Column: Kate's thinking about a staycation

Following on from last week's thoughts on the weather, a group of us were doing '¨exactly what I talked about and got together to make the most of the sunshine.

We decided to have an outdoor afternoon tea and 
enjoyed some lovely cucumber sandwiches, strawberries, 
ice cream and, yes you’ve guessed it, a few glasses of Pimms!

Sitting in my friend Elaine’s back garden – her husband’s pride and joy, the garden not Elaine! – it was lovely relaxing in such pretty surroundings soaking up some sunshine rays.

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“If you could be guaranteed weather like this, I wouldn’t go abroad,” said Susan.

And as we all nodded in agreement, she added: “But that’s the problem, you can’t be sure. Knowing my luck we would head up north and it would be torrential rain for a fortnight.

“When you have gone to the Med at least the chances of getting sunny weather is much higher.”

It then got us all talking about how in this country things still seem to shut down by 9pm, hardly conducive to encouraging tourists.

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“The last night we went for a walk down to The Helix we couldn’t even get a coffee or an ice cream,” moaned Elaine.

“But there are some lovely restaurants now in Scotland,” added Susan, “that’s the 
reason I’d like to have a holiday here. Particularly to go up north which is a bit of a trek if you are only going for a couple of nights.”

That prompted a chat about accommodation and none of us wanted to repeat Liz’s experience from her 
student days of camping in a tiny tent on a West coast beach!

Caravans it seems have improved ten-fold since our childhood and now most come complete with mod-cons including showers, microwaves and TVs so they got the thumbs up.

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But most of us longed for a traditional B&B where you could enjoy a comfy bed and someone else making you a great breakfast in the morning.

“They’re great value,” said Susan, “and sitting down to a cooked breakfast being put in front of you beats having to queue up at some Spanish buffet. They usually pride themselves on using local produce so you know what you’re eating.”

I somehow think her husband is going to find himself heading north for his holidays this summer!