Sunny Springtime Brighton!

I managed to escape to jolly old Brighton last weekend for a good blast of seaside spring air! I'm lucky as I can stay with my best pal Claire, also known as Wife, who I hadn't yet seen this year - inexcusable! We made up for such an absence by spending all of the long weekend wandering the beach, hitting the shops, mooching around car boots & flea markets, and eating the biggest veggie roast dinner I've ever seen! I was pleased to finally take my new Kanken bag out for a spin, it's such a fantastic comfy backpack, I fitted all my weekend gear in it and it didn't give my back a hard time at all, highly recommended! 

Every time I visit Brighton, there's always a new splash of graffiti to admire, a cafe we haven't tried, a new exhibition to see. But I also have some firm favourite attractions that I always love to visit,  Utility (no nonsense British homeware), Jack and Linda's Smokehouse, Blackbird Tea Rooms and Infinity Foods (delicious healthy everything!). But this time Claire took me to a few of her own favourite haunts - we had a tasty rice bowl diner at Pompoko  which was the most packed out tiny restaurant I've ever been in, had to try and not poke fellow diners with my chopsticks, but delicious food and awesome green tea - try it! And she also introduced me to the gorgeous Bluebird Tea Co.  which had the most scrumptious, unique blends of loose tea I've ever seen! They all smelled amazing, and there was a lovely friendly chap who let us take our time choosing. You can get hot and cold takeaway drinks from here too, I had a Orange Matcha Almond Latte - I MUST be in Brighton when I'm strolling around sipping such a thing, yum! 

We took a wander into Kemptown where we stumbled upon the most gorgeous vintage shop, Rag and Bone, which was full of my favourite things : vintage garden themed items, oriental home ware and art, handmade aprons (photographed because they were absolutely beautiful!), vintage clothing, upcycled jewellery and all browsing accompanied by Radio 4 - perfect! Their window display was full of the joys of spring and Easter, I could have bought a wheelbarrow full of beautiful things!

I could never imagine going to a seaside town and not stepping on the beach, so despite the extremely breezy conditions we headed to the pebbles! I found this amazing fortune teller at the Mechanical Memories Museum which houses plenty of original penny arcade machines which you can play as you can buy a bag of pennies to fit the slots, proper nostalgic fun!

How gorgeous is this turquoise weather beaten paint on the beach railings? It's my favourite colour at the moment, I seen to be collecting all sorts of things in this shade. It was a gorgeous sunny day with clear blue skies but still, we were extremely windswept (terrible bad hair day!) and were being blown backwards, as these photos prove! But we ploughed on because tea and cake at Claire's house was on the agenda!

Claire's amazing rock, mineral and crystal collection was full of inspiring colours, patterns and textures. I was lucky enough to be given two gorgeous presents, a little Agate hippo and a polished Fluorite stone to start my own collection, those colours! My fortune cookie from the Oriental Market was a great one, whether it means literally or metaphorically, I'm all for it! 

It was a lovely long weekend, I was glad to be back with one of my closest friends, and with such lucky weather too! On my way home, even the sunset at Clapham Junction was pretty, rose tinted glasses after a mini break I bet! 

Do you have any favourite Brighton haunts I should be visiting? Hope you have a great weekend!

Katie

A Sunny Trip to Brighton!

Hello June! How on earth are we here already? I celebrated the sudden leap towards summer by taking a trip to Brighton to see my best pal, and amazingly, we did have sunshine! First things first, we visited our favourite Boho Gelato which is only a stones throw from the beach. They do some utterly amazing flavours using local milk and cream, after much deliberation I chose the 'cream tea' which included homemade jam and crumbled scones. I am being deadly serious. It was joyful! Sorry to tease you with the following picture....I think its lavender and honey next time!

