Lytham St Annes in Winter

Here in England we always have a weeks Half Term holiday in the middle of February, and although the weather can be very cold and unpredictable we do enjoy getting away for a day or two at this time of year if we can. As it's me who always does the organising for this little jaunt, it'll come as no surprise that we always end up by the sea. Gotta feed my addiction whenever possible you understand, and the family are very accommodating for the most part. You might remember that last year we went to the Yorkshire coast {Scarborough} and a few years before that we were freezing our butts off on the same coast {Whitby}.

This year, J said that he really didn't want to drive the ninety miles across to the east Yorkshire coast when the west Lancashire coast was only fifty miles away and just as nice. Fair point. So I abandoned my Yorkshire coast ideas and began a little search for somewhere beachy to visit on the Lancashire coast instead. In the past, we've holidayed further up this bit of coastline (Silverdale, Arnside, Grange-over-Sands) and have enjoyed it very much. We've also holidayed near Blackpool and not enjoyed that quite so much to be honest. But J told us tales of his childhood summers spent in Lytham St Annes on the Fylde Coast, and how he thought we would all really love it there, so I searched and searched and managed to find us a really rather lovely holiday house to rent for a very reasonable price (less than the Youth Hostels would charge at this time of year in fact). According to the www, Lytham St. Annes is "the Lancashire coastal gem flourishing with surprises", well that sounded promising!

We arrived on a blustery Saturday afternoon in the middle of February to find the house waiting for us all clean and warm and really rather lovely. It was a big house in a quiet residential street just five minutes walk from the beach. The rooms were enormous, spacious, modern. There was black leather furniture, chandeliers, huge mirrors, modern art, polished floors, a fridge which made ice on demand (oh, the excitement!), a sleek sound system, a huge flat screen tv, WiFi, and four bedrooms to accommodate the Attic family with ease. It was just wonderful, and even The Teen was at ease with his own double bedroom and Wi-Fi at the end of his fingertips. Once we had settled in, we took a short drive up the coast to show Little B the sights of Blackpool which he couldn't quite remember, being a bit too young last time we visited to retain the memories. We tracked down a super local fish and chip shop and brought our fragrant paper-wrapped parcels back to the House of Luxury to eat around the substantial dining room table. It was possibly one of the nicest family meals we've had in ages.

After a blissful nights sleep, we woke early and decided we needed to go immediately to view the sea. Up and at'em! After much parental debate, we decided to leave The Teen sleeping in bed, now I do struggle with this to be honest, it's not easy to come to terms with him not wanting to hang out with us so much these days. But really I suppose it was his holiday too, and I knew he would appreciate the extra private time/shuteye. So I listened to J, took his advice and we headed out the door as a foursome.

The beach at Lytham St Annes is bordered by sand dunes, which immediately made me love it more than Blackpool which is bordered by concrete. And oh, the beach is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!!! The tide was way out on this morning and the expanse of exposed sand was very, very impressive in its hugeness. It was a bit strange being on the beach and not actually being able to see the sea, but I was still very happy with the vast offering of sand and sky.

After a bit of a cloudy start, we could see that the sky would soon be clearing and fingers crossed we would end up with a bright sunny day.

I absolutely loved being on the beach with the J and the Little People. As it was still early (around 8am), the sun was just rising and it was so quiet and peaceful.

We strolled along towards the pier, chattering and breathing it all in.

I looked and looked and looked for beach treasure but there wasn't an awful lot to be found. Lots and lots of razor shells, a few mussel shells and a gull feather. Not that I'm judging it on that you understand, I really did love this beach, treasure or no treasure.

Once we reached the pier we headed away from the beach to take a look at the small high street. Lytham St Annes is very charming - the usual assortment of small high street shops, but the extra wide pavements made it feel spacious, upmarket and sedate.

I loved that there was lots of seating and little shelters everywhere to encourage you to take a pew and linger a while. I can so imagine how lovely it would be here in the warm summer months, a lovely place to stroll about for sure.

Now I have absolutely zero sense of direction, I just don't possess an inner compass. But J does, and without hesitation he all of a sudden directed us away from the high street down a left hand turn, through some iron gates and into the most beautiful park. How did he know to do that? I have absolutely no idea, but the park was so nice....

.....and once again I could imagine how beautiful it would be in Summer, filled with brightly coloured flowers and dappled sunlight from all the trees.

These are rose beds, all sleepy and brown at this time of year - I really want to return in the Summer!

We wandered in this park {Ashton Gardens} for quite a while, following the paths and taking it all in until tummies started to rumble and we remembered we hadn't had any breakfast. Luckily, the house was only a ten minute walk away, so we were soon back in the warmth, sitting round the table scoffing buttery croissants warm from the oven with fresh juice and coffee.

