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By Tim Saunders

A weekend away that feels more like a week! That’s our experience of Brighton.

My wife and I, together with our three children, travel there after Henry (8) has a football match at Emsworth, which works out nicely because it’s on the way. After our picnic we drive the forty or so miles to our parking space in Buckingham Road, Brighton. Booked through justpark.com, the sat nav guides us there without a hitch. I do enjoy off-street parking because these days car parks have so many restrictions and complicated signage with the purpose of fining the poor motorist. So I am so glad to have found justpark.com, which allows me to book this space, on a driveway, which gives added peace of mind, for the entire duration of our stay and in essence forget about the car altogether. Planning ahead, we think it’s a good idea to try and write down our route to the hotel only to discover that we’ve forgotten a pen. Fortunately, the space owner walks out of the house and kindly provides a pen and tells me to keep it. I’m not expecting that – it’s a nice pen, too.

The hotel is a twenty minute walk away, near the railway station and we can check in at 3pm. Aside from the Regency architecture, which reminds us of Bath, there are some steep hills. Great for Henry’s scootering. After walking through the railway station, spying a piano being played, we arrive at Leonardo Hotels in Stroudley Road. It’s a nice modern structure with clean lines inside and out. A contrast to that more traditional architecture, it is very welcoming and so are the staff. The key cards to our interconnecting rooms operate the lifts and the lights in our rooms, too, which is a neat touch, keeping unwanted visitors out and presumably helping to ensure that lights are switched off when a room becomes vacant. As we make our way to the lifts, Henry spots a football table but is disappointed to see there’s no ball. Reception has lost a lot of balls and understandably has now stopped supplying any. Over the course of our stay this prompts Henry to think of alternatives. We start with the conker in my pocket. It’s too small...

We make our way to our rooms and as soon as those doors open, we drop our luggage and relax. Caroline is delighted to see two bathrooms, each with a bath, as well as a shower. She has a nice long soak while the rest of us have some drinks and watch a bit of tele. The beds are comfy.

It’s now time to walk to Bistro du Vin in Ship Street, which is down the other end of the city by the seafront, about twenty minutes’ walk away. Try tearing Harriett (13) away from her programmes though. She’s at that stage where time management has been thrown out of the window and she’s a real challenge all of a sudden. We finally manage to push her out of the room.

Bistro du Vin is a beautiful old building, superbly maintained. Once inside, we marvel at the tasteful décor, lots of oak, wallpaper and lighting. Back at home we’ve finally found a friendly builder who shares our ideals and we’re at the stage of sorting our lights out in the hallway and kitchen/diner. So seeing how the lighting has been tackled at Bistro du Vin is really quite inspiring. Our waitress for the evening is Paulina, who greets us and takes our coats. This really is a special occasion. Customer service is top notch. We are guided to our table and we’re instantly made welcome. There’s no rush and we can just sit and relax, taking in and savouring our surroundings and the whole experience. Which is much appreciated because the last few days have been a whirlwind. Initially, Henry is a bit put out because we cannot see a children’s menu so we ask Paulina whether our awkward little bundle of joy can be accommodated in any way at all with his very particular eating requirements. Thankfully, Paulina discovers a children’s menu – my impression is that generally little people are quite a rarity at Bistro du Vin, which I completely understand. This is sophisticated dining celebrating French cuisine and you don’t want that experience ruined. Only well behaved children here. Thankfully, ours don’t let us down and are pleasingly appreciated by Paulina and the manager Mo, as well as the diners on the large table next to us on their staff evening out. When Paulina expertly pours the Pinot Grigio into our glasses (Caroline’s and mine..), she does it correctly with one hand behind her back, cradling the bottle in her other hand, ensuring that she doesn’t lean over the diner. These little things make for a superior dining experience. And the children are impressed, as are we. When eating out children can often be seen as a problem and are not embraced in the whole experience by the waiting staff. But Bistro du Vin has really got it right. We’re all engaged. When Mo introduces himself he’s very personable and happy, telling us about his children. For this alone we want to return to Bistro du Vin. The cutlery and glasses are pleasingly clean and the white table cloths are crisp and immaculate when we arrive (not when we leave…). We don’t need to worry about cleanliness, which means Caroline and I can actually go off duty for a bit. That Pinot Grigio is smooth and will be a good accompaniment for my fish. “We’ll never drink a whole bottle,” says Caroline. “Really?” I question. For once, I don’t need to worry about driving. This is a proper break.

