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BREAKAWAY DATES
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Text below of above article on Beach View from Guardian newspaper travel section for Best Beach holidays worldwide ( listed top of UK section).
"Beach View, DorsetThe penny dropped on the second day that, unlike in the tropics, here, on the south coast of England, we could sleep with the windows open without offering ourselves as a main course at a mosquitoes' banquet.
Sun poured in through the sliding door - which had been open all night - and there was no sound other than the swoosh of the waves. Looking out to sea, just discernible were Old Harry Rocks on the Isle of Purbeck and, to the west, the heat-hazy apartment blocks of Bournemouth.
Birds flitted in and out of the garden beneath our bedroom balcony and the wind riffled lazily through the plants and bushes. Below and beyond the garden stretched a golden strand.
The view of sand, sea and sky from the back of the house called to mind the free-spiritedness of John Masefield's poem Sea Fever: "I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky."
In complete contrast, through the front door of our clifftop chalet bungalow, lay suburbia. Southbourne, just east of Bournemouth, became a resort in the 1880s, its climate deemed ideal for the asthmatic and tubercular. Now apartments fill the gaps between pre-war bungalows and cover the once-substantial gardens of Victorian villas but there is little else apart from a parade of shops and commuter traffic.
Our beach house was a Tardis. Not just because it enabled us to pass from manicured suburbia (front door) to untamed seascape (back views), but also because it was rooted in an era before self-catering places went open-plan. It was wonderful having rooms: kitchen across the hall from a large utility, a bathroom and downstairs bedroom, elegant separate bay-windowed sitting and dining rooms looking out to sea. Off these was a large conservatory which gave dinner a Mediterranean air but compromised the original bays somewhat and heated up a lot in the day.
Upstairs, three bedrooms and a bathroom were filled with sunlight. Apart from nautical striped curtains there were no attempts at an interior "scheme", just a terrific sense of calm and peace.
Each day started with a walk, barefoot, along the sand, reached via steep but asphalted cliff paths (left or right out of the Tardis, it didn't matter). Before 7am it was utterly deserted, after that we met dog walkers and cyclists on the promenade, the peace occasionally interrupted by the roar of a lone jet ski.
We explored the coastline, hunting for sharks' teeth at Barton-on-Sea, sipping tea at Christchurch quay, and walking around Hengistbury Head one morning to the beach huts of Mudeford.
The pace of life isn't a drama here," observed my bloke, contentedly, while we slipped effortlessly from lattes to lunch at the Beach House Cafe, eating oily bruschetta and Thai cod cakes whose mint-laden mayonnaise evoked not Asia but Sunday lunch.
We watched tides ebb and flow, sat on marinas, ate wonderful fish and chips and licked strawberry and vanilla ice creams. At the end of each day we collapsed, drained by the heat, in our suburban des res - for all the world like Terry and June - and watched the huge telly in the sitting room.
Leaving, Masefield's uplifting lines hovered on my lips again: "And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by" - and as we pulled the door to we actually found ourselves saying goodbye to the house.
Sally Shalam of the Guardian
AND NOW FIND OUT WHAT THE REPORTER REALLY THOUGHT WHEN SHE EMAILED ME AFTER THE ARTICLE:
From: <
Sally.Shalam@guardian.co.uk>To: []
> Dear Hilton,
>
> Thanks for your email and apologies for only replying now, I have been away
> on holiday and returned to discover the Rural Retreats credits was not in
> place. I see it is now corrected on the website.
>
>We really did have a fabulous time and I'm thrilled your children approve
> of the Tardis reference (amazing that Dr Who is as popluar now as when I
> was small and used to hide behind my Dad's chair when the Daleks appeared).
> I thought it appropriate as Beach View simply does take its occupants from
> one world into another. More than that though, and hard to convey in such a
> short review, Beach View is a very happy house, imbued with a lovely
> atmosphere.
>
> Thank you for your kind offer of a return visit. If you ever get a last
> minute cancellation, let me know - we'll be back like a shot!
>
> Kind regards,
ARTICLE IN DAILY STAR IN FEBRUARY 2014 ABOUT A HOLIDAY IN RAINY NOVEMBER FANTASTIC
Kitesurfing, blustery coastal walks and seafood curry: The wet and wild side of Dorset
AS we topped the cliff path and gazed at the huge limestone arch in the sea that is Dorset’s famous Durdle Door, we thought it was surrounded by seals.
