Noreen Barr
■ This pretty, ethnic-style woven rug will take you from festivals to picnics in the park. Made from polyester, it has a rich texture and comes with a handy wrap-around handle. Available in green and white.
Fusion Woven Picnic Rug, 135x150cm, £30. johnlewis.com
■ Elegant pheasants adorn this stylish stone green fabric rug which lovers of country designs will adore. The reverse side is water resistant and it comes with a woven cotton carry handle.
Pheasant Picnic Blanket, 145cmx140cm, £35. sophieallport.com
CAN’T BLEAT IT Kids loved the goats
Seals! Over there! shrieks my daughter, pointing excitedly along the beach – apparently at a shoreline sweep of black rocks. Except as we edge closer, I realise she is right.
Occasionally one of the prone lumps rises and drags itself over the sand towards the water.
A deep sea smell – part animal, part harbour– drifts towards us and there’s a low, honking kind of singing from the hundreds of Atlantic grey seals lolling between the groynes on Horsey Gap beach in Norfolk.
Here on a weekend break, we have come across some magic.
Between October and February, the seals – which spend two thirds of their lives in the North Atlantic and can dive 70 metres - haul themselves ashore to calf their pups.
For three weeks, the vulnerable newborns – whose white fur is not even waterproof – are fed milk six times a day by their mothers, so they pile on around 2kg of weight daily, before they’re big enough to fend for themselves.
Retreating to the grassy sandbank to avoid disturbing the seals – the signs say to stay at least 10 metres away – my kids, Eve, seven, and Max, 16, look on in wonder. As do their dad, Mark, and I.
With its sweeping beaches and peaceful countryside, Norfolk is a great place for a family getaway at any time of the year.
And so, on a Friday evening, we arrived in pitch darkness at Fielding Cottage, 20 minutes’ drive west from Norwich and three minutes from the little village of Honingham.
Warmth, modern and bright furnishings and comfy beds are our first impressions of our twobedroom bolthole.
Named Kingfisher, it’s one of three adjoining cottages newly built in the style of traditional black wooden barns.
By 6am on the Saturday, long before dawn or the others wake, Eve and I are up, out and exploring in our pyjamas, jumpers and wellies.
At the end of our little row, we discover a well-heated, open-allhours games room, offering board games, books and table tennis.
As daylight breaks, we find a large,
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A deep sea smell drifts towards us – and a low honking kind of singing