When we lived in Southampton a few years ago, on a nice weekend if we wanted to sit on the beach and watch the water, then we would pack a little picnic and head to Lepe Beach. It’s between Southampton and Lymington and is a lovely spot to be by the sea on the Solent.
I was delighted when the people at Hampshire County Council got in touch and asked if I would like to visit again. Yes please, thank you for reminding me of it! We live a little further away now north of Winchester and don’t see the sea often enough anymore, so this was just the prompt we needed. And (gifted) paid parking and food and drink suited us perfectly too of course!
I did a little research before we went, turns out Lepe Country Park has had quite the upgrade and improvement since we were last there. And we were all happily impressed!
As we pulled up in the car park, the little one actually stopped reading his book in the back of the car and started pointing and smiling at the sea! It’s not since September when we were in Cornwall that he’d seen the sea and beach, so we were thrilled to be back, and getting a positive reaction! In fact as we opened the car doors, Mr P and I both gasped too – the smell of sea air – we’d been away from it for far too long too!
When you arrive the most immediate change is the new cafe and visitor centre building – The Lookout. What preceded it was a fairly shabby beach hut cafe and this is anything but that. The building is impressive and the views from inside are lovely, as you might expect. There are thankfully no parked cars to disturb the view as you sit with your drink.
We finished our visit at The Lookout. I shared brunch with the little one and it was just £6.50 for a full plate and quick service. Mr P had a coffee and a cake. A small and tasty menu for brunch and lunch. My only complaint of the whole day was that whilst there was a gluten free cake offering, there wasn’t anything dairy free or vegan. Thankfully the brunch made up for it, including a hash brown!
Also in The Lookout is a little shop and a help desk. And on the day we were there Bird Aware Solent were there with a telescope helping people to identify the different wading and wintering birds. We noticed a fat (sand) wheeled wheelchair too, which is an excellent way to make the beach a little more accessible for all.
The next addition was the play area, which obviously was our first stop. Once the little one had waved at a lot of people in the car park and giggled at all the dogs first (the giggle is his impression of a woof)… I’m getting to be a connoisseur of these places, guided by my toddler… And he seemed to love this one! The slides were the right size for him – not too big or too small. There were baby swings. And there were awesome bugs to bounce or seesaw on. Even a spot to take a picture looking like a seagull or crab!
Normally when we visit Lepe, we head west because the beach in that direction, towards Tanners Lane, reminds us of our beloved North Norfolk. But this time we headed east, further into the park and towards the D-Day landing remains and memorials. There were plenty of walkers, bird watchers and fishermen. And actually the cafe is drawing a good cycling crowd too.
We had to stop for a paddle. We all walked down to the shoreline together. It was low tide and there was a lovely sheltered bit of water just behind the main sand spit. All wearing our wellies we could paddle together. The little one loved it, he’s already far braver with the water than before. Thankfully he wasn’t over-zealous with his wellies, although I did have a complete change of clothes in the car having seen pictures of me paddling too-confidently in the sea as a child!!
Once we had the little one back in the carrier we walked along the beach, climbing over each of the groynes until we got to the remains of the Mulberry harbours that were built for D-Day.
It’s always fascinating to see and the little one was interested in all the concrete structures. We noticed a new memorial too with particularly pertinent words.
On our way back we walked near to the nature reserve, we whinnied at the horses, quacked at the ducks and seagulls and (Mr P and I) chuckled at the gas pipeline signs… Since we moved house we’ve been in a village with no gas and so have oil central heating at home. Yet the gas pipeline known as Pluto that reaches land at Lepe runs right through our village…
We’ll be back visiting Lepe Country Park again soon enough when the weather is a little warmer. Time on the beach, or starting a walk from there, with the new facilities, is really good for us. We were glad to have been reminded of it and would definitely recommend it as a day out for a little family wanting some fresh air, beach and playground time, and a little bit of important history and good food too.
How do you manage to travel with a kid?
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Good planning