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Creating a Bluetooth proxy with ESPHome

August 7, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo of an m5stack Atom Lite which has been flashed with ESPHome firmware to act as a Bluetooth Proxy for Home Assistant

My latest Home Assistant project has been creating a Bluetooth Proxy – a device that essentially extends the range of my Raspberry Pi’s Bluetooth signal. To do this, I’ve purchased a small device with a ESP32 chip on, and flashed it with firmware from ESPHome.

Okay, so that introduction has a lot of jargon. Allow me to break it down a little.

What is a Bluetooth proxy?

Because Bluetooth connections are point-to-point, you can’t use range extenders like you can with Wifi, Zigbee and Thread networks. That means that any Bluetooth devices that you want to connect to Home Assistant need to be in range of the device that you’re running Home Assistant on. I recently moved my Raspberry Pi to a different location, which meant that it was out of range of one of my Bluetooth thermometers.

A Bluetooth proxy acts as a kind-of bridge between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. You place the proxy device within range of the Bluetooth devices that you want to connect to Home Assistant, and connect it to your home Wi-Fi network. Once set up, Home Assistant should see your Bluetooth devices as if they were in range.

If you’re running Home Assistant Container, then a Bluetooth proxy may also be easier to set up than a USB Bluetooth dongle. Passing USB devices into a Docker image doesn’t always work well.

It’s worth noting here that Bluetooth proxies are just a Home Assistant ‘thing’. They won’t help you connect a Bluetooth speaker to, say, a smartphone that’s out of range. Also, you can’t buy a device that works as a Bluetooth proxy out of the box. Seriously, if you go onto Amazon and search for ‘Bluetooth proxy’ (sponsored link), all you will get is results for Bluetooth adaptors and development boards with ESP32 chips.

The M5Stack Atom Lite

Whilst there are lots of boards that you can buy, a good option is the M5Stack Atom Lite (also available from AliExpress, where I got mine). This is because it comes with a plastic case, and connects easily using a USB-C cable. You could buy a different board and make your own case for it, but I don’t have a lot of time right now and don’t own a 3D printer. Besides, it costs less than £10 delivered.

The device is tiny – about the size of a 50p piece, and less than a centimetre thick. Because it’s a development board, it also comes with several pins to connect to other devices, but these aren’t necessary if you’re just using it as a Bluetooth proxy. Inside, is the Espressif ESP32 chip.

There are other ESP32-based products in the M5Stack Atom range, that add (for example) a microphone or GPS chip, but again, we don’t need these for a simple Bluetooth proxy.

Installing ESPHome

ESPHome is a sister project to Home Assistant, as they’re both managed by the Open Home Foundation. It’s similar to Tasmota, which I’ve blogged about before, in that they’re both custom firmware packages that you can flash onto ESP devices. Whilst Tasmota and ESPHome can do many of the same things, if you want a Bluetooth proxy then you’ll need to use ESPHome as Tasmota doesn’t support it.

Probably the easiest way to install ESPHome is using one of the ready-made projects. These can be flashed directly from your web browser, as long as you’re using Chrome or Edge (Firefox doesn’t yet support WebSerial so won’t work). You’ll need to connect your Atom Lite to your computer using a USB-C cable that supports both data and charging. You may also need to install the USB drivers – on my Windows 10 machine, the ‘CH9102_VCP_SER_Windows’ download worked. You should then be able to install the firmware, which will take a couple of minutes. Once done, you’ll be prompted for your home Wi-Fi network name and password, and then you should be good to go. Home Assistant will hopefully detect your new Bluetooth proxy automatically.

Managing your Bluetooth proxy in ESPHome

I used ‘hopefully’ in the previous sentence, because this didn’t happen in my case. As I used Home Assistant Supervised, I was able to install the official ESPHome addon; if you use Docker, you can just run docker pull ghcr.io/esphome/esphome to install it. Once installed, the ESPHome addon/docker image should detect your Bluetooth proxy and allow you to ‘adopt’ it.

