I know what makes Pharrell Williams 'Happy' after an action-packed weekend of surfing, biking, whale-watching, eating and drinking in Virginia Beach

IMAGINE the scene…

You open your window and look out as the recently-risen sun casts a delicate glow over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. An offshore breeze creates white horses of spray behind the waves as they roll towards the shore, break and caress the golden sands of the beach

You watch a hardy clutch of surfers, clad from head to toe in neoprene to ward off the out-of-season chills, enjoying the thrills of their watery playground until your eye is drawn beyond them as a pod of dolphins break through the surface to perform their own acrobatics.

But this scene was not created through imagination. It was what greeted me as I drew back the curtains on a winter Saturday’s morning from my balcony at the fab, fun and funky Moxy Oceanfront Hotel in Virginia Beach in the USA. I learned to surf on Cornwall’s Atlantic coast. Little could I have imagined that decades later I would be heading out of the hotel and entering the ocean from 3,500 miles further west.

For it was the lure of the water that drew me to a long weekend in the birthplace of East Coast surfing in southeastern Virginia, where the Chesapeake Bay meets the ocean. This is a city steeped in surfing heritage and one about to be transformed with a ground-breaking surfing future.

My time in the water was cut short as the high tide and change in wind direction turned conditions to mush. But the vagaries of the tides, swell and wind - and the frigid water temperature of Virginia in February - will not trouble those thronging to the city’s Atlantic Park when it opens this year.

Touted as a ‘first-of-its-kind indoor/outdoor experience’, the $350m development will offer more than 10.2 acres of surfing, shopping, dining, live entertainment and luxury, sea-view living.

Backed by homegrown musical megastar Pharrell Williams, the project ‘captures Virginia Beach’s distinct culture and energy and continues the city’s long-lasting traditions of music, entertainment, community gatherings and surfing in the heart of the oceanfront’.

Although just an (incredibly busy) building site on my visit earlier this year the first parts of the complex will open within weeks and, when complete, ensure Virginia Beach is a year-round travel destination.

At its heart will be Wavegarden Cove, where 1,000 waves an hour can be pumped into a man-made surf lagoon with waves varying from six-foot rollers for experienced surfers to gentle one-foot pushes for beginners.

As much as Atlantic Park is not all about surfing, neither is Virginia Beach. Although blessed with 35 miles of sandy beaches, it is one of Virginia’s most populous cities with a flourishing culinary and craft beer scene, rich history, a variety of arts and entertainment and family-friendly attractions. And I managed to tick most of these boxes during an all-too-brief four-day visit.

Virginia Beach’s grid system of streets makes orientation simple. Soaking up the sights and the warming winter sun I spent a lot of time on foot. As I headed inland from the seafront Boardwalk the parallel avenues almost delineated different zones - moving from beachside hotels, apartments and restaurants, to beach/surf/sweet shops, chain eateries, a theme park and ‘nightmare mansion’ that would all look at home in a traditional English seaside town, through to more independent outlets (and the amazing ViBe cultural district where the buildings, pavements and street furniture provide the canvas for a multitude of mural artists) and on into the city’s residential heartland.

But for me the Boardwalk was the real heartbeat of my stay. It stretches three glorious miles from Second to 40th Street, offering gorgeous ocean views and humming with a relaxed out-of-season vibe of people strolling, cycling and rollerskating. The peace was routinely broken by ear-blasting fighter jets making their way to and from the nearby Norfolk naval station but this too was a sight and sound I actually enjoyed: think Bill Forstyth’s Local Hero for any fans of whimsical 80s comedy movies.

As I indulged in simple but delicious fried fish tacos at Flix on the Beach, washed down with a crisp Orange Crush IPA, I could imagine how the Boardwalk would be thronged with pleasure-seekers during the height of summer, taking advantage of longer, balmy days, nightly entertainment from four oceanfront stages, dining al fresco on fresh seafood while savoring a cooling sea breeze or grabbing selfies at the iconic King Neptune statue.

