Brighton
This year, Carol and I decided to plan for some quick visits to smaller cities around London. The reason is twofold. First, we wanted to explore a bit more the country where we live. Secondly, we wanted to “practice” how it was to travel with our little daughter before our vacation in Brazil. We’ve made 1-day trips to three towns: Windsor, Cambridge, and Brighton.
Windsor. We visited Windsor in the end of 2009 when my father and his wife came to London to spend Xmas and new year with us. We went there for an obvious reason: the famous Windsor castle, one of England’s most popular places for tourists. It was a quite cold day but we managed to enjoy the sightseeing anyway. Windsor, the town, is cute and very quiet.
Cambridge. This was the first time we made a trip with Julia. Cambridge is a university-oriented town full of students all around. We took the sightseeing bus and walked around quite a bit – a very tiring experience to carry Julia in a sling during the whole time. We went to some of the Cambridge’s classic locations such as King’s College Chapel and Fitzwilliam Museum. Got a pretty good impression of Cambridge, even though it seemed a bit too crowded with students.
Brighton. That was definitely our favourite town. Brighton is on the south coast of England. The pebble beach is a nice place to relax. Brightonians seem to be easy-going people. It’s amazing how the sea affects people’s behaviour and attitude. To be honest, Carol and I even considered moving there after the visit but it would be a bit impractical to work in London and live there.
What all those towns have in common? A very obvious thing: you see more English people. It may sound weird to say that but in London you don’t really experience English culture because the city is very cosmopolitan. Even though those towns are not so far from London, it was interesting to notice that they are more homogeneously English than London. I took some photos from all three towns.
Where are we going next? We have some obvious suspects in mind: Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge, Cotswolds, and others. We’re also planning a weekend trip to Edinburgh and surrounding locations. There’s so much to see that is hard to decide! But we have no hurry and summer is almost gone now. Maybe next year, let’s see.
Hi!
I grew up in Brighton, it’s nice to hear you enjoyed it. :)
It’s not impractical to live in Brighton and work in London, and in fact my Dad did so for a few years while I was growing up — the train from Brighton Station to London Victoria takes 45 minutes, which is about how long it takes to get from the outskirts of London to the center of London; he had coworkers who lived in London and had longer commutes than he did. Also, you can concentrate and work a little better on the train than on the tube (more space, cell signal), although the tube is cheaper..
Have fun,
– cjb
I’m in Eastbourne and commute to Brighton, but I know many who commute from Brighton to London. There’s a 50min train from Brighton to Victoria and I believe there’s a train to London Bridge too. It takes me about an hour to get from work to the Cheshire Cheese on Fleet St. when we go for beer.
@Chris and @Aidan, thanks for the tips! An one-hour commute is actually not too different from what I do now (40-50 minutes). Maybe it’s something we’ll consider again once we start thinking about moving next year. Cheers!
The obvious reason to visit Windsor is surely Legoland, not some dusty old castle :)
“More English people” in Cambridge? I lived there for years and would have said there are no more there than there are in London… place is full of foreign students and tourists all year round.
As for Brighton, the fact that an unusually large percentage of the inhabitants are gay probably has something to do with how easy-going they are, too…
I’d advise against Stonehenge. They don’t allow you near the stones anymore and the visitors centre is a 5 minute job.
Can I replace it with York? A walled city, the Yorvick centre (always a queue for this though), the National Railway Museum. and the Minster (an impressive cathedral that dates from 1100 or so).
Chris who lives by the sea :) but in Portsmouth :(
York is worth a visit. I went for the first time since being about 8 years old last xmas, walked the walls and walked to the top of the minister. Jorvik wasn’t great but I remember loving it as a kid. There’s an art gallery and a castle too.
Don’t forget the UK is not just England. You really ought to experience Wales and Scotland too, especially the rural areas which have a very different feel to suburban south east England. Brighton for example is really just London-on-Sea.
@Phil, We definitely have plans to visit Wales and Scotland (starting with the Highlands). Suggestions for nice places to visit are welcome :-)