This will let you view the hostname of your Bluetooth proxy device, which will be something like ‘atom-bluetooth-proxy-wibble.local‘. You can then add the ESPHome integration to Home Assistant, specifying the hostname, and you’ll be good to go. As soon as the integration was working, Home Assistant was able to see a new Bluetooth device and allowed me to configure the integration.

Going forward, you should find that Home Assistant is able to automatically update your ESPHome devices whenever new firmware is available – this is a new feature from the 2024.07 release. But you can also use the ESPHome addon/docker image to add or change features on your device. You could, for example, allow your device to act as an iBeacon as well (I think).

One thing to bear in mind is that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi both use the same 2.4 GHz frequency band. So, if you’re comfortable building your own board with a wired Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi, then you may get better performance.

Our 2024 holiday: The Alnwick Garden

August 5, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo of the water cascade at the Alnwick Garden.

This is the third blog post about what we did on our 2024 holiday to Northumberland. Yesterday was about Seahouses, and today is about our visit to The Alnwick Garden and Lilidorei.

Alnwick is probably best known for its castle, and the gardens are adjacent and on land that was owned by the dukes of Northumberland. Whilst there have been formal gardens here for many years, these were mostly in a state of disrepair for much of the 20th century. Work to renovate the gardens started in the 1990s with a public opening in 2001. Since then, further phases have seen the gardens expand.

The Poison Garden

My wife Christine is a pharmacist, and so there was no question about us visiting The Poison Garden within the Alnwick Garden. Opened in 2005, this locked garden is full of poisonous plants; as such, entry is only permitted as part of a guided tour in small groups. The tour is good, as it underlines how many of the plants have legitimate medicinal uses as well as being poisonous. There are also posters about famous murderers who poisoned their victims, and what they used. It’s an opportunity to see a cannabis plant, as the garden is also involved in drug education and so has a license to grow one legally.

Elsewhere within the Alnwick Garden there’s a willow maze, which makes for a dark, tranquil space as the willow has grown over it, and plenty of water features. There’s also a more traditional walled garden at the top of the site, and a cherry tree orchard that would be fantastic to see in the spring. The Treehouse restaurant is in a massive treehouse – but you need to book table in advance. Other places to eat are available.

Lilidorei

Adjacent to the Alnwick Garden, but with a separate entrance, is Lilidorei – a new attraction opened in 2023 as essentially a huge kids play area. It has probably the biggest climbing frame I’ve seen, as well as sandpits and a walk around a series of themed huts. Each hut is supposedly home to a tribe, such as goblins, dwarves, elves, sprites and others. It’s probably most suitable for kids aged 4-10, and our eight-year-old loved it. There was an Olympics themed activity whilst we were there too.

Taken together, the Alnwick Garden and Lilidorei are a full day out. You can view the rest of my photos on Flickr.

Accessibility

Being a newer attraction means that accessibility is really good – there’s wheelchair access everywhere and a changing places toilet is available. Extensive accessibility information is available on the Alnwick Garden web site. There’s a car park nearby shared with the castle, and you can buy combined tickets for the garden and Lilidorei (but not the castle). A discount is available for Max card holders.

Alnmouth no longer has a railway station – the building is now home to Barter Books, famous for re-popularising the Keep Calm and Carry On poster. The nearest railway station is Alnmouth, from which you can catch a bus to Alnwick, and then there’s a free Alnwick Attractions bus that runs around the town during the summer months and school holidays.

Our 2024 holiday: Bamburgh Castle

August 3, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo of Bamburgh Castle taken from the car park

This is the second blog post about what we did on our 2024 holiday to Northumberland. Yesterday was about Seahouses, and today we’re going just a couple of miles up the coast to Bamburgh Castle.

Bamburgh Castle sits on a raised bit of rock by the sea, and there has been evidence of a castle on the site since around AD 547. The current castle is based on one built by the Normans in the 12th century, but much of the interior dates from the 19th century when it was used as a hospital. It then became a private residence for Lord William Armstrong, and it remains in the Armstrong family to this day.