We then took a wander through our usual shopping haunts, resisting the urge to just sit in the sun and drink pimms! I love how characterful the streets in Brighton are, you rarely find one without some sort of street art or unusual signage. I thought this once was extremely classy, only just noticed the addition of the shoes! This was a great salvage shop, sadly nothing small enough to carry back on the train.

I loved the colourful plant stalls outside the florists, I wish I had a huge chilli plant such as these, they look great! We bought some lovely fresh salad to accompany the homemade burgers Claire had prepared earlier - she's such a keeper! We couldn't resist dropping into Snoopers Paradise, even though I was very restrained and didn't buy anything, a new record! I was torn over this amazing dress, I love how jolly it is, but I did worry I would just look like a complete nutter! I'm pretty tall, and big prints sadly just make me feel like I'm in fancy dress...so I had to walk away and leave it for someone braver than I, sob! We also found this hilariously hideous dog/woman ornament, who wouldn't want that on their mantelpiece eh? Timeless! (Claire doesn't look very convinced by it does she?)

The next day we packed a picnic and took a trip to Stanmer Park, mostly to distract us from any more shopping! Whilst wandering the grounds, we stumbled across this beautiful community orchard, run by the Brighton Permaculture Trust. They are working hard to reintroduce rare Sussex apple varieties , and have been recognised as a national collection. I loved walking amongst the cow parsley, away from the usual hustle and bustle I'm used too in Brighton. I look very happy to be there don't I?

We couldn't resist some posing, it was just such a calm, beautiful place! I highly suggest taking a picnic and doing some exploring of the park, lots of cute dogs to make friends with! It was a great few days and I hope to be back on that beach soon!

Thanks for reading! 

Katie

When It Rains...Head To Brighton!

Let's admit it, Britain is having a pretty miserable soggy start to 2014, and just when it's due to get even worse...I head to the seaside - I must just be sensible like that! We decided to go for a off-route stroll in the morning when it wasn't supposed to be pouring, trusty pocket beach combing guides in tow. But, all rock pools were still under thrashing waves, so we decided to just enjoy the sights instead! - Note to self - next time, double check tide times, don't expect the Brighton resident to have them memorised ;) So much perfectly smoothed driftwood had washed up on the beach, I wish I could have carried it back on the train and hoarded it in the garden somewhere, Claire has now got a great stash for her crafting!

Take a look at that sky!! Claire's reaction is understandable, luckily we did make it back in one piece, we needed much tea and banana cake to recover, absolutely exhausted! Hope this weather isn't causing you&yours too much grief, it is certainly taking it's toll now.

Have a great weekend! Back soon with some crafty updates!

Katie

Day tripping to Brighton and The St Jude Storm

Everybody knows how much us Brits love to talk about the weather, and last week we certainly got a perfect opportunity to grumble, worry and avidly watch every television report. The St Jude Storm (named after the Patron Saint of Lost Causes - so claimed every newspaper headline) hit last Sunday evening, and it so happened I was in Brighton at the time, a stones throw from the beach too! Now I openly admit I am notorious for worrying about such things, but I had a super 24hour trip regardless, and actually saw a great deal of sunshine! I was staying with my absolute best friend, and we chose to sensibly wait out the storm with a bottle of red, chocolate mini eggs and a stash of DVD's including Juno, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Black Books and Miranda - not a bad effort eh? Despite sounding like we were in the middle of a hurricane, not even the wheelie bins got blown over, only a few plant pots suffered in the end, thank goodness! But it was the first morning in Brighton I haven't been woken up by the seagull noise - those chaps had fled elsewhere!

The next morning, as the coast was clear (both literally and metaphorically!) we headed for a promenade, well wrapped up against the elements! We couldn't resist heading to the beach, and I have never seen the sea so choppy in my life, I'm sure this is tame compared to some peoples experience, but for me, I was mightily impressed! The wind was terribly strong too, but we both found this walk quite exhilarating, many others had also chosen to take a stroll, and the mood was cheerful all round, everyone probably pleased it was nowhere near as bad as they had expected!

