When I left England in 2003, devastated to be saying goodbye to some amazing friends, I never thought I would be living here again, seven years later, and able to hang out with some of my favourite people once more. We were lucky enough to be able to catch up with two such friends (and their lovely husbands) in Brighton on an unseasonably sunny day.
Brendan and I caught an early train down to the seaside town and spent a few hours drinking coffee, strolling along the beachfront and wandering incredulously through the tiny, trinket-filled Lanes:
Brighton beach
The Lanes; narrow and stocked with antiques and funky clothes of every kind
The Lanes, Brighton
After a delicious outdoor lunch at the home of our Brighton-dwelling friends, we ventured to Brighton Marina, where we walked along the cliffs to the town of Rottingdean, home of a windmill and (we hoped) cream tea!
The cliffs and our destination; the windmill at Rottingdean
The walk took about an hour and was just so pleasant that it didn’t quite feel like the English seaside! We arrived in Rottingdean and immediately set about finding somewhere to enjoy a cream tea, while Brendan ran around looking for the windmill that was so clear from Brighton but not so obvious at close range. This was the best view we got:
Sighting the windmill
Ye Olde Cottage of cream teas
We sat in the tiny little English tea rooms and ate scones and crumpets whilst drinking tea; but as proper as it sounds, we were actually quite raucous and caused a number of our tea-drinking neighbours to cast disapproving looks our way (which, obviously, only made us laugh harder!). We opted for a taxi back to Brighton and had a delicious dinner of tapas and sparkling conversation. I have to say, after scorning the beach and town of Brighton for years (mostly because I was comparing it to the golden sands of Adelaide beaches), I have discovered a new love for the place and will definitely be making my way back here sometime soon!
Lovely stuff! I travelled to Britain this summer and had some afternoon tea with scones , and it was absolutely delicious I figured I’d try make my own last week. I might have broken a few rules maybe – I found a load of random scone recipes here and made 4 different kinds! My friends were so happy when I brought them round for tea and scones, complete with real whipped cream. Terrific fun!