Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant, Deal

I recently spent a couple of days with the girls and my Mum at her caravan in Deal, on the Kent coast.

As this is a fairly new purchase for my Mum, we are still exploring the town and local restaurant scene, however one that keeps drawing us back is the Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant. My Mum has been to this one in Deal one three times now and Glen and I enjoyed a fantastic fish and chips in the Dover outpost of the small independent chain back in March with the girls – you can see below how appetising it looked, and after a day in the cold and wet Betteshanger Park followed by a beach stroll in Dymchurch it really hit the spot.

Fish & Chips at Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant, Dover

In June however, we enjoyed a meal at the Deal branch of Hythe Bay. We know they source their fish locally and it has always been good each time.

We visited early on a Friday evening, which as those with children will appreciate, is an easier time to eat and be served without too much fuss before the witching hour begins.

Mum and I shared a fritto misto di mare between us – basically a selection of fried seafood including whitebait, cockles, calamari and prawns in a deliciously light batter and served with a garlic aioli. One of our favourites and reminded us of our recent trip to Kefalonia where we had a similar dish often.

Whilst we enjoyed our starter, the girls meal arrived – cod goujons with chips and peas. One children’s meal is sufficient to share for children of their age (3.5 and 1) and they really enjoyed their meal too. A far cry from pub-grub fish fingers, these are delicious and fresh fish goujons, and I would have happily eat them myself.

Although we were in a seafood restaurant, Mum couldn’t resist one of the specials on the menu – calves liver and bacon, she’s a stickler for the old school classics and she enjoyed it immensely. It came with creamy mash and a red wine jus and she said if there were any complaints it would be that the liver was over-cooked a little to her taste, and there could have been more of the red wine jus, but she ate it happily.

Calves Liver & Bacon, Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant

I opted for half a lobster cooked with a garlic butter and served with chips and salad. The lobster meat was cooked perfectly; sweet and tender and complemented greatly by the garlic butter which acted as a great dip for the accompanying chips. A rather decadent meal for a modest price of around £15.

Lobster in Garlic Butter with Chips & Salad, Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant

The girls’ meal came with two scoops of ice cream, which the restaurant staff were more than accommodating enough to put into two bowls so we had two very happy little girls who enjoyed a great two course meal.

Ice Cream @ Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant, Deal

Bea enjoying her ice cream at Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant

Mum and I had a bottle of the Chillean Sauvignon Blanc, which was a lovely light and crisp wine with the meal and really complemented the lobster.  

The full meal was around £70 for the four of us with drinks and two courses a piece, which was well worth it.

I’m sure we’ll be getting to know the staff at The Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant in Deal more as the season wears on. It’s a great restaurant, with friendly and knowledgeable staff. The décor is very much seaside chic on the upscale side, but with comfortable and reasoning price points. A great location for family meals.

Hythe Bay Seafood Restaurant is situated on 41-45 Beach Street in Deal and is open 10am-9:30pm seven days a week.

Little Farthingloe Farm, Dover

During a week’s stay at my Mum’s caravan in Deal, Kent, back in March, the first Sunday fell on Mother’s Day and before heading out for a lovely dinner, we wanted to enjoy some of the local countryside first.

The day before we had headed to Betteshanger Park and carried out a nature trail, which had gone down brilliantly with Bridget (3.5years), Beatrice had only just learned to walk, so she had been a buggy participant.

Bridget wanted more of the same, so we looked up some local nature trails and found Little Farthingloe Farm on the Folkestone Road in Dover, just a fifteen minute drive from Deal, which we thought would hit the spot nicely.

Small, but perfectly formed would be an adequate description of Little Farthingloe, which boasted a ton of sheep, a donkey and a couple of pony’s, which kept Bridget and Beatrice entertained for quite some time. Bridget really enjoyed stroking the ponys, and they were quite tame, if a little unkempt.

Little Farthingloe Farm

There was also an adventure play area which was great for Bridget, but a little too old for Bea.

The ‘woodland trail’ is said to take 30 minutes in total, but it took us closer to an hour, what with stopping to look at various things along the way and the fact there was some quite thick mud due to the cold and wet weather in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. Luckily Bridget was sporting her wellies.

The trail begins by an absolutely mammoth open grassy hill, which was quite fun to climb actually, and once up the top you had spectacular views over the local countryside and the animals in the fields. 

Mothers Day hike at Little Farthingloe Farm, Kent

As we headed into the trail, there was a lot to see along the way. I had made some ‘nature trail checklists’ for Bridget and Bea, which had things such as mushrooms, spider’s webs, animal footprints, pine cones and so on, and we happily trudged along most of the trail stopping to tick off things from our list. 

There was also a bug hotel – which fascinated Bridget, even though its’ rooms were mostly vacant at that time of the year.

We found a few little dens along the way too. 