The one thing we all most appreciated about staying in this house was the space. Oh the space felt like such a luxury for us, living as we do in a rather cluttered, modest, tall-thin terraced house. Every room was large, light and airy, with big windows, white walls and modern furniture. The time that we spent in the house was relaxed and comfortable, plenty of space to spread out and please ourselves.

I loved working on my Granny Stripe blanket whilst we were away, sat by the warmth of the radiator and the light of the large window in the dining room listening to music whilst the Little People slid in and out. I say "slid" because that was literally what they were up to, in fact it occupied a large amount of their leisure and pleasure time in the house (socks and polished floors, I'm sure you can picture it).

11 o'clock now, and back again to the beach, as a family of five this time. We walked a little further than we had earlier as I was desperate to find the St Annes Beach Huts that I'd read about.....

....they are perched on the promenade and looked a little high and dry to be honest - I was kind of expecting them to be closer to the beach than they were in reality. These are mostly for rent (see here for pretty pictures!), lovely little seaside retreats for a day of doing beachy things.

The beach was still sea-less, although we could see the tide was slowly starting to come in around lunch time. Love love love those sandy ripples, so mesmerising to look at and a pleasure to walk on.

The pier at St Annes is mostly covered over, and there were some extensive renovations going on whilst we were there so most of it was closed to the public. One thing that we did find on the pier which was open and thriving was a very cosy café, just the place for a hungry family to settle down for an hour or so.....

.....we managed to do a bit of table hopping and ended up in a prime spot right next to the large picture windows, it was a beautiful view to accompany a very tasty lunch I can tell you. Mmmmmmm toasted paninis and very good Italian frothy coffee, I was in my happy place right there with that lunchtime view.

We were so very, very lucky with the weather during our weekend away, it was cold but not unpleasant, and the sun and blues skies were invigoratingly bright. There were plenty of people taking advantage of the sunshine, but the beach was so impossibly huge at low tide that there was no danger of it feeling remotely crowded.

I loved that the house where we stayed was so close to all this - literally a five minute stroll from the sand. It was so relaxing, meandering slowly home after lunch (not including the mad scramble up the dunes), knowing that a warm, comfortable afternoon back at base stretched ahead.

At some point towards the later afternoon, it occurred to us that we would need food for the evening. After a family debate (restaurant? takeaway? supermarket?) we decided to self cater and went out in search of some essential food supplies, driving via the seafront at Blackpool. This is the very south end of Blackpool beach where it's fairly easy to park the car out of season and take a stroll along the prom. We love this giant revolving mirror ball (apparently the World's largest, with 45,000 mirror tiles)

We spent a while here, marvelling at the loveliness of forty five thousand moving mirrors reflecting the sunlight in a dancing pattern across the concrete. Pretty cool eh?

We were strolling rather briskly along, wrapped up tight against the biting wind whistling in off the Irish Sea. Blimey, it was  bitterly cold here, don't be fooled by those lush blue skies!

We lingered a while to watch the roller coaster crawl up then hurtle down The Big One. I am not a fan of pleasure parks, they don't feature on my personal List Of Pleasures at all. Not. At. All. But the scale of this particular roller coaster is oddly fascinating I have to admit. So high! So steep! And such screaming from the passengers! Shudder - very very very glad to have my feet on the ground.

So we were in search of a shop that sold rock (the sweet, sticky kind), for Little B who was obsessing about it over and over and over. That was until he suddenly changed his mind and decided no, he didn't want rock, he actually wanted Candyfloss instead please. Candyfloss, candyfloss, CAnDyFLOSS!!!!!!!!!!!! He was insistent, and we were on holiday, so we indulged and trudged along in the freezing cold looking for a candyfloss seller. A freezing cold mile and a half later, we hit pink.......

.....and three bags of candyfloss were purchased for the Little Peeps to gorge on. One happy Little B there, I can tell you.

Ahhhh, back at base and all was very content and happy in my world of Winter Holidaying. Such a stunning day full of leisure and pleasure, sunshine, blue skies and fresh sea air. I didn't even mind cooking in the enormous kitchen with it's modern eye level fan oven, and magical ice-making fridge the size of a wardrobe. I say 'cook' in the loosest sense of the word - I basically shoved in some deep pan peperoni pizzas, then retrieved them fifteen minutes later. Job done. J and I shared a bottle of vin blanc, with a plate of cheese, cured meats, olives and salty crackers. Then we all settled down on the enormous black leather sofas to watch a film (Despicable Me) before flopping early into bed.

Monday morning now, and here we are back at the sand dunes once more for another early morning, pre-breakfast stroll.

The weather was even more glorious on that morning, and once again we had the expanse of beach to ourselves. Please note the four shadows and know that this Mumma struggles with her eldest boy not wanting to be out of bed at 8am, even though I do get that it's a part of growing up.

Oh blue, blue Winter sky, I love you so much!!

