A Trip To The English Seaside With My Sister

- Eat Sleep Dreamers, look who's back.

It's my sister. (Annie chuckles)

- Hello. - Hey.

So, Annie is back.

I'm so excited.

We've done several videos together,

but not for ages. - Yes.

No, it's been a while, hasn't it?

- It's been a while.

And the people want you back. I've had requests.

- Aw, thanks, guys.

- Well, where are we? (wind whooshing)

- We're in Broadstairs.

(upbeat music)

- So Broadstairs is in Kent, which is a county,

and it's by the coast.

And it's really, really lovely.

It's really beautiful. - Very picturesque.

- Very picturesque.

As you... - Quintessential

seaside town? - Yeah.

- Would you say? - Oh, quintessential.

- (chuckles) I know, I know. I'm getting there.

- And we've got the beach huts behind us.

Look at the different colored beach huts.

- Yep. - They're gorgeous.

And I just wanted to have a conversation

about a typical English seaside experience.

A lot of you guys who come to Britain,

will go to Brighton, or Whitstable, or Bournemouth,

or even Broadstairs.

What kind of an experience are they gonna have?

So, what was a typical day like for us?

- Well, always slightly dependent

on the English weather.

- Aha. (Annie laughs)

The first thing. Yeah, yeah.

- And I mean, we are... (kid speaking indistinctly)

Obviously, you look back on your childhood,

you remember it as being golden, don't you?

- Yeah. - But we did definitely

have a few wet days,

but that never stopped us from getting to the beach.

That was always something.

And we are kind of known for that as a nation, aren't we?

That even if it's wet and cold,

we will still sit on the beach.

- That's so true. - In our kagouls and our...

with a sun umbrella as protection.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ooh, there's something called windbreaks.

- Yes. - Which is kind of

a mad thing.

And we'll pass some, where it's a kind of bit of fabric

that you put up with-

- With poles. - wooden posts.

- And yeah, you have a mallet, and you hit it in.

And depending which way the wind is blowing,

you then sit in behind it.

And it does offer quite a large amount of protection.

- Yeah, so when it's windy,

you can kinda sit behind it

and feel protected. - Yeah.

- Which is kind of mad.

'Cause I think most people would be like,

"Why are you going to the beach when it's windy?"

- "If it's that cold, why are you going to the beach?"

- Yeah. - But that's kind of it.

I think for us, it's about being in the great outdoors.

And actually, the days where it rained,

we'd sometimes have the beach to ourselves,

and it was completely magical.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- And then obviously, we got the beach hut,

and these offer amazing bit of protection,

and also an area- - It is good, I know.

- to store your stuff.

So the windbreaks can go in here.

There's a little stove to make a cup of tea.

And a cup of tea by the beach

is the best cup of tea you'll ever have.

- Ah, stunning. (Annie laughs)

So yeah. Here, beach huts, they're wooden ones.

They're temporary, aren't they?

So they put them... - They've put them away

through the winter.

And what's lovely is every owner

does their own design on them.

So different colours and different themes.

In fact, there was a lovely Broadstairs one back there.

- [Teacher Tom] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So yeah.

So a typical day, we'd get down as soon as possible.

We'd take a packed lunch, go picnic.

- Yeah, that's right.

So what would be in the packed lunch?

What kind of things would we have?

- Well, you love an eggy roll.

- (laughs) Yeah, an egg sandwich for sure.

- But I quite liked cucumber sandwich.

It's very English... - Very English.

- Very English sandwich. - They're very nice.

- Packet of crisps.

- Yeah, Hula Hoops my favorite.

- Yes. Always. - Or all of our favorites.

- Kit Kat, maybe we... - Kit Kat.

- (chuckles) A bit of everything.

We always quite liked to have a cake for the afternoon.

- That's right. - A sponge cake

in the afternoon with a cup of tea.

- Yeah.

- That was it really.

Few less...

A thermos.

- Yep, a thermos or flask full of tea, or coffee,

or hot chocolates. - Something hot.

Which again- - And then...

- most people wouldn't take a hot drink

to the beach, would they?

- No. - But in the UK,

that's kind of what you have to do.

- Yeah, absolutely.

And then in terms of like other food,

obviously, we have to talk about fish and chips.

- Yeah. It's a staple.

- Yeah.

