Holiday, vacation, a getaway, timeout - whatever you call it, we're doing it.

Enjoying the coastal delights of East Lothian, the place that enchanted and bewitched my childhood.

With family, 14 of us in total in a rambling Victorian beach house "Rockend". We're a mixed bunch, youngest being six, eldest 76 and a fair representation of each age group in between. First evening is spent discovering and rediscovering the nooks and crannies of this fine old hoose, teen girls squealing when finding the ashes and urn of Margaret has disappeared but has been replaced by one of Eddie...

Breakfasts are cantine style bacon and egg baps, lunch is eat what you can on the hoof, and dinners are chaotic, noisy and hearty, all fueled of course by a long apéro.

Days are spent rockpooling, toe dipping, kids have wetsuits so it full-on swimming for them, wandering around shops, swift pints in beach bars, relaxing, laughing, italien ice-cream (at £2.50 a pop it's every other day...).

Evenings are on the beach, or in the second floor salon admiring the beach view. There's the Bass Rock, Fidra, Craigleith, The Lamb, The Leithies, and on land Berwick Law - enough folklore and myth in those lumps of rock to keep a 6 and 8 year old going for weeks in bedtime stories. The teens planning a hike to the top of Berwick Law at night to watch the sun rise over the Firth of Forth. TV is banned. Let's face it...Who needs TV when you have your imagination? Wifi however isn't, but the sheer number of us means that we invariably get bounced out at some point.

Its only a week, but for that week, there are 14 happy souls blundering around Rockend enjoying life.