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The Coast

Nothing beats a day at the seaside, and most adults can still remember their first visit to the Coast as a child.

Being in Bedfordshire, you could be forgiven for thinking that we couldn't be further from the coast. However, in reality it is no more than a few hours’ drive away. By car, an early start to beat the traffic can give you a full day by the sea in Norfolk or Suffolk. By train, a day out in Brighton can be an easy, great way to break up those long school summer holidays.

Listed here are a few seaside resorts together with approximate journey times and the town’s web site details. Look at their individual web sites for more details, or make it part of the fun for the children, and get them to check out the sites and give you a short list of three or four they like the look of. Some of them, especially the ones on the Norfolk coast are quite isolated. Others, like Frinton, quiet old-fashioned seaside resorts, with lovely beaches. Some, like Yarmouth, offer a livelier day out, while Portsmouth, being a dockyard town, offers no scope for the bucket and spade, but does offer history in abundance, with the old naval dockyards now open to the public, as well as HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship.

Please remember that some of the resorts on the South Coast will involve using the M25 so the journey times shown do not take in to account delays encountered for the ongoing road works and carriageway widening, so add extra time for the journey and make sure you take everything you will need to keep the family happy if you do get stuck in a jam.

Some ideas on where to go

Lowestoft Websites: www.lovelowestoft.co.uk www.visit-lowestoft.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 40mins (115 miles)

Great Yarmouth Website: www.great-yarmouth.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 40 mins (115 miles)

Sheringham Websites: www.sheringhamtown.co.uk www.experiencesheringham.com Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 40 mins (115 miles)

Cley Next The Sea Websites: www.cley.org.uk www.tournorfolk.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 40mins (109 miles)

Cromer Website: www.thisiscromer.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 45mins (117 miles)

Hunstanton Websites: www.hunstanton-on-line.co.uk www.hunstanton-info.comJourney time from Shefford: 2hrs 17mins (88 miles)

Wells-Next-The-Sea Website: www.wells-guide.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 35mins (107 miles)

Southwold Websites: www.exploresouthwold.co.uk www.southwold.info/ www.visit-suffolkcoast.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 55mins (114 miles)

Frinton-on-Sea Website: www.frinton.org Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 20mins (83 miles)

Clacton-on-Sea Website: www.clacton-on-sea-essex.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 10mins (82 miles)

Southend-on-Sea Website: www.southend.gov.uk Journey time from Shefford: 1hr 39mins (79 miles)

Whitstable Website: www.seewhitstable.com Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 9mins (109 miles)

Herne Bay Website: www.hernebayonline.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 17mins (114 miles)

Margate Website: www.visitthanet.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 30mins (125 miles)

Hastings Websites: www.1066country.com www.hastings.gov.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 25 mins (119 miles)

Eastbourne Website: www.visiteastbourne.com Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 39 mins (128 miles)

Dover Website: www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 25mins (130 miles)

Folkestone Website: www.thisisfolkestone.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 15mins (120 miles)

Brighton Website: www.visitbrighton.com Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 14mins (112 miles)

Bognor Regis Website: www.bognor-regis.org Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 40mins (125 miles)

Portsmouth Websites: www.visitportsmouth.co.uk www.hms-victory.com Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 17mins (113 miles)

Southampton Website: www.visit-southampton.co.uk Journey time from Shefford 2hrs 10mins (110 miles)

Bournemouth Website: www.bournemouth.co.uk Journey time from Shefford: 2hrs 40mins (137 miles)

Well, that's most of the seaside resorts you can get to in a day. Still stuck for ideas? Try using the internet to help. Just type in your interest or the type of attraction you want to see. Entering "castles to visit" and searching on the UK only will bring back over 1,820,000 results. The net really can help if you are stuck for somewhere to go for the day.

Where ever you go, and whatever you see, if you have a good day out and where ever you went isn't listed here, then please let us know and we will add it to the site when we update it for next summer. You can find the webmasters email address on the main homepage. Please include as much information as possible, like journey times, admission fees, facilities you liked and we will do the rest. Any location added as a result of feedback such as this will be specially marked so others know it has received a recommendation from a parent and family.