Bags, Orla Kiely and Lulu Guinness, shirt, Great Plains, blazer, Mint Velvet, £69, (sale),
jeans, Gap, £30, (sale)

Suddenly, any social life we can grab is being conducted out of doors, and Jane and Beryl have been pondering on how to remain stylish while grappling with the Great British climate. Chilly one minute, boiling the next, Beryl and Jane drive for the coast with layers, layers, layers. 


Monsoon dress £79 (last year) LK Bennett bag £25 sale last year

Often overlooked for a big day out is the sundress. WOACAs (Women of A Certain Age) look particularly beguiling in them, thinks Beryl. (Bit chilly for such fal-de-rals, thinks Jane). There is something charming about a proper grown up lady person, in a nice frock in high summer. Beryl's current choice is a cotton sundress bought from Monsoon last year for £79. Pictorial and Hawiian prints are a mini trend, and Beryl likes a palm tree. They have those in Torbay, right? To hammer home the theme she is sporting a bag, reminiscent of a hula hula skirt. 

Costume, Bravissimo, about £57, jumper, Phase Eight, £65, trousers, a gift

Jane is going for the Red Rebel look of last years' Extinction Rebellion fame, seen on many a British beach. Well, it makes a change from stripes, stripes, stripes...

Stripy knit by Coin 1804 £10 TK Maxx, Wide white trousers Phase Eight
 £59 past season, Victoria pumps £37
'Stripes by the sea, hum... that's original, Beryl!' says Jane. Beryl, of course, is slightly cross about this, but defends her choice by pointing out that this fine knit rolls up super small in her bag. Jane loves a practical solution.   




Top Great Plains £45, shorts The White Company, Pumps Victoria £38.
Sunglasses Kenneth Cole £10 TK Maxx 

Beryl is a flag waving, baton twirling cheerleader for WOACAs who like to wear shorts. She has loved running around the beach in a pair with pumps since pork luncheon meat was last considered a perfectly normal sandwich filling option. Nowadays, she wears what can only be described as 'lady' shorts. Not too short, not too long, not too tailored and certainly not too tight.   


Shirt by Crossley £45,  Striped Swimsuit TK Maxx £17

She is also a fan of a big white shirt on the beach over a swimsuit, however... 


 Phase Eight trousers £59, Swimsuit and jumper as before, Sunglasses £10 TK Maxx

... please Jane, remind Beryl that she is now too podgy round the middle to sit down in anything striped. This was supposed to be redolent of Coco Chanel on the beach at Deauville, but Donald McGill's saucy seaside postcards with larger ladies in striped bathing costumes have popped into Beryl's head, and she can't quite shake the image. Also more disturbingly, Jane seems to have gone all Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Beryl thinks that they'd better go home, before the men in white coats turn up! 


Costume, as before, jeans, Gap £30 (sale), jacket, almost vintage, Berghaus
sunglasses, Rayban, £90 

Talking of too much middle aged podge... what can anyone expect when Jane and Beryl end up on a beach surrounded by summertime comestibles? They bow to the inevitable after Jane has consumed an extra large ice cream and Beryl ditto in the flapjack department. 




In Jane's opinion, one should never head for the beach without a blanket somewhere about one's person, and if you can wear it as well as wrap up in it, so much the better. This is a real live genuine Chilean poncho, and ticks all Jane's boxes - she's easily pleased.

Mac, Pret Pour Partir, £40 (sale), swimsuit, M&S, £29, wrap, holiday purchase

Some might say that Jane is taking the bounds of practically way too far here: this mac comes with an oh, so handy matching hat which folds into its capacious pocket. Sadly, thinks Beryl, it's not quite as fetching as one would like. But hey, ho the storm clouds are gathering, and Jane will have the last laugh when she avoids the drowned rat look.


Pink sweater Mint Velvet, bikini top Seasalt £20 sale, pumps Victoria £37



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