I'd rather be in Broadstairs

Who wouldn't? Broadstairs is my favourite Kent seaside town and possibly the top of my list of British classics. Although Perranporth, Porthleven and Brighton have sentimental value and Westgate-on-Sea, Whitstable and Herne Bay have wonderful friends, Broadstairs has style, charm, Victoriana, traditional high street shops and Dickens. I could never be sad in Broadstairs.

"Not Broadstairs again" said Charlie when I told him where we were going on our day out, mainly because he wanted to go to the zoo on the mini bus.

Broadstairs is also a crafter's and treasure hunter's paradise. The walk from the train station down the high street started us on our Great Piratical Rumbustification. The first treasure trove is Bay 158, the perfect shop for anyone who loves beautiful things, the seaside and Broadstairs. I am quite a reserved shopper, not entirely through choice but ethically we should at least try. I haven't actually bought anything before but had carefully considered my purchase and think that the mug featured above is perfect. Charlie is however a consumer and could have easily spent more money than I earned in the past month, but did settle for a modest Emma Bridgewater pirate money box. Thank you very much to the kind gentleman in the shop for letting us take photos.

Next we picked up our lunch, bread and cakes from the traditional bakers, Crusties and fruit from the greengrocers, J Prentis. Walking down Broadstairs High Street is just like stepping back into my own childhood. There's a butchers, a fish shop, several flower shops, sweet shop with brightly coloured jars, tea rooms, two yarn shops, a fabric shop, ice-cream parlours, seaside chips shops, the most glorious charity shops staffed by elderly women and a tiny cinema proudly displaying a 'house full' for tonight's showing sign. Charlie got several more dinosaurs for his growing collection, but then can a little boy ever have too many dinosaurs? We ate our picnic on the beach at 11am which I thought was reasonable seeing as Charlie woke everyone up at 5.30am and I hadn't had breakfast. Thanks to a very kind neighbour who had taken Josie to school, I had had time to be organised enough to make a flask of coffee so was able to try out my new mug. It was perfect! The only thing to add really is that, after getting soaked on the way home from school, Josie spotted my new mug and read it.

"Would you rather be in Broadstairs?" I asked.

She stood there with her hair dripping, her clothes drenched and looked out the window,

"Not really," she said, "It's pouring."