Pack your buckets and spades, because we're heading to the beach!

Hitchin's Market Place will transform into a coastal oasis from Tuesday, August 3 for over three weeks, satisfying any cravings for sun, sea and sand this summer.

A perfect alternative to your annual jollies, a trip to Hitchin - sorry, Costa del Hitchin - is set to be a blast, adding a splash of fun to the summer break. More than 21 tonnes of sand will be placed in the square, with the beach stretching 10 x 12 metres wide.

With plenty of deckchairs - and sand - to go around, visitors can soak up the atmosphere between 10am and 4pm each day, with a variety of activities, fair rides and clothing stalls set up around the beach's periphery, as well as a spin off of BID's Al Fresco.

The return of the beach is down to Hitchin BID, which last brought the seaside to the (very much) landlocked market town in 2018 and 2019, attracting hundreds of beach-goers.

Town centre manager Tom Hardy told the Comet: "Over the past 18 months, people have used town centres as an essential place to pick up items, and we want to build it back up again as a place where people can hang out and enjoy events and family time.

"I think that having the beach there will be a good way of keeping that dwell time in the town, people enjoying the square and also then also spending money in the shops and businesses."

The beach is supplied by Hertfordshire Timber, and sponsored by N8 Health and Gatwards - the oldest family jewellers in Britain - to celebrate the firm welcoming its eighth generation.