Canvey Island, Essex

Our visit

We regularly look after our delightful 11-year old grandson, Patrick. In the holidays, we take him and his best friend, Jasmine, on days out. They love everything - woods, playgrounds, parks, zoo, beach, gymnastics, climbing walls, museums, etc, etc. Graham had read that Fantasy Island, the children's funfair and arcade at Canvey Island, had been refurbished so we decided to revisit several years after our last visit.

We were very impressed at the parking at nearby Labworth Car park, lots of space, good toilets and reasonably priced. It is a short walk to Fantasy Island and an even shorter walk on to the sea wall. The kids loved walking alongside the River Thames, seeing over to Kent and watching the barges plying up and down the river.

We were delighted to come across the Labworth Beach Cafe on the sea wall - what a lovely place! It has an art deco exterior with large windows so you can see the river. There is also outside seating. The menu was excellent as were the quality of the food and very helpful and pleasant staff.

The kids loved the arcade amusements and games, as did we, of course! We played crazy golf which was surprisingly difficult and the kids went on several rides. At 11, they were probably among the oldest there but the amusements and dipping their feet in the water on the way back to the car when the tide went out meant that they had a great day, as did we!

Canvey has an interesting history as well as wildlife walks so we will be back to explore further!