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This past weekend saw us on a weekend break in a Park Resorts caravan in Romney Sands; us being hubs, the boy and myself along with my sister, brother-in-law and my niece.

Blessed with some good weather and a gorgeous beach just across the road from the resort, we had a fab weekend, and I can’t wait until we can all go away together again!

I can’t remember the last time we had a weekend break – there is something really nice about just getting away from it all – the change of scenery can do you the world of good. I know we’ve not long got back from Orlando, but with the post-holiday blues still here and the jolt back into reality, this weekend was well needed!

 

 

 

 

 

We’d been looking forward to it all week, especially as the forecast was for good weather (it makes all the difference!) and as Friday went by, we were hit with problems on the train line that both my Steve (hubs) and Jo (sister) get home from work on. Just typical! We were already getting to the resort late as it was, but now it looked like we were all going to have to go early Saturday morning. I phoned up Park Resorts and let them know – I didn’t want our booking cancelled! Whilst I received the accommodation for free, I had paid to upgrade to a 3 bedroom caravan, and hired a cot as well. Fortunately, they were happy for us to arrive late evening, and if we were not to make it, our booking was safe!

Compounded with train disruption, was also a lot of congestion on the roads, specifically, the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, which is what we need to go over to get into Kent from Essex – arrrgh – it was like one thing after another! After Jo kept me up to date with her journey horrors, she decided it would be better for them to join us in the morning; it wasn’t fair on Sephy (my baby niece), and I totally agreed.

When Steve finally got home from work, we packed up the car and made our way into the night for the drive down to New Romney. By around 8pm the congestion on the bridge had cleared, and aside from some rolling fog as we neared the coast, and some very winding, dark roads to navigate, we were pulling up at the Romney Sands Park Resort and picking up our keys from the bar – at 9:30 – a lot later than the 7.30 we had originally planned!

We found our caravan, and let Jo know we were there – unfortunately, the cot I had paid for, and had been told would be set up for our arrival, wasn’t set up. No harm really since it wasn’t going to be used that night, but a real nuisance if it had – especially taking a sleeping baby out of the car and wanting to put them to bed straight away.

It’s been a long time since we’ve stayed in a caravan (I think 2007 was our last time!) and we were very pleased with the size of it. All the beds were made up (one less thing to worry about!) and we unpacked a few essentials – loo roll, towels, soap etc, before grabbing some very late dinner from the bar (food is served till 10pm, and you can also take it away) and watched a film on the telly.

Normally, we’d all be on our various internet devices, playing games and wotnot, but there wasn’t any WiFi access in the caravan. I thought it was park wide, at least, the pamphlet in our welcome pack seemed to indicate as such “Park-wide superfast WiFi and free wifi in the complex. Ask a member of staff for details.” Steve enquired at the bar, but they confirmed it was just in the complex (bar/arcades area); I feel that the information provided on the leaflet was misleading but I also proclaimed it wasn’t the end of the world not to have WiFi – although, Liam (my son) would beg to differ!

After a really good nights sleep – the beds were so comfy – we were up early for Jo, Phil and Sephy’s morning arrival.

 

It took a moment for Sephy to adjust to her new surroundings, but before long she was brushing her teeth and wanting to go to the seaside!  It was fab not to have to get in the car all weekend – the beach was just across the road, about a 10 minute walk (if that) from our caravan, and armed with buckets and spades, blankets to sit on and some drinks and snacks, we spent several hours there.

I nearly forgot to mention that there is a miniature railway that travels along this part of the Kent coast from Hythe to Dungeness, and the station for Romney Sands is just inside the park. We didn’t get a chance to go on it this weekend, but a perfect excuse to go back again one day soon!

 

The beach at Romney Sands has a shelf of pebbles and then a vast sandy beach – perfect! Sephy loved collecting pebbles…

 

 

 

 

…and building sandcastles with her cousin – it was a joy to see them together, as she’s been a bit scared of Liam in the past!

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was warm enough for us adults not to worry about wearing coats – in fact, Liam and Phil got away with shorts and t-shirts! Although Sephy did complain about cold ears, so mum had a hat to keep her warm!

I was quite happy walking on the sand in my bare feet (oh the joys of sand between your toes!) and loved exploring the shoreline for seashells and other seaside treasures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water was a bit on the cold side – but not so cold you couldn’t dip your toes (or those covered with wellie boots) in!

 

 

 

 

 

The flat beach lends itself well to kite flying and, (I don’t know the proper name of it)  sand-wind-surfing??! (Please, someone tell me the correct term!)

 

 

 

 

When she wasn’t building sandcastle with Liam, or splashing in the sea, she was just running around on the empty beach – oh the simplicity of being a toddler!

As the morning turned into early afternoon, Sephy decided that she “wanted to go home now” so we packed up to head back to the resort for some lunch.

To see more from the weekend in Romney Sands click here to visit Purple Pumpkins blog.

This family holiday review has been written by Michelle who travelled to Romney Sands with her family and young niece. Michelle loves all things purple, hence her blog The Purple Pumpkin, which you can follow here. Michelle can also be found tweeting @MsPurplePumpkin