A day brighton

With the bank holiday bringing an extra day to play with, we decided to hop on the train to the coast for the day. I've been living in London for four years now and yet I've never ventured down to Brighton before so I figured it was about time I checked it out. Plus, we were craving some salty sea air, fish and chips and a fresh crop of vintage shops, all of which we found in abundance. 

We started with some shopping in the North Laines (although we later realised we'd missed an entire street brimming with great vintage so a repeat trip will have to be planned) before grabbing a late brunch at Bill's. Kensington Gardens, one of the busiest streets in the laines, housed Snooper's Paradise, where both Jamie and I uncovered some vintage finds before indulging in some cheesy black and white photo booth snaps. There was also an amazing Morroccan homeware shop which I've bookmarked for textiles and ceramics when I'm living somewhere suitably deserving and a certain mermaid mural you can probably tell we became slightly infatuated with for 5 minutes!

We thought the bright lights of Brighton pier had to be experienced at least once, so we spent a few hours shovelling coins into arcade games, eating candy floss and wandering the boards of the bustling fairground. While it was as fun as it was trashy, it was a welcome relief to escape the crowds for the quiet of the Royal Pavillion at the end of the day. With its turrets silhouetted against the blue sky like those of an ancient Ottoman palace, we felt like we'd been transported to Istanbul - a strange yet beautiful end to the day. 

After buying giant foot-long deli baguettes stuffed with avocado and mozzarella, we hopped on the train back to London in time for a relaxed, lazy night in with the remote control and Maltesers on hand.