Diary: a picnic at Brean Down

Yesterday was that rarity in England, a late-summer Bank Holiday which was actually hot. And remarkably the tide was in at the beach here, just south of Brean Down (pictured).

Brean Down: reminds me of a Predator drone

We didn't make it on to the peninsula itself, settling for a Waitrose-inspired picnic at the top of the beach and a walk along the damp sand.

Refreshments (!) at the entrance

The rights to beach-parking are held by the local council. It's £3 for the day and the beach is plenty big. That's more than you can say for the toilets located behind the Burgers and Fries. The women were queued twelve deep and the facilities were rudimentary.

What economic incentive would be required to create first-class facilities?

The demographic is mostly lower-middle-class parents-with-families

Lower-middle-class parents-with-families sounds snobbish, but is observationally accurate. There is an osmotic social gradient running from north to south along the coast here. Burnham-on-Sea, four miles to the south, features large, tattooed people; the shops are poor and the general sense is of a benefits culture.

The beach where we picnicked fronts many caravan parks and was populated mostly with young families on holiday. I heard Birmingham accents.

Progressing north beyond the Down itself you get to Weston-super-Mare which, while still working class, is becoming increasing gentrified as a dormitory for Bristol; it has a Waitrose.

So here is my video panorama: the look and feel of an English beach afternoon in summer.