Oh I do love to be beside the seaside......

PHOTOS HERE

The Company Shed in West Mersea, Essex is an old Oyster shed on the harbour which has been turned into a seafood house. Pretty basic is the way to describe it...you turn up with your own bread, booze and condiments (NO salad though), get your name on the blackboard if the place is humming. It usually takes about an hour to get a table, during which time you can go and have a sly one at the sailing club up the road (they had a very hoppy local on tap, as well as Adnams).

Once you take your table in the shed, you are able to choose from the limited, but delicious menu. We had a seafood platter for six (whole prawns, prawn meat, cockles, smoked mackrel, fresh salmon, whole crab, tiger prawns, mussels) @ £8.50 a head, plus a dozen local oysters, a couple of pints of prawns and a lobster. All in all, it was £75.00..an absolute bargain. We bought a couple of bottles of plonk, some thousand island dressing, some tabasco and a few bread rolls. There was so much in our tums afterwards, we doggy bagged about a pint and a half of prawns. Twelve thumbs up from the A-Team Party!

Atter the seafood extravaganza, we waddled back to the van and on to West Mersea Beach. It was about four pm, and the temperature must have been in the low thirties. Lookingt forward to running down the golden sands into some beautiful blue water, we were somewhat surprised to find the tide was out, revealing a two hundred metre strip of mud, oyster shells and pebbles, leading to some distinctly shallow (but warm) water. It was quite refreshing really, but didn't stop most of the party pining for the likes of Thirroul, Narrabeen or Wineglass. Steve, however, was quite happy in a socks and sandals kinda way. Katie ruined her new Birkenstocks in the mud.

As usual, the requisite snaps can be found right here.