This Summer we were in desperate need of a mini break to escape from our usual day to day routine, and breathe a little bit of change into our lives. Travelling with two toddlers, I decided that we had to stay in the UK to make it manageable and not too exhausting for all of us. I had several options of where we could go in my head, including a trip to Paulton’s Park in Hampshire, where we could take the boys to
Peppa Pig World. I had a read of reviews for Paulton’s online, and many parents said they took their 18 month old there with no problem, but I feel that our boys will enjoy going there when they are a bit older, although they do love Peppa and George!
After a few days deliberation, I ended up deciding on us all going to Brighton as my sister and her boyfriend recently bought a house there, so it seemed like the ideal place to visit so we could see what it’s like. It’s also perfect if you live in London and don’t drive, as the train from London St Pancras International (Kings Cross) takes between an hour and an hour and a half to get to Brighton, and when you get there you’re in the heart of Brighton from the beginning.
When I plan a holiday no matter how big or small, I always have to research where I’m going to stay, places to visit and eat. With the power of the internet these days, and with websites like Tripadvisor that have thousands of reviews on the best hotels and restaurants, you’d be crazy not to look into the best places and more importantly the worst places to avoid.
Before reading reviews I initially had every intention of staying at the
Brighton Hilton Metropole Hotel, because you do think of Hilton hotels as being quite luxurious and well kept. However, reading the reviews online it didn’t seem to be that great a hotel, it was on the beach front but the reviews weren’t that positive. In the end I went for a cheaper option of the
Brighton City Centre Premier Inn, and I’m so glad we did! I’ll admit that the outside of this hotel leaves you wondering if you made the right choice, it seems quite dingy and dark, but as you see as you walk around a lot of buildings look that way due to the sea salt in the air corroding paint off buildings. The Premier Inn doesn’t have parking, but they do offer parking at another car park nearby. This wasn’t a problem for us as neither myself nor Brad drive, but as the Premier Inn staff mentioned, it is sometimes a nightmare driving in Brighton as so many road are only one way.
Despite the look on the outside of the hotel, our whole experience was brilliant, we requested a family room and it was really big with two cots, a king size bed, and two single beds, and enough room for our twins to run around happily for hours, as well as the en suite with a bath! It can be so difficult looking for places where you can have two cots in a room, as most hotel rooms say only 1 cot per room. Another reason why we didn’t stay at
Peppa Pig World in Paulton’s Park, was that they wouldn’t allow two cots in a room, and expected us to pay double and have separate rooms if we wanted to visit!
Another reason why Brighton is a great place to bring toddlers is that it has a pebble beach. At first I was quite disappointed that the twins wouldn’t be able to play in sand, but it makes it so much easier on the parents. Saying that you have to be SO careful with toddlers and pebbles, we had a heart-stoppingly awful moment where Brad thought Sebastian had a pebble in his mouth (something he kept trying to do), and wrestled him to retrieve the pebble before he swallowed it. Luckily he hadn’t even put one in his mouth, but he did keep trying which made us limit our beach time, but they loved playing with the pebbles – even filling my handbag with them!
The shops in Brighton are great, they have everything you need, and if there’s anything you’ve forgotten you can always head to Primark and get a replacement for very little money. Don’t forget to check out
my Primark and Zara haul post (coming soon!) to see what I bought in Brighton.
We bought the boys some lovely swimming trunks from Primark which were £4 for a two pack, and have little crabs on them. I think they are so cute! I also got them some girls shoes for £3 each (as there was practically no shoes for boys there), so that they could paddle in the sea without cutting their feet on sharp pieces of shell. They absolutely loved the sea, and had a fantastic time!
The Pier is right in the heart of Brighton beach and has lots of arcades and rides to go on which are more suited to teenagers or older children, but we still ventured down there a few times and the boys enjoyed seeing everything and eating a few delicious freshly made doughnuts!
