A Little Sand Between the Toes

From one holiday almost straight to another. This was a very different holiday for us as we visited Seaton Sands with our good friends and thier 7 year old twins. Whilst holidays with small children are common enough for us (having done the lakes with an 11 week old once upon a time, and more recently Wales), this was the first time we never actually left the site. This was always the intention as this is our good friends were the dad suffers long covid, so we wanted to design a holiday where he could join in at points, but sit out and rest at the same time. We also wanted to give the twins' mum a break so she could enjoy time with the kids without worrying about dishes. 

So Seton Sands was the chosen destination. Less than an hours drive for all parties and right on the beach. After our near-summer holiday only a few weeks ago, it was a shock to the system that this one had overnights of -2C and daytime highs of 10C. Still, it was dry, which is really why the holiday worked so well. 

We arrived for check in and got unpacked and the kettle on in time for our friends arriving. Our neice and nephew knew about the holiday, but not that we were coming, so we had to peel them off the ceiling and take them to the beach before they internally combusted. 

Neice decided to pick every shell off the beach (no joke, 2 buckets, the bag said buckets were supposed to be kept in and her own pockets were full) whilst nephew went looking for monsters in the rock pools. It was thier mum who won that contest, finding a dead crab about the size of a dinner plate. Then it was home, food and bed (after much promise of adventures the following day) before we managed to catch up as grown ups and turn in for an early night. 

Missy is always the most important focus for us, so we had booked activities around her walks and made sure that she would be with someone at all times. We had intended that hubby and I would sit out of some of the activities on the Saturday, but as it was, the dad had overdone things the day before and sat out for the day. 

There was an archery lesson (nephew was delighted to be classed the overall winner) whilst I officially got the highest score in one round with three arrows. 

We found Missy fast asleep with dad when we returned. I know that the twins want a dog, so I'm sure they were delighted to see him warming up to Missy so much. She's always been very good at sensing when people aren't feeling right or are upset. Of her own free will, she did spend a lot of time choosing to cuddle up to him. 

There was some tears that afternoon when nephew realised that hubby wasn't coming to the pebble painting that afternoon. Whilst Missy was allowed at the ranger station, she was due a proper walk. I had clocked that nephew was starting to monopolise the hubby, so decided to nip that in the bud and sent hubby off on the walk, to the clear look of betrayel of my nephew. 

Still, after racing across the beach as penguins, and saving him from a deserted island in the vast ocean, we were firm friends again. A game of tig with all four of us (him, his sister, hubby and I) cemented the deal and the issue didn't come up again. I'm all for indulging the kids whilst on holiday, but I will not have any child play favourites!

Sunday hubby and I got to spend some time together and explore the wider site with Missy on the morning walk. The morning plan was a coastal explorer show that I was going to sit out on whilst everyone else went to watch followed by swimming that afternoon. 

I was surprised to be disturbed from my podcast and sewing with the return of everyone sans nephew and hubby. Neice (who had cheekily refused to go to sleep the night before) had passed out at the start of the performance and then it turned out it was a run-about-the-site activity, which my friend was completely incapable of keeping up with. Neice and dad were put to bed, and I made tea. After some grilling, it came out that the mum really wanted to see what the bingo was like (for that full butlins-esque experience) so I vowed to make sure it happened. 

Hubby and nephew returned high as kites, neice awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed and off we went to swimming. I know from my sister that sometimes what people enjoy best is sitting back and watching thier kids have fun, and I think that summed up the swimming. Hubby and I raced the kids down the slides in every combination possible and splashed about in all the spray and tap areas. 

Hubby carried them back to the caravan whilst we girls stayed behind for the bingo. It was good getting some girl time, even if we had no idea what we were doing and found that everyone seemed to be taking it far too seriously. We had a laugh and, after a round, decided to head back for dinner. 

And then it was bed and up and home today. A very quick holiday!

Would we do it again? Absolutely. But not in that way again. 

We had hoped the self contained nature of the holiday would allow our friend to join in more, as there was less distance to go to the activities and he could rest appropriately in between them. And had that been the case, the frequent down time would probably have been fine as the kids would have seen that as a good pay off. But as it was, the stopping/starting meant that the kids were swinging between over and under stimulated - they'd have been better doing a full day out somewhere and then a recharge day doing smaller activities. 

Also, whilst touted as dog friendly, I would describe Seton Sands as more dog accommodating. I totally respected that she wasn't allowed in the restaurant or the activities, but there was a few things that annoyed me, mainly, that the playparks were absolutely no dogs. Which would have been fine if there was a bench outside the park I could have sat at and watched the kids play from. As it was, we had to stand on the main path in everyone's way or the road to do so.

But nonetheless, it met the needs of the holiday, and had we planned it out more like the Wales holiday, it would probably have been fine. Which incidently is how we would organise a second holiday with our friends. A big day out so that the dad can rest, then a quieter day he can join in on whilst the kids aren't as hyper and full of beans.

I would say perhaps next year, but my holiday schedule is filling pretty fast already!