20 July 2013

Beach Days & Beach Huts

Our friends, Kevin & Helen from church first took us to Ferring Beach in early May on a sunny bank holiday.  Well, it was foggy when we began, but the fog burned off and left us with a nice day.
Kevin, Helen and their kids.


Swing Ball!  So fun!


Karis & Brennen loved it.  Reegan couldn't quite get enough power in her hits.


We've gone a few times, since it's only about a 40 minute drive.  It's a rocky beach when the tide is up.
England is one of those places with strong tidal changes.  When the tide is out, you can see miles of sand!


This beach is somewhat secluded, not very busy and has FREE PARKING!!  In this country, that is a huge plus and a huge draw for us!!  We drive through small neighborhood roads to get to the Blue Bird Cafe.  I've learned while writing this post that this little cafe has quite a rich history.  If you click on the link you can read about its early days in the 30s, it's renames, and its use as a canteen by the Canadian army during the war.

Cafe, ice cream shop and miles of beach.  Just how we like it!!

Jerry had a day off recently, so we took the kids to school and headed to the coast for a day out on our own.  I wanted to get some beach hut photos.  We're having some amazing weather right now, very non-English weather!

Since it's hard for us to get away in the evenings, days out like this make for a great date!  Works perfectly for us!  And probably one of our last ones before school is out on July 24.

Yes, I said July 24.  Another thing about England, a longer school year with 2 weeks off between each term and one week half terms spread throughout the year.  Then we have a 6 week Summer break.

Enough about that, back to beach huts!!


Aren't those colors lovely?!



Blue Bird Cafe in the distance.







I love how the owners of this hut used sea glass to spell out the name of their hut.




We then headed over to Goring beach, the next beach over, and had a late English breakfast at the cafe and had a look at Gorring's beach huts.

First we stopped for a bite to eat at Sea Lane Cafe.


Typical English breakfast fare often includes baked beans.  My dish is without!  I just can't be THAT much like the locals to eat beans for breakfast!  Ha!


Goring Beach has opted for white beach huts with colored trim.
I had a nice little chat with this man, below, and told him of my fascination with beach huts.




Some other photos from our walk along the beach.

This house, right on the beach, had it's own sweet little beach hut in their garden.


Now that's some beach house with quite a garden!



Their own private route to the beach.


Cuttle Fish bones.  These are found all over the beach. Someone decided to make a Cuttle Bonehenge. Get it?  Like Stonehenge! Ha!


Grab some fresh fish straight from the beach.



We enjoyed our lovely day out and finished our trip off with a stop at Starbucks!  A nice day for a date!


15 July 2013

Beach Hut Decorating

While choosing decor for our downstairs loo (half bath/bathroom/toilet/whatever you call it), I settled on a beach hut theme.  In my searching for beach hut decor I found this lovely and fascinating little book,

Beach Huts & Bathing Machines.


It goes into the history of bathing machines, how they were used in England and evolving into what we know of the beach hut today.  It includes all kinds of historical facts and photos.  I've really enjoyed reading it!

A few of my beachy items.


A tea towel for a little valance.  I'm not in love with it, still trying to decide.  It works for now.


Just a few of our many shells, mostly from our trips to the beach while living in Spain.  Good times and memories!!



England has drawstring pull lights in their bathrooms.  You can buy cutesy little ends for the pulls and I love our little beach hut!


Since reading the book, I now have a strong desire to travel the English coast in search of beach huts.  Oh, that would be so fun!!

Jerry and I decided to have a day of photo shooting.  In my next post I'll share some of the beach huts on the beach we frequent.  Here is a little glimpse.



06 July 2013

Summer School Fayre

The Summer Fayre.  A great annual fund-raising activity.


Games, 


bounce houses, 



face painting, toys to buy, kids saying "I want.......I want....... I want!!  Then said toys breaking when we get home.

Oh well, it was for a good cause.  The school has raised over £5,300!

03 July 2013

Sunday Trip to London

We recently took a day trip in to London when we had a team of college students in town, wrapping up a media trip they had been on in Prague.
One way to view the inside of Westminster Abbey is to attend a Sunday service.  And a cheaper alternative for these college students on a tight budget.

Standing in line, waiting to get in.


It was a bit long for the kids, so we ducked out a bit early to peruse the gift shop.

Then hit some of the popular sites of London.




And enjoyed some street entertainment. 


We did LOTS of walking


I love this intersection.  You can cross catty corner!
As a little reward to the kids for all the sightseeing and walking, we took them to the M&M store.  They LOVED it!


You can find out what your M&M color mood is, so fun!







One last treat before we left the city was a trip to our favorite Italian restaurant, Vapianos!  We fell in love with it in Vienna and both of our trips into London have included it.
Fresh pasta dishes made to order right in front of you.

Yum!!!

Deeper

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