It's probably a difficult question for most of us - we've a lot of summers behind us and we'll all have a store of wonderful memories. 
One that is particularly evocative for me is the summer of 1972. A-levels finished, beret, tie and repressive school rules tossed aside for the last time, and my friends and I were free for several glorious weeks. Living on the coast we spent every waking moment by the beach, in the cliff caves, hanging around the penny arcades and the little fairground chatting up the young attendants for free gos on the penny falls and waltzers.
No wonder we were fit and lean - racing the cliff lift, and each other, up into town, haring along the beach to the next town while the tide was out (there were some near misses!), lunching on what little we could afford from the seafood and hotdog stalls. We'd wade up to our waists into the sea with the idea that this would shrink our jeans to fit - I'm pleased to say that all the concerned old ladies who told us this would give us arthritis were wrong, in my case at least. 
It seemed as if the sun was always shining that summer - memory is a wonderful thing!
My Best Summer may not seem much to many, but to my family, it was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to us.
My eldest son, at the age of 18 months was diagnosed with a range of special needs including global developmental delays, autistic traits and a number of chromosome abnormalities. He finds social situations and crowded places very difficult to process, and even going to the shop for a pint of milk was too much for him.
Due to the range of his needs, and the fact my husband and I were essentially dealing with this all on our own, holidays had always seemed like a distant dream.
In 2014, we were browsing on the internet and came acrosss a secluded self catering cottage in the middle of nowhere near Lyme Regis that had become available last minute for four nights.
We just looked at each other and thought 'What the hell!' If it's too much, we would turn around and come home.
We prepared our son by showing him pictures of the cottage and talking about it and telling him he could take his Thomas trains with him! Our other little boy was so excited he packed his suitcase and slept in his swim shorts!
When we arrived at the cottage, our eldest son was so happy he jumped up and down and ran around the garden, and told us he was at his new home!
Those four days were the best we had spent as a family for a long time, and although it was full on, we loved every single minute and we finally had a holiday with our children- just like everyone else.
My best Summer is.....every year when I go on holiday with all my family and my grandchildren. We go fishing, catching crabs, hunting for fossils and if it's wet we make cakes, ice cream sundaes, pictures with shells, driftwood, buttons, etc. We have so much fun and I'm making the most of it whilst I still can. They're wonderful Summers spent in quality time with my granddaughters and memories I treasure until the next holiday.
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