Tag Archive: sea

November 2, 2022

Travelling corner: My summer 2022 in South Devon, UK

I know it’s already November but I still dwell on our travels in summer 2022. It was our second trip as a family of 5, so still a big adventure for us all. Also, at that time, I really felt I needed a break from our daily routine, so we decided to make the most of the summery weather and we headed to South Devon.

Little Dartmouth and Dartmouth

We decided to stay near Dartmouth, a river-side town. We recently enjoyed coming back to places we visited in the past. This time, we even started our trip with the exact same location. We parked our car in the Little Dartmouth car park and went for a walk. However, this time we took a different direction (but to the same final destination, as the routes link together later on) and we went towards Dartmouth and its castle.

Dartmouth Castle

The walk from the car park is not very strenuous, but the last part is very steep. You can also come by boat / car. The castle is beautifully located, just on the banks of the river Dart with the views over the river and Dartmouth town. I really enjoyed climbing the tower and visiting the medieval church of St Petrox. My children loved the little café next to the castle, as they had ice-cream (!). So we finished our castle trip sitting with our treats, and enjoying the river views…

Greenway House

That was an unexpected day trip! In our summer chalet, we were going through the local leaflets and we found a picture of a beautiful house. It turned out it was the summer house of Agatha Christie, aka my favourite author in my late-teens. That trip was the cherry (icing on the cake?) of our stay in Devon. Our little trip started with a boat ride from Dartmouth to Greenway House, or as Agatha called it, ‘the loveliest place in the world’. The summer house is a beautiful white building with a rich collection of items inside (apparently the family enjoyed collecting things and they collected cca  (what does this mean? About?) 12,000 of them!). Also, I could spot books in all the rooms I’ve been to (including the toilet!). Outdoors, we went for a walk in the garden and then down to the boat house. The boat house was the place to relax, set on the river with a small swimming pool downstairs, and a living room with a fire place and a balcony upstairs. I could see myself relaxing there!

These were the highlights of our summer in Devon. I also plan to write about our favourite beaches there too, so watch this space!

What are your favourite memories from summer 2022? Please let me know in the comments below.

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October 13, 2021

Travelling Corner: My summer memories (North Wales 2021)

I’d wanted to visit North Wales for some time and, finally, this year I fulfilled my dream. We actually visited this region twice last summer, so I’m even more excited to share with you my travel experiences to North Wales.

Castles, churches & chapels

From our very first trip to Wales (which was many years ago!), I remember passing / seeing many churches and back then it made me wonder if it is actually true that Wales has more sacral architecture than other parts of the UK?!

Having this memory, I was very tempted to see the ‘Welsh Lourdes’, as I’d read bout it in my travel guide. Yes, in Holywell, there is actually a holy well where you can taste and bathe in the holy water (sadly, bathing is temporarily suspended) and visit the chapels (one with the pool and one with beautiful stained glass windows). Our visit was beautiful both visually and spiritually.

We also visited the famous Conwy Castle and the ruins of Howarden Castle. In Conwy Castle, you can walk on the walls that originally formed the medieval town. The ruins in Howarden were visible only from some distance and there was only one tower, but the village was lovely. 

Wild swimming

North Wales is a good place for wild swimming and the water is rather warm (!). We visited the beaches in Penmaenmawr (quite empty, so you can almost have the beach to yourself), Llandundo (I found three: one on each side of the town and one hidden) and Prestatyn (an urban beach with very high tides that make the beach disappear).

Cafes

One of my little pleasures is a visit to a café. I used to go to cafes quite regularly, but now I try to treat it as something special and visit not too often. Let me give you some flavour of my favourite cafes in North Wales. One was in Llandundo: Providero. I enjoyed their leafy teas and the open-spaced interior. The other café was in Howarden, in their farm deli. The café was beautifully decorated with books and paintings, and just sitting there made me happy. But, trying their scrumptious plum bun was a very nice addition to our visit (!).

Camping

Last summer we decided to go camping: we camped near Llundando and Prestatyn. We enjoyed our experiences, we had some epic sunsets, were surrounded by beautiful nature and met many friendly families. What challenged us was the weather: very unpredictable; they were days of rain and wind. However, overall, I wouldn’t change our choice to more comfortable accommodation. Camping is a wonderful travel experience, natural, sustainable and slow.

How was your summer 2021? Please let me know in the comments below.

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June 17, 2020

Travelling corner: Wild swimming in South Devon

Gentle waves, golden sands, beautiful sea views and some great walking routes. Yes, that’s the Devon we re-discovered recently! It was magically beautiful: we felt so enchanted that it was difficult to leave this experience behind and return to Bristol. Fortunately, it’s only a 2-hour drive-away, so we know where we’ll be frequent visitors 🙂

Some time ago I came across the book Wild Swimming Walks by Sophie Pierce and Matt Newbury. It’s a practical guidebook into wild swimming in Dartmoor and South Devon, with 28 lake, river and beach days out to choose from and, as I was looking through its pages, I came across Thurlestone Beach / South Milton Sands / Leas Foot Sand which captured my imagination and became an inspiration for my family’s next travel destination. We needed some sun, sea and sand (!!!).

The beach is a long stretch of sand which goes from Leas Foot Sand (there is public parking as part of a golf club car park), then there are some rocks dividing Leas Foot from the other beaches, and then there is Thurlestone Beach (with a free car park just above the beach) which leads to South Milton Sands (with a NT car park). Each of the beaches is slightly different: Leas Foot Sand is a smaller beach which might be a good choice for families as there is a small stream where children can play (the sea is quite cold though), Thurlestone Beach has some hidden parts behind the rocks which might be perfect for everybody to enjoy some quieter time and South Milton Sands has beautiful views and the warmest sea (perfect for paddling). Amazing, huh?!

I once visited South Devon in winter, but I think I only briefly came to Thurleston Beach back then. Now, we’ve explored this beautiful sand stretch extensively and I’m so glad we did so! As a family, we had such an idyllic time – summery and lazy.

Have you been to South Devon? Do you have a favourite beach there? Please leave your comments down below.

Kinga Macalla

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January 29, 2020

Book review: Sea Journal by Lisa Woollett

It’s a beautiful read. Mindful, slow, inspirational, interesting, funny. And the photographs of the sea and of the sea life make the read so real and yet incredibly artistic. I started reading it when I was by the sea and couldn’t stop, just continued reading it every day. I was so amazed by it that I was telling some of the stories to my family and we had long discussions about how fascinating nature is and how incredible it is that a small fossil can lead us a hundred or even a million years back. It shows how everything is linked yet individual and how every little creation plays its important role in forming nature. It’s also a gentle reminder that plastic doesn’t belong in nature (!).

‘Sea Journal’ is written by Lisa Woollett, a photographer and writer currently living in Cornwall (my short review of her previous book you can find here). I know I’ll return to Lisa’s stories as the year goes by and I re-visit the sea. A pleasure of reading and discovering nature.

One of my absolute favourite stories is about a Lego dragon. Which story is your favourite? Do let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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