Grab a patch of the beach

The beach in Leigh

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Of course I'm totally biased, as I live in leigh-on-sea, but I think its a wonderful escape from London.  It takes just 40 minutes on the fast train from Fenchurch Street (c2c line), 5 minutes walk from the station and you enter a time gone by.  There are cockle sheds selling all types of seafood from prawns to oysters to jellied eels!! A walk down the cobbled streets and you will find art galleries, coffee shops, ice creams, a top notch restaurant, and of course the old english pubs. 

Today I decided to take the kids down to the beach, with an old friend that was visiting.  It was the first real hot week of the summer (July has been a total wash out), and it seemed everyone else had the same idea about the beach.  It was heaving.  But we managed to find an unoccupied space and plant ourselves down.  The kids loved it, fetching water from the incoming Thames, burying their little legs in the sand.

View of Old Leigh from the Hill

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We topped it off with a visit to a cafe in Old Leigh, where the 2 toddlers and little Lloyd behaved impecibly.  By the end of it all I was shattered, especially after the climb up the hill to Leigh town centre.  The kids fell asleep, leaving me to carry Lloyd home and push little Matthew.

If you make a visit to Leigh I highly recommend you walk up the hill (near the traffic lights there is a lovely path up), and visit Leigh town centre.  This has a wonderful array of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars.  You wont find many high street names, but if you are looking for a special gift or just something a little unusual there is bound to be something to take your fancy.  There a quite a few art and bespoke jewellry shops aswell if you have a few quid to spend!