We arrived in Broadstairs at Helen, Nick and Ernie's new home on Tuesday 29th July. We spent around 2 weeks with them, helping by looking after Ernie and with various jobs around the house.
Fortunately, the weather was very good and were able to go to the beach with Ernie most days. The beach is only a few minutes walk from the house and not far from the shops. Broadstairs has several bays, with Louisa beach the closest.
We had only visited Broadstairs once before and that was brief, but we soon found our way around. Helen and Nick have visited many times, usually for a weekend, so can feel quite at home.
This is the larger, Viking beach with its playground. Ernie likes the roundabout and the swings.
Ernie was 2 on the 30th, and we were lucky enough to spend a lot of time with him that day. In the morning we went to Louisa Bay where he likes to throw stones into rock pools, but is not too keen on seaweed (wee weed).
In the afternoon, the tide was in and the rock pools were not to be seen so we went to Viking Bay and the roundabout.
The swings
And the old swimming pool in the sea where older children were out with their fishing nets. At this stage, Ernie did NOT like wee weed.
Ernie can easily spend an hour on the beach throwing stones. John rushes around collecting stones in a bucket and Pat, keeping close to Ernie, admires each stone before it is thrown and discusses whether it will make a splish, splash or splosh!
He got over his fear of waves very quickly and after a few days, didn't worry about the seaweed either.
In between trips to the sea, we have been out in the garden and making ourselves useful: there's lots to do! Ernie had a number of outdoor toys for his birthday but he particularly likes hiding in the garden shed, waiting to be found. He hasn't yet got the full picture of hide and seek yet.
We got out to a couple of pubs to sample the beer and to a couple of restaurants. There is plenty of excellent fish around.
One dull day, we when to a soft play centre (Quex), where Ernie raced away even before we could take his shoes off. Here he is with Helen on the slide.
We also walked around the gardens hoping to persuade Ernie to have a nap, but he wasn't interested. This is an enormous Sophora Japonica
The kitchen garden
On our way home, we spent a most enjoyable evening with Jim in Hackney before taking the plane back to France.
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