Trip To Tenby | Part II

Tenby is like a mixture of Brighton & Lyme Regis. 
Marrying the best of both: the quirky shops and bohemian beer gardens with beautiful Regency/Victorian buildings, a stunning beach & harbour and a rich cultural history. 

I think Tenby has an exotic air about it. The seaside town is hedged with a medieval stone wall, giving it a bit of a European-y vibe; the enclosed feel really reminded me of Dubrovnik. The town is technically foreign as it was established by the Normans and has an Anglo, Welsh, Flemish, French patchwork of a heritage. 

If you're on the South coast of the UK it's obligatory to catch mackerel and line crabs, or at least attempt to!
Crab in Dale & go mackerel fishing here, in Tenby. Tenby, itself, means little fortress of fish, so, hopefully that means a mighty seafood infused dinner.
Along with every pub indulging the menu with today's catch, other foodie pleasures include: amazing cream teas, a giant ice cream parlour & a foodie market on a Friday selling stone oven baked pizza. And sweet tie-dye t-shirts but that's another story. 

We were only there for a short time, but could happily spend a whole weekend playing rounders on the beach, scouting for pirates at the ol' lookout points and exploring the art gallery & museum. 

If you're in South Wales, go to Tenby, GO. 

Trip To Tenby | Part I

 

 

 

 

We whizzed along the country tracks, parked the car & (obviously) followed the smell of cake.

The trail lead us to a faultless factory line of five grannies, huddled in a fire station, making hundreds of Welsh cakes. Fresh from the griddle, they were tossed into a brown paper bag & dusted with sugar. 

It doesn't get more traditional than that! I got ten for £2 - warm, a little cake-y, a little scone-y, a little donut-y, these were absolutely delicious. 

We pattered down the colourful high street towards the (even more colourful) pastel infused beach front. 

After snaking through the shops & market stalls, we veered left down a dark alley past an old Tudor Merchant's House to the harbour. Where we took some polaroids, admired the lifeboat house & ate our Welsh cakes. 

The Weekend's Polaroids

Brighton shone this weekend. The sun came out and said a confident "haii", which meant we ran away from a busy central Brighton and headed towards Hove for ice cream at Marrocco's on the lawns. I snapped these polaroids on the way home, where we watched The Hunt and Amour; if you're passionate about dark, depressing, sad tales I recommend you watch both. 

Brighton Scenes

I think it's about time you met Elvie...

 

Brighton's Best Ice Cream

The British seaside and sweet treats go hand-in-hand. Brighton Rock? Maybe. But Italian ice cream at Marrocco's? Always.
Now, I do consider myself a bit of an ice cream connoisseur and let me inform you after tasting the majority of the ice cream on offer in Brighton, Marrocco's Italian Geltato comes out top. 

On this spring morning my wonderful mum and I caught some rays but stayed wrapped up from the cold sea wind. After my obligatory mint chocolate chip scoop I tossed back and forth between the 23 others. Choices, choices...

Ice cream is just so loveable; in the same way cake plays a role in celebrations (okay, a major role in celebrations) ice cream makes things feel like a special occasion. 
You know, it might be drizzly but we're on the beach, hey! Lets have ice cream. Or Britain is finally hot, hey! Lets cool down and have ice cream! Wow, my lips are blue and I'm bloody freezing! You know what would cheer us up? Ice cream!

If it is a sunny day (especially in the school holidays) then be prepared for a wee queue out the door. Its worth the wait though,  you can find Marrocco's here. 

PS my sunglasses are from Topshop and my mum's are a few years old from Chanel; these ones are pretty similar.  

Brighton Beach Huts

Today must be the first day of spring; isn't it about time the sun shone!? We strolled along Brighton beachfront from Kemptown to Hove amongst the joggers, rollerbladers and misfits. The sun was beaming off the sea and some brave souls even faced the 5ºC sea. It'll be a few more months before I'm bullied brave enough to take the plunge into the English Channel, but boy, oh boy, I cannot wait.