The beach trip

First things first on the beach: comfort. Finisterre’s Black & White Beach Towel (£40, finisterre.com) is soft, fashionable in Breton-style stripes, easy to shake out, and folds down into its own travel pouch for packing away.

And once you’re spread out, you’ll want something to read while soaking up the sun. The

Kindle Paperwhite (£ 109.99, amazon.co.uk) isn’t the most advanced ereader that Amazon offers (that’s the £269.99 Kindle Oasis), but it’s the best balance of features and price. What we love most is the sharp, print- quality screen, so get it loaded with trashy beach faves.

There’s always a risk of water on the beach, so if you want some tunes, the JBL Flip 4 (£ 119.99, jbl.com) waterproof speaker is a great way to get top- quality sound even when splashing around – it’s no problem if the sea catches up with you, or if it gets dropped in a lagoon.

Similarly, if you want to charge your devices, the

RavPower 10050mAh Xtreme

battery pack (£ 19, amazon.co. uk) offers loads of battery juice for your devices, so you can top up your phone or camera in case they get low, with a ruggedised and waterproof design that covers the USB ports when they’re not in use.

And though most new phones these days are impressively waterproof, if yours isn’t (or you’re just not willing to risk it), stick your handset in an

Over- Board Phone Bag (from £ 18.99, over-board.com), to seal it away, so you can take a dip in the sea without the worry of leaving your phone on the beach.

And for some fun sea photos (including underwater), grab the Nikon CoolPix AW 130 (£ 224, europe-nikon.com), or its just-released successor, the W300 (£389). The AW130 is waterproof to 30m, shockproof to drops, and takes great 16-megapixel photos no matter how wet it is.