With Easter came sunshine...and a road trip that revisited childhood.
We set off from Dunster for a day out at Woolacombe, just under 40 miles away, so just over an hour's journey west along the A39. It's a really pretty run and everything was starting to feel very fresh, acid-green and springlike, winding around the hedgerows. Woolacombe is a properly gorgeous golden stretch of sandy beach on the North Devon coast that has won plentiful awards and drags in hordes of surfers and families each year. As ever it felt suitably chilled out and we did obligatory ice-creams, kicking about with a football and thrilling ourselves with a super-spacey ride on the funfair rocket.
Heading home we took a quick sojourn to Ilfracombe, possibly the last ever holiday spot with my parents as a pre-teen. It was a delight to discover what I remembered as a slightly tired, rundown seaside town is actually a thriving, charming harbour resort with lots of independent shops, well-preserved Victorian arcades and architecture - and of course, Damien Hirst's Verity, the bronze sculpture who thrusts her sword into the sky by the water's edge. If she's drawing the crowds to this tucked away spot it can't be bad, can it? We'll definitely be back...
Other holiday highlights: Oggy Oggy pasties (Minehead); swimming at Hoburne Holidays Park, Blue Anchor; boats that hover above the water *wink*
