Swing while you’re winning: Vardy clan’s day at beach

England star Jamie Vardy’s wife Rebekah was getting into the swing of things on a family outing in Russia.

The 36-year-old, Vardy and their children visited a playground on the beach in the spa town of Repino, a short walk from the team’s hotel.

The striker, above, looked relaxed in sunglasses and sportswear while his wife wore a red top with daughter Sofia, three, and son Taylor, eight, in tow.

The family stopped for lunch at a beachside restaurant. The England team’s World Cup base, located on the Gulf of Finland, is an hour’s drive from St Petersburg.

Three Lions supporters are expected to arrive at Nizhny Novgorod — 250 miles and four hours’ train ride east of Moscow — over the coming days in the build-up to Sunday’s crunch Group G game against Panama.

A new 45,000-seat stadium will host five other matches during the World Cup, including Lionel Messi’s Argentina against Croatia tomorrow.

But for decades Nizhny Novgorod, Russia’s fifth biggest city, was closed off to foreigners and did not even appear on maps. Under Soviet rule the ancient city was known as Gorky, after Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and was where dissident nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov was banished for six years.

England fans will be well catered for on the main Rozhdestvenskaya street, which stretches for more than a mile with bars and restaurants.

Nizhny Novgorod sits on the meeting point between the Volga and Oka rivers, but Mr McDonald does not think players will be swarmed by midges — unlike in Volgograd.

Locals hope fans will explore the city’s heritage, which includes the 16th century “Kremlin” hillside fortress and the longest cable car ride in Europe, a 3,660-metre trip over the Volga that takes 13 minutes and costs 90 rubles — just over £1. It also has the Chkalov Staircase with more than 500 steps.