I love this season of Spring and all the hope it brings. Of course we still have cold rainy days. But when the sun shines the evenings are lighter and even after a full day working, tidying or schooling we can still manage to fit in family beach time. Unlike summer beach days when we seem to pack everything bar the kitchen sink, in Spring we travel light. I pack water bottles, the kids each pick a beach toy of choice (a ball or bucket and spade) on the way to the car and off we go.
The beach and sea are warmer than expected and the kids are drawn to the water. They pull their trousers up to their knees expecting to shallow paddle.
The warm water is inviting, it entices them in and they’re soon waist deep fully dressed in the sea.
Eventually clothes are tossed to one side to dry on the rocks and the kids dry too with no need for towels.
The kids play happily together- building sandcastles, moats, forts and dams.
Buckets are filled full of water from the sea, waves are hand fed “sand balls” and jumped over.
Plans are made.
Windsurfers are watched and admired.
As the sun sets and the temperature drops cold, tired children are warmed by sharing each other’s clothes, cuddling together and eating warm chips.
With bellies and souls now warm and full the kids get dressed into slightly damp sandy clothes.
They can never resist “just one more paddle” and always get wet again before returning home.
No matter “how light” we try to travel we always seem to end up with more to carry back to the car on the way home and the walk back is always longer than the walk there.
We make sure the beach is left just as it was when we arrived. We say our goodbyes.
We will be back many times and during the summer for whole beach days with our beach bags overflowing, but we always treasure the Spring easy carefree days and evenings.
Photos taken at Broad Haven Beach, Pembrokeshire. Parking is free after 5pm which makes this another great free day out in Pembrokeshire. For more days out in Pembrokeshire straight to your inbox please subscribe below:
