Visit places that make things you love
Take the fork off the main road and drive on into nowhere. Through the scrubby sandy forest down a twisty windy road.
Park near the pier. It’s the wrong end of town, but you’ll be rewarded with a fine walk to your final destination.
Head down the high street. It’s 10 points for every Joules gilet you see, and 100 points for every London parking permit. But everyone’s welcome as long as they’re friendly.
If you’re lucky, you’re visiting in winter. On a wet and windy Wednesday when you’re never quite warm enough and just being outside feels like a victory.
Left just after the shop. Down the road where my boys thought they saw spaceships peeking over the roofs. Then right, past the gates and over the green.
Go up and in, and straight to the bar. “A pint of Old please”
Walk onto the tarmac and up the steps. It’s been two decades since I went on propellor plane.
There are views out the window like the start of Jurassic Park, and when the plane swoops in to land it skims over a beach that stretches into infinity.
Turns out the place we’re staying is at the end of the airstrip. It’s warm with welcomes and smells of good cooking.
The drive to the start of our walk teaches us two things: Every road is single track. Every car that passes will greet you with a wave. You better wave back.
We’ll go past three, but the first one is the one we’ve come for.
You’ll smell it before you see it: old wood, soaked in spirit. It rolls down the hill like fog. There’s thousands of them. Silently slumbering next to the sea. Soaking in sun and spray for decades.
And then you see it. Whitewashed stone abuts crystal sea. Pagodas pour with smoke. We found a mermaids purse on the pebble beach. It’s better than you could imagine.
Head inside. Get a table with a view. Drink it in, in all senses.
Get there early and you’ll get to open the place. With a big red button cheered by smiling people. Everyone here is happy.
Your first task is climbing the stairs. It’s slow going. Not because it’s high, but because there’s too much to see. You’ll climb past a towering tree grown with more care and craft than most people take in a lifetime.
Getting to the top is like tipping over one of those water rides, but instead you get drenched in fun and play. (You can literally swim here. We tried, but it hurts)
One day I overheard someone saying they were bored. What kind of person could be bored here?
Everything is made with care. Everything is made with fun. Even when you think you’re done there’s more to do.
Coffee and cake in the cafe and lunch served by robots. The food smells like a good hug feels.
Time slows. All there is to do is play. Build. Be.
Arrive before it opens, and leave when you’re politely asked to.
Back outside in the cold. Your face hurts from smiling and your fingers sting from building. Better go back again tomorrow.
- The Sole Bay Inn, Southwold UK via Southwold Pier
- Laphroaig Distillery, Isle of Islay via the Three Distilleries Walk. Stay here.
- LEGO House, Billund, Denmark, via any route possible.
