Runner up in Your Say, the Telegraph Travel’s weekly competition.

Our first British seaside trip in 20 years started as they always had: bundled with old family friends into multiple cars, debating who would arrive first, praying the forecast was wrong. Concerns disappeared on viewing the sunlit sign: ‘Welcome to Bournemouth.’

Day one was a blur of golden sand, pizzas on the beach, seaside walks and cosy hotel beds. Then it was onto Studland for day two, with lunch at Shell Bay – where the seafood restaurant serves the best fish and chips ever.

At Shell Bay beach, I splashed in the ocean for the first time in two years. Then the sky turned grey; the Great British weather signalled home time. I guess something had to make us leave.