- So yeah,

there's probably five fish and chip shops

in Broadstairs, I'd say.

- Yeah.

- And it is just...

We had it last night, didn't we?

- We did. We did. (Annie laughs)

It was wonderful.

- They come in little boxes, which you open up,

and it's a bed of chips, big chunky chips.

- Yeah. - And then

a bit of battered cod or haddock-

- Yep. - sitting on the top.

And that's it, isn't it?

Some vinegar? - Well,

I also have mushy peas-

- You do have mushy peas. - which are peas,

kind of mashed up.

- Yes. - They're delicious.

- Yep. - Yeah, really...

And I think you can have it like in the paper,

you can go to the beach to eat it on the beach,

or you can have it...

- Well, there's often people sitting on little benches.

- Yeah. - All the way up

the promenade and sitting there for supper.

And the only danger is the seagulls.

- Oh yeah. - Who they...

What do they call them like?

Thieves in the air.

They love to swoop down and grab an odd chip from you, so...

- Yeah. (Annie laughs)

They're absolute pests.

- (laughs) They are. - They really are.

And they're huge.

So you have to kind of, yeah,

defend your fish and chips. - Yeah. Yeah.

- And then obviously, we have to talk about ice creams.

- Yes. - And in particular,

Morellis, which is our favorite place-

- It's a very famous- - here in Broadstairs.

- gelateria, I hadn't realized-

sort of- - Right.

- it's spread beyond Broadstairs, but it is

Italian in its origin? - Yeah. Yeah.

- So it's really good ice cream.

- Delicious. - And it's still

exactly the same as when we were children.

It looks very retro and beautiful.

It's definitely worth a visit.

- Yeah, I always get like a 99,

which is a kind of- - Oh yeah.

- whipped vanilla ice cream

with a flake in it in a sort of-

- A cone. - a cone.

Yeah. - Yeah. (laughs)

- Oh, they're amazing.

I mean, they're not the greatest ice creams,

but they are delicious. - No, but there's something,

it's very typical to a British seaside resort.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, we've come up to Bleak House

'cause it was really windy. - It was so windy.

- Very quickly, what is Bleak House right behind us?

- It's where Charles Dickens used to come.

And in fact, that window there,

covered in scaffolding is where he used to write-

- Ah. - looking out at the sea.

- Very cool.

Oh, you can see how windy as my hair is everywhere.

It's fine. (chuckles) - As is mine. (gasps)

- So we were talking about

activities you can do on the beach.

- Yes.

So we used to love going and watching "Punch and Judy,"

and amazingly- - "Punch and Judy."

- he's still there.

- Yeah. The guy that does it.

So what is "Punch and Judy?" - Quite unusual.

So "Punch and Judy" is a puppet show.

- Mm-hmm. - It's a little bit

controversial, and some people don't like it

because there's a fair bit of violence.

- Yes, okay. So it's puppets. (Annie laughs)

- Yes. - Kinda like

a children's theater show.

- [Annie] Yes, so in a very distinctive

red and white striped tent.

- Yep. - And the puppeteer

goes along the beach and bangs a gong.

and tells all the children to come and they sit on the sand,

and he'll go in behind- - Right.

- and he voices all the characters.

- Yeah. - And it's just very chaotic.

- But- - It's very chaotic.

- meant to be just amusing and fun.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - But there's only three

left in the UK now.

- Right. - And one of them is here

in Broadstairs, so that's quite special.

- That is really special. - Yeah.

- Obviously, yeah, you wouldn't find it

in many other places.

There is like a sort of fair here as well, isn't there?

- Yes. - There's swing boats,

and trampolines, and things for kids.

- [Annie] Yeah, swing boats is a very unusual ride.

And I don't know that we have those anywhere else-

- No. - in the world.

So you sit opposite each other and you hold a rope,

and you pull and it makes you go higher.

So it's sort of a (indistinct) swing.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- That was always really fun.

Still on the beach. - And they used to be donkeys.

- Yes, not anymore-

- Not anymore. - unfortunately,

but no... - Yeah, donkey rides.

- Yeah.

So there were so many ways to fill the day, weren't there?

- Yeah. - And the arcade,

when it was raining?

- Aha. We used to love the arcade.

- And now my children love arcade

as much as we did. - Yeah, the 2p machines.

- Yep. - So you'd put these...