For a short trip, Brighton is full of fun things to do, and we booked to visit
Brighton Sealife Centre which is right by the beach and only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Make sure you book online as it’s so much cheaper, and if you use
Top Cashback you can also get money back on your tickets – I got £2 back, which isn’t too bad, and the twins went free.
Brighton Sea Life was really nice, and definitely a great place to take toddlers/children, as every where has steps for little ones to stand on so they can see the fish, and a lot of the tanks are low so babies in pushchairs can see. Not only that but they offer a little area where children can touch certain sea creatures and plants with the help of staff, and a lovely employee there even scooped out a crab for the twins to see and a star fish for them to stroke.
[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Me with a giant crab![/caption]
We also paid £3 each (twins were free), for a glass bottom boat ride, which was a little daunting especially as you have to walk onto glass to take a seat, but it was really great and the boys loved it. It’s only a 10 minute ride so it’s not very long. One word of warning was that the ride is up a couple of flights of steps and you have to lift a double pram some of the way to get to the boat, but we managed fine.
I think the highlight at the Sea Life centre for me was the tunnel where you could see a 360 degree view of the shark tank, where there were also giant sea turtles swimming past you.
You only need a couple of hours at the Sea Life Centre, the map does make it look a lot bigger than it actually is, so I’m glad we only booked the 2pm-5pm slot in the afternoon as we didn’t need any more time than this.
The best places to eat in Brighton
I had a good look online at some places to eat, and sadly we missed out on some places which sounded amazing like Ella’s Yummy Delights Café, which I hear serves amazing home made cakes. I also wanted to go to Burger Brothers, which I hear makes the best fresh burgers, but the first night we ended up heading to Burger King across the road from our hotel – big mistake, it was awful!
However, we did go to two great places, firstly
The Melrose Restaurant which is directly opposite the beach, and served brilliant fish and chips. Brad had the sea food platter which he loved and stated it was the “Best Fish and Chips I’ve ever had.” I’m not a big seafood fan so I went for the standard British Fish (Cod), Chips and Mushy Peas which was excellent. Looking at reviews online, some of the most obvious places you would think would be good, such as the Fish and Chips restaurant on the Brighton Pier, actually had awful review, so we avoided them entirely!
The next day we went to JB’s American Diner, and I have to say the food and milkshakes there are amazing! Everything is American food sized, and the milkshakes look fantastic and tasted great.
The décor is also great, with photos of all the best icons including Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elvis as well as movie memorabilia and models of E.T, Jaws etc. The staff wear 50’s style diner uniforms that I love, but then again if you read my Reality TV section you’ll know I’m a sucker for all things American!
While we were down there my sister text me to say that
Jonathan and
Anna Saccone-Joly, two of my favourite YouTubers (
check out the Saccone-Joly Channel here) had also been in Brighton visiting Zoe (
Zoella) for the day! Needless to say I was disappointed I didn’t keep a look out for them, but I sent Jonathan a picture of us peering out at the pier too, which he liked!
If you’re looking for a place to take your toddlers, then Brighton is the ideal place! There’s a lot of activities for kids, as well as adults. There are many things we didn't do, such as go to
Brighton Marina where they have bowling, a cinema and tons of restaurants. But that’s something we’ll no doubt check out next time. I also want to go to
Hove beach which is meant to be quieter, and check out the colourful beach huts which look lovely in photos I’ve seen!
Brighton really is a fantastic getaway, especially just for a mini break. We stayed two nights, and while we could have stayed a third night, we all felt that two nights felt like enough, and we didn’t feel as though we had missed out on anything.
I hope you enjoyed this review on Brighton, it really is the ideal place to take children, and it’s also quite a cheap holiday if you time it right. Let me know if you decide to
visit Brighton, or if you have another suggestion for a great family holiday that either you were taken on or that you take your children, leave me a comment about it I’d love to get some new ideas for our next adventure!
Lots of love,
Samantha Dawn
xoxo
