Brighton Rocks!

The sachertorte continued its Tube journey to Victoria, where I met Petra and Dylan to catch the fast train to Brighton, having booked for two nights at the Hotel du Vin. There were two reasons we chose this hotel - firstly and most importantly, it is dog-friendly and Dylan (who is a dog) was made very welcome with his own doggy bed and doggy bowl.

Dylan in the Hotel Du Vin

The second reason for choosing the Hotel du Vin is their Sunday offer of a room for £45 if you spend £75 on food and drink. This is actually harder than it sounds and although we ate a huge dinner, downed champagne cocktails and had eggs for breakfast, we only just hit our target by eating all the chocolate biscuits out of the mini bar.


Brighton is great for dogs, great for vegetarians and great for those with an artistic bent, so there was something for everyone. I checked my bank balance, did a little dance of joy and hit the shops. The Lanes are full of cute shops selling stuff that Fitz would class as "shit you don't need". I class it as "shit you don't need but are going to buy anyway".

Who wouldn't want a cat-shaped birdhouse? 

Or a lovely cushion with cats drinking tea and eating a bird? 

Or some little canvases of Brighton rock?

I must have been so overjoyed that morning that I actually went into shopping blackout - for instance, I have no memory at all of buying this mug, but it was in my room the next morning.

I also bought a large amount of Dutch salt liquorice (bleurgh) for my mum, a T shirt for my dad and some premium catnip. You can probably guess who this is for. My dad is always on the lookout for new entries in his silent T shirt competition with his friend John. The action takes place at Durham cricket ground and the competition is so silent that I'm not sure John is actually aware of it. The rules are that you casually take off your jacket to reveal a T shirt that will arouse your friend's admiration or envy. I can't give much away, but I think May's entry involving a photo of a cat in Moscow with a Russian quote from a favourite novel is a very strong contender. 


We had lunch at Iydea, an award-winning vegetarian cafe that made a big fuss of Dylan. Petra  has him very well trained and never feeds him from the table. Personally I would not be able to resist this face.

Dylan had been very patient during the shopping and we took him for a five mile walk to Hove and back. It was sunny but windy, as evidenced by our hair/fur.

At Hove we tried to visit Heather MIlls' vegan cafe, which Petra neatly described as "looking like a local authority caff", but it was shut. Thankfully the local authority toilets next door were open. 

"Let me back onto the beach"

We had a pre-dinner slice of sachertorte with tea, then ate at the Pub du Vin. This time we chose a light main course to leave room for pudding - coffee, vanilla and brownie ice cream. After so much sea air and so much food, everyone slept like dogs. Especially Dylan.