE, tea, coffee, biscuits… buckets, spades, toys….cups, cushions… and SHADE. Honestly, it was extraordinary and we absolutely loved it.
The weather was beautiful – warm and sunny and proper holiday vibey. Izzy and I collected shells on the beach, filled our plastic teapot with sea water and had a tea party on the shore while LM kicked back in the hut and rested in the cool, before Kate arrived with our delicious picnics.
Buttercups Bakery deliver to you on the beach wherever you are and we were easy to find as I could give her the name of our beach hut. “Oooh, I know that hut,” she emailed back, “it’s lovely and one of the best spots on the beach – you won’t be disappointed!”.
After lunch, it was time for Izzy’s nap. We had debated putting the cot in the beach hut, but by this time it was really warm inside the hut and wouldn’t have been comfortable. So instead, I put down one of the cushions from the beach hut onto our blanket on the sand and Izzy just laid down and rested… for 30 whole minutes.
I just stared at her and thought about all the faffing about we’ve done with blackout blinds, white noise, buggy shades and stress… and here she was, our little toddler, in full daylight with children playing around her, covered in sand and with the sound of the sea… just chilling out and loving it.
We packed up at around 3pm, bought some drinks from the cafe next door and played on the swings and the slide in the playground just behind the beach hut, before getting back into the car at around 3:20pm, to make sure we left the island before the tide came in and covered the causeway.
The drive home took a little longer as there was some congestion near the M25, but we were home before 5pm, just in time for Izzy’s supper.
Then bath, then bed.
“Busy day”, she said, as I laid her down into her cot.
“It was, wasn’t it!” I said. “What was your favourite part?”
“Playground”.
Insert eye roll. Again.
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What a wonderful day at the beach! I loved your beach hut. I checked their website and they don’t have any in my area (San Francisco California). Oh well, I think most of our beaches are still closed. I loved that your daughter’s favorite thing about the day was playing on the swings. The first time we took our son to Disneyland we asked what he liked best and he said “the bus.” The bus?? What bus? The bus that took us from the hotel to Disneyland. We could have saved so much money.
Ha ha! Oh the money we could save! Honestly, give Izzy a cardboard box and wooden spoon and she’s in heaven.
enjoyable post. As usual
Thank you!