It makes me Smile.....

Our second trip to Brighton was planned.

It’s always hard to buy gifts for men and Robert is no exception, so for Christmas last year I saw a chocolate making workshop and thought it might be fun. They were held in London or Brighton so we decided to make a weekend of it in the latter. Having found out that the course was held in a hotel, I googled it and decided to book in – Langford’s Hotel. It was just outside Brighton in Hove and looked like a nice place. As I was working on the Friday it was decided that I would take the train from London Bridge and meet Robert there, the best laid plans and all that – I nearly didn’t make it! En-route to the station, my bus had a crash with another one and the window right next to my face shattered into a million pieces :( Thankfully no-one was hurt and luckily there was another one behind so I made my train with a few minutes to spare and managed to get a seat. Our room was pretty naff considering so after a consultation with the management, changed rooms to the one below which was much nicer. TBH they are under new management and being refurbished at present so I will allow them the benefit of the doubt here!

As it was early evening, and beautiful sunshine – although very windy – we walked along the seafront to find a restaurant for our evening meal. I had seen a restaurant on previous visits which was a very unusual shape on the actual sea-front so we went to check-out their menu. It's called Alfresco and was definitely a good choice! I borrowed this photo from their website, the building is the Milkmaid Pavilion.

Really delicious dinner washed down with Prosecco Blush served with a raspberry. Relaxed and contended we wandered back to the hotel passing this lovely bandstand. It was getting dark so I was really pleased with the photographs, it was illuminated which helped. The style reminded me of the Pavilion.

And also a statue of Queen Victoria, again I was really pleased with the image considering the time of night it was taken.

Saturday dawned overcast and misty so we took a bus and meandered through the lanes. The most amazing displays of jewellery can be found here, I tried on a beautiful ring housing a blue diamond – yes it was amazing and yes, way out of my price range! The Lanes gallery had some very unusual items including two lovely ceramic lizards which I will place on the wall in the hallway with the one from Chelsea flower show last year. These quirky sculptures made us laugh with figurines gazing down at various old tools.

Another unusual shop sold fairy lights and cotton ball shades to fit on them. You can choose the amount of  lights and colours of globes. We chose a selection for Lianne which I will blog later on along with my Lizards.

The afternoon was filled with our Chocolate experience which I will share with you tomorrow.
Having been on our feet all day we decided on an early dinner so took a cab back to the same restaurant Alfresco. As the weather was fabulous we sat outside and enjoyed the evening sun and a glass or two more of Prosecco Blush.

Sunday came too fast and we headed home – still smiling.

Now, here's a question for you - Is there a place that makes you smile?
I'd love to hear of your special places :)

Thanks for sharing,
Linda
xxx