Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Me and the baby go to Brighton

Sometimes the parameters of an area get rather stretched to include various suburbs (Brixton is a good example) however we can't really get away with pretending that Brighton is somehow just a quick drive down the Brixton Road (and secretly part of Lambeth).

However with cheap train fares, it isn't too far away or too expensive to have a seaside day out! Last week myself and the baby Boo-boo took the 133 to London Bridge overground station, bought a £15 First Capital Connect train fare to visit the South Coast. The bus ride up was a breeze, taking about 30 minutes. When buying the tickets, make sure you press FCC only (which stands for First Capital Connect only); they are doing a £15 ticket on weekdays and a tenner on the weekends! Hooray! Seaside for all!

So the next trick is finding a space on the train to comfortably sit yourself and the baby buggy. There are usually a couple of areas for wheelchairs. So you can find limited space for the pushchair/pram. However this isn't really a trip for a large bunch of mummies with baby wagons. This is either a family activity or a one for mum, baby and a none child carrying adult. Or Mum and little ones.

I didn't use the train toilets however I did notice on the way back that some carriages are buggy unfriendly and don't have a toilet so you'd be stuck if you needed to pee or wanted to change the baby's nappy or get the little one onto the loo. So that's really a warning!

So what did I do in Brighton.? Well, a little bit of window shopping doesn't do the purse strings any harm so I went for a good old browse in the North Laine. We also saw some nice street art and the little one was force to pose in front of a few pieces for mummy to take some photos.

Learning about street art.

I also popped into the Brighton Museum for two reasons,one - to see their lovely collection of furniture and ceramics and two- to use the loos. They have decent disabled toilets with good space for a buggy. After some food for me and food for the Boo-boo, we did eventually see the sea. However, please note Maclaren XTs do not go over pebble beaches -I carried the baby and dragged the pushchair across the beach!

Lunch by the Pavilion

What I thought is nice about going on your own is you can do it all at your own pace - no pressure to see or do too much. If you want things of interest, there is a child friendly listings online. There was many things we didn't get around to doing like visiting the Pier or the Aquarium. We will save those for next time!

 For food and drink, generally the large high street eateries have decent facilities for babies and little ones. Anywhere else can be bit hit or miss. Or just plain old unbuggy-friendly.

So all in all, it was a good (and affordable) break away from the Big Smoke!