The above photo really makes my heart smile - see that little speck right over there by the pier? That's our six year old child, Little B who scampers and runs like a puppy let off the lead. Wooosh, and he's off. I really totally love the way that children run for the pure pleasure of using their bodies. Love that they do that.

What the heck??? What on earth is that you may ask?!! Well......it's a fully loaded hot chocolate of course, the perfect pre-breakfast beverage for any puppy-running child. We arrived at the pier at 9am and realised the café was open for business, and decided that a very good Italian coffee would be the most marvellous thing after a beach walk on this cold winters morning. The lovely, lovely café lady took a shine to our two Little People, glowing and happy from their beach running, and gave them some truly whopping toppings on their hot chocolates. Little B's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the size of that marshmallow!

Awwww, so long lovely sandy beach, thank you for giving us such happy memories. We will most certainly be back again in the summer, to dip our toes in the water and linger a while on the sands.

We reluctantly packed up and left the lovely warm spaciousness of the holiday house at 10am. We had one final jaunt planned before heading home - a trip to Blackpool Zoo.

We came to this zoo once before, on a wild and wet Summer's day in 2012 when Little B was only 2 years old. It's a lovely zoo, well laid out with lots of great animals to see.

I did feel a tad sorry for them on this below-zero Winters day though, it was soooooo cold! We had a picnic lunch whilst waiting for the sea lion display to start, I thought my fingers were going to fall off, and I definitely stopped being able to feel my feet. The sea lions were great and worth the cold wait in the outdoor arena, such natural performers and wonderful to watch.

We arrived back in the Attic around 3pm, it felt like we had been away for ages. I really love taking short trips away from home, it really does revive the spirits and grants a welcome dose of feel-good.

Lytham St. Annes, you were fabulous. Your sea breezes and sunshine were so good for the soul. See you again in the Summer I hope!

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ps the above vintage picture was pinned up on the wall in the holiday house, I love it very much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Elisabeth]

Looks really really nice, I love those shadows :-)at the beach and this vintage picture beside all these very nice spots out there!
greetings from Austria
Elisabeth

[Elaine Riley]

It is lovely to see you like my part of the country. I live in Lytham you must pay Lytham a visit our beach is not the same as St Annes but you would love the town centre. We also have a lovely park that your children would really enjoy even your teen, it is called Park View fantastic play area if you google it you will see how amazing it is.

[Anne Marie]

My cousin lives at Lytham St Annes and we go to car shows there every year. I've never seen the shops but I know my cousin goes to all these outdoor cafes etc.

Your photos are brilliant and what wonderful weather/blue skies you had.

[Clare]

Nothing better than being by the sea
Clare xx

[Sarah]

That beach looks so huge and goes so far out. Your accommodating looks wonderful too. I'm sure the sea air would have helped with your recovery. Sarah x

[Linda Lovick]

Oh that was lovely and made me immediately want to go there. Sounds like you really 'blew away the cobwebs', something we all desperately need to do from time to time. Thanks for sharing, Lucy and for the inspiration xxx

[Sarah]

My dad's family were from Morecambe Bay but haven't since I was a child so really must remedy that. Your photos of a happy family holiday are lovely. I've got lots of photos of my parents in the 1950s taken at local beauty spots when they were up there visiting relatives - my mum looking like Grace Kelly and my dad the spitting image of Ray Milland. Despite the sleekness of the holiday house I bet you were glad to be back in the cosy warmth of the attic.

[Rachael]

Oh Lucy, this is heavenly. You've reminded me why I ought to be blogging and that I must get my camera working (I kept thinking "why would anyone want to see all my life by the sea pictures" forgetting that when you're not by the sea, it's gorgeous to see). And yes, the sea does the same thing across the water with us in Southport - it's a standing joke among residents that seeing the sea is a miracle. And yes, I am completely with you on the big small people not wanting to get up. I like it best when I have them all around me, and my big two have to be dragged out anywhere these days. Sob. xx

[Lynn Butler]

Hello Lucy! I'm so glad you are felling better. I was thinking of you so much as I crocheted my sunny granny stripe blanket this Feb. Oh! The glorious colors. It's a party of yarn. It just keeps giving happiness! Lots of exclamation marks I know. It's my excitement and pleasure and Sqeeee!

Your cupcake blanket will photograph perfectly against the beach huts. They look like that's where your inspiration came from. I can't wait to see the photos.

One more thing. I just couldn't get over Little B's hot chocolate. Oh my goodness! What an amazing treat!

So glad you are back and feeling more like yourself! Lynn

[Chy]

What a great holiday! Glad you had a chance to slip away to the sea.

[Catriona]

Off to St Annes tomorrow-yipeeeeee! We stay in a hotel which overlooks the beach huts-can hardly wait. Catriona

[Helen Goodinson]

Really enjoyed reading your blog and lovely photos. Think one of my favourites is the shadows on the beach.
Helen x