Those Lazy Days By The Sea

I’ve never been a fan of long distance travel and big expensive holidays, I’ve always found them tiring, the preparation time consuming and the stress of trying to make them ‘perfect’ for everyone difficult to handle.  The kids have rarely enjoyed them as much as we expected, often our treasured memories end up being climbing a hill with a view, feeding squirrels or finding a frog in the long grass.

My preferences developed early, when I was little my grandma had a cottage by the sea, we went there many times a year, so it was a true holiday home.  Before I got to my teens though the cottage was sold and we started going on traditional holidays, but they were never as good, true we got to see the country, but the lazy relaxation of a holiday home was lost.  Exploring replaced the simple holiday routines, the early morning walk to the bakers, the barefoot walks along the beach to get ice cream, the ball games and surfing.

Now I’m going back to those lazy days by the sea.  I’m gradually creating holiday homes around the country, places that I know really well, places where all the nooks and crannies and secret places are mine, where I have favourite cafes, food shops, walks and cycle rides.  I don’t need many places to call home as I’m easily satisfied, but I do need a little variety.  For now I settled on a few places:

1. Cleveleys is a place to visit every week, it has a wonderful sea front, great cafes and is quick and easy to get to so I don’t need to stay overnight
2. Filey is my beach holiday home, it has a vast, perfect sandy bay, with rocky cliffs and rock pools at the edges.  It’s a small place, a place you can really get to know, but It’s also a short hop to Scarborough, York and Bridlington if more variety is required or rain threatens. I think I will spend 4 or 5 weeks a year at Filey
3. The winter is not a time for the beach though and I need some city time in my life to.  I already know three cities very well having lived in each for years, they all still feel like home.  So Hull, Nottingham and Lincoln will all provide perfect short break opportunities.  They each have great long river or canal walks, cycle paths, a great range of reading cafes and entertainment and great Premier Inns – that’s all I need

A couple of weeks a year will be reserved for scouting out new places to love and/or exploring the country.  This year I spent two weeks discovering the north Cumbria for the first time and in two weeks time we are going on a family holiday to Scarborough which is rapidly becoming another home from home.

Going away so much means everything needs to be easy.  I’m getting to the point where I can be fully packed in half an hour and unpacked in 10 minutes, I already have my Brompton in the car boot so I’m all set. 

The photo is of Filey Bay, taken from the cafe gardens near Hunmanby Gap although I’ve spent about 6 weeks in Filey over the years I’d never been to this spot before, there’s still so much more to explore.