Five went on a Great British seaside holiday – and lived to tell the tale.
We don’t normally go away at Easter but Heather found us a bargain five-day stay at a Haven caravan park in Littlesea on the edge of Weymouth, so off we went.
I will admit to having some reservations about Haven beforehand but these proved unfounded. Our caravan, though decidedly compact, was well-appointed and comfortable. We had food options (chippy, delivery pizza, pub grub, even a Starbucks) and a convenience store on-site. The kids had a swimming pool, playground and amusement arcade to keep them occupied. There were even staged entertainment shows, although we didn’t do any of those.
As a base to sleep, eat and while away an hour or two between day trips, it met all our essential requirements: no more, no less. Haven isn’t Butlins – it’s not a place where you can occupy yourself for days on end without having to leave the campus – but then our four-night stay only cost about half of what Butlins would have done.
Anyhow, I digress. We spent our days exploring the area, from Portland Bill’s wind-swept lighthouse to the beaches of this stretch of the Jurassic coast (or, to put it into pop culture terms, the Broadchurch coast). Weymouth itself has a particularly fine three-mile stretch – half pebble beach, half a fine sand that is highly regarded for making sand sculptures – that was recently voted the UK’s best beach by TripAdvisor users.
Oh, and amusement arcades. Lots of amusement arcades. (I have already signed our kids up for Gamblers Anonymous.)
Easter in the UK can be a real lottery when it comes to the weather – the last time we went away at this time of year the temperature barely climbed above zero all week – but it wasn’t too unkind to us. While it was a bit chilly and breezy when the sun disappeared behind the clouds, it stayed dry and it was just about warm enough for us to brave a couple of afternoons on the beach. It certainly didn’t stop us from doing anything we wanted to do and we all spent enough time outside to return home with obvious colour in our cheeks.
The kids are already asking if we can come back next year. I think that counts as a success, don’t you?
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