"Memories of Woolacombe, North Devon, UK " a Woolacombe Travel Page by Angelal

We used to stay in a family run hotel called the Atlantic which was run by a family called the Lymers. They used to have this great games room where you could play pool and space Invaders, full English breakfasts and proper English Grub for dinner. I also remember being giving Hot Chocolate to drink before I went up to bed.

Everyday (weather permitting) we used to go down to one of the gorgeous beaches with our buckets and spades and crabbing nets. The main beach is Woolacombe beach which is a 12 mile long sandy beach which is really popular with surfers as the waves you get there are like something out of Hawaii 5-0. Me and my brothers had this blow up dingy that we used to go out to sea, quite often our little boat would capsize from where the waves were so huge. When we were bored with the sea we would go 'crabbing' in the rock pools with my Dad. There we used to find star fish, hermit crabs and little fish that we used to collect in our buckets. There is another beach there called Barricade beach which isn't sandy, or stony but made up of little broken shells. I read somewhere that the shells are washed ashore from the faraway Caribbean islands. By this time we were usually starving hungry so we used to have a picnic on the beach of fresh bread from the local bakery, cheese and tomatoes which was delicious despite the crunchy bits of sand!Yum!

I went back to Woolocombe in July 2003. The Atlantic hotel is no longer there, a fire started in the roof it burnt to the ground. Holiday apartments have been built in its place and the owners of the hotel have long passed away. Woolacombe is still beautiful however, the beaches are still spotlessly clean and the surrounding countryside gorgeous.