For starters Henry has melon and a red berry compot as do his sisters, Heidi and Harriett. He loves the melon but the compot is one step too far for him – don’t you love him? So I have it and it’s delicious. Caroline’s curry soup is enjoyable and so is my prawn cocktail – I haven’t had one of those for years. About half an hour passes between courses, which is a lot to ask of children but they cope admirably, talking, looking around and cracking jokes with the table next to us. Time to go to the lavatory, too. This in itself is a pleasant experience. Welsh slate sink surrounds and floors, handwash and luxurious lotion, another sign of a classy establishment.

It’s the main course where Bistro du Vin really excels. Caroline goes for Beef Provençale and the beef melts in the mouth, one of the diners on the next table agrees. “It’s the best meal I’ve ever had,” says Caroline.

“What, better than my spaghetti Bolognese?” my bottom lip droops, only playfully though!

I wonder whether I should have gone for it because I do love my beef but I choose cod and vegetables, which cannot be faulted. The accompanying glazed carrots, parsnips and French fries make for a really delightful meal. Henry enjoys his two Cumberland sausages and chips (which is a bit of a surprise for me because when I’ve cooked such sausages he hasn’t eaten them). The girls are very happy with their chicken.

“I’m full,” announces Henry.

“What? No room for dessert?” I smile.

“Oh yes I have,” he retorts. “I’ll have a sundae please.”

Heidi has to have a crème brûlée, if for no other reason than the fact that her rabbit is called Brulee. She likes it so much she asks Mo how to make it. He explains in detail. “I make it for my children on a Sunday,” he says. We’re impressed that he’s willing to share his knowledge.

“Are you sure you want the profiterole?” Mo asks me.

“Oh yes definitely,” I reply.

“It’s just that it’s quite big,” he says. “You’re welcome to choose something else if it isn’t to your liking.”

This is a bit of a surprise to me because I’m expecting three or four little profiteroles, chocolate sauce and ice cream. Instead, this massive circular profiterole filling the entire dish is presented to me – it’s a meal in itself. Mo is a customer service expert – so many businesses could learn from him – but I stand by my guns, I’ve ordered it so I shall eat all of it. It’s ok but I agree it’s too much. And in fact looking at all the desserts we have, the portions are too large. It’s unnecessary. So my only criticism is that. Everything else is absolutely spot on and I have no hesitation in recommending Bistro du Vin. We spot customers coming in for one course and a glass of wine and leaving very happily. So often, especially with food, it’s about quality, not quantity. We spend three very pleasurable hours here, collecting our coats and Henry’s scooter as we leave. Walking back to our hotel, reliving our experience, we take in the sights and sounds of the city.

Back at our warm hotel we all get ready for bed and I have a luxuriating bath. This is so nice. We all have a good night’s sleep thanks to Leonardo Hotels’ Dream beds and pristine white bed linen. In the morning Henry is up at seven o’clock ready to look out of the window at the railway station opposite. Trains coming and going and…

“There are lots of police about,” he reveals. “Look at them all.”

“They’re looking for you son, for waking us up so early,” I mutter from under the covers.

Room service rings half an hour later, which is just as well because we’ve got lots to do today. By eight-thirty we’re in the brightly coloured, modern dining hall having a leisurely breakfast – we don’t need to check out until eleven. There’s so much choice, continental, full English and vegetarian. I have to try a little of each and it’s all very good. The food that’s meant to be hot, is, which sounds obvious but we’ve stayed at hotels where that is not the case. The bacon, sausages and eggs are as good as you’ll find anywhere. Really good quality. And I like the tomatoes, too. The children love the self-service experience because it gives them control. Henry is in his element and has a plate of pastries while Heidi enjoys the fruit and healthy options including the fresh yoghurt while Harriett goes for muesli and toast. There are various drinks available such as juices, teas and coffees.

