I’ve just had a family holiday at Salcombe, in the South Hams area of Devon. There were nine of us across four generations: Val and I together with our daughter Sarah; Val’s sister Sally, her daughter Jane with her son Philip and her (Jane’s) husband Richard; Val and Sally’s father Don; and Maureen, Sally’s mother-in-law (and Jane’s grandmother) from Sally’s first marriage. (Ah, the complexity of modern families!) We spent the week in a large leased apartment (actually, two linked apartments) with umpteen rooms.
We – that’s me, Val and Sarah – drove from Sheffield to Salcombe in one go, starting at just after 7am and arriving at just after 4pm; progress on the M5 was slow for significant lengths of the journey. The others, driving from the Midlands, stopped at Gloucester overnight mainly to give the two older people (Don and Maureen) a break. But they didn’t arrive much before us.
It was very much a traditional family seaside holiday. Salcombe is a delightful spot. It’s a couple of miles up the Kingsbridge Estuary, but although quite tidal, there is always water around the main harbour. Val and Sally’s family have been going there for many years – Val can remember Salcombe from when she was a girl, although it’s only in recent years that we’ve been back. Sally has holidayed there often with her family, and now her daughter Jane is introducing her own young son Philip and husband Richard to its delights. So we played cricket on the beach several times – the age range of the players was from 6 to 66; we walked down to South Sands; we went crabbing at Dettisham; we played family card games in the evening; and we enjoyed the food and drink that was available. The Ferry Inn was a particular favourite.
Salcombe is quite an upmarket place, which means that there is a lot there and a wide range of food and facilities, but also prices to match. We ate out two evenings, once at Dick and Will’s (supposedly Salcombe’s best restaurant/bistro, but this time we found it disappointing) and at one the the pubs, the Victoria Arms, which was both cheaper and better. We got fish and chips from the fish shop in the middle of town on a couple of evenings, and on the other evenings we ate en famille after someone (Richard twice, Sally once) cooked for the whole party. Jane and Richard had an evening out together at the Boatswain’s Brasserie while we all looked after Philip.
Most days we did things more or less together, but on one day Val, Sarah and I drove over the Dartmouth and had a day together there.
All in all, it was a good English sea-side holiday.
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