Mersea Island is a wonderful place to be by the sea and it's local to where I live. It is just under an hours drive through the essex countryside and being careful of the
high tides, you can take the road over the estuary with a view of all the wildlife and the salty mud flats. I remember coming here with my grandad when I was a girl and watching the swans fly in home. I loved the salty breeze and big skies with the quiet sandy beach. Colourful beach huts lined the edges of the creamy coloured, seaweedy sand and the soft sound of the waves lapping the shore. I always filled my pockets with beautiful seashells and driftwood to take home and display on my bedroom dressing table. Later to sketch and draw the memories of our day in the sunshine.
We found the old house boats along the beach and stayed for a while drinking latte coffees and watching the gulls over head riding the wind and gliding down to the water's edge.
These boats were beautiful, some old and shanty style and others with their own wonderful gardens and wooden pathways.
This one fallen into the sea!
On the way home we could tell it was going to be a stunning sunset. An hour later, I ran to the top of the hill near to where we live and managed to capture the last of the big red sun and moody light. The feeling was so peaceful and still with an aura of magic as the great sun went to sleep.
Today has been a wealth of memories of childhood and a heart filled with inspiration.
