What Arran is all about!

J&H, the butler and I were on a rather chilly, dismal, damp beach in our waterproof jackets at 10.15 a.m. for a bit of castle building. We stayed for four hours as the weather got better and better and jackets and hoodies and other items were cast aside and the castle, its walls, its outlying buildings, its subsidiary pools, its sea defences et al were built. We went crabbing next, on the jetty: the crabs are fed up with jumping in and out of buckets, so they didn't cooperate even when I bought a nice slice of ham from the grocer's! But it was fun!

At 12.15 we needed lunch: in to the grocers shop for four fresh, dry rolls with some of the lovely ham crammed inside; packets of crisps; a drink and an ice-cream for dessert --- lunch done & dusted and still no need to move away from the jetty.

Tide coming in now, so back to the castle to fight the tide. Guess what? Tide won, despite much prancing and splashing and getting soaked in the late August Clyde. Finally in lovely sunshine at 2.15 .... after four simple hours of sheer delight with no mobi, ipod, nintendo ds, tv, dvd and not a grump or moan or huff or complaint from two sub-teens .... just water, buckets, sand and spades and lots of laughter.... we returned to the cottage to get changed for golf and tennis.

And that is what it's all about!