Birthday in Brighton

Weekend before last was my birthday, so for a birthday getaway Neil and I went down to Brighton on Friday morning for a two night stay away. Brighton wasn't where we were originally thinking of going, but had a last minute change of heart and thought we'd head there, mainly due to every ones recommendation of the town and also being the last weekend of summer. So Friday morning we jumped on the train from Victoria Station and made the short fifty minute train journey down to Brighton.

Brighton has to be the funnest place to go for a weekend away! There is a lot to do there, and isn't what you except a beach side town to be like at all. Brighton pier has all these arcade places, small snack bars and sweet shops, there is even a roller coaster! On a pier! It's nothing like I imagined, and coming from Christchurch where we have New Brighton, our 'new' Brighton is nothing like the real English Brighton at all.

The first day we just spent getting to know our way around and general exploring. We went for a nice walk along the pier, then along all the back streets of Brighton to see some of the more unknown shops and cafes. We came across a lovely looking restaurant where we decided to come back for my birthday dinner. It was a wonderful way to be spending my birthday, just walking around seeing this new place, relaxing, not having a care in the world and not having to keep an eye on the time. This birthday was definitely the best thanks to Neil making it such a wonderful day.

Games on Brighton Beach

Saturday morning Neil and I went to the Royal Pavilion, where King George spent his time in Brighton in the late 1700's early 1800's. This building looks like a typical English Kings far less glamorous version of the Taj Mahal on the outside, and on the inside it seems to have had a lot of Chinese influence, all in all though, this is a lovely place to walk around in and explore and even luckier the audio guide is free for use as well. After spending about an hour touring the Royal Pavilion we headed out to see some more of Brighton, and dodging the rain we went and had a look at all the talked about Lanes. The lanes are great, they have small nifty shops and cafes, market stalls are crammed into these little narrow lanes and there are people everywhere, but the atmosphere is fantastic and it was great to see a less commercial side of Brighton. After this we headed back to the sea front we're we spend some more time walking along the promenade and playing in the arcade on the Pier.

Royal Pavilion

Saturday night we headed out for a few drinks to check out some of Brighton's bars. First stop was a place called the Black Dove, a small cocktail bar with a '40's themed approach, it was a fantastic way to kick off our Saturday night out, and the cocktails at the Black Dove are amazing, anyone planning on going to Brighton this is definitely my recommendation for a pre-drink night out. We then started to make our way more into central Brighton, though we didn't get very far as we managed to stumble along the Mucky Duck, and it was karaoke night, so the rest of the night Neil and I spent singing along to karaoke.

Sunday, last day in Brighton, and though sad to be leaving we had seen what we wanted and had a great weekend away. So Sunday was a take it easy day before having to catch the afternoon train back to London, we went for one last walk around, which was so nice to just mill about. Still dodging the rain, when we had a sunny break we made a stop for cream tea (tea and scones). After we'd spent the best part of an hour or so drinking tea, eating scone, and talking about all sorts we thought we'd make our way back to Brighton Pier for one last walk around the pier and the beach. We also thought we'd try our luck one more time on one of those games were you use that claw thing to try and get out a soft toy. They had an Angry Birds one there, and we'd probably spent enough money over the course of the weekend to go out and just buy one of the birds, but I had 30p left in my purse and thought I'd give it one last go before heading back to London. So putting my 30p in the machine moving the claw over a bird to get it, the craw went in, gripped a hold of the bird and lifted it into the air. At this point this had happened enough to us already over the course of the weekend, but both of us froze to see what happened, I think we most likely stopped breathing. The claw started to move towards the drop point and dropped the bird in!! Neil and I both yelped with excitement! We'd finally one a toy from these machines!! So off we went for a walk along the beach with our new Angry Bird in hand.

On Brighton beach with our new Angry Bird.

After the fabulous birthday weekend away it was time to be packing up and heading towards Brighton station to head back to London.

Brighton is a wonderful place to get away for a weekend, or even for a day, and I would most definitely recommend it. By far this weekend trip away has been one of the best weekend getaways I’ve had and also the best birthday I’ve had x