Stanley Goes To The Beach

Yesterday, Bank Holiday Monday, we took Stanley to the beach for the first time.

Following our lovely-yet-windy early Bank Holiday Monday trip to Whitstable (okay that was a beach too but it’s pebbly not sandy so not included), Uncle Tom and Auntie India and I had planned to take the car for a repeat getaway on the second Bank Holiday Monday.

This time round we were treated to a real rarity - UK Bank Holiday Monday sun! It was a little windy but gloriously blue skies shone above throughout our day.

Camber Sands Picnic

We drove down to Camber Sands near Rye and it took just under two hours. We stopped at a farmer’s shop just a few minutes from the beach and picked up a picnic consisting of:

1 family sized pork pie
1 avocado,
2 freshly cooked beetroot (oven cooked at the farm shop, cute!)
4 flour baps
1 x hunk of cheddar
1 x hunk of stilton
4 tomatoes
1 x tub of unsalted peanut butter
2 Braeburn apples
1 x pack of oatcakes
1 x Fentiman's Curiosity Cola

When we arrived at Camber Sands, we parked up and I bought Stan a little cap at a beach-side shop to keep the sun off him and then we headed to the sea.

Camber Sands must be one of if not the best beach in Sussex. It’s a large wide SANDY bay with hilly sand dunes running all the way along the coast which makes it ideal for a picnic as you can walk along until you find your ideal place to perch.

We walked up the hill and picked a spot on one of the dunes looking down at the sea. I love sand dunes! There’s something so nice about dozing off in the sun, sheltered by the wind. Camber Sands has a very flat shore with virtually no shelf so when the tide goes out you have a very long, wide beach to run around in – which Stanley adored.

Slightly older kids were building all sorts of sand castles and I can’t wait to take Stanley back when he’s a bit older but yesterday he mostly enjoyed crawling head first down hills, dipping his feet in the sea, falling over and generally getting covered in sand.

That’s pretty much the extent of our lazy Bank Holiday Monday but less is more once your days are spent running after a toddler and it was definitely one of the most loveliest days of my year so far.

It took us just under two hours to drive there each way and Stanley spent virtually the whole time asleep and only woke at the very end of the journey. We staved off a cranky session with some repeat renditions of 'The Wheels on The Bus' and 'Old Macdonald' and managed to keep a melt down at bay.

If you’re thinking of a day trip to the South Coast, wait till it's sunny and then head for Camber Sands.