Down to the sea

Holiday weather, its important for it to be just so. No wet stuff thank you very much, and preferably a little spring sunshine would not go amiss. We woke up on the first morning of our holidays soooo excited and looking forward to a trip to the seaside, but the weather played a sneaky trick on us, bad, naughty weather. The morning air was damp, grey, cold and full of sea mist, quite yucky really. But us being us, we were not deterred and straight after breakfast headed down to the sea. And by about ooooh say ten thirty seven (when my camera pointed at the sky for this photo) looky what we had! Blue sky, cute fluffy white clouds and aeroplane trails, woohoo!! And the weather for the whole two days of our holidays turned out to be fanTAStic. Really, we couldn't have gotten better luck if we had personally ordered it from the Great Man Himself.

This is the local bit of coast near where my family live in Dorset, the bit where I spent the second half of my childhood. Its a small fishing harbour, still relatively unspoilt, sitting at the end of a magnificent  stretch of south coast called Chesil Beach.

The beach here is pebbly rather than sandy, and the sea quite wavy and splashy and deep at the shoreline. So its not your standard sandcastles and gentle paddling type of beach, its a little more rugged and noisy. Yeah, the sound of the waves breaking and then rolling back again on pebbles is definitely noisy, but blissfully so. Love that sound. That, and the seagulls crying overhead, these are my favourite holiday sounds. I lie on my back and watch the clouds scudding across and listen to the waves and the gulls. Fiddle with the smooth pebbles under my fingers and feel so happy to be there.

I love the pebbles on this beach, they are varied and interesting and very tactile. Very pebbly. The Little People and I spent a lovely time up and down the beach with heads bent low searching for "special" pebbles to stash into pockets and carry home as holiday souvenirs. 

After the beach we stroll round the harbour in search of icecream. This is a small, traditional fishing harbour and the boats bob up and down waiting for their turn to be taken out to sea. I absolutely adore harbours. Don't ask me why, but I do. Maybe its the cheerfulness of the colours, the toy-like appearance of the little boats, the clusters of old cottages and layer upon layer of childhood memories.
The first half of my childhood was spent in the grey concrete of London. My Mothers parents lived in Dorset and we spent many school holidays making the journey by train from the city to the sea to visit.  I vividly remember walking around this very harbour as a small child on holiday, just as my own Little People are now doing when they visit their grandparents in the school holidays. More and more layers of happy childhood memories being created.

It wasn't until  I was ten years old that it was decided we would move from concrete city to country coast and I could not have been happier. I can't remember caring very much for city life, for the scarily  busy roads, the hugely noisy traffic, enormous buildings and lack of greenery. But oh, the Dorset countryside and this particular little stretch of coastline, it was truly a wonderful place to grow up, and to return to once I left home. And my Little People think its a wonderful place to have holidays too. The Best.

Comments

[Lori]

Oh how I love the sea and boats in the harbour too! I am not sure why I love the harbours either, but they sure make me smile! Thank you for sharing your lovely pictures!

[Sue]

One of my favourite places, too!
Sue

[vanessa]

The photo of the pebbles, and the drawing.........just wonderful!

[kathy]

Hi, Love the photo of the pebbles. I thought I recognised that beach, West Bay - I used to work in Bridport and live in Axminster so know it very well. Lovely place. Kathy

[Chris]

Oh it all sounds so wonderful! And I'm sure your children will go on to bring their own children there someday too. Like you said, more and more layers of happy childhood memories being created! Thanks for sharing.

[Maddy]

What a fantastic holiday and oh so very romantic. I would love to be able to visit Dorset, it's sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your holiday with us and for the beautiful narative too.

[Simone]

The photos are wonderful. I love seagulls, pebbles and small fishing harbours too! Are you me by any chance? I have never been to Dorset but I really feel inspired to go there now. You should get a job for the Dorset Tourist Board! :-)