Union flags

I think the three colours of red, white and blue must be the most common three colours used in the design of national flags. I won't list countries that use them because they are so widely known. This year I seem to see more union flags in the form of "bunting" than I remember ever seeing before, and the massed red, white and blue is a very eye catching.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Jubilee Gardens cafe, Minehead

A white-painted timber cafe with union flags a-plenty next to an elaborate "crazy" golf course somehow seemed to epitomise one aspect of British seaside leisure. That it was located in gardens built to commemorate a jubilee underpinned the archetypal nature of the scene. But which jubilee? If I had to guess I'd plump for Queen Elizabeth II's 1977 Silver Jubilee.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Summer sun at the seaside

click photo to enlarge

I was recently on the promenade at Weymouth, Dorset, wondering whether there was ever a time in my life when I was happy to sit on a beach in the summer sun. Back came the answer, pretty quickly, "No". For most of my life the coast, as I prefer to call it, has been a place for walking, thinking, talking, looking and photographing. That's not to say that I haven't spent time on the beach as one part or another of a family group, where being there together was the intention and the reason itself. As I took this photograph on a sunny June day I had to recognise that most of the people there seemed to be enjoying sunning themselves and partaking of the traditional seaside activities. Which just goes to show that, as they say, "It takes all sorts".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Tenby harbour

 

click image to enlarge
The town of Tenby in south-west Wales is a settlement of long standing. It is first mentioned in a poem of the C9. During the medieval period it became the site of a castle and had town walls and towers built around it. It grew to prominence as a fishing port and a significant centre of import and export. During the late C18 and C19 tourism became important to the town and it remains so today. A visitor to Tenby who parks near North Beach gets the above view as they walk into the town. The pier, slipway, lifeboat stations, Castle Hill and the colourful buildings behind the harbour's edge make a fine composition at high tide or low.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Seafront at Weymouth

click image to enlarge

As the placename suggest, Weymouth in Dorset is a town at the mouth of the River Wey. In fact, the Wey discharges through the harbour into Weymouth Bay and consequently the town has two focal points - the harbour and the seafront on the bay. Today's photograph is a 16:9 shot, larger than usual so click on the image, of part of the town's seafront seen from the northern spit of land where the Wey enters the bay from the harbour. It was taken just after the tide had turned and was on its way out.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Paddle boarding

According to my research paddle boards have been around for longer than I imagined. However, they didn't become widespread, as far as I know, until twenty or so years ago, and in terms of me noticing them, about five years ago. Now I see them in all seasons apart from winter on the River Wye in Herefordshire, and when I go to any recreational river or seaside they are usually present. I've never tried one, but to me they seem to have few advantages over canoes apart from lower cost and easier transport. On our recent visit to the south coast they were everywhere including the cove at Beer, Devon.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Funfair, Skegness

On the second day of the new year in 2011 we visited Skegness in Lincolnshire. Winter at a traditional (i.e. tourist/commercial) seaside has always had an appeal for me. The silent funfairs and piers, the out of place colours and the locked up amusement arcades offer off-season note of melancholy that somehow appeals. This photograph, taken with my back to the sea, benefitted enormously from the dark sky that accentuated the bright colours of the roller coaster, big wheel, lights and shelters.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Canon 5D Mk2     2011

Clevedon Pier, Somerset

One of Britain's most attractive piers, and the only protected by Grade 1 Listing, is Clevedon Pier on the Severn Estuary in Somerset. It was opened in 1869 as both a tourist attraction and a point at which ferries could tie up to take on rail passengers going to South Wales. It is 312m (1024 feet) long and has eight elegant, arched spans, the feature that distinguishes it from more utilitarian structures. The tidal range of the estuary is the second highest in the world (15m, 48 feet), and consequently a number of platforms are available to ensure ease of embarking and disembarking boat passengers.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare

The piers of the British Isles give visitors a feeling of being at sea without leaving dry land. They also offer a range of seaside entertainments. However, their location makes them subject to damage by stormy seas, and their lightweight structure means they are susceptible to fire. Many have been lost and seriously truncated by such events. Weston-super-Mare's Grand Pier was opened in 1904. In 1930 the seaward end, including the pavilion, suffered a major fire. It was restored at a cost of £60,000. Rebuilding took three years. In 2008 the seaward pavilion was again destroyed by fire, and once again it had to be rebuilt, this time after only two years, but at a cost of £39 million.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A multitude of beach huts

Beach huts are a widely photographed phenomenon of Britain's seaside resorts. They are either privately-owned or publicly-owned for hire and constitute a place where someone can base themselves when spending a day or several by the beach - a place to eat, make a cup of tea, rest, laze, change clothing, shelter from rain etc. Privately-owned examples are often very individually painted and frequently feature somewhat humorous names. Public beach huts are usually brightly painted but with fewer colours. On a recent visit to Walton on the Naze in Essex I came across these ranks of (presumably) publicly-owned huts for hire. I've never seen so many together in stepped ranks, and rarely so few in use on a summer afternoon.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10