I enjoyed my short stay in Brighton with my daughter and three grandchildren. We stayed in Queen’s Hotel on the seafront, and enjoyed some good weather. The children paddled and swam in the sea, and also swam in the hotel’s indoor pool. The sauna was a bonus – amazing how heat penetrates the body and soothes minor aches. We visited the famous Lanes where we shop windowed, one of my grandson’s and I strolled along the board walk admiring small shops. Astonishing wood carvings in one, displays of an artist’s word in another. I fell in love with a painting of a tree. Its roots, which protruded from the ground brought The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings to mind. The artist explained to my grandson that he primed wood with black, painted the tree and rubbed bits off to expose the black. The moss was so realistic I wanted to touch it. If I had £1,200 to spare I would have bought it.
We enjoyed Brighton’s cosmopolitan ambience as well as vegetarian meals in excellent restaurants. My ten year old grandson was suitably scared on some of the rides in the funfair on Brighton Pier – formerly Palace Pier. He kindly invited me to accompany him on one, at the top of which he could see over Brighton and the Downs as well as out to sea. I refused.
My treat was a visit to the famous Brighton Pavillion built and furnished on the orders of The Prince Regent. The exterior, a mixture of domes reminiscent of Indian temples and minarets it has to be seen to be believed. One wit said it looked as though St Paul’s Cathedral has pupped.