As such, inside it is furnished as a stately home, although you can still go into the castle’s keep, and see some armour and weapons. Its long history means that plenty of archaeological digs have taken place, and some of the artefacts are on display. There’s also a separate museum focussing on Lord Armstrong’s inventions, in particular around aviation, although we didn’t go into it. There’s plenty of interactive things, which helps to keep it interesting for kids.

At present, there’s an exhibition about the Netflix series The Last Kingdom, for which the castle both serves as inspiration for the story, and a filming location. This is in the King’s Hall.

Outside the castle, there are the grounds, with a series of cannons and probably the best view of the Farne Islands from the mainland. The beach (which is publicly accessible) is also one of the best in the UK – we had a picnic there, although there is a café at the castle.

You can view the rest of my photos from our visit on Flickr.

Accessibility

Being such an ancient building, access to the upper floors is only via stairs. However, the downstairs area should be accessible to wheelchairs, and there’s a video to watch for those unable to access the rest of the castle. A discount is available to Max Card holders.

If you arrive by car, then you’ll need to pay £5 to park. However, your parking ticket is transferrable to other car parks in the village, including one by the beach. The same infrequent bus services (418 and X18) that call at Seahouses also serves the village of Bamburgh.

Welcome to August

August 1, 2024 by Neil Turner

It’s the 1st August today. That means that it’s Yorkshire Day, and for once, I’m actually in Yorkshire as normal on Yorkshire Day for the first time since 2020.

But August is also my busiest month of the year at work. I work in university admissions, and the 15th August is the date when most 18-year-olds get their exam results, so there’s a lot of work to be done either side of this date. I’ll be working longer hours that day, as well as a couple of weekend days.

What this means is that most blog posts this month will have been written in advance. I still have the rest of our holiday to write up, which you’ll hopefully see over the next couple of weeks. And I’ll try to intersperse these posts with other topics. But there’s also a good chance that I may fall behind on my aim to publish a new blog post every other day, if I don’t manage to get enough posts written ahead of time.

Playlist of the month: Actors turned artists

July 31, 2024 by Neil Turner

Screenshot of the actors turned artists playlist on Spotify

Last month, I shared with you some appallingly bad cheese. This month, the theme is ‘actors turned artists’ – actors who have gone on to release music. There were quite a lot to choose from, although some are technically from musical films. Here’s the link to the playlist on Spotify.

‘I’m Just Ken’ by Ryan Gosling. Gosling showed his singing talent in La La Land, but his solo in last year’s Barbie movie brought greater awareness. Especially to those who don’t remember him being on the Mickey Mouse Club.
‘What If’ by Kate Winslett. Winslett sang this for a 2001 animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and it was released as a single to promote the film. She has such an amazing singing voice, so it’s a shame that there aren’t more songs out there that she has recorded and released.
‘Yellow’ by Jodie Whittaker. Whittaker is probably best known as being the 13th Doctor, and released this lovely cover version of Coldplay’s debut single for BBC Children in Need in 2019.
‘On the Floor’ by Jennifer Lopez. JLo is probably as well known for her acting as for her singing. This song is probably my favourite of hers but ‘Waiting for Tonight’ is also top tier.
‘The Greatest Show’ by Hugh Jackman. Oh no, another excuse to have a song from The Greatest Showman soundtrack in a playlist! Jackman was well known as musicals star before taking on the role of Wolverine in the X-Men films.
‘Wild Wild West’ by Will Smith. There was a time when every Will Smith film had a song that accompanied it, although I’ve not seen Wild Wild West myself.
‘Boy You Knock Me Out’ by Tatyana Ali. Ali was Will Smith’s co-star in the Fresh Price of Bel Air, and released a solo album in 1999 featuring a guest rap by Smith on this song.
‘Under the Broadwalk’ by Bruce Willis. A friend at university had this on cassette tape, along with other novelty songs such as ‘Star Trekkin’ by The Firm.
‘Looking for Freedom’ by David Hasselhoff. What can I say other than it’s David Hasselhoff singing?
‘Falling Down’ by Scarlett Johansson. I could have chosen any number of other Marvel Cinematic Universe actors here as it seems that many of them have released albums (either solo or in bands) but I chose this one.

