It’s only natural to remember your childhood holidays fondly, and my memories of our family holidays to the Channel Islands will always be full of beautiful sandy beaches, endless days of sunshine [when I know it must have rained at least once from the photos!], rockpooling, lashings of delicious ice cream and a new summer best friend every year.

Every summer we would drive to Dorset to stay with my grandparents for a few days, and then catch the overnight ferry from Weymouth to the Channel Islands. Arriving by sea always made it feel like we’d come a long way, and there was always something comforting yet exotic about Guernsey. From the £1 notes and warm sandy beaches, to the cobbled streets of St Peter Port and fascinating castles and forts.

Here are some of my favourite photos from those sunny, sandy days on Guernsey:

The ferry ride over! My parents always chose the night ferry so we could sleep most of the journey and wake up arriving at Guernsey. I remember having constant battles with my brother over the top bunk, which I always lost because he was older, bigger and had my parents on his side.

First stop was always the beach. Because we travelled with our car we could bring as many snorkels, rubber rings, frisbees, bats, balls, buckets and spades as we could fit in the boot.

And yet I also remember the fun we had just paddling in the rockpools, building dams to stop the encroaching sea and making new friends on the beach.

And of course my brother’s favourite hobby was to burry me in the sand so I would leave him alone for ten minutes…

Our accommodation was nearly always a tent, but occasionally we stayed in a B&B or hotel.

Every year I remember we had new best friends who we would play with – building sandcastles with and sharing ice cream. This little girl’s parents ran the B&B we stayed at, and for two weeks we were inseparable.

Of course our days weren’t all spent on the beach, we had plenty of castles, forts, museums, parks and cliff walks to explore.

But it was always back to the beaches. We loved all the little bays, and like all Guernsey regulars had our favourites, but we also loved nothing better than finding a new one to try out.

It was always an effort to get us off the beach in the evening, even when we were dressed we wanted to build one more sandcastle or have one more paddle.

And finally, here’s evidence it did rain [once] but of course we were still having fun!