Brighton, United Kingdom

We didn’t have a bad sleep once the other guests came home and shut up. This building may have thick wood beams but the walls and ceilings are very thin and you can hear everything, down to conversations. Breakfast (included) did not open till 9:00am so we used the time to get ready for check out as soon as we finished eating. The breakfast room is also beautifully decorated and we sat down in anticipation of a nice meal. The waitress took our order and whilst we waited we had a croissant but only ate a bit of it as it was seriously burnt, and some fruit salad which was ok. 45 minutes later our breakfast arrived and there was only one couple in front of us. I ordered blueberry pancakes with syrup and Vern had the eggs benedict (we swapped half way). The pancakes were horrible – ok, just not good – tasting salty and baking soda with probably a sprinkle of 8 berries on top and fake syrup and the eggs bene had a commercial sauce and muffins hardly toasted.

They apparently had a new chef on, and you could see the kitchen from your seat and the ‘chef’ was very young (barely out of high school) and he spent more time running in circles then being methodical. I would have failed his trial right away! Other guests after us were not impressed either. The young owner enquired about our stay etc on check out and I let her know about the burnt food and slow service – very politely of course.

One of the reasons for visiting this area (before we realised how charming it is) was its proximity to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu which Vernon had googled. I went along as support as they have Chitty Chitty Bang Bang there. Joking aside it was a great visit and we spent longer than intended viewing the displays which was mostly British cars, and ranged from vintage 1800’s, to modern day, vintage scooters and motorbikes, movie cars like Mr Beans mini, the Harry Potter Anglia, fun cars (like bottle or fruit), odd promotional cars, early 1930’s caravans, race cars such as bluebird and other track open cockpit and early formula. They also house the ‘Top Gear’ show cars such as they unbreakable Hilux, the outboard powered Nissan they went across the Chanel on, the Jaguar on the railway line etc. By each display vehicle and its mini set they had a revolving moving screen showing exerts of the actual show. It was hilarious watching some of these and makes us want to watch the series again.

Included in your entry fee is access to the rest of ‘Lord Montagu’s’ estate which has his stately home where you can view a few rooms and lots of family treasures and antiques including a fantastic traditional kitchen set up, the old Abbey, and a ‘Secret Army Exhibition’ (about underground efforts in the war from the area). We had a quick scoot through the house and other displays and shook our heads as to the lives these aristocratic class of English must live. Its just so far from our lives and culture. We also tried some estate made icecream – a clotted cream flavour and a salted caramel and both were very nice (still not beating Isle of Man).

When we finsihed at Beaulieu we continued to enjoy our drive through this very pretty corner of England that has only recently been made a National Park. It would be a wonderful place to visit and come with families and explore on foot or mountain bike. We saw more horses and its kind of nice driving along and then having to slow right down to get past the animals. It reminds you that we are not the only ones on the planet and we need to be conscious of our environment and the other species and forms of life on it, verses simply zooming along and thinking we are king of the road.

The second leg of our journey went smoothly mainly on motorways and just missing peak traffic and we arrived in Brighton at around 6:30. Our pension (boutique hotel) is in a 200 year old building which has been lovingly restored and on a narrow side street adjacent to the sea side frontage. Brighton is very expensive to stay in and I chose the cheapest room in one of the nicest places. Our room is cheap because it is small, and the ensuite is across the hall. Well that was the blurb; small – OMG it is the squishiest room we have had so far and wouldn’t be so bad if it was practical, but it is so tiny its not funny. Firstly is the small bed with no where to put your bags, sit or well do anything and I mean anything. The ensuite across the hall is actually down 8 steps on the landing and not great if you are half asleep and have to negotiate that in the middle of the night. It is also a windowless broom cupboard missing some light bulbs.

I am not too happy, however not much I can do at this late stage as Brighton is booked out and being a sunny weekend the place is packed. Its clean and the hosts are lovely but this being the 3rd small room on holiday in well rated places, has formulated an opinion for us that the adage of ‘worst house on best street’ does not apply to hotel rooms. If I cant afford a nice room in a nice place – I will not stay in the cheapest room anymore. Rather pay more for the best room in a moderate place I think. We have seen peeks of the other rooms in all the establishments and they looked great and deserve the positive reviews. I tried to budget around £80-150 per night for our holiday and even got a few cheaper but the ‘nice’ rooms in these places are more like £190-280 and that is still cheap for some city accommodations!

Back to our arrival we could not get a park at first so we found one a block or two away and I went to check in and see what the options were. Our hostess asked regarding our transport and then noted a spot came free on the street – she sent me off to get the car and physically stood there to hold it as she said ‘the are like mint (gold) here’. We do not get it free (UK is so expensive on everything) but bought subsidised hotel guest parking for £10 per 24hrs.
For dinner we walked about 10 minutes up the street to a Thai recommended by Suzie our hostess. It was ok, but pretty small and not that good value portion wise. Off to bed in another super ‘cosy’ nest.