Our 2024 holiday: Seahouses

July 29, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo showing a view across the harbour at Seahouses in Northumberland.

This is the first of a series of blog posts about what we did on our 2024 summer holiday. We stayed in Seahouses, a small village on the Northumberland coast, in a rented holiday cottage.

Seahouses is nice – much smaller than other seaside resorts like Blackpool or Scarborough and less brash. There was just the one amusement arcade, for example, which was in a relatively unassuming building away from the seafront. The main reason for Seahouses becoming a village was its harbour, which is known as the ‘North Sunderland Harbour’, as it acted as the harbour for the neighbouring village of North Sunderland. This village has nothing to do with the better-known City of Sunderland in the next county to the south.

The name ‘Seahouses’ came about from the small houses built around the harbour by the fishing community, and mainly came into use when the North Sunderland Railway opened. That’s now gone, having closed in the 1950s, and there’s a car park where the railway station used to be.

Many of these ‘sea houses’ are now holiday cottages, and if you walk down one of the streets you’ll see that most of the houses have key safes outside. I suspect that, in the winter, Seahouses gets a lot quieter than during the peak summer tourist season.

What’s there to see in Seahouses

We arrived late on the Friday night, and so we had a wander around the village on Saturday morning. As mentioned, there’s lots of holiday cottages and the harbour. There’s also plenty of gift shops, restaurants and a few pubs. At one time, there would have been many smokehouses, selling smoke fish – indeed, it’s believed that the kipper was invented in Seahouses. Nowadays, there’s just one smokehouse left: Swallow Fish.

There’s plenty of seabirds to watch. As well as the usual seagulls, we saw oyster catchers, sandpipers and a couple of grebes in the sea. There are also several eider ducks in the harbour.

Seahouses is also the main launch point for boats to the Farne Islands and Lindisfarne, which we visited later in the week (blog posts to come). There’s also a lifeboat station which is home to one of the larger lifeboats, and a tractor to haul it to the sea – plus the usual RNLI shop.

It’s a pretty little village and, if you’re not staying, maybe somewhere to look at on the way through. You can view more of my photos on Flickr.

Accessibility

As mentioned before, Seahouses’ railway station was closed in the 1950s. The nearest railway station is at Chathill, but it only gets a token service of two trains per day towards Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and there’s no connecting bus service. The 418 and X18 run every four hours (so collectively there’s a bus around every two hours in each direction) which connect to Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnwick, Morpeth and Newcastle. With this in mind, you’re probably going to want to drive to Seahouses, and it’s on the Northumberland Coastal Route which is a signposted route along mostly B-roads.

In terms of getting around once you’re there, obviously it’s a coastal village and so there’s a slope down to the shore. Whilst there are steps in places, you should be able to find an alternative sloped route where needed. A public changing places toilet is available in the village.

Back from our holidays

July 27, 2024 by Neil Turner

This is another pre-recorded post – I’m actually writing this a couple of weeks ahead of time – but by the time you read this, we’ll be back from our 2024 summer holiday. We went to Northumberland, and stayed in the coastal village of Seahouses.

As mentioned in my domestic holidays post, we decided to have a holiday in England as my dad has had some periods of ill health recently, and wouldn’t have managed the driving that we normally do when we go to France. But it was also an opportunity to visit somewhere that I’ve only ever passed through; I haven’t had the chance to actually see some of the places that we’ve visited before properly. Which, considering that Northumberland is only three hours away by car, is a bit of a shame.

Consent

I also didn’t want to talk about where we were going in advance. Now, whilst this blog doesn’t attract the readership that it once did, I am also conscious that what I write here is public. And so I don’t really want to state exactly where I am at any given time, just in case someone uses that information against me. Of course, you may just decide that you like me and want to meet up with me, but I’d rather you didn’t – or at least, you contact me first and get my consent.

And it’s with consent in mind that covers my other reason for being vague about where I’m going. When it comes to my holidays, it isn’t just me going but my parents, my wife and our eight-year-old. And it’s our eight-year-old in particular whose identity I want to protect. I avoid using their actual name or gender on here, because they are too young to give informed consent for this to be public information. I don’t think they’re old enough to have a conversation about what a blog is, or that any information that I put up about them is public and likely to be available forever. Because even if I delete old posts (and a lot are missing), they may live on in places like the Web Archive.

