I am soo proud of my little Mummy. After deciding to take early retirement from teaching and putting our house on the market at the start of Summer, she has finally fulfilled a life-long dream and moved to the seaside in Kent. She's so independent and even though the thought of making new friends and getting used to a new routine is a bit daunting, she's taking it all in her stride. I recently taught her the phrase "YOLO" which she has really quite taken to now that she's living the dream.

Her new house is the sweetest little fisherman's cottage and needs lots of improvements and modernising, but the scope and potential is so exciting we're now both even more addicted to Pinterest as we plan each room and garden details. Plus, a 'blank canvas' is a great excuse to dive into Next Home department even more regularly than we did previously (and that was REGULAR). 

Whitstable is about a two hour drive from West London or an hour and a half on the direct train from King's Cross, and epitomises everything that's great about the British coastline. On a sunny day you get huge bright blue skies, crystal clear horizons (you can see Southend and the Isle of Sheppy from the beach) and the beautiful sparkly water draws in hundreds of families who position themselves along the harbour wall with nets and buckets to catch crabs. I used to love doing that when I was little!

The harbour is fully functioning and jam-packed with cute trawler boats with names like Sarah-Jane and Sally-Anne. The booming trade in Whitstable is Oyster fishing and there are LOADS of places along the promenade to enjoy straight-out-the-sea-fresh seafood. I would imagine this is really appealing if you like the idea of a weird tongue-like salty invertebrate sliding down your throat (gag), but to normal people like me the harbour and front still provide an interesting place to sit and watch boats come in, taking in the hustle and bustle and soaking up the atmosphere. 

This past weekend Kieran and I drove down on Friday afternoon and spent a glorious weekend exploring all the little vintage/antique shops on the High Street, beach-combing on West Beach and Tankerton Slopes and managed to squeeze in traditional fish 'n' chips, a chinese takeaway, a roast dinner and a drink at The Old Neptune pub (you must visit) while we watched the stunning sunset over the sea. Perfect!