Burnham Regatta with Robyn & Dave

Welcome to Burnham on Crouch - my home for a number of years and what a great opportunity it was to return with our friends for Burnham Regatta.

It was lovely to return to what is undoubtedly a quaint and very pretty place, filled with many happy memories from childhood. My grandparents retired to the town in the 1980s after owning a holiday cottage there for a few years. They were members of the Royal Burnham Yacht Club and my grandfather owned and raced an antique boat called Ariel on the river crouch for many years.

Burnham was a place where I would visit with my mother in the school holidays or for the weekend, by train from Westcliff via Wickford.

We would sleep in the attic room of their lovely house, Quayside, directly overlooking the river. You could hear the ropes banging on the masts from the fishing boats moored outside.

We eventually moved here when we returned from Lebanon in 1998 and called it home.

Since my grandparents passed away I would make very rare trips here, usually for a few hours so we thought it would be nice to spend a little longer.

Robyn and Dave joined us in their motorhome and arrived a day after us. We wild camped in the carpark of the marina which was quiet and offered a perfectly level "pitch".

Over the weekend we met up with our friends Trish and Ed from Nassington, visited Southend by train and then a rail replacement bus service. Walked the length of the pier, walked to Westcliff and then back to Burnham where we were able to return to the restaurant that John and I had our first proper "date" in many years ago. Once called the Contented Sole. It has now changed hands but it was a Burnham institute for many of the well heeled yachting community who would swell the small town's population in the summer months.

We stayed at Silver Lane Caravan Park which was good although the facilities were somewhat lacking!

#Robyn #Dave #Burnham #Essex #Harriet