Our eight-year-old watches lots of videos on YouTube Kids now (which is part of the reason for us cancelling Disney+), and many of these feature young kids. Now, obviously their parents are more comfortable with this, but it makes me cringe. It’s worth reading this Teen Vogue article about kids of influencers. I want my child to enjoy their time as a child, and I don’t want to have a difficult conversation when they’re older about all the things that I’ve shared about them in public.

Anyway, back to the holiday

Okay, so this blog post didn’t quite go the way I expected it to. Once I’ve had time to download and edit the photos that I’ve taken, I’ll be posting a series of blog posts about the things that we did whilst we were away.

Our 2023 summer holiday in the Loire

December 31, 2024July 25, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo of a model of Chateau de Chambord, one of the Loire castles

I’m away on holiday at the moment, so this week’s posts are about previous un-blogged holidays from 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Yesterday was our 2022 holiday to Brittany, and today it’s our 2023 holiday to the Loire Valley in France.

Though I did go into some detail about our 2023 holiday in my 2023 review, here’s a bit more about what we did and where we went. Our holiday followed its usual format – an overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo, and then we drove down to stay in a static caravan at a campsite. This year we stayed near St Catherine de Fierbois, to the south of the Loire valley and between Tours and Poitiers.

Here’s what we got up to:

A miniature model of Chateau de Chambord at the Parc des Mini-Chateaux

Parc des Mini-Châteaux

One thing the Loire Valley is known for are its many castles, or ‘châteaux’ in French. We limited ourselves to three this year, but we got to see miniature models of almost all of them at the Parc des Mini Châteaux. Here, there are models of Chambord, Chenonceau and many others that we had previously been to in person. It’s a fun way of seeing lots of places without having to travel to them all in person, and probably better for kids too.

Château du Clos Lucé

The first real château that we visited was Château du Clos Lucé, in which Leonardo da Vinci spent some time. Consequently it’s a museum containing recreations of some of his inventions, and a print of that painting. What we enjoyed more were the gardens, which also contained several of da Vinci’s inventions, but on a much larger scale. Some, like an Archimedes screw, were interactive, and exploring the gardens was fun.

Zooparc de Beauval

Zooparc Beauval is probably my favourite zoo that I’ve ever been to. We went there for the first time in 2018, and made a return visit last year. Since then, it’s expanded, and as was already too much to see in one day before, we focussed on the new bits and then our favourite bits from last time.

Its star attraction is probably the giant pandas, and we were lucky enough to see them. Unlike those that went to Edinburgh Zoo, those at Beauval have had more success at breeding and so there were four pandas there when we went. There had been a cub that we saw in 2018, but I believe it’s moved elsewhere to carry on the breeding programme.

The other thing that you should make time to see is Les Maitres des Airs, which is a fantastic daily bird flying show. Though there were fewer birds taking part compared to 2018, it’s still a great spectacle. Get there early to get a good view.

Other animals that I haven’t seen much elsewhere include hippos, dugongs and white tigers.

A spiny fish in the Aquarium de Touraine

Grand Aquarium de Touraine

We bought a joint ticket for both the Grand Aquarium de Touraine and the Parc des Mini-Châteaux, so when a wet day rolled around we had something to do. It’s interesting enough to spend half a day at; a particular highlight for our (then) seven-year-old was being able to draw a fish and have it scanned by a camera, to then appear in a virtual aquarium on a projector screen with others creations.

Château d’Ussé

The second Loire château that we visited was Château d’Ussé, which allegedly was the inspiration for the story of Sleeping Beauty. This is something that the owners have capitalised on, and so as well as being able to go inside some of the interior of the château, there’s also a walk around the top floor where the rooms have been decorated to tell the story. There’s also some nice gardens to walk around, but part of the building is off limits as its owners still live there.

