It was just a grass field on a council-owned caravan park, but as far as former Liverpool and England footballer Jamie Redknapp was concerned it was his "Wembley".

As a young boy he would spend summers at the seaside on the Isle of Sheppey staying with his nan Violet and grandad Harry Redknapp Senior in their holiday home at Nutts Farm, Leysdown.

"As far as I am concerned, it was the best holiday ever," he told Alan Carr on the comedian's latest podcast Life's A Beach.

During the 30-minute discussion, Redknapp, 49, who was once married to Eternal singer Louise Nurding, talked about his favourite holidays.

"I used to love holidays with dad," he recalled. "My first memories of holidays as a kid were at a place called Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey.

"My nan and grandad had a caravan there. It was the best holiday ever. The caravan was right by the shop and toilets so you could have a shower and then buy a Mivi ice cream. I can still taste it now.

"In the afternoon, people used to come and knock on the door and ask 'Harry, what time is the game today?' and he'd reply 'Don't worry, we'll come down' and then we'd go to the middle of the park and have a massive game of like 20 versus 20.

"I was about 10 or 11 and probably the youngest there but I can remember thinking 'if only I could get a goal'. It was like my own Wembley.

"My grandad was such a character and loved football. When I played, he came to every single game. He used to get on the train to Newcastle or Liverpool and bring a cheese sandwich up for me from my nan. He was such a special guy.

"Sheppey was his sanctuary. They had won the football pools, I think a couple of grand, and bought this really nice caravan. Mark, my brother, and I used to go down there.

"In the evenings we'd play bingo and then have fish and chips. It was such a great holiday.

"Mum and dad (Harry Redknapp Junior and his wife Sandra) would come down as well with Frank Lampard Senior (married to Sandra's sister Pat) and bring the boys down. Young Frank was a bit too young at the time but it was just the best holiday.

"Then we'd go to the arcades and try to get a prize with the grabber. I always wanted the Walkman."

Jamie admitted: "I must get it from my dad but as we lived on the south coast at Bournemouth I have always loved being by the sea. I find it so therapeutic. I can relax and unwind.

"There is something about having a swim, getting into the sea and feeling the cold sea water on you. I love that."

Carr revealed he has also stayed on the Island. "My mum had a caravan there," he said and asked his guest: "Was there a man selling nuts there?" referring to the late Len Oxley.

Jamie quipped: "There were a few people who were a bit nuts down there."

The pair are firm friends and have holidayed together for the TV show A League of Their Own European Road Trip.

Strangely, Sheppey was not Jamie's most luxurious break. He says that was in a seven-star hotel in Dubai to celebrate the new millennium. His room came with gold fittings and a personal butler.

Jamie said: "It was an amazing experience but I won't be going back. It was a little too over-the-top."

He also revealed he once shared a holiday with Robbie Williams just after the singer had quit Take That.

Jamie said: "Liverpool were going on an end-of-season trip to Marbella, Spain, but a couple of players dropped out so there was a spare place. I was good friends with Robbie so I invited him along. I think we had too many beers one night and ended up having a pee by the pier.

"I'm so glad there weren't any camera phones or social media about in those days."

In 2000, Swale council put the 182-plot loss-making Nutts Farm up for sale and sold it the following year to brothers Phil and Michael Butcher who were running Priory Hill Holiday Park across the road for £820,000 - beating a £795,000 bid by the caravan owners including the Redknapps.

East Ender Harry Senior, who was 76 at the time, complained: "If the council sells this park, what will happen to us? Where will we go? We have spent 43 happy years here. All our friends are here.

"We have seen our children grow up and return with their own children. We like it on Sheppey because it is so close to London."

The park has been run by the family-owned Priory Hill ever since, despite regular offers from larger companies to take over the site.

John Sissons, the park's sales and services manager, said: "The Redknapps kept themselves to themselves. No one took any notice of them which is what they wanted, although I did hear Harry Senior loved his football and would join in the games on the green.

"There were rumours that Jamie would come down with Louise during the summer but I never met them.

"My only contact with Harry Junior was when his father died late 2005 or early 2006 and I needed to know what to do with the caravan.

"I wrote to him via Portsmouth FC apologising for his loss and got a phone call back. I think it was because he used to play with another John Sissons when he was at West Ham. Same name but different man."

Jamie has two sons: Charley, 18, and Beau, 14, from his 19-year marriage to Louise. They divorced in 2017. The TV pundit has since become a dad again with his new wife Frida. The pair have a total of seven children in their families.

Jamie joked with Alan Carr: "As I've got older I've become a bit more cultured. I've even named my new son Raphael after my favourite Ninja Turtle."

The caravan, a 1994 BK Brookwood model measuring 35ft x 10ft and numbered 133, was taken over by another family member who swapped it for an upgrade in 2008 before leaving the park in 2014.

In November 2013 Nutts Farm was featured in an advert to promote Freeview channel E4.

The Redknapps aren't the only celebrities to fall in love with the Island.

Former EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer, who played Bianca in the BBC TV soap, had a home on the Island for a while and fellow EastEnders star Shaun Williamson, who played the luckless Barry Evans, has settled on Sheppey.

Singer David Essex was often spotted on the Island before he went to Whitstable and Robbie Williams filmed the music video for his 2016 Christmas song Love My Life just down the road at Shellness.