I spent three lovely days away in Bournemouth, staying at Travelodge Bournemouth Seafront. We had a ground floor room, which looked freshly decorated and certainly did the job.
It was quite a trek from the railway station- through a town abundant with roundabouts and a pier entrance resplendent with heavy plant equipment and civil engineers- but we kind of found ourselves forced into taking the scenic route, via the beach.
Here's where I took my first steps on Bournemouth beach. I love the palm trees!
The view towards our hotel area, up the beach...
Looking back at the pier...
The beautiful sunset on the horizon...
This is West Cliff Railway, a perpendicular line allowing for easy access to and from the beach. I don't think it opens outside the summer season: we only saw some activity once, and that appeared to be a test run. It certainly wasn't open when we, burdened down with suitcases, needed it.
Instead, we had to hump our suitcases up a flight of vertical stairs. I was not amused- it felt like drill instruction, and I wasn't aware that I was training to be a Commando! Here's the view from the top...
After unpacking, we went for a wander towards Bournemouth Pier. Here are some gorgeous sunset views....
Seahorses...
The view from the pier. Surfers were out in action, and you can see them paddling into the tide, looking like otters in their wetsuits!
As day turned into night, the sky and sea took on a moody nuance...
The next day brought grotty weather- but nice if you're a frog or a fish!!!!
Again, the pier roadworks forced us onto the beach, this time walking the other way, towards Boscombe. As well as two cliff railways and the steep stairs, there are two zig-zag cliff pathways. We'd sampled the one situated to the west (near our hotel) after our second beach walk the previous day, and now we took the one to the east, up to the clifftop (this photo was actually taken the following day, during more clement weather...)
Now we come to the gem that is the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum- if you ever visit Bournemouth, don't leave without seeing inside it. It's an ideal way to kill an hour or more on a rainy day. Here is the blurb:-
'In 1897, the architect John Frederick Fogerty was commissioned by Merton Russell-Cotes, then the owner of the Royal Bath Hotel, to build a house as a birthday present for his wife Annie. Originally called East Cliff Hall, it was built in the northeast section of his hotel's garden. Built in the Art Nouveau style with interiors by John Thomas and his son Oliver. It was completed in its first form in 1901.
In 1907, Annie Russell-Cotes donated East Cliff Hall and its contents as a museum to the town of Bournemouth and Merton donated his fine art collection. In return they were made honorary freemen of the town. They continued living in part of the house and over the next ten years they paid for an extension to be built and made further donations including the freehold of the site. It was formally opened by Princess Beatrice in 1919. After their deaths the Borough of Bournemouth took over the running of East Cliff Hall and re-opened it as the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum on 10 March 1922. After Sir Merton's death, it was extended into his part of the house; a further extension was opened in 2000.[2][3]
The house and the new annexe display various items collected in the course of Sir Merton's foreign travels, especially to Japan, and paintings from his personal art collection. One room is the Sir Henry Irving Museum; Irving, a friend of the Russell-Cotes', had stayed in that room. When Irving died in 1905, this room was devoted to his memory. Items purchased at the sale of Irving's effects formed the basis of the Irving Museum and were displayed with memorabilia associated with his contemporaries such as Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt.' (Source- Wikipedia)
The view from the garden entrance...
Looking up...
Garden views...
Inside, flash photography wasn't allowed, so I've done my best.
Here's the dining room...
The mantelpiece with a beautiful peacock frieze above it...
A fireplace...
I love this picture- I've got no idea who it's by but, to me, it has shades of Hieronymus Bosch about it!
Another room...
Stairs and balcony...
Skylight...
I thought this fountain centrepiece was wonderful. Such a shame it wasn't working!
Nymphettes, found in the art gallery section...
This vase reminded me of the film 'The Amazing Mr. Blunden'. My obsession with said film is documented elsewhere on my blog....!
A slit of a photo taken though the window...
The pier. It really was a grotty, wet day.
Pier panorama.
Rooftops...
Squally sea...
The next day was nice, and we ventured up to Boscombe Pier, this time walking through town and down into the Lower Gardens.
The park had a lovely waterfall channel running through it.
The view over a bridge...
I love this tropical selection of trees...
Boscombe Pier, in the distance. Bournemouth is very up-and-down and a real workout for the legs. The flat beach walks brought a welcome respite from this!
The beach is smooth and lovely...
The view back towards Bournemouth...
On the pier...
Looking back over the sea...
I believe the lump towards the right of the photo is the Isle Of Wight...
Boscombe beach...
The pier had "musical instruments" for you to play. Here's Dean giving it a go...
SuperDean...thanks for taking me to Bournemouth. xxxx
The sun on the sea, taken from the end of the pier...
The East Cliff Railway was destroyed in a landslide in 2016. It doesn't show any signs of opening anytime soon.
Note the kink in the railway, caused by the mass of falling debris...
We enjoyed eating at the following places in Bournemouth:-
Jungle Cafe:- A yummy breakfast, but not much room inside and not much menu choice.
Olive:- Greek run, I loved having halloumi cheese with my brekkie!
Valentino's:- Traditional family Italian with a great atmosphere.
Cafe Rouge:- We enjoyed their three course Valentine's day menu.
But we had a different experience at Zizzi, and ventured into Wildwood. Here's my TripAdvisor review of the latter (I gave them 4 out of 5 stars):-
On a recent short break to Bournemouth, we'd planned on spending February 15th in Zizzi, taking advantage of their Valentine's week menu. But, after receiving a very curt, "We have nothing," response from the guy at reception, despite the restaurant being three quarters full at best (I even had to drag some idea of availability that evening out of him) we thought, "Stuff you!" and decided to take our money elsewhere. I'd never even heard of Wildwood before but, as it was just opposite, we looked at the menu and decided to venture in.
I'm so glad we did! There's a good selection of pizzas, pastas and burgers- I loved my Hoisin Duck Classic pizza and my partner loved his Carne Gigante pizza. The restaurant was spacious and clean and the service friendly. His only moan was that his pizza could have been a bit warmer and my only moan was that the waitress took a long time in coming over when we required our bill, but I'm sure that if I'd got up to leave them it might have been forthcoming a little quicker! Wildwood, you have a convert, and I've even checked out other branches of this chain closer to home, for future reference.
I'm so glad we did! There's a good selection of pizzas, pastas and burgers- I loved my Hoisin Duck Classic pizza and my partner loved his Carne Gigante pizza. The restaurant was spacious and clean and the service friendly. His only moan was that his pizza could have been a bit warmer and my only moan was that the waitress took a long time in coming over when we required our bill, but I'm sure that if I'd got up to leave them it might have been forthcoming a little quicker! Wildwood, you have a convert, and I've even checked out other branches of this chain closer to home, for future reference.
So, that's my review of the lovely Bournemouth. Could I live there? Possibly. But I hope to go back for another break.
I'll leave you with a photo of my Hoisin Duck Pizza- yum, yum and double yum!!!!
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