I wish I had tried more seafood during my stay but my downfall was being lured by the promise of ‘eating like a local’ and starting the day with huge breakfasts and unlimited coffee at fantastic home-spun eateries like Mary’s Kitchen and Doc Taylor's. Although vastly enjoyable they negated the need for much more culinary exploration during daylight hours.

The big breakfasts didn’t stop me from tapping into the local craft brewery scene though, none more so than at Smartmouth Pilot House which for more than a decade has been pouring unique beers with quality ingredients that ‘focus on flavour over flash’.

Mine host during my visit was co-owner Chris Neikirk who ran me through the full blackboard of 20 beers ranging from lagers through IPAs and sours to imperial stouts. As impressive as the range of tastes were the names - Savage Mondo, Gnositical Turpitude, Bride of Amazement and Ugly Fish to name a few. I had to laugh at the Ube Saison called Daphne: was that some much-loved or historical family name being kept alive through beer, I mused? Nope - the ube adds a vibrant purple colour to the beer and that made Chris and the team think of one of the core members of Mystery Inc from Scooby Doo, noted for her striking violet fashion sense

Smartmouth is housed in the former post office. Doc Taylor’s is in a cottage that originally served as a Virginia Beach physician’s office and, back on the boardwalk, the lovingly restored old coastguard station is home to the Virginia Beach Surf and Rescue Museum, where the story of how surf/rescue paddle boards were transformed from a means of saving lives into a sporting/cultural way of life (special thanks to executive director Dana Sizemore and her team for my private tour despite them being closed for the winter).

But the heritage of this region stretches way, way beyond the first reports of a thrill-seeker ‘shooting the waves on an Hawaiian surf board’, as reported by the Virginian Pilot and Norfolk Landmark newspaper in July 1914.

For north of the city First Landing State Park marks the spot where, in 1607, the first English colonists - 104 men and boys - came ashore before heading west to set up the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown.

The park is a 2,888-acre haven for nature lovers and fun seekers where visitors can go swimming, hiking, biking, boating and fishing among the protected salt marshes, freshwater ponds, beach, dunes, forest, tidal marsh and cypress swamp.

But for my non-surfing adrenaline thrills I headed south instead to another reserve, the False Cape State Park. The park is accessible only by foot, bicycle or boat and I covered much of the six miles of pristine Atlantic Ocean beach and nine miles of sand dune trails on a fat tyre bike. At times gruelling but always exhilarating, it felt like being at the end of the world which might have been the very same feelings of those intrepid early seafarers who mistook the cape for the comparative safety of Cape Henry, 20 miles to the north, with many ending up running aground in its shallow waters.

The cape provided an incredible watery contrast. On one side I sped along the sands to the constant drumbeat of the Atlantic surf. But head through the dunes and within a mile you are greeted by the placid waters of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge where the muffled sounds of the surf can just be heard over the plaintive calls of the myriad of birdlife.

Guided kayak trips can get you closer to nature. But for something which offers more than 300 species of nesting and migratory songbirds, shorebirds and ducks it was back to Virginia Beach and back to the ocean in search of whales, dolphins and seals.

Whale-watching tours are run from the city with the hope of spotting humpbacks which can often be seen breaching, flipper slapping or tail lobbing as they frolic in Virginia Beach’s mild winter waters. I headed out on a two-hour voyage with Rudee Tours where we were lucky to follow one whale gracefully dipping in and out of the surface water. No fancy showboating this time out with the thrills instead being provided by the flock of dive-bombing gannets who knew the presence of our noble cetacean meant there was bountiful food to be caught.

But, too soon, my trip was at an end. As I necked the last of my Orange Crush IPA, while the sun streamed through the waterfront windows of Chix on the Beach and people mooched along the Boardwork I reflected on how much I had packed in within such a short space of time.

Virginia Beach offers outdoor thrills, natural charm, eye-catching culture and deep-rooted heritage, with great food and beer thrown in for good measure.

And this is all before Atlantic Park takes it to another level. Williams retains fond memories of his time growing up in the city and backed this incredible development because he was "inspired by [his] belief in the future of Virginia Beach”.

And, having tasted just a little of what life is like in Virginia Beach I can fully understand what could have inspired him to write this best-selling song Happy.