I visited Weston Super Mare a couple of months ago. I’d been there before with my parents, but couldn’t remember much about it. Apparently it was raining. It was much nicer on this visit. We arrived fairly early, or at least before the bulk of the tourists arrived. That meant that for a short while the beached were fairly empty and there wasn’t a queue for the donkey rides. The donkey my daughter went on was paired up with a trainee. The trainee donkey was allowed to the experienced one up and down the beach at leisure. That enabled me to get this shot of the pony almost alone with the pier.

The Grand Pier was almost destroyed by a fire in 2008, but has since had £34 million spent on a refit. I’m always interested in what other piers offer in comparison with what Hastings Pier used to be. At 400m in length it is bigger than Hastings Pier. The Grand Pier met my expectations by being mainly arcades and sweet shops. At the end there is considerable space for functions and a couple of restaurants. You are charged a couple of quid to get on there too.

As for Weston Super Mare itself, it is everything you would expect a popular seaside resort to be and nothing more. It has a nice sandy beach, but other than that everything on offer feels very similar to that at Hastings. It doesn’t have the history that Hastings does, nor the fabulous old town.These photographs can be viewed full size on my Flickr page by clicking on them.