Tagged: the beach

April 23, 2015

Kent, Part 2

This is Warmer Castle, firmly re-named Windy Castle by the kids and you can see why. They get dragged here every time we’re in the area as it’s one of my favourite places ever.

There’s the faded elegance inside (it’s also where the Duke of Wellington died).

And the gardens are glorious – typically formal English – but manage to be so natural you’re convinced the plants just wanted to grow this way anyway. And the view..sigh..there’s an uninterrupted vista all the way down to the sea..

We found a large dead frog in the pond..true excitement! I didn’t take a picture..

It’s also really good for hide and seek..

Then we hit the hottest day of the year so far…time for a sandy beach..so to Camber Sands we went..

We weren’t the only people with this ingenious idea..

But this is a beach that soaks up people..the view the other side..

It also has one of the biggest tides I’ve ever seen..

You have to run..

And run!

But it’s worth it!

Then you have to run back again!

We found baby flat fish in the shallows..if you prodded them they spun away at great speed like disturbed underwater birds.

And a dead dog fish with impressive spines.

But just to show it’s not all happy families…this is Bella at the end of the day giving Charlie the evil eye for daring to enter her newly designed ferry without buying a ticket first..go on guys..just one smile for Mummy! Please?!

Laters, Kate x

April 20, 2015

Kent, Part 1 x

The biggest downer about the UK is the weather – it’s why we’re so obsessed with it. Head out for a holiday by the sea and rather than a cheery parasol, it’s highly likely you’ll be hiding under a large umbrella. So seeing the sun on our first day, we clapped our hands with merry glee!

And sank a large glass of cold white to celebrate the whole damn great joy of it..

Whilst watching the kids chase seagulls on the beach..

We weren’t far from Dover; So often a passing point, so rarely for stopping. But overlooking the harbour is Dover castle, an imposing building with a cornucopia of history dating back to the Romans.

But we were there to see the underground tunnels…

Originally dug out as a prison in the Napoleonic wars, they were resurrected in WW2 to provide a secret headquarters and a hospital.

This is where all the planning took place for Operation Dynamo and the evacuation of Dunkirk.

Over 30 metres down there’s something like 3.8 km of tunnels, including deep, deep down, a nuclear bunker called Dumpy.

During the War Dover was hit by over 2000 bombs, making it one of the worst hit towns in the UK. But none fell within the castle walls – apparently Hitler rather fancied the castle for himself and banned it from being bombed…if only he knew…

It’s a brilliant exhibition – real thought and atmosphere has gone into the presentation with clever projections onto the walls and newsreel footage. On the hospital tour, you follow the story of a wounded spitfire pilot accompanied by the sounds of a bombing raid and flickering lights. Not for the claustrophobic!