You get 2ps and you put them into this slot

and it was a kind of a moving...

- And sometimes... - How do you describe it?

- you'd get a cascade of 2ps that would fall out.

- Yeah.

- It was best feeling in the world when it hit the deck.

- Yeah. That was a great one. - But yeah,

lots of fun like racing games,

and it's just a great way to fill a rainy afternoon.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, although Mum

would probably preferred us to do something.

- Something like reading- - Reading, yeah. (laughs)

- or writing, or something like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you'll notice in Broadstairs,

there's lots of places dedicated to Dickens.

So you've got Dickens Cottage here.

We just saw Bleak House,

and then there's this sign just here.

I really love this one.

It says,

"Charles Dickens never lived here."

(both laughing)

- So Dickens week- - What was Dickens week?

- is still going strong, where people come

and they dress up in traditional Dickensian costumes-

- Uh-huh. - and walk around the town

and celebrate the life of Charles Dickens.

So- - Okay.

- that's a lovely thing.

And then where we are now in August,

we've got folk week going on. - Folk week.

So this is the biggest week in Broadstairs' year.

- Yes. - What happens at folk week?

- (chuckles) There's a lot of madness.

There's Morris dancers, which again,

I think is a very typically English thing.

- Yeah, I'll show you some Morris dancers

in a moment. - Okay.

(lively folk music) (bells chiming)

- Yeehaw! Whoo!

(lively folk music) (bells chiming)

- We get some Morris dancers,

and then we've got just folk music,

and it's lovely 'cause we sit in the square.

We're in the square now, which is where our cottage is.

And you can just hear the...

I was gonna say the fiddle.

Yes it is the fiddle. - Yes.

- The flute. - Fiddle's the flute.

- Yeah. (laughs)

- The banjos, accordions. - Yeah.

- And it's in every bar and pubs as you walk

through the town. - The town, yeah.

- Like each bar or pub has music.

- Very atmospheric.

- Yeah, it's really fun.

It's very, yeah, traditional.

And there's a market as well.

Market is events. - Yes.

Well, we used to come every year

and put some bells on,

and we try and join in the Morris dancers, wouldn't we?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (Annie laughs)

It's a lot of fun.

Okay, so we talked about Broadstairs.

What other famous seaside towns could people visit?

- Well, a really easy one from London is Brighton.

- Ah, classic. - Yeah.

Actually, but this has got easier to get to, hasn't it?

Because they've got a new high-speed train.

So this is only about an hour and 20 from London,

isn't it? - Yeah, so from

St Pancras Station. - Yes.

- And Brighton is also,

yeah, about an hour- - An hour.

- something like that. - Yeah.

- But it's got stony beach, right?

That's the only thing. It's got like a pebble beach.

- Yeah, and it's much more lively than this.

This is a little bit sleepier,

much more kind of traditional English seaside.

Whereas, Brighton is a bustling, thriving town.

- Yeah. I mean, it's a city, I think.

- Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- You've got the university nearby.

Another one that's lovely just near here is Whitstable.

- Whitstable was beautiful, yeah.

- It's famous for its oyster stores.

And yeah, that's a little bit more pebbly again,

but that's a really gorgeous visits.

Where else do you like?

- There's Bournemouth, which is really nice

just on the edge of Hampshire and Dorset, I think.

That's really beautiful.

Loads of options, yeah. - Yeah.

- Obviously, with Margate really near here

which is very famous,

as getting very arty and trendy these days.

- Yeah, and we, I mean, we always love St Ives,

but that's much further. (laughs)

- St Ives, yeah.

- That's more like eight hours.

- Yeah. Cornwall, that's incredible.

And then in the north, you've got things like Blackpool,

Scarborough, Whitby, they're always very popular.

So yeah. - Yeah.

- Lots of options, I'd say.

All right, I think that's a pretty good review

of an English seaside experience.

- Have we covered off all the elements

of what makes an English seaside

such a great day out? - I think we have.

- Yeah, I think we have.

Guys, when you come to the UK,

definitely go to an English seaside town

for a day trip or maybe a little bit longer.

- Yep. - Yeah.

But anyway, thank you so much for joining us.

- Aw, it's been lovely to see you.

Hi, guys, and bye. See you again soon.

- Yeah. Hope you're coming again soon.

- Yeah. - All right.

- Bye. - Bye.