24 hours in Bournemouth
Having only made the treck to Bournemouth for the first time this month, it’s quickly taken the title as my favourite beach in the UK. Firstly, it has actual sand. This is a rarity in the UK, and also for most of Europe. Secondly, it’s lined with vibrant coloured beach huts – from blue to yellow, purple and more.
We started our drive south to the Southern Coast’s seven mile stretch of beach on a Friday night, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. The temperature was nearing 30 degrees, perfect for the beach – but the water was still too cold to dive into when you started to sweat a bit – which is pretty normal for the UK.
Getting there…
As we’re based in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, we hired our very swish Citrus from Budget car hire – located at the bottom of the Westfield shopping centre. It was just less than £80 for two nights (bargain!), although the insurance was the downfall – which quickly added an extra £50 to the weekend’s spendings. The drive from Shepherd’s Bush was an easy 1.5 hours on a straight road into Dorset (plus a toilet stop diversion of course).
Staying there…
Unexpectedly, there was a cheerleading tournament on the weekend we travelled to Brighton. There were small girls cladded with big bow ties that were flying into the air (literally) in every corner of the city – which explains why the accommodation was more expensive than we expected that particular weekend. We stayed about a 15-minute walk from Boscombe Pier, however, I’d recommend staying near Bournemouth Pier, as there were much nicer bars, eating spots and better vibes in general.
I recommend AirBnB. If you haven’t booked through them before, you can get £30 off your stay through this link.
Bournemouth
After a late arrival at our accommodation on Friday, we were up bright and early on Saturday.
We had a quick stroll around the main square in Bournemouth, however, if you’re a London local – or just not that into shopping – I’d say give it a miss and head straight for the sand. There are a lot of chain stores that you can find in any other UK city.
The beach was exactly as expected on a hot summer’s day – just super. As we’ve spent the past year development our pale summer reflective skin (also described by my foundation as ‘snow’), we thought we’d cool down with a stroll along the water. Which of course was a gorgeous walk filled with lots of hugs and ‘instagram’ moments.
As per absolutely everyone’s suggestions, we grabbed lunch at Harry Ramsden. It’s not very gluten friendly, but it does have a pretty view and – even better – free chip refills.
#LifeComplete.
That night, we headed to Aruba for some late night drinks. I would definitely come back here and recommend others do too. The balcony overlooks the pier, and it has a fun party vibe – most likely a result of their long cocktail list! It’s also full of hens nights and bucks parties.
Heading home
Catching a taxi back from Aruba, our driver suggested we spend the next day in the New Forest. Having absolutely no idea what that was (and what happened to the old forest!?), we decided to take a detour home to see some ponies and old witches shops. You can find out more about our adventures through the New Forest in part two of this blog next week.
Stay tuned folks!
