Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Sun, sandcastles and seals, what more can you ask for on your first trip to the seaside?  At 3 months old baby Esme was blissfully unaware of all of these of course?

We rented a fabulous cottage in Wells Next the sea on the Norfolk coast, it was booked through cottages.com (this is not a sponsored post) using the deal though Tesco clubcard by using £30.00 of clubcard points we changed it up to a voucher worth £100 off our weekend away.

I think we must have visited Wells pretty much every year for the last 10 years or so and we still want to return for more.  It is very laid back, has a beautiful big beach, enough pubs, bars and restaurants to give you a bit of choice and is well positioned for travelling to other attractions around the area.

There is still a working harbour and the evidence of this is clearly seen along the quayside.

The tide was a long way out when we took our leisurely stroll down to the beach, but that gave me plenty of opportunities to snap away

I took rather a lot of photos of this boat as I was captivated by its' reflection  and I think I could take a hundred or so more and still not get just exactly what I wanted.

The beach was full of visitors enjoying the fine weather and getting a chance to blow away the cobwebs.

There were plenty of happy dogs enjoying a paddle and feeding my obsession for the day of trying to capture reflections.

A section of the beach had been cordoned off to allow these seals some protection. It is such a thrill to see these lovely creatures at close quarters, they are so clumsy on land and yet so graceful in the water.

This little one was swimming about and I was really hoping it would come up on land so I could get a better shot but it kept coming towards the shore then turning round and swimming away.

The sun was starting to cast long shadows and a baby lead timetable meant we were soon heading back to the cottage for tea and dairy free cake.

What is your favorite place for a chilled out Saturday with the family?

Unplugging for the weekend

I have had a largely unplugged weekend as we had a family weekend away on the North Norfolk coast. This was not entirely planned and our accommodation did have a good wifi connection I just didn't feel the need to constantly be on my phone and my laptop never left the bag,  However, I did carry my pocket camera around and took a few snaps of the places we visited.

There were beaches

Wells Next the sea beach huts 

Winter beach scene

no sand castles today

Wells next the sea

Cromer beach

Wells next the sea harbour

Birds.....  Norfolk is famed for it's bird life with many twitchers spending hours observing them.

Seagulls on Cromer Pier

Seagulls lined up for the next snack

Chaffinch waiting for a feed

Keeping a beady eye on things

Mallard and Drake with a perfect DA

Trains, The North Norfolk Railway  runs from Sheringham to Holt and has both steam and diesel trains running though out the summer and on selected weekends throughout the year.

letting off steam

Full steam ahead

A pier................. Cromer still has an active theatre at the end of the pier and a cafe that does a luxury hot chocolate complete with flake and marshmallow, just the thing on a February day to warm you through.

Cromer Theatre

Victorian seating to sit and take in the view

seating all along the edge of Cromer pier

Quirky finds

Wells next the sea stamp dispenser, sadly no longer in use

Traditional pebble and flint stone wall which is typical in this area of Norfolk

Lots of rope, all part of the harbourside

tying up in the harbour at Wells next the sea

Wall art at Sheringham beach

I didn't unplug completely and used my phone to take and share some family photos and a couple made it on to Instagram, I think I would find it more difficult to do at home.

Have you tried unplugging at home or on holiday? how did you get on?