Skegness: What's it like? I never used to like Skegness until I moved here and it was never a place I would choose to visit if I wanted to travel to the coast, always preferring the Cornish countryside, or resorts like Scarborough, my childhood family holiday destination. I have a strong liking for the south coast too, particularly Bournemouth and to the west across Dorset and Devon. Skegness is a small coastal town of around 26,000 population, yet it feels much bigger. Skegness is a fairly typical English family holiday resort - teaming with holiday-makers in the summer and relatively peaceful in the winter months, though the season never fully stops. Most of our visitors are from the Midlands and Yorkshire, but we also get many visitors from the north-east and Scotland. Sometimes, you may hear Dutch, French and German accents as you walk around. People are very friendly and welcoming - typical of this part of the country and it seems that almost everybody who lives here has originated from another part of the country, though I suppose this is quite the norm as many people choose to retire to the coast. Skegness has a lot more going for it than some people imagine, but you need to spend a good deal of time here and explore all those little places which are tucked away, well off the regular tourist routes, in order to fully appreciate the area. Skegness might be a town of endless amusement arcades, chip shops (A few very good ones too!), burger joints and tacky gift shops, but it is also quite an affluent area and there are some very tranquil areas just outside town. Skegness took the top spot in a recent survey by "Yours magazine" which looked at the best retirement destinations in the UK. Skegness often features in the top 10 of UK holiday resorts surveys, though some surveys are much less favourable. The streets are very clean and well-maintained by the local council and it is lightyears ahead of the miserable and murky North Midlands where I used to live. The grass really did turn out to be greener on this side. Amid the seemingly endless casinos and illuminations, from which the name "SkegVegas" derives, lies a small town which transforms itself from a bustling family resort during the summer months, to an empty and peaceful vista out of season, but that season never fully ends as many places, including the ever-popular Butlins resort, stay open year-round. The famous illuminations carry on until November. Many hotels and guest houses always seem to be displaying their "No Vacancies" signs right up to the new year and daytrippers galore visit each weekend, no matter what time of year, but the peace and tranquility of the nature reserves which lie outside the town is something really special on a nice day. Blue Flag beaches sprawl the entire Lincolnshire coastline and the golden sands seem to run without end. Many nature reserves can be reached within a few miles of Skegness and nearby coastal areas. The large bay and estuary known as The Wash, immediately to the south of Skegness, is one of the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom and is an important important wetland area. The nearby Lincolnshire Wolds, which begin seven miles inland from Skegness, is a designated AONB (Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and is not dissimilar to parts of The Cotswolds, with its rolling hills and quaint villages, but the contrasting flat Fenland scenery, just a few miles down the road, also has a natural beauty of its own, offering never-ending 'big sky' views from horizon to horizon with its very sparse population. The weather is kind here too, the east coast officially being the driest and sunniest place in the UK. Those Wolds ofen have the effect of breaking up inclement weather as it approaches from inland, so it is common to see cloud to the west while we have blue skies overhead and out to sea. We know about it in the winter though when the winds swing round from the north-east. Brrrr! That's nine paragraphs and no mention of radio! Skegness is a *fantastic* radio location and I would argue one of the best for VHF and UHF in the UK! My Korner 9.2 FM antenna is less than a mile from the beach and I have probably experienced more than my fair share of ducting across the North Sea. The VHF bands are awash with continental signals. Medium wave has also turned out to be far better than expected. Let's face it, this is the wrong coast for receiving transatlantic DX, plus I am much closer to the continent so European stations are a bigger problem, not to mention the fact that I have to beam across the entire UK before my antenna sees any part of the Atlantic Ocean. There is one good side to this however, signals from the western side of North America take a near 100% sea path, arriving from the north, so I do quite well in hearing the west coast of the USA and Canada when that path is open. I have already received several western Canadian provinces and states, including Alaska and Canada's North West Territories. The real treat for me has been DX coming in from east Asia which has been nothing short of spectacular, with Japan frequently being heard in the winter months. Summarizing, Skegness does not have the most mountainous scenery. There are much nicer places. It's spectacularly poor for shopping. It does not have dramatic clifftops and we are quite an isolated town. Lincoln, our nearest city, is 43 miles to the west and I would never recommend this tow as a holiday resort, but it has always been an immensely popular resort. I much prefer resorts like Scarborough and Bournemouth, plus the stunningly beautiful counties of Devon and cornwall. I moved here in 2010 with my now ex-wife. She used to live here some years ago and it was her choice to move here, not mine. Little did I know that she would cheat on me and move out one day to live with her ex-boyfriend in Cornwall. The bloody irony of it. Still, I have become fond of this place, not just because of the excellent radio potential, but I know I would miss this area if I ever moved away.
