We're all going on a ...

Last week was blissful. Our last chance saloon before school kicks in, we snuck away before the end of term to a cottage in Lyme Regis.

In our book bag (Daunt's, of course ...) little A packed:
GORILLA by Anthony Browne - a present from a work colleague, an absolute treasure of a discovery, beautifully illustrated and wonderfully pensive
SCAREDY SQUIRREL MAKES A FRIEND by Melanie Watt - I love these books, discovered through little A's Canadian cousins. Lots of fun
SOME DOGS DO by Jez Alborough - as you know, a favourite of ours
To which I added:
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, THE POOH STORY BOOK, Tony Ross's FAVOURITE NURSERY RHYMES and a lovely illustrated edition of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

But our friends had brought some literary treasures too, so as it turned out, only Charlie got a look in, our book at bedtime serial for the evenings.

Biggest hits were box sets of Pepa Pig (cue much grunting) and the Little Princess books. I do love Tony Ross's illustrations, but have to worry that the princess teaches v bad habits. A lot of quoting of 'I don't want to go to bed' went on ...

But what bliss, always to be home for bedtime, spending days on the beach making sand castles, sand dragons, seaweed witches and neptunes, and making up adventures for them all as we went along.

Best borrowed book of the holiday was THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S LUNCH: proper suspense narrative there, and very appropriate for our seaside holiday. And I was itching to get my hands on ALIENS IN UNDERPANTS SAVE THE WORLD but our Little Princess was too obsessed with the Little Princess.

Really really lovely to be away with story fiends like us, spending happy evenings outdoing each other with comedy accents and grown-up asides; and even getting a little quiet reading time ourselves. What did I read for me? Tracy Chevalier's REMARKABLE CREATURES, of course. Had to be either that or FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN ...

Only disappointment of the trip was that the Ahlbergs' lovely dedicated bookshop has turned into a Cath Kidstone emporium. The twisty wooden bannister and painted blue-sky nook are all that remain of a haven for reading delight. Every book by them is a treasure: I can still recite EACH PEACH PEAR PLUM by heart, although little a too old for it now. But I've just found a new title - STARTING SCHOOL. Could be just what we need, come September.