Best of Brighton - Castor and Pollux

Last Friday after a nearing 3 hour meeting in Covent Garden, I made the familiar and slightly manic journey to Victoria station to catch the train to Brighton to celebrate my brother's birthday.
No more than one short hour after dodging the crowds, grabbing my ticket and boarding the train, I'd stepped off into the salty sea air.

On a sunny Saturday morning in Brighton there's nothing better than going for a stroll along the seafront, and one of my favourite places to pop in for a browse is Castor and Pollux, tucked away under the Kings Road Arches.
It's the perfect place to buy presents for friends and family, to treat yourself, or at the very least to get the creative juices flowing if you're feeling a little light in the pocket.

Prints by James Brown and Jonny Hannah, porcelain by Mike Levy and tea towels by Megan Price are just a few things on my wishlist at the moment. It's a tricky business deciding what to get, so it's just as well that the Lodestar Cafe is just next door, where you can sit down with a well-deserved Calippo after all that shopping.

Castor and Pollux Modern Artwork
165 King's Road Arches
Lower Promenade
Brighton
BN1 1NB

Currently coveting - Etsy

I've been using Etsy since I stumbled upon it seven years ago, in the sites' very early days, and have happily purchased everything from vintage popcorn bags to artisan marshmellows to jewellery from there ever since. 

So much more than an online craft shop, their front page is beautifully curated and is a real gold mine for anyone looking for something unique for themselves or for a special gift for a friend. 

I find myself clicking the little favourites button on more and more items every week, but here are some things I'm coveting at the moment. 

Beautiful little landscape painted in oil by PaintingWell

Some quirky coasters to bring character to the table

A pretty temporary tattoo until I'm brave enough for the real thing

Necklaces in candy colours

And because you can never, ever have enough bags...

... or wallets

I wanna go where everybody knows my name

I've lived in West London for just over 5 years, just off Portobello Road over the Golborne Bridge.
It's a well-visited part of London but has so much more to offer than the reproduction antiques and ten a penny market stalls selling knock off handbags.

If you fancy a visit on a sunny Saturday afternoon, do yourself a favour and avoid the crowds at Notting Hill Gate and instead hop off the tube at Ladbroke Grove, and cut through to Portobello under the Westway. At the end you'll find a treasure trove of vintage finds, second hand books and vinyl, as well as a burger truck or two thrown in for good measure.

Turn left at the top and carry on up Portobello until you reach Golborne Road, where you'll find George's, a traditional-as-they-come fish and chip shop that's become a W10 institution, Portuguese bakery Lisboa and Fez, a Moroccan shop that sells beautiful tagines and stripy terracotta bowls.

My newest must-visit is Redemption Bar, not only because of its location (a literal stone's throw from my flat) but also because of the stunningly fresh and healthy vegan food served there.

So, come and take a stroll around. And if you didn't know already, Portobello is officially the best place to see the cutest dogs in London. Extra points for spotting the old gent with his Jack Russell on his shoulder.

Humble Beginnings

Inevitably when starting a new blog, writer's block miraculously appears. Just like starting a fresh page in a new notebook, those first few words seem to stretch ahead like the unknown. 

So, instead of procrastinating for longer than is healthy, I've looked to what some of the most famous bloggers wrote about in their first posts for inspiration…

“For my very first post, here are some things I may talk about in the near future…” - The creator of the endlessly sweet blog Oh Joy! listed six things she sought to fill her blog with during it's early days. Over eight years later, she has fulfilled her list and then some!

"Girl stays home for New Years, bakes cookies" as stated by another of my daily reads, A Cup of Jo in her first post on Monday January 1st, 2007.

Is Robert Burke the Most influential Man in American Menswear? - A question asked by the charming Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist back when he started his blog back in 2005.

Image: Unknown

Welcome

Welcome to the London to Brighton blog.
A peek into both corners of the world that I call home.