Village Life

I was back today in Ocean Village where there is always something going on, even just the joy of appreciating being on the waterfront.
It is of course home berth for many craft, both sailing yachts and motor cruisers and you only need look round the marina to see just what variety there is.
The Village is also home to the Royal Southampton Yacht Club seen prominently in my Polaroid Blipfoto and which is at the heart of the sailing community, and one of the oldest royal yacht clubs in the country and therefore a natural magnet for visiting yachtsmen and women as well as the sailing fans who choose  to live in the Village.
But then, the Village is also rich in maritime history in the life of the port of Southampton. For more than 100 years, the dock basin where the Village is located was the base for railway operated ships sailing between the mainland, the Channel Islands and France, and when that service eventually ended 51 years ago, it became base for drive on car ferry services across the Channel, which was to last for no more than 20 years  and then ultimately saw a transformation to become a waterfront leisure village which opened in 1986, embracing residential housing and apartments, offices, restaurants and shops as well as the marina itself.

Even then the Village has seen many changes, with further residential development, a change of focus from shops to restaurants and bars since it was opened and currently preparations for the start of building a waterfront hotel within the Village.
Life in the Village is always enchanting.