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Saturday 24 August 2019

Lovely Lively Brighton

I had a few misgivings as we arrived in Brighton.  First impressions were of  a rundown seaside town well past it's hey day, a little bit scruffy and lots of graffiti.  But we both changed our mind once we had got a chance to have a wonder around.  
There are absolutely loads of shops in an area called The Lanes, just a short walk from the front, lovely independent shops selling everything from jewellery and clothes to records and plants.
  
You are spoilt for choice for places to eat too, Chinese, Indian, Greek, Turkish, Thai, Japanese as well as the usual pub grub and of course fish and chips.  We tried one of the Greek restaurants on Tuesday night and it was wonderful.

The weather was kind to us too, although from these photos you would think otherwise!

It was late afternoon when I went a little walk down to take a look at the Bandstand and the sea, It was quite warm but very very windy, that's whats whipping up those waves.  
I love watching the sea but I wouldn't like to have been as close as these kids!



Our hotel was right opposite this beautiful Victorian Bandstand, built in 1884 it is said to be one of the finest examples of Victorian Bandstands surviving in England today. 
It is rather lovely, don't you think?


Another building from the Victoria era is the Grand Hotel, It was built in 1864 and still looks very impressive 
It was at the Grand Hotel In 1984 during the Conservative Party Conference an assassination attempt was made on the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, she of course survived but the bomb killed five other people.


The Upside Down House on the beach, It looks rather quirky but we didn't go in.


Brighton has a pebble beach, so this pool is a great idea for the kids


Looking back from the Pier


The i360 viewing tower is on the seafront, and despite the fact that I not like heights you should all know by now that I have to go on the highest things, lol




The pod takes you up 450ft, you don't even realise you are moving.






The building of the Royal Pavilion started in 1787 it was built in three stages and was a seaside retreat of King George IV.  The rooms all have Chinese or Indian themes, I was taken with the dining room and the staircase which was wood but painted to look like wicker, very clever, and must have taken an age to do.
There is a no photographs inside the rooms, rule but I did manage to take a sneaky one of the dining room before I was told off by a rather stern guide :-0

That chandelier is HUGE, there is a dragon at the top which is carved from wood and is 10ft long.

There is more information HERE if you are interested.






We also took a trip on one of the tour buses which was quite interesting, funny thing happened though, the tour was advertised as £14 each, ( but you do get three tours), we got on and paid by card, we were charged £20 for the two of us.  When I mentioned it to Mark and he looked at the ticket we had been charged the pensioners price๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ˜ฎ Cheek!! 

I've got another two years before that privilege, we had the last laugh though because it saved us £8๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ 

We didn't go straight home on Wednesday, Mark had to go to his office to pick up drawings, (the firm he works for is based in Portsmouth), and from there we decided to stop in Marlborough, Wiltshire, we stopped off there a few years back when we visited Stonehenge, it's only a little town but has some nice shops and pubs.  

Mark has the rest of the week off too so I put him to work in the garden yesterday morning moving some plants and emptying the window boxes, cleaning windows and putting weedkiller around the drive, while I gave the house a good clean, we were all done by early afternoon so I was able to sit and do some stitching on Arthur's Christmas stocking, (I will get around to taking a photo this weekend).  Today we have emptied the shed and evicted the spiders and put everything back nice and tidy, I have also given my little blue house a good clean and washed the curtains and the rug, It was too hot to sit in there this afternoon though, but it's all clean now for me to do that tomorrow.

I offered a book on my last post, there was only Tina (no blog) who said she would like to read it so Tina, it's yours.  I will message you later but if you are coming to stitching on Wednesday I will bring it with me.

Another long post, I seem to have an inability to keep things short, lol

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend if you are in the UK, it looks like August will go out with a heatwave so being British we will all be making the most of it ๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿ˜Ž because it could all change in an instance!

See you soon
-X-

12 comments:

Purple Pixie Dust said...

Don't you meant the tour was 20 and you got it for 14? Nice pictures.

Maggie said...

Purple Pixie Dust, (sorry don't know your name). No, the price was £14 each and he charged us £20 for both of us

Poppypatchwork said...

I love shopping and earing in the lanes, it's a wonderful place. Not been on i360 as yet, you had lovely weather. Been in the garden today, its tidy up time as things start to die back.

MartinaM said...

Hi Maggie,
A great post, thanks for the nice pictures. So imposing building, I am very impressed. I love those old buildings that still have a lot of history in them.
I feel like you, from a distance, I also like to look out to sea.
Have a nice new week

Gabi said...

Great post and....how has Brighton changed since I was there in 2001.
Greetings

Jane said...

Wonderful pictures! I can't remember ever going to Brighton though I know we did on one of our childhood holidays, so I must've been very young. The i360 looks great. The last time we went up Blackpool Tower was before they started charging you even just to get in! Best, Jane x

Jo said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful time, it certainly looks like there's plenty to do and plenty to see. I suppose Brighton is like anywhere else, good bits and bad bits and first impressions can often be wrong. What a cheek mistaking you for pensioners but I wouldn't mind that if I got some money knocked off. I'm glad you got some good weather, time away is always lovely but even better when the sun shines.

Sandy said...

WOW! Awesome photo's and looks like quite a trip. All enjoyable except, not sure I could ride that high...I do have issues with it. But wonderful pictures. LOVE the Victorian grandstand, so pretty. Nice it's still around.

butterfly said...

Looks like you had a fab time .
Great photos , enjoy your week.

Sandy said...

Hey, wanted to pop back and ask if you had a Fitbit? If you do, happy to be friends there and to help encourage you to walk more. I love summer so don't do as well the rest of the year. Maybe we can balance each other out or push each other forward, lol.

Eloise said...

Our first impression on f Brighton was exactly the same. I was disappointed as I'd expected it to be more exciting and found it a little run down. But like you, we loved it when we moved on into the town. Lovely shops and restaurants. Great photos.

Lowcarb team member said...

I haven't been to Brighton for many years …
So many people say how nice The Lanes shopping area is …
Wonderful photographs, I enjoyed seeing them …

All the best Jan