perfect family holiday

in march, when it was cold, just at the tail end of some snow, we went to a seaside holiday in kent. slightly crazy! v cold, but whilst there i told my dad that the chalet park might be a good place for a family summer holiday. never one to let the grass grow under his feet he booked it up whilst we were still there, leading me to make some urgent texts and calls to work to book the leave! I was then a bit worried that it wouldn’t be perfect and people would be disappointed. I was wrong, it was utterly perfect

there were obviously some sadnesses, vivien isn’t with us for a start! that BIL and Z decided not to come for the week or even the first weekend.

So anyway, reading reports of the site, you def need to choose your chalets with care, tho most looked fine from the outside. ours – 67 and 68 are lovely, well maintained and have had double glazing added since we were there in March. the site was still relatively quiet – ie it had the usual hub of noise to be expected rather than loads of radios blaring and shouting etc. the swimming pool was less busy that i thought it would be . having a patio at the back as well as a grassy area at the front [and the big communal areas] meant plenty of space around the chalets to lounge in the sun or hide in the shade, or do some pebble painting.

when we got there, we all went in the pool straight away, the cousins were ecstatic to see each other, and i was v happy to see mum and dad too we did LOTS of swimming in the pool, with me going every time, and then often one of mum, dad or dh with me as well [tho not always] and i learnt to header a beach ball – rofl! and surprise my nephew by being v v good at piggy in the middle ball games

we also went to the beach a lot. the beaches near us were all predom pebbles, but at low tide had some sand. At sandwich the sand was there for low to middling tide, and went out at a v shallow gradient, and we all voted it our favourite beach of the holiday . All the kids had boogie boards, and SB and BB had wetsuits too. I have to say that DH and I also went in the sea, and my parents did a bit of paddling. It was lovely! the first day that we went to sandwich after all the storms it was millpond still and there was a seal bobbing about too. perfick tho we did wish we had a kayak or 2 to mess about with. hmm, looks at ebay, shrieks at prices! the second time we went there was a little more waves for them to pretend with the boogie boards . two perfect beach days in a good, old fashioned way. no icecream vans, scarcely anyone else there , loads of shells to collect!

we also went to deal and kingsdown beaches. deal has a pretty steep shingle bank to get down to the sea, so not so easy, but was lovely after visiting deal castle. kingsdown has a shorter bit of steep shingle, so was much easier. sandwich the best tho, even if you pay for parking.

we went to some english heritage sites too. Deal and walmer castles were always on the agenda, but richborough was added having driven to sandwich to have our only torrential daytime rain of the holiday. we are english heritage members, which makes it all v good value. we had the hand held info speakers at all 3 places, and I enjoyed listening to them but the children faded out somewhat – sb i think pretty much carried on. i think they try and put too much for everyone in, poss a full detailed/adults and a key points and interesting asides for kids versions would be better [and then i would choose the kids ] . we really enjoyed climbimg on the cannons and looking at the view in deal – well i didn;t climb on the canon, and dad was scandalised… but also the lowest level, which was wet and v dark and in places quite creepy . we also had our best icecrream for a van just outside, as the kids got to add toppings and sprinkles and it was surprisingly reasonably priced! Walmer i loved for the stunning gardens and veg patch – tho it didn’t grip the kids quite so much. SB liked the fact there was a bedroom tho. apparently when you visit castles there should always be a bedroom with a 4 poster bed. we all learnt a bit more about wellington anyway. We walked there and back from kingsdown, and it was rather hot. i noticed EVERYONE ran ahead to leave me walking with BB, who got herself even hotter railing at the too hotness of it all. luckilly it was just 20 mins each way . Richborough was fab. we all loved it there were walls to sit on and roman history to breathe in i love romans – lol!

we also went to port lympne again to make the most of the steep entry passport! took m and e, and my parents went to sissinghurst instead. i dunno, last time we went it was far too cold, this time, i think it was far too hot! quite a few animals this time hiding in the deep shade!! we were prepared, we had packed lunch so all our money could go on icecreams and slurpies so that we could keep cool. a real highlight was going in the currentky empty palace of the apes, where we could see what was inside and hear about gorrila conservation. it was great BB also got to see gorillas this time . it was too hot for all of us tho at 34, so at times the kids needed lots of encouragement = partic my nephew! but we did have a lovely day and i really like the safari, even if less animals seen than last time! oh, and BB only AN HOUR deciding in the shop. argh!

what else? well we played some games, chatted, sb painted nails, i did hair , we played badminton – including grandad, and we just loved each other and had a lovely, perfect, memories are made of this kind of fabulous family holiday. thankyou