To Margate, for - can you believe it! - the first time.
As a kid we always went to Skeggie (along with everyone else in Nottingham!).
And as a Londoner just got so into the habit of Broadstairs and Whitstable or Camber Sands and (recently) Littlehampton that we had not been to Margate before.
What's not to like? The 5 year old thought it was heaven.
Sand. Sand. So much sand.
And all that flat sand and the lovely curve of the harbour made swimming easy. She went in three times and - unlike her mother - even got her head down and looked for dolphins.
And when we weren't building castles and swimming and munching our lunch, we devoured another chapter of our latest book whilst admiring our view of Margate.
There are some lovely old buildings along the promenade and the Turner Gallery fitted in perfectly, like a shining white cliff at the end of the harbour.
One downside of Margate is the road right by the promenade but the upside is the station is next to the beach. There's something magical about stepping off the train onto the sand.
And it meant, we could dash at the very last minute, (after a wonderful trip to Dreamland), to catch the 8 O'Clock whilst admiring one of Margate's stunningly beautiful sunsets.
We could totally see why Turner loved Margate so much. We do too now.
Getting there:
We got the Victoria train to Margate which takes about 1 hour 48 and got there just after 11.40. We met Grandpa on the station who got the fast train from St Pancras which only takes 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Grub:
We took a picnic for lunch and then ended up eating fish and chips for tea in Dreamland because we were having so much fun. There are loads of places to eat on the promenade. We had been recommended the Great British Pizza Company and the Sands Hotel.
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