Château du Riveau

One château that wasn’t at the Parc des Mini-Châteaux was Château du Riveau, as it hasn’t been open to the public for very long. Again, its owners live here and so only a few rooms inside are open.

The gardens are really good – and we got a discount for being RHS members. There’s lots of sculptures, and a few pet birds around, and it’s very whimsically French. The whimsy continues inside – there’s lots of taxidermy on the walls wearing glasses or mounted backwards. We really enjoyed our visit here and it stands out compared to the other châteaux of the Loire. You can see the rest of my photos on Flickr.

Futuroscope

Futuroscope is a theme park based around film. It opened in the 1980s, and I went twice with my parents in the 1990s. This time I introduced it to my wife and our (then) seven-year-old, and it was a lot of fun.

Each of the pavilions is a different kind of cinema. Some have massive Imax screens, others are in 3D or the seats move with the film. In some, you may find yourself sprayed with water or blasted with air. The architecture is also futuristic, in a way that (for the most part) still feels modern even after over 30 years.

And yes, it’s very French. The food is much better than your average British theme park, and there’s some really whimsical evening entertainment. We would have liked to have stayed around for the evening sound and light show, but being July it was quite late at night. Again, there’s more photos on Flickr since I actually got around to uploading them.

Our 2022 summer holiday in Brittany

December 31, 2024July 25, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo of Carnac beach on the coast of Brittany

I’m away on holiday at the moment, so this week’s posts are about previous un-blogged holidays from 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Yesterday was our 2021 holiday to Kent and East Sussex, and today it’s our 2022 holiday to Brittany.

By the summer of 2022, almost all Covid restrictions were gone and so we ventured outside of England for the first time in three years. We returned to our usual holiday format of a couple of weeks in France, staying in a Eurocamp static caravan, and this time, we went to Brittany in Northern France.

I’ve been to Brittany a few times, but it was the first time for our then six-year-old and my wife Christine. We stayed near Carnac on the Atlantic coast, which is well-known for the Carnac Stones – around 3000 standing stones across the area.

Here’s where we visited:

St Malo

The easiest way to get to Brittany from England is by ferry, and so we took the overnight Portsmouth-St Malo ferry with Brittany Ferries. As (for once) we didn’t have a long drive on arrival in France, we spent the first morning in St Malo, having a wander around the town and harbour. The town is fortified, and inside the town walls there’s a Micro Zoo, with lots of small animals. It’s a nice little place, if not especially interesting, and was enough to pass the morning before heading onwards to Carnac.

Pont Aven

Pont Aven is a scenic little town in Brittany that’s home to lots of artist studios. We took advantage of the all day kid’s club at the campsite to have a grown-ups only day here. It’s a nice place to wander around – it’s in a steep-sided valley with a river running through it.

Parc de Branféré

We always seem to end up at a zoo on our holidays, and this year it was Parc de Branféré. Make sure you stick around for the bird show, as they bring out all of the hand-reared birds pretty much all at once. It was fantastic being able to get so close to the animals – many are not locked away in enclosures, but free to roam around. It’s definitely one of my top five zoos that I’ve visited.

A photo of the outside of the Insectaraium de Lizio

Insectarium de Lizio

Another zoo of sorts, but this time focussed mostly on insects. As well as many preserved examples in frames, there were a number of live insects here, as well as a bee colony and an outdoor butterfly garden. It was certainly enough to fill a morning, even if it’s not a very big place. And you probably need to like insects to really enjoy it.

Museum of the Junkyard Poet

Also in Lizio (which in reality is a rather small village) is the Museum of the Junkyard Poet, which we found whilst browsing TripAdvisor. It’s a fabulously whimsical place in the Brittany countryside, with buildings and contraptions made out of discarded materials. It’s very, very French, but fun to explore with lots of hidden things. Oh, and there were loads of frogs all over the place.

Quiberon

Quiberon is a town on the end of a peninsula that pokes out into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a port for ferries to a few islands in Quiberon Bay, the largest being Belle-Île-en-Mer (which literally translates as, um, ‘pretty island in the sea’). There’s nice sandy beaches and it’s a seaside resort, sort-of like Blackpool but sunnier and French.