By Kieron Saunders/Published 1st February 2014
Bobbing in the stormy seas and threatening to be dashed against the towering rocks were more than a dozen black heads.
Then we noticed three more blackclad shapes climbing higher on the rock arch before suddenly plummeting into the perilous seas.
They were forced at speed through the narrow gap between the rock pillars. And this was all for fun.
We were watching the new thrillseekers’ sport of coasteering. It involves wet-suited folk trying to climb around our craggy coastline above the tide mark.
When a cliff becomes impassable they simply drop off and swim around to a more convenient perch while avoiding being smashed against the rocks.
Elsewhere along this popular coast, from Christchurch to Lyme Regis, we had seen other sportsmen skimming across the waves while windsurfing, kitesurfing, and on more conventional sailing craft.
My companions and I were intent on exploring the coastal and rural walks of this beautiful county, so we were cosily wrapped up in full wet weather gear as storm force winds spat spray and sand into our faces. It was mid-November after all. But the seas were still alive with sporting folk enjoying their chosen aquatic hobbies.
The seven miles of wonderful beaches in Poole Bay from Hengistbury Head in the east through Southborne, Boscombe and Bournemouth to the millionaires’ playground of Sandbanks in the west, may be packed in summer. But they are just as attractive in winter. And there is no battling through crowds and tedious traffic-choked lanes.
HARDY: A brave soul takes part in a coasteering activity
There is even a perverse pleasure in sitting huddled together in your gale-lashed beach hut sipping champagne and chomping on salt and vinegar soaked chips after battling the elements.
Our luxury home for our week of walking and sightseeing in Dorset was the aptly-named Beach View. This large four-bedroomed, four bath-roomed house for eight, sits atop the low cliff at Southborne.
The once modest 1930s-style villa now explodes outwards at the back and boasts the most magnificent sea and sand views.
From a 34ft-long conservatory, a raised decking area in the garden, and the two principal bedrooms, there are views out to the Needles on the Isle Of Wight to the left (east) and the Old Harry Rocks beyond the ferry to Swanage to your right.
The house let includes both the beach hut down on the sands below, and corporate membership of the leisure club at the nearby Carlton Hotel. The heated pool, Jacuzzi and sauna were very welcome after a couple of challenging 12-mile walks.
We found our property through the holiday lettings company Rural Retreats. They have lots of other great places to stay in Dorset and other counties.
In a week we managed to explore most of the top attractions and walks we had set our hearts on.
In brief, Sunday saw my four-man party (well, me, the wife and another couple) yomp along the beach to Hengistbury Head.
This once-heavily fortified promontory used to be a port where continental merchants traded in hunting dogs, furs and slaves. Today it is a nature reserve and home to more than 300 types of bird.
We crossed on the foot ferry to Mudeford Quay with its neat towers of lobster pots then went around Christchurch Harbour to the ancient priory and home.
LIKE A POSTCARD: The idyllic Cheap Street in the centre of Sherbourne
On Monday we headed off to King Alfred The Great’s stronghold Wareham, still surrounded by its Saxon defensive walls, and down to the beautiful quay with boat trips on the River Frome.
Next we took a meandering lane up and over the chalk downlands of the Purbeck Hills, across the ancient Ridgeway path and down to Kimmeridge Bay, part of the famous and fossil-packed Jurassic Coast.
We drove on to iconic Corfe Castle and after clambering among the six storey ruins it was lunch at Britain’s most photographed pub, the Greyhound, before on to Swanage. Home from there was via the car ferry to Poole, with a wave to Harry Redknapp’s Sandbanks mansion en route.
Tuesday was Lulworth Cove after a quick view of East Lulworth and the Weld family’s castle. From the cove we climbed the path to spot the coasteering at Durdle Door.
Then as the rain came we drove to Dorchester, then on to Weymouth with its tiny shops and then back to Daniels fish bar at Highcliffe.
Talking of food, I must recommend the Indian Ocean curry takeaway near Beach View, the Spyglass & Kettle pub across the road and the Carlton Hotel – a touch of affordable luxury.
On Wednesday we headed to Boscombe pier and then Bournemouth pier while on Thursday we walked round Wimborne Minster, explored the market at Blandford and found pretty Sherborne.
Finally we stopped at Lyme Regis to watch the sunset from the famous Cobb. On our last day we walked from Studlands out to the white cliffs, stacks and arches of the Old Harry Rocks and up to the Bronze Age burial grounds. More than 50 miles trekked in a breathtaking county with no motorways and no time to mention Thomas Hardy…
THE END