Isn’t it the best when you get an unexpected sunny day in September? That is exactly what happened last week! I was getting ready to take Tyler to playgroup, meanwhile my husband was working from home due to his injured leg (football!). I thought aha, he wouldn’t be using his travelcard – so I could!

And that’s how we had an impromptu trip to the seaside, just me and Tyler. All I had to do was buy a ticket from London Zone 6 to Brighton, which cost £20. I’m so glad we did, Tyler had the best day out, he loved the train journey and he loved the seaside so much, he didn’t want to leave! And he went to the loo twice like a big boy – no accidents! (Potty training success – yes!)

The journey altogether from Slough took 2 and a half hours with all the changes, so at Brighton I took him to the loos in the station. Then we walked down to the beach, with Tyler distracted by this vintage toy car shop. He actually went in and wanted to play with everything, I was like noooo these are really fragile! That was quite frankly terrifying. I quickly grabbed him and we carried on down the road with him screaming!

The beach was full of workers on their lunch break (how cool would it be to have your work lunch break on the beach – jealous!)

Tyler was so happy digging up pebbles and then he wanted to throw stones into the sea.

After a little while, we headed towards the right, as from my memory there was a playground that way. We passed lots of quirky shops and cafes under the arches.

Then everything sort of turned into a building site – I was so confused. But signs were still saying the playground was that way and to keep going. Tyler really loved walking this way, because of course it was construction truck heaven! It turns out this area is being redeveloped and the i360 is being built, a new tourist attraction for Brighton.

The playground is called the Kings Road Playground. Tyler was so happy, he wanted to stay here all day. Slides and climbing frames and sand! As a train enthusiast, he made train tracks in the sand with his rake – that’s the ripple pattern there.

After 2 hours here and a loo break (they have kids loos and changing facilities at this playground), we stopped off the Bucket and Spade Cafe next to the play area, where I bought Tyler a glass of milk for 50p – amazing value! They were really friendly in there. Tyler gulped most of it down, then he saw a man come out of the loo and, being a nosy parker, he turned really quickly and knocked the milk all over me! My skirt was drenched!

We went back outside and walked back in the sun, luckily it was still warm so my skirt could dry while we were walking. There’s always someone singing at this bar on Brighton seafront, and Tyler just perched up on the bench at the front to watch. It was so cute 🙂

After that I tried to get him back to the station. I’m not going to lie, this was really hard work. It’s uphill, Tyler didn’t want to walk, he was moaning and dragging his feet, I was shattered, ugh! That was the only bad part of the day. We got back home at 7.30pm, shower, dinner and then bed (I know wrong order!) we were both conked out by 9pm, and had a long lie in the next morning!

It’s lovely to go to the seaside off-season. Even if it’s not sunny, wrap up warm and go, it is so worth it. And you’ll sleep so well in the evening!

Sabrina x