Our 2021 summer holiday in Kent and East Sussex

July 23, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo of the beach at Camber Sands in East Sussex

I’m away on holiday at the moment, so this week’s posts are about previous un-blogged holidays from 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Yesterday was our 2019 holiday to the Dordogne in France, and today, it’s our 2021 holiday to Kent and East Sussex.

In 2021, with some remaining Covid restrictions making travel a little difficult, we decided to have a domestic holiday and remain in England. We decided to stay on the south coast, at Parkdean’s Camber Sands resort in East Sussex. This wasn’t our first stay at a Parkdean resort – Sci-Fi Weekender is at Parkdean’s Vauxhall Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth – although it was the first time that my parents had stayed at such a place. My parents found it rather different to the Eurocamp sites that they’re used to in France – the static caravans are more tightly packed in and usually don’t have decking outside. But it was fine as a base to explore the area.

Here’s where we visited:

Hever Castle

On the way down, we called in at Hever Castle, which is probably best known as being the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. The castle itself isn’t that big, and we actually didn’t have time to go in to it properly, but there’s plenty to see and do in the grounds. There’s some really nice gardens, and regular jousting events at weekends, which are fun to watch. Our eight-year-old (who was five at the time) particularly liked the water maze, and there are several playgrounds too, so it’s a great place to take kids.

Unlike the other castles mentioned here later, this isn’t run by the National Trust. However, it’s possible to get discounted entry with Tesco Clubcard vouchers, Gardener’s World two-for-one cards, or membership of the RHS or Historic Houses.

A photo of a steam locomotive carrying a nameboard that says 'The Johnston Express'

The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

Along the Kent coast is 13 ½ mile miniature railway – the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. All the locomotives are ⅓ of the size of regular mainline trains, and it runs from Hythe in the east to Dungeness in the west. We travelled the whole line. At Dungeness, there’s a small café and a visitor centre, and you should have time for a stroll around the village of Dungeness between trains. It’s quiet scenic apart from the massive nuclear power station.

Howletts Wild Animal Park

We used more of our Tesco Clubcard vouchers at Howletts Wild Animal Park. It’s a zoo, but doesn’t call itself one; the focus is on breeding endangered animals and allowing them large habitats to live in. Consequently it’s quite a large site, with several big cat species, elephants and gorillas. It’s one of two animal sanctuaries in Kent run by the Aspinall Foundation, whose founder, John Aspinall, had some odd ideas about animal husbandry which has seen at least two keepers die over the years. Because the focus is on animal welfare rather than visitor experience, don’t be surprised if not every animal is available to see. We saw just about everything apart from the pallas cats.

A view of a street in the town of Rye in East Sussex

Rye

The nearest town to Camber Sands is Rye, which is situated on a natural hill and has a castle at the top. It’s a pretty little town, with narrow cobblestone streets and a harbour. There’s plenty of tourist-orientated shops, and the castle is open as a museum, with good views from the top.

Bodiam Castle

My mum sold this to us as a ‘proper castle’. It has a real moat, and bridge to cross it, to enter the keep. On the inside it’s mostly open to the elements, but when we went there were plenty of activities for kids. This is a National Trust property.

Scotney Castle

We had a two castle day that day, and followed up our visit to Bodiam Castle with a trip to Scotney Castle in the afternoon. You may recognise it as a filming location for the Sandman series that was on Netflix a couple of years ago. It’s also a National Trust property – between our National Trust membership and Tesco Clubcard vouchers, we had a good value holiday.

The old part of the castle is mostly ruins, but there’s also a newer castle which we didn’t go into. There’s also plenty of grounds and a playground for the kids.

Hastings

Our run of nice weather petered out and so we had a wet day in the town of Hastings. Here, we visited the aquarium, the Fishermen’s Museum and the Shipwreck Museum in the Rock-a-Nore, and had a wander around the harbour and lifeboat station.

On the way home

Outside of Kent and East Sussex, we stopped over in Slough and spent an afternoon in Windsor, following by a day at Legoland Windsor, before heading home. Our eight-year-old is desperate for a return visit to Legoland.