A last minute break from home - Sep 2024

I haven’t posted since 2018 so there are a lot of countries for me to catch you up on, in between my current travels. For now, I’ll kick things off with last week’s staycation just over an hour’s drive from home.

A couple of years ago I did a lodge stay in Cornwall and thought this caravan stay might be similar. Harts Holiday Park, Leysdown-on-Sea was easy to find. While it couldn’t compete with the luxury of the lodge, the caravan was as it looked online. It was meant to house 6 people but in my opinion, anything more than 2 adults and 2 small kids would have been a stretch. I stayed Mon - Fri and it was more or less 5 days of doing nothing; okay, very little.

So everyone says I never relax - and it’s true, there’s always something to do, somewhere to go. Even on holiday, I rush around trying to cram everything in. But there seemed very little to do here, especially as it was off-season (not the kind of place I’d visit in the summer or school holidays). The great British weather was being its typical self as well; another great excuse for doing very little.

But when I did get out and about here’s what I discovered. 

There’s a lot of natural beauty in the UK. I always marvel at the beauty of foreign destinations, their landscapes, greenery, etc. but there is so much of that in the UK that goes unappreciated by me. 

The caravan park was situated opposite Leysdown-on-Sea Beach; a sandy beach that appeared to stretch for miles and miles. The surroundings were very typical of a British seaside village with amusement arcades and fish & chip shops. I had views of the Thames Estuary and could see a ship passing in the horizon.

It wasn’t the time of year, nor the weather, for swimming or running barefoot on the sand. Besides, I’ve been spoiled with some of the best beaches in the world - Caribbean, Asia, Mauritius, Maldives and even as close as the stunning Blue Lagoon in Malta.

I went for a walk to Swale Nature Reserve, about 50 minutes each way from the caravan park. It had just stopped raining so the single-lane road was very quiet. A couple of enthusiastic dog walkers near the beginning, who all had their dogs on a leash thankfully as I have a ‘dog issue’ (to put it mildly). It was a peaceful walk taking in the sea air on one side and the rolling greenery on the other.

I didn't have binoculars with me and I didn't venture deep inside the reserve so couldn't fully appreciate it. Instead, I stood at the highest point near the beginning of the nature reserve and took in as much as my eye could see, enjoying the kind of quiet that you’re never afforded living in London.

I’d almost made it back to the caravan site when I encountered a very thoughtless (in my mind) dog owner. He had 2 dogs, both off leashes, and despite a clear, calm request to keep them away from me as I turned back from his path, he failed to do so. When I saw the bigger of the 2 dogs, a Bully, staring at me, I knew he would charge. The owner thought it was okay as she was ‘just a pup coming to say hello’. This pup was almost the same size as me and I would much rather it said hello from the side of the road it was on than run over to my side. With no obvious place to take shelter, I am glad hubby had come on the walk. As for the owner, he couldn’t even run after his own dog and only seemed to bolt into action when it looked like the dog, in an attempt to get to me, would run into the path of a moving vehicle.

I do enjoy a good museum when away and the Eastchurch Aviation Museum was more impressive than I had thought. With a £2 entry fee, and the size of it, I wasn’t expecting much. But with the friendly and knowledgeable guide, Bob I learned not only about the start of the aviation industry in the UK but why pigs can indeed fly and where the phrase Gordon Bennett originated from. 

I briefly considered checking out the food market in Faversham, as Bob recommended, but the torrent of rain that came pouring down just in time for the outside part of the tour swiftly changed my mind.

No break away from home is complete without food! Despite there being a kitchen in the caravan I was not going to cook anything. Fish and chips 2 nights, Indian, Chinese, and a couple of visits to the bakery. There wasn’t anything like a seafood restaurant or one serving local foods (whatever they might be). Oh, and there were the 2 fry ups. I don’t even have 2 in a month so 2 in 5 days was plenty.

Next stop - Istanbul.