I work in a school, and the last few weeks of term have been incredibly busy and stressful as I have been organising an activity week. Months in advance I am always full of what I think are fantastic ideas, but then as it gets closer and I have to put them all into place, I start to regret my earlier enthusiasm. I am a perfectionist and a control freak and I find it impossible to delegate. I hyper fixate on the tiny things that go wrong rather than all the things that go well. Already physically exhausted, it has taken a toll on my mental health as well, and I have felt like a pressure cooker about to explode.

But I made it and now it is the summer holidays, and I have the delicious sensation of a whole six weeks away from work stretching out ahead of me.

My daughter and I celebrated the first day of the holidays with an al fresco veggie breakfast at the Seaview Cafe on Tankerton Slopes., and despite the early hour, swapped out the saute potatoes for chips as they do the best chips ever. Their thick buttered toast is also very good! There can be few more picturesque spots to enjoy breakfast, especially at such a reasonable price, looking out over the sea and the beach huts, across to the Isle of Sheppey beyond.

It was very peaceful .- until the Whitstable parkrun began, and hundreds of runners came puffing and panting past our table, not just once but twice! Not going to lie, it was quite annoying!

Afterwards, we walked to Herne Bay where the holiday treats continued with a delicious, although very sweet, salted caramel milkshake on the pier.

The following day, we walked to a local pick your own cherry farm. There was a sign inviting people to try as they went around the orchard, and we took them at their word. You cannot beat a freshly picked Kent cherry – juicy, sweet and delicious – and I greedily ate too many. So many that I actually couldn’t face eating any more cherries that day, and the two big punnets that we carried home sat untouched in the fridge – although we have been making inroads since!

And so the summer holidays are underway and the list of places that I want to visit and the walks that I want to go on is getting steadily longer and longer. I would need far more than six weeks to do them all, but knowing that I have the time to do as many as I can fit in is enough for now. I just have my fingers crossed for some sunshine!