A Day ay Reculver Towers

As part of our current Home Ed topic about Rivers and Beaches, we have been exploring the different beaches that are local to us. We are incredibly lucky to live on the South East coast and have plenty of different places around us.

One coastline is especially interesting because it shows the progression of different types of beaches and how erosion shapes each one. We recently visited Whitstable, which is known as a fishing seaside town. It was a great day, but one thing the boys noticed straight away was how strong and large the pebble beach was. It felt heavy underfoot and completely different to the softer beaches they are used to.

 

Just five minutes down the road you reach the neighbouring beaches of Herne Bay and then Reculver. The boys were keen to explore all three, and the more they learned, the more they wanted to go back. Day after day the weather was unsuitable, and the more they were cooped up, the more the need to get out and investigate grew. I could not put it off another week and did the ridiculous thing of promising the boys, rain or shine, that we would go out.

I had to say those exact words, didn't I?

The day came and it was horrible but I had promised, so off we went.

Reculver

Reculver greeted us with the heavens opening the moment we arrived. A dark cloud rolled over the Towers and the rain hammered down. Reculver is a good place to start though. The Towers mark the site of a Roman fort that later became a monastery. Over time, erosion claimed the edges of the land and parts of the site collapsed into the sea. It is one of the clearest examples of how powerful coastal erosion can be. Something that I taught the boys while we waited. 

Once the rain eased, we played for a while at the nearby park. It was still dismal, but the boys made the best of it. When the sun finally came out, we had more time to investigate properly. We walked down to the sea front and the boys were fascinated by the boulders placed along the shore to prevent further erosion. They stood there for ages, looking at how the rocks broke the waves and protected the land behind them.

 

 

  

The site once stretched much further out, but centuries of erosion have taken whole sections of land. The Towers that remain are only a fraction of what once stood there, which makes it even more striking when you see them against the coastline.

They pointed out how Whitstable’s heavy pebbles felt completely different to Herne Bay’s mix of shingle and sand, and how Reculver’s coastline looked more dramatic because of the erosion barriers. It was nice watching them make those connections on their own.

We didn't spend too long at Reculver, so we moved on and explored what else we could find. With the sun shining, we enjoyed the rest of the day. The boys compared the beaches, talked about the differences in the sand and stones, and pointed out how each place had been shaped by the sea in its own way.

  

 

We decided to the head over to Whitstable for aa little play before we went home. There's a nice little play park at the beach, which they really enjoyed.

If you drive from Whitstable along the coast, you reach Herne Bay first. Reculver is just a short distance further east, past Beltinge. It is technically part of the wider Herne Bay area, although Reculver has its own identity because of the Towers, the Roman fort history, and the dramatic coastline.

It ended up being a simple day out, but one filled with learning, exploring, and the kind of curiosity that makes Home Ed so enjoyable. 

Days like this remind me why Home Ed works so well for us. The boys learn more from standing on a beach, feeling the stones under their feet, and watching the waves hit the boulders than they ever would from a worksheet. 

Even with the rain, it was worth it. Sometimes the best lessons come from the days that do not go to plan.