A week by the sea

We've just returned from a lovely week in our favourite place - Swanage in Dorset. It's the third year we've been and we love being there, it seems a very friendly place with a sandy beach and interesting shops, but not too big and impersonal. We know where the deli is and what to buy from it and I always buy lots of second-hand novels from the Oxfam shop to keep me going for most of the year - then I take back the ones I don't want to keep the next year! This time we stayed in a flat right in the middle of the town, noisy but brilliantly convenient. This was our view from the kitchen:

but we could see the sea from every room, I was lying in bed yesterday looking at the boats bobbing up and down. The boys had fish and chips twice from the opposite shop, I watched them going in together while I was cooking something slightly more healthy for the grown-ups!

We had sun every day and walked last Sunday morning from our front door along the coastal path, the very first photo I posted is Swanage bay looking back.
And on we went to Studland Bay which is a beautiful unspoilt long stretch of beach with proper sand-dunes and lots of soft sand.

We went back a few more times in the week as the top bit is not usually very busy and is great for burying your brother in the sand and other beach-related activities:

At night we could look out and see the pretty lights in the street:

We loved watching all the people come and go and the hum of chatter and muffled jazz coming from the pub next door.

And we walked along the coastal path the other way one evening to look at the moon, and back at the bay.


It's so peaceful and restful being by the sea when it's gently lapping away at the shore, and it was a really lovely escape from the hustle and bustle of term-time life. I'm finding it very hard to be back as I'm returning to a couple of stressful situations but am so glad of the experience we did have. I've got a few more photos I'll post another time rather than do a really long post now.

Archie had a good time away at the cattery, was 'a little monkey' according to the ladies there (they love him and play with him lots), because he climbed on top of everything including doors so he could be nosy and see what everyone else was doing. He was very glad to sleep on our bed last night but decided at 4am that it was time to get up and play - we let him out of the room so he scurried downstairs to fetch his long black feather and favourite plastic strip from the top of a tortilla packet (strange kitten, but it really is his favourite thing in the world as it rustles and can be carried about easily) and brought them both all the way upstairs to share with us as he batted them and chewed them at the foot of the bed. Of course he's been asleep most of the day now.

I'm back at work tomorrow so it'll take me while to catch up with you all and find out what you've been up to!