Wild cooking!

A real driftwood fire, surrounded by blackened stones. Sharpened sticks with sausages impaled on them. Soft rolls slathered with tomato ketchup (boys) or garlic mayonnaise (bigs). Sand and smoke everywhere. And marshmallows to follow. The boys were in the sea and built a tidal castle with proper metal toe-amputating spades. Their father was in the sea rescuing one of said spades ('it needed a wash'). Later, we had an adventure climbing in the woods behind the beach, followed by a game of frisbee in the grassy area. For once, we were the noisiest party on the beach, and it was just great.

PS. I cooked the sausages first - no. 1 tip for a hassle-free experience.