My own kids spent every summer on windswept beaches dashing in and out of the Irish sea, digging holes, making intricate networks of tunnels and castles, sculpting sand dogs and chickens. Blessed with the freedom that a Blackberry gave me, we could spend weeks on end doing this while I stayed in touch with work. Neither they nor I ever tired of it. Sometimes it was so cold that I stood on the shore in my coat, holding bundles of towels to wrap around them as soon as they rushed out of a grey/brown sea. Now, as they look back on their earlier years, it's not the rare holiday in a sun-drenched Italian villa that they remember fondly, but the easy time spent mucking about on the beach.