We spent one gloriously sandy week in Northumberland in July.

Some things about it:

– you don’t need to travel very far to get that holiday feeling

– breakfast on the beach is the best way to start a day

– there’s nothing more peaceful than pottering on the beach with your toddler, collecting shells in her tiny bucket

– beaches are sensory marvels for kids – cold water, moving water, the sound of the waves, wet sand, dry sand, wind in your face.  Piglet crawled through the waves and rolled in the sand; Trix buried her legs over and over again and roared into the wind.

– big skies help with the bigger picture

– sea air makes bedtimes quicker

– everyone is a kid again at the beach

– puffins in flight are hilarious

– if you sneak out on your own to sketch, it definitely will rain, probably a thunderplump

We stayed in Godwit Cottage, Budle Bay.   We hadn’t even looked round it properly before the kids had the back door open and were away down to the beach.  Everyone was in the sea before the car was unpacked.  The location is brilliant.  It looks across the tidal sands to Lindisfarne.  We all loved watching the tide come in and out, strips of sand disappearing and reappearing.

 We will be going again!

Here’s my sketchbook pages from the trip, including The Bird List. It is Longmuir Family holiday tradition to keep a birds list. I was excited to be including puffins, guillemots, razorbills, a northern diver, and arctic terns from our boat trip round the Farne Isles.