A Birthday In Skeggy

It was my birthday yesterday. I got some lovely gifts, including a new pig from Mick to join Mavis and Joffrey on the lawn, this one (on the right) has been named Hetty.

Daniel bought me a couple of very cute solar owls, their eyes are so bright at night.

Eleanor bought me (amongst other things) a gorgeous new purse, I love it.

I got so many gifts this year from both family and friends, chocolate and wine too and some money as well as lots of lovely cards.

Mick hadn't told me until I was in bed on Tuesday night, but he'd booked the day off work so it meant that we could go out for the day. Both he and Eleanor had put their heads together and Eleanor came up with a day out in Skegness. I often talk about the family holidays I had with my mum and dad in Skegness, they were the best holidays ever, but it's many, many years since I've been so I thought it was a wonderful idea.

We left quite early, without breakfast, so we stopped at a service station for a sausage sarnie from Greggs.

It took us a little over two hours to get there which is much quicker than it used to take us nearly forty years ago. New roads have been built in this time which bypass all the little towns and villages we used to pass through.

The first familiar sight when we arrived was the clock tower, though it looked as though it could do with a bit of a clean up. It was built in 1898-99 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

We used to stay in a small hotel when I went on holiday with my mum and dad. We used to meet up with some other families who had children around my age and we all had a brilliant time. I went to see if the hotel was still there, and it was.

The Northdale Hotel was run by Peter and Hazel Hall when we used to stay there, and they were brilliant hosts, often putting on a fancy dress party during the week we were staying. We had so much fun.

We spent so much of the day just walking round while I reminisced. Most of the attractions that I remembered were still there.

I used to love this Fairy Dell paddling pool, though it's undergone a major refurbishment in recent years. They did keep the original fountain though.

I remember the outdoor swimming pool but this wasn't it. The original one was closed in the 1980s, to be replaced by another 50 yards away.

I'm pleased to see that Natureland is still there. It was opened in 1965 and works to return abandoned baby seals which are washed up on the beach in need of medical care back to the sea. We didn't go in, but you can see the seals swimming about from the outside.

I used to love the Pleasure Beach when I was young, now I'm the coat and bag holder whenever we go to a funfair, I don't like the rides at all.

Something which wasn't here when we used to visit was the Lincs Wind Farm, you can just make out the wind turbines in this photo, they stand about five miles off the coast. This project was only completed last year.

It was a lovely day when we arrived but the sun went in a little later, there weren't many people on the beach.

We always used to hire a beach chalet but they're no longer there, a car park now stands in their place.

A lasting memory is of us all heading down for a game of crazy golf after tea. This is the exact same crazy golf that we used to play.

Eleanor and I had a little flutter on the 2p shove machines.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I loved my holidays as a child and I don't think I was wrong about Skegness, it's still got lots to offer if you like traditional English seaside holidays.

I'm not going to leave it so long to return again.

If you haven't already entered my giveaway, don't forget to do so. You have until twelve noon on Thursday the 11th of September 2014 to leave a comment on my Fourth Blog Anniversary Giveaway post.