Kilve Beach, Somerset

It was kinda strange when Boris eased the restrictions a little here. We kinda felt like dogs too scared to leave the cage. What, we can drive wherever we want for exercise? Feeling the fear, we did it anyway and drive 2 hours south to the Quantox, famous for English romantic poets Coleridge and Wordsworth. A distant relative had a pub in the area once. I don't know where.

We head for East Quantoxhead, and park at Kilve Beach. There are signs saying the car park is shut but we ignore them. Legally we are able to park here and I am absolutely fed up with people dictating rules about my movement. If Boris said I could, well, I'm going to!

The beach is lovely. Across the Bristol Channel I can see Wales, who are on different restrictions to us - we aren't aloud to go there currently, or Scotland. The channel has very big high and low tides, and luckily there's a bit of rocky beach for us to walk on. We find tons of ammonites, ancient sea creatures fossilized in the shale.

After the beach we walk a circular route up to a church and alongside some gardens and then a wood back to the car park. I swoon over red and pink hawthorn.

There are many old thatched houses being rebuilt and restored. In fact there are some stunning houses in the area - or the whole of Somerset! - that we utterly goggle over. Some are really old, dating back to the 12th century.

I miss taking photos of the chantry, but the ruins of yesteryear have given way to restoration. In the 17th century it housed 5 priests whose sole job was to prayer for the deceased family. Way to make money, religious people, and no wonder you fell out of favour. What a rort.

It's so quiet around Kilve Beach, but I can imagine what it's like in 'normal' times. We meet quite a few old folk who we chat to about plants and fossils. They've come from further afield too, unafraid of the virus or of laws. Or perhaps they are more circumspect. Why would you live the last of your years in fear? Or maybe they just don't read Facebook, with all the people screaming that we should remain indoors. Being outdoors on a wild stretch of coast and cold windswept field never gave anyone a virus. We are all good. The sea air is bracing and invigorating, and we sleep well that night.