Undoubtedly, much of the value of the British seaside can be found in the glut of truly wonderful food. ‘I almost agreed to move to Mull because of the sandwich shack next to the ferry terminal in Oban, where I had the best lobster roll I have ever had’, says Art Editor Fiona McKenzie Johnson. ‘Now, living in Hastings, we have the fish huts on the beach, where I can buy a whole dressed crab for less than a Pret salad’, she delights.
Whether it’s a large portion of salty, vinegary chip shop chips washed down with a Coke (‘surely the British equivalent of aperitivo on the Amalfi coast’, says Virginia), or the rather fancier seafood offering of Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall, you are never too far away from your next great meal – though our Deputy Digital Editor Charlotte McCaughan-Hawes favours the neighbouring, far more casual Stein’s Seafood Bar and Fishmongers where you can sit at a bar with a pint of prawns, bowl of aioli and glass of wine next to the fish counter where you then choose your dinner to take home.
Southwold
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If you find yourself in Southwold, in Suffolk, you must heed the advice of Eve Delaney, House & Garden’s Digital Associate, who insists that ‘before you enter the bright lights of the town, you won’t want to miss a cold beer, grilled lobster and beef-dripping-fried chips at Sole Bay’. At her suggestion, a day here must be spent pottering about this pastel-painted town, before ‘finishing up at the end of the pier show: a fever dream of surreal, handmade arcade games that will haunt and delight in equal measure’.
The seaside is, all things considered, one of the most special things about this rainy little island. It may not have tropical forests, exotic fish, white sand beaches or turquoise water. But it has charm by the bucket load. Enough, in fact, to fill several buckets and build a large sandcastle, before heading inside for a cup of tea and a newspaper filled with soggy chips.