We were thrilled to see our favourite lunch spot was open despite the elements! Jack&Linda Mills smokehouse is always worth a visit, and on this occasion, the hot kipper rolls tasted better than ever. With salty lips and tangled hair, we sat on a disused fisherman's boat and ate them quickly before they were whipped out of our hands, such a lovely afternoon! We took a quick walk to the pier, but you couldn't even walk up it alone, the breeze pushed you back to where you'd started! A few people were getting far too near the walls of the marina, but I can assure you we were being very sensible :)

We can never resist the allure of the fantastic second hand shops in town, so headed to Snoopers Paradise for a rest, we were absolutely shattered by that sea air and had to have a large hot chocolate to recover (Red Roaster as usual!) We found these oddities which seemed appropriate for the approaching Halloween festivities, Claire is the Queen of curiosities, no Asian artefacts can hide from her expert gaze, and she even found me an amazing 1970's macrame owl to bring home, because everyone needs one in their lives!

It was also great to see many places were gearing up for the Day Of The Dead festivities too, like the amazing shop below, which sums up my trip nicely! Brighton I love you, see you soon please!
Thanks for reading, I hope St Jude didn't cause you any worry!

Katie

The Booth Museum Of Natural History

During my recent trip to Brighton, I visited The Booth Museum for the very first time! Founded by naturalist Edward Thomas Booth in 1874, it remains true to its nickname "home of the dioramas", as Booth was the first man to depict taxidermy animals in scenes resembling their natural habitats, down to the type of foliage and rocks included. His detailed sketches and notes show how determined he was to keep his work true to life, and as well as his taxidermy and famed bird collection, he also studied fossils, skeletons and insects. The skeleton room is vast, holding elephant skulls, and narwhales amongst other amazing examples, even a human skeleton features!

Booth was born in 1840, to a well-to-do family. His early years were spent in education in Brighton and then on to Trinity College Cambridge where he studied only briefly, before be asked to leave having spent more time on the fens shooting and observing birds than studying! The museum guide told us he was quite the playboy character, with too much time on his hands as a young man, it was the best career choice he could have hoped for! He was considered a real character, and even had his own carriage at Brighton Station to hook up to the next outward bound train whenever a new or rare bird was spotted! 

The view inside the museum, as it was around 1911.

Sorry I didn't take a photograph of the entrance now to compare, the light in the museum is so dim (to preserve the taxidermy) that my Iphone was quite useless, and the next photos aren't exactly brilliant, but hopefully they'll give you an idea of the sheer amount of work in this building! It doesn't look like a large space from the outside, but they sure have made the most of the space! Floor to ceiling cases, some absolutely huge, the top ones housing eagles and vultures which are eating lambs and rabbits...nice! Apart from a new desk and study area, the exhibits look exactly the same as the above picture. Here are a few pictures i managed to take, apologies for the quality!

My favourite bird of the moment! See all the leaves and foliage included? 

Family of Partridges

1. Claire and the giant fish!  2. Fantastic Flamingo!

Painted dioramas in the fossil room

Booth should never be regarded as a commercial taxidermist, as his collection until his death was a private resource. The building itself was built specifically around the collection, some cases even featuring in the walls themselves. Considering I co-own several taxidermy pieces with Bruce, I did find the museum quite overwhelming, all those little bodies peering out into the dim lit room...I don't know why I felt like that, I'm pretty tough! I guess the thought that Booth shot all those birds and animals himself is another factor, he certainly was busy! But it's a true gem in the naturalist movements crown, you won't be stuck in queues to look in the cabinets like at the Natural History Museum, it's much more curious at Booth!  It's a truly unique place to visit and I thoroughly recommend you pop by when you're next in Brighton, especially if its raining cats and dogs like on our trip!

 Myself by the Narwhal/Killer Whale/Dolphin and Indian Elephant specimens. 

Stained glass windows in entrance hall.

Thanks for reading!

Katie