Sunshine

Summer swimming

With extra long sunlight hours to play with on Saturday, we took ourselves down to the oldest documented freshwater public pool in the country. Charlie dipped one toe in the water and decided it was far too cold to actually swim (he had a point, frankly), so we sat and watched my far braver friend swim several lengths in the icy water whilst we basked in the sunshine and ate dripping ice creams.

On Sunday morning, we visited the beach at Newhaven to collect Tom, who had surprised us all by suddenly agreeing to go fishing with a friend. 

On our way, we passed the ruins of what had once been a stationmaster's cottage. Originally built in the 1830s, it ended up being used by various stationmasters during the 19th and 20th centuries. The local villagers of Tide Mills and the stationmaster were cleared out of the area at the beginning of World War II and the cottage was later damaged during military training. It was demolished at the end of the war.

Signpost for the stationmaster's cottage - now derelict

The ruins of the old cottage

We followed the path until we reached the shingle beach, which lies between Newhaven and Seaford.

After stopping to chat and admire the fish that the boys had caught (shown here by friend's Dad), Tom indicated that he was now anxious to go home.

He was pink cheeked, flushed from the sunshine and from his success. It was a real confidence boost for him to go on an outing like this and Charlie shared in his delight, recognising what a big step it had been for him.

We walked back across the shingle, treading carefully around tiny red Bird's-Foot Trefoil and Yellow-Horned poppies. The poppies look so fragile, but they are tougher than they look, weathering storms and the constantly shifting shingle. They seemed like an apt metaphor.