I decided to spend my Birthday weekend in Brighton so we could eat lots of yummy  vegan food, have a good rummage in the flea markets and vintage shops and being only an hour outside London it is easily accessible by train.

We arrived at around 13.30 on Friday to a drizzly and windy Brighton, not that we were expecting much from a weekend in late February and headed straight to VBites for lunch. You can read all about it here.

We then headed to the White House where we were staying in Kemp Town which you can read about here. After we put our bags down and settled in we headed to the pier to have a look at the amusements and what was going on before it got dark.

We were treated to a wonderful display by some small black birds. They were flying in formation getting very close to the sea and then flying over the pier. More birds kept arriving to join in and there must have been over a thousand in the end. Everyone on the pier were taking pictures and it a great spectacle we were glad we got to see.

After this we headed back to the  hotel to get ready to go out for dinner at Purezza. You can read what we thought about it here.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and I was very pleased one of my favourite shows was back on TV – Googlebox! This is not a guilty pleasure and I am unashamedly a fan!

Saturday we got up and headed into town. We didn’t get very far before we came across a flea market on St James Street that we had a good look around. We considered visiting the Pavilion, but we had both been before so we instead headed to the Lanes. We looked round a antique weapons shop that had lots swords and guns in it. I think there get a lot more visitors than customers as most of the items on display were very expensive. We then had a good look around Choccywoccydoodah and their amazing examples of chocolate work.

We then went to the North Laine area where we went around another flea market and I may have bought a present for someone.

I bought a vintage dress in To be worn again which I was really pleased with. It fits really well and I love the colour and the length. Sorry my head isn’t in this photo, its difficult to get the whole dress in without covering my face!

We had lunch at Burger and Cocktails, I think Ollie was craving meat as he had a bacon cheeseburger and I went for a kale and avocado salad.

I then had a little splurge in one of my favourite shops, Infinity Foods and got a few treats for once Lent has finished. I am a bit worried after six weeks with hardly any sugar I will have lost a taste for it!

Ollie really want to go on  the Brighton Wheel, I wasn’t too enthusiastic as I am not a lover of heights but I was a good sport and agreed to go on. It was a very windy and our pod was rocking quite a lot. It turned out Ollie was the more scared out of the two of us and even the commentary by Steve Coogan couldn’t comfort him!

After that I headed to Black Mocha (formerly Chocaffinitea) to meet up with my friends Fee and Ollie. Fee and I went to primary (elementary) and secondary school (high school) together and have now known each other over 26 years! We don’t get to meet up very often, but I always enjoy it when we do. I ordered a pot of Earl Grey tea although the signature black mocha comes highly recommended. I must give it a try when I’m not fasting from both coffee and sugar!

 

Fee and Ollie bought me some lovely sounding tea for my birthday and it gives me an excuse to buy a tea strainer!

I headed back to the hotel for a shower and freshen up before we had dinner at Terre a Terre. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here.

Today we packed up and took a walk along the prom on the way back to the station. It was extremely windy and the waves were really crashing as they came in. We managed to get on a train with about a minute and a half to spare and had a good journey home. All in all I had a lovely birthday weekend and would recommend anyone to spend a weekend in Brighton.

Plumes x