Friday was our last full day in Dorset, and we spent the morning looking after my Dad. There's been a LOT going on in the background of my holiday that I don't feel I can share at the moment, but I think/hope we are finally on the way to getting some much needed help. J drove us back to the caravan via a beautifully scenic rural route and I thought Dorset looked very beautiful indeed.
On the spur of the moment we decided to go for a walk on Friday afternoon, a five mile round trip from the caravan following the South West coast path to Hive beach at Burton Bradstock.
Much of the walk was through fields which I was grateful for, because I think I mentioned the other day that walking on a shingle beach is deceptively hard. But it's such a unique experience and I never tire of walking any path where there are continuous sea views.
The last part of the route was on the cliff path and it felt wonderful to walk on solid ground again after the trudge of shingle under foot. We know this beach very well and have come here many, many times over the years to have coffee at the beach side café, or to picnic/barbecue beside the sea.
On this day it was a short but tasty refreshment stop, followed by a quick paddle because we had to be back at the caravan for my Dad and Lady B arriving. We'd made arrangements to take them to the village pub which we've been enjoying most days of our holiday, and then we were cooking our dinner on the barbecue back at the caravan.
I'm sorry if you're not into wild flowers because I couldn't seem to stop photographing them.
I spotted these pink and white striped beauties (sea bindweed) which made me smile - gardeners amongst you will be familiar with the choking nature of bindweed, but this pretty little coastal relative is not a thug I promise.
If you look closely at the beach in the above photo, you might just be able to spot a few sun worshipers and swimmers along here. This is a lovely, quiet and very unspoilt place where you can park the car just off the coast road and walk down a track to the beach. I actually swam here with the Little People in the very very hot summer of 2020 (yes, full body immersion into the sea, it was that hot!)
We really enjoyed our last meal at the caravan - J very expertly cooked some steak burgers on the barbecue and they were absolutely delicious. I'd bought the fixings for the Little People to make s'mores over the hot barbecue coals once the burgers were all done and dusted and they went down a treat.
During our week's holiday there was only one meal that we ate indoors (at the pub in town) as every other meal was eaten outside. The weather was such a blessing, staying in the low 20's all week which added so much joy to our holiday. I love love love eating outside especially if there is a scenic view to accompany the eating, it's one of my favourite things about holidaying in Dorset when we get lucky with the sun.
I only took a couple of snaps inside the caravan just as we were packing up to leave yesterday morning, but I thought you might be interested to see them.
Modern static caravans are fantastic and totally surpassed my expectations - no crazy furnishing fabrics or weird carpet to be seen. Everything was spotlessly clean and the minimal style was extremely relaxing.
I also loved the abundance of windows because I am very affected by light levels and this caravan gave me alllllll the sunlight, sea views and cooling sea breezes I could wish for.
The front of the caravan had floor to ceiling windows - these didn't open but gave a wonderful feeling of letting the views come inside. I especially loved curling up on the sofa in the early morning with a cup of coffee, just taking in all that glorious blue and green.
The caravan had two bedrooms, and I'm so grateful to the Little People who shared a very snug twin room with very small, single beds without complaint or fuss. Our double bedroom was also a little short on space but the bed was exceptionally comfy and I had the best sleep I'd had in months.
I would definitely, definitely book a caravan again for a family holiday, we all loved it. I especially appreciated this kind of rural and very quiet, peaceful site - I know it's not for everyone but we've always preferred to stay places with minimal noise/crowds.
Yesterday was our day to drive the three hundred miles back north, but before we left the area we took another quick visit to Abbotsbury Gardens which was only a few miles from where we were staying. You can park and visit the very lovely café without having to pay to go into the gardens so it's a great place to have a drink if you're in the area. J and I shared some Dorset apple cake with our coffee which was outstanding, and a very enjoyable way to end our week in Dorset.
Although I hadn't really wanted to leave Dorset I was still glad to finally get home after many hours on the road. There is something very comforting about coming back to my crochet-laden furniture and a house that is always in a slight state of welcoming disarray.
It's been lovely to have you with me on this holiday and writing these postcards each day has given me a lot of pleasure. I've shared 93 images with you during the past week and I hope you've enjoyed your virtual vacation by the sea?!
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