As much as I love the beach in the summer, I love it even more in the winter. It just seems even more beautiful and apart from the occasional dog walker, it’s pretty much deserted so we get it to ourselves. It doesn’t matter how cold it gets, as long as it is dry, we go down to the beach most days.

I had promised to take the kids down to our local beach for a hot chocolate picnic one day, and what better day to do it than the first day of the Christmas holidays? The sun was shining and it wasn’t too cold. We made up a flask of hot chocolate, popped some marshmallows into a tub, and packed a can of squirty cream and our favourite mugs into a bag.

We found a little spot by the dunes with some rocks to sit on and poured out the hot chocolate. It was such a simple activity but it was lovely. We all sat and drank our drinks and chatted away, watching the windmills and boat in the distance.

Once we had finished our drinks and packed away our picnic, the kids played on the sand. Ben and Alex managed to find some toy cars lurking in the bottom of the pushchair so they played with those, whilst Harrison found a stick which became a jackhammer to him.

It was a lovely start to our Christmas holidays and proved that you don’t have to spend a fortune to have fun – it really is the little things!