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.
What marvelous adventures you have shared with us. And such beautiful color photos. Makes me want to hop on a plane and see some of these marvelous sights.
Posted by: Elizabeth Bogan | August 10, 2016 at 04:07 AM
So glad you enjoyed your visit to St Annes. We are lucky enough to live here and it always makes me happy when people visit and appreciate what we tend to take for granted! It really is a great place to live and visit - hope you come back again soon.
Posted by: Judith | April 09, 2016 at 10:34 AM
Just been catching up on the blog and can't believe that my favourite Crocheter was just 15 minutes from my own hometown. Next time make sure you visit Lytham! St Anne's is the area with the square, Ashton Gardens and the Pier that you visited. Someone mentioned the Dalmeny hotel which is in St Annes, not Lytham - people get confused as they hear about "Lytham St Annes" but they are actually two very different places.
Lytham is 10 minutes further up the coast and is even nicer/quainter than St Annes. There is a lovely windmill and green for walks along the beach and Lytham Hall over the railway bridge where you could go for a nice walk. Lytham has lovely boutiques and great charity shops too. In the summer they often do outdoor theatre productions at Lytham Hall. Whelans in Lytham is the best place to have Fish and Chips.
In between Lytham and St Annes, just near the White Church, there is Granny's Bay, a pebbled beach which I think little B would love. Fairhaven Lake and Salters Wharf, both further up the promenade from St Annes (but before Lytham) are also good places to visit with family. Fairhaven Lake has play areas, boats etc and Salters Wharf has a very cheap independent cinema which is decent for a rainy day. Little Lady and you would adore Alice's Tearooms on St Alban's Road in St Annes too. I hope I've given you a few ideas for next time and thanks for visiting us!
Posted by: Allie | March 30, 2016 at 10:23 PM
well darn! the search function doesn't work. But if you enter Davenport in the search bar, you'll get close!
Posted by: sue | March 17, 2016 at 10:24 PM
you were very near where my dad grew up in Caton, just north a few miles and inland along the river. What a treat to see the very coast where they may have traveled for a day at the shore. His family settled in California, in just such an area, and we grew up going to the beach every Sunday for our "Church". The scent of seaweed, salt air and briny mussel-covered rocks runs through my veins! You can go to www (dot) californiacoastline.org -- Image 201313390. for a photo.
Posted by: sue | March 17, 2016 at 10:14 PM
What a beautiful place! I love "candy floss" too --one of my favorite childhood treats--but we call it Cotton Candy, as it looks like big fluffy clouds of cotton which grows here in the southern states. Pink is my favorite too!
Posted by: VB | March 16, 2016 at 01:16 PM
This is LOVELY. I feel like I've had a mini-vacation just reading it. :)
Posted by: Beth | March 15, 2016 at 08:27 PM
I love Lytham. I've been going for a weekend at October half term with my Mum and daughter for years. We had a ritual of taking a photo of the daughter on the 'bikes' that are around St Anne's. When she was 14 she refused and so I insisted, meaning we have a photograph of a completely miserable teenager against all the happy young girl photos. I wish I hadn't bothered!
Posted by: Ali | March 15, 2016 at 04:32 PM
I love love love reading all of your blogs and especially love seeing the scenery of your travels. As someone from the Midwest in the United States, I've always wanted to travel England and through your lovely family, I kind of feel like I am!
Posted by: Lisa | March 14, 2016 at 09:03 PM
Hi,
You brought happy memories back for me as we lived in Blackpool and I worked in St Annes.
You would love Harrogate where, I now live,
as surrounding the stray is awash with crocus. The colours are amazing I have never seen as many as there are this year. They are breath taking when the sun is out. I would love you to come and take lots of photos.
Jen.
Posted by: Jen | March 14, 2016 at 05:49 PM
what a lovely break you had and I loved Little B and his marshmallow xx Joy xx
Posted by: Joy | March 13, 2016 at 06:55 PM
Ahh the teen years! such fun.... not. Basically choose your arguments wisely. I found that just letting it go made for a much happier home. I agree with the lady who mentioned about the sleep thing too, there are many articles on this so weekends in our house have no get up or go to bed times as long as week nights are adhered to. I sometimes am in bed asleep before my two have gone up. Two thoughts, just wait until they want to go out partying.... and by the time little B gets there you will be an old hand at this! xx
Posted by: Sara | March 13, 2016 at 03:42 PM
Lovely days you want to try silverdale too that's gorgeous xxxxxx
Posted by: Julie | March 12, 2016 at 10:39 PM
Looks like you had a wonderfull break and Lytham is lovely and Ashton Park is amazing in the summer.
May I suggest that on your next visit take a trip up to Cleveleys and go on the beach there. You will find some great treasures for example an "Orgre", "Mary's Shell" to name a couple. A fabulous beach front cafe. Then further up the coast is Fleetwood with some amazing beach huts, a beachside park for the littles ones and so much more.