Little Farthingloe Farm Woodland Trail

Towards the end of the trail, it gets somewhat trickier to navigate. I’m sure if it hadn’t been wet underfoot and muddy, it wouldn’t have been much of an issue, but as Glen was carrying Bea, Bridget and I were buddied up. I do have a bit of a tendency to fall over anyway, regardless of mud, so it was almost inevitable it would happen at some point, and unfortunately it happened as we went downhill in amongst a load of mud, twigs, and trees. I took Bridget down too, till we were both flat on our bums in the mud. Absolutely hilarious – but Bridget was beside herself now, and petrified to come down most of the rest of the trail. It certainly made for a talking and laughing point for the rest of the day, and we were both smothered in mud.

There is a lovely little tea room at LittleFarthingloe Farm, which we didn’t get the chance to enjoy as I didn’t fancy covering their seats in mud, but I do chuckle thinking about the bundles of people who were enjoying a Mother’s Day slice of cake and cup of tea who probably heard Bridget’s screams from up the hill.

We had a lovely hour and a half at LittleFarthingloe Farm, there is no charge for entry and it’s a nice spot for family fun. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area, just watch out when coming down the woodland trail!

Homemade Nature Trail

If you're keen to make your own family nature trail - all I did for mine, was find pictures of each of the following and pop onto a sheet of paper - you can do this any time of the year and add to it depending on where you're going and what you're likely to see.

• Mushrooms growing
• Two stones that look the same
• Animal footprints
• A feather
• A pine cone
• Birds
• Squirrel
• Berries growing wild
• Spiders web
• A brown leaf
• A log on the ground
• Butterfly
• Ladybird
• A pond or stream
• A tree tunnel
• A rabbit hole

The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

Back in March during the coldest spell on record, the girls and I spent a week at my Mum’s newly purchased caravan in Deal, on the Kent coast. We spent the two weekends with Glen, and my friend popped down for a few days but we had a few days on our own too.

I don’t drive, but I never let this hold us back in exploring and so one of the mid-week days, the girls and I (buggy and all) hopped on a Southeastern train from Walmer (the little hamlet of Deal where we were based) to Broadstairs.

I’d long wanted to visit this seaside resort, having heard great things, but I must admit in the cold and slightly drizzly weather it wasn’t quite what it might be at this time of the year, I don’t like to use the word bleak, but having walked around the entire town, on and off the beach, and the few open shops, it wasn’t as inviting as I’d expected. 

I will return over the summer as the sandy beach looked great and I'm sure we'll have a completely different kind of day in the sunshine.

Bridget enjoyed a few of the photographic opportunities – such as climbing in this boat, and posing by the sea, but there wasn’t tons here to do with children in the cold weather. They had a small amusement arcade which we popped into for half an hour. You'll see what the weather was like from these few pictures...

Bridget on the boat at Broadstairs

Trying to keep warm at Broadstairs

Bridget on the beach at Broadstairs

Searching for somewhere to eat, that would be accommodating with a 3 and a 1 year old with buggy in tow, we stumbled upon a few options – Bridget was quite taken with an ice cream parlour on the front, but freezing cold and slightly damp, I was looking for something a little warmer and whilst there were a few fish and chip shops, we’d already enjoyed some that week from Hythe Seafood Bar.

We had a peek in the Royal Albion Hotel, on the sea front, and whilst the children’s menu looked good, we walked in and aside from the fact there were about four wet dogs in there which immediately put me off, nobody approached us to offer a table in five minutes and I got fed up so we retreated back to the high street.

By sheer chance we stumbled upon The OldBakehouse – I saw the bakery first and thought worst case, I can grab us some sausage rolls, but then spotted the little tea room which is an annex of the bakery, I enquired if there was room for the buggy and couldn’t have been more welcomed.

Quaint and comfortably furnished, with meme signs (my Mum is obsessed with these so we felt right at home) and little nods to Kent, The Old Bakehouse was also a warm and welcome retreat from the cold. 

The staff were super friendly with the children too, which is always the most reassuring, especially if you’re eating out alone with them and they were in possession of a high chair too.

We quickly ordered some Welsh rarebit (cheese on toast) and juice for the girls and a cheese ploughman’s for me with a latte.

Hearty, comforting fare indeed and served with a smile, I really couldn’t fault it at all. 

My cheese ploughman’s came with a generous wedge of Cheddar and Brie, salad, coleslaw, pickle, chutney and a basket full of bread which the girls helped me with. For the £4.95 it was reasonably priced for great food – not fancy or refined, but exactly what you’d want in a tea room and I really enjoyed it.

Plougman's at The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

As a treat and to allay Bridget’s requests for ice cream in the aftermath of the ‘beast from the East’, I ordered us some homemade scones with clotted cream and jam as a dessert. They were exquisite. 

Scones at The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

Bridget loves a scone anyway from a few afternoon teas she’s been to with me, but this was Beatrice’s first ever cream tea, and she 100% approved, you can see the jam all over her in these pics.

Bridget's cream tea, The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

Jam face Beatrice, The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

I had change from £20 from our little jaunt here and warm, fuzzy memories of an hour spent happily in the warm during our cold little holiday.

The Old Bakehouse is an absolute gem of a find and I’m sure I’ll return with my Mum when we visit over the summer months. I’d thoroughly recommend.