“Can we go and play table football?” ask Henry and Heidi in unison.

“Yes of course.”

We’ve taken a couple of bottle tops from the dinner the previous night and they make a kind of ball, so Henry is keen to try it out.

He returns to say it needs a bit of improvement so we tidy it up and he has the idea of wrapping it in a white napkin to make more of a circle and then getting reception to sellotape it all together. It works well and we don’t see Heidi and Henry again for a while. They do make us laugh.

Meanwhile, Harriett has a French assessment the following week so we take the opportunity to parlais Francais and come up with ideas to talk about, which hopefully prove helpful.

Checking out on time we make our way back to the car to drop off the luggage. 

As we walk through the railway station I ask a policeman why there’s such a police presence. It’s the Brighton v Crystal Palace match, he says. Can’t football fans behave themselves? Later, we see a couple of officers on horseback, which makes a nice photo. It’s only twenty minutes’ walk to the Sealife Centre, which is the oldest aquarium in the world! It is housed in quite a magnificent Victorian building, too where some of its large windows are cleverly incorporated into some of the fish tanks. Here we have a great educational experience. As we arrive we have three family photos taken by eventsphototeam.com, which is a great keepsake. There are so many sea creatures here, of all shapes, colours and varieties. We’re mesmerised at the power of nature and saddened at how man continues to destroy it. Sealife is trying hard to educate visitors about litter and the decline of coral reefs - the rainforests of the sea. We see anemones and learn that their bright colours actually protect them from sunlight, which travels so far down into the depths of the oceans. There are some truly beautiful fish, it’s as if God has been painting with his magic brush, some with quite animated faces and big lips, others with little fins that don’t look capable of powering them through the water but they somehow do. There are delightful seahorses. We walk under a glass tunnel where sharks and turtles swim above our heads. We learn that there are three turtles that have been rescued. One was kidnapped for a washing powder commercial in 1939. They must be a hundred years old and are so enjoyable to watch making their way about. They are fed twice a day and we’re able to watch one of these sessions. Lulu is a joy to watch as she tucks into red cabbage. We see a stingray that actually lifts its head out of the water to reveal a little face, with eyes and a mouth. Henry and I are not expecting this - he looks so sweet. It’s as if he’s saying, “Hey, look at me,” and waving with his whole body.

Virtual reality from Immotion helps us to further immerse ourselves at Sealife. We each sit down and strap a headset on, which introduces us to Manta rays and makes us feel like we are actually in the boat speeding through the water in somewhere like the Maldives, diving down, seeing the shark bite in a Manta ray’s tail and getting close up to a pregnant one. With the headset on you can turn and see all the way round as if you’re actually there. For instance, the captain of the boat or the view in the distance. The seats move too, further enhancing the experience.

As we continue our Sealife tour we see leaf eating ants; there are over one million of them here. Imagine if they escaped… Some are considerably larger than your standard ant, too. These hardworking creatures are amazing to watch. Many of us could take a leaf from their book…

Later, at the rock pool, we learn about anemones and how their mouths are also their bottoms… “We all know some people like that, don’t we?” smiles the keeper.

We leave marvelling at the wonders of nature.

About twenty minutes' away is The Royal Palace. Here we learn that this India inspired dome-roofed John Nash architectural wonder was built from 1787 to around 1815 for King George IV as a party palace and that the artist Constable, who lived in the city for a while, couldn’t stand it. As you might expect, this once royal residence is lavishly decorated with exquisite wallpapers and chandeliers. The banqueting hall is massive.

It’s nearing the end of the day, the children are exhausted and we’re unable to spend much time here but this whistle-stop tour is certainly interesting. We leave to sit on a bench and savour its splendour while munching some biscuits.

Our time in Brighton draws to a close but it’s been an enriching experience.

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