Carolx (a local resident)
Posted by: Carol | March 12, 2016 at 08:47 AM
As someone else said it's much better to let teens sleep and join in when ready than to have them make everyone grumpy, I always feel sorry for them trailing behind.
I can remember my parents leaving me and my sister sleeping at a campsite by Venice to catch the first ferry of the day then coming back at lunch then we all returned late afternoon, happy campers all round.
Makes for a better experience and he will thank you later and maybe rejoin you all the quicker for it, mine did at 16ish .
Posted by: heidijo | March 11, 2016 at 06:23 PM
dear lucy! lovely post as usual.
i don't mean to be presumptuous - i very much understand your struggling with your Teen not wanting to get up and out with the family in the mornings. i just remembered that i read an article on teen sleep deprivation - apparently when kids enter the teen-years their sleeping patterns change dramatically - shifting their natural sleep time back by about 2-3 (possibly even up to 6) hours. this means that when they have to get up at 8:00 in the morning, to their bodies it feels like 5:00 or 6:00 (or even earlier)... i don't mean to assume anything here, but maybe this info might make it easier for you to accept it when he doesn't want to get out of bed - he's not being lazy or antisocial... he just needs more sleep...
you can read more about this here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/emotions/teenagers/sleep.shtml
i think this is a piece of information every parent needs to know - if my parents had known this my youth would have been easier i think... =)
all the best!
Posted by: julia | March 11, 2016 at 02:47 PM
Hello there, my name is Christel and I live in the Netherlands. Sounds like a really lovely time you had by the seaside! And such a pretty house too. You make me want to go there immediately :) I know how you feel about the Teen. I have three children too and the eldest is a fourteen-year old girl. She really is very sweet but just doesn't want to go wherever we go all the time anymore. Needing some time for herself. Difficult for mom, but understandable, I guess. Oh. And I love your crochet work by the way. Love to visit your blog.
Posted by: Christel | March 11, 2016 at 08:52 AM
What a lovely family holiday Lucy. My sons are in their forties now and one of them is facing the teenage thing! I remember the first time my elder son told us he didn't want to come on holiday with us but wanted to go away with his friends. I tried so hard to stop my face from crumpling. I said a wonky "Oh yes that's fine" and found I needed to rush to my bedroom for "something I had forgotten" and sob my heart out!
Posted by: Lynn Coombs | March 11, 2016 at 07:09 AM
One of my favourite days out is a trip to Lythm St. Anne's . We've really had great weather lately. HOW POSH WAS THAT HOUSE?!!!
It's so hard when teens reject your lovely days out. How dare they!! I'm only just emerging from the mama guilt of leaving them at home. I do ask every time if my Mr18 wants to come, and I do wince every time I'm cruelly REJECTED! They do not tell you this in the baby books!!!
Posted by: Rachelradiostar | March 11, 2016 at 04:54 AM
Isn't it confronting when it is easier not to function as a full family than dragging the miserable teen to wherever you want to go? I remember feeling like that when I was 14, but surely I'm a much cooler and lovelier parent than mine were 30 years ago???
Posted by: Letitia | March 11, 2016 at 04:19 AM
So glad you enjoyed your winter holiday Lucy. Thank you for sharing it with us. Lovely photo's, I cannot stop laughing at the one of Little B's hot chocolate, must be the world's largest, surely. Sounds like you picked the perfect house. So. Much. Sand.xx
Posted by: Georgie | March 11, 2016 at 03:26 AM
I agree that short breaks can be just what the Dr ordered. Your weekend sounded amazing and you certainly found a treasure of a house to stay in. I bet you can't wait to return in the summer.
Posted by: Diane Kelsey | March 10, 2016 at 09:31 PM
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!! I so love tagging along on you little holidays. Thanks bunches(as my Mom would say) for allowing us to journey with you!!!
Posted by: Shan | March 10, 2016 at 09:19 PM
Hi Lucy, Such beautiful photos you take. I love them. About the teenage thing, I read somewhere (a long time ago) that the reason teenagers suddenly start lying in bed and sleeping more, is because of the amount of growing and developing, both physical and emotional, that they are going through. It kind of makes sense when you think about it, that it's nature's way of helping them to cope with the massive changes taking place in their bodies and minds, that they literally do need more rest. Perhaps also it's nature's way of starting them off in the first stages of independence, when they start opting out of certain family activities. This all helped me to understand that particular stage much more - and to realise that it's not actually contrariness that's going on! Hope this helps. x
Posted by: Anne | March 10, 2016 at 09:08 PM
You are honestly the BEST at holidaying Lucy, it sounds like an absolutely brilliant break. And what a fantastic house. Last year we stayed somewhere where you could go round in a circle downstairs, and the little people loved chasing each other round and round, until they were banned from doing it. I know exactly what you mean about the running thing as well. Sometimes I open the car doors and it's like letting out a load of dogs. Glad you had such a lovely break. CJ xx
Posted by: CJ | March 10, 2016 at 09:01 PM