Taking my family down to the coast on Saturday for their holiday (as it’s the school half term holiday this week) provided a very welcome opportunity for some rest and relaxation. After some rain, the skies cleared and I was able to enjoy a lovely moment on the beach, here at Littlestone (very near to New Romney, hence the auto-location label above).

The object that can be seen in the distance is a ‘Pheonix Unit’ - a reinforced concrete caisson originally destined to be part of the Mulberry harbours used as temporary floating harbours immediately after the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944. But this one ran aground while being towed on its way round the coast prior to D-Day, and it’s remained off Littlestone beach ever since. A reminder of what some regard as one of the best examples of military engineering ever undertaken.

Do read the Wikipedia article for more information on this extraordinary undertaking.