A weekend in Brighton through the eyes of a child

It’s not the Med, but Brighton was the perfect choice for introducing our children to the sea (Picture: Getty Images)

Before they moved in with us, our children had never seen the sea.

We had thought about taking them to somewhere in the Mediterranean, or even the Caribbean to give them an extra special memory.

But realising that we would be setting ourselves up for a fall – they would expect white sands, warmer water and wall-to-wall sunshine every time we took them to the beach – we chose Brighton.

It’s not far from home and gave them a more realistic taste of the kind of coastline we’re more likely to take them to.

Pure joy

We had spoken about what beaches look like, but nothing could prepare me for the look of joy and excitement when I told my four-year-old son that we were actually going to see the sea.

His face lit up and I could see he had a thousand questions to ask all at once. After a recent trip to a science show where he saw a life-size inflatable orca, the first thing he asked was: ‘Will there be any whales?’

Delivering the news to his older sister sparked equal excitement.

Perhaps telling them just before bed wasn’t the best idea – we still had three more sleeps to go before they actually got their first glimpse of the ocean blue.

By this point, I had lost all feeling in my feet, but sometimes you’ve got to choose your battles (Picture: Richard Hartley-Parkinson)

Spaceships and sunsets

The excitement on our journey to the hotel peaked at their first sighting of the sea and the minutes on the satnav weren’t counting down fast enough.

As sunshine reflected off the sea and filled our car with light, my daughter told me that she understood where Brighton got its name. You can also get there by train; for our family (including children aged 10 and 4), the ticket would have cost £44.70.

Meanwhile, my four-year-old complained several times as we drove along the beach hut-lined coastal road that he had spotted a whale.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this was very unlikely.

In any case, he was easily distracted by the spaceship we could see from our room – aka the Brighton i360; a sky tower that takes you 450ft into the air with commanding views across Brighton and the sea (still no whales).

Our children thoroughly approved of our hotel the DoubleTree Brighton Metropole and got their wish of a room with a balcony looking out to sea. (Double superior rooms start at £130, with breakfast.)

We were even treated to an incredible sunset over the fast-disappearing Brighton West Pier.

After a grey day, we were treated to a spectacular sunset (Picture: Richard Hartley-Parkinson)

They were, however, a little disappointed by the lack of sharks and daddy’s insistence that we wouldn’t be swimming in the English Channel this time around.

Looking out from our room, the water was too tempting for our kids.

Despite the grey sky and drizzle that was slowly getting thicker, they were desperate to get closer. So we popped down to the beach and I battled in vain to prevent them getting their feet wet as we ran away from the waves.

They were fascinated by the white foam left on the beach as the waves retreated and wanted to see what it felt like.

So, finally, I relented and we whipped off our socks, rolled up our what my son calls ‘trouser sleeves’ and froze our feet off.

They found it great fun, quickly learning to recognise which waves might reach them and running back up the steep stony beach before the water got them.

Thankfully it didn’t take too long before they also wanted to get back into the warmth – much more appealing was the swimming pool back at the Metropole and the promise of a slap-up meal in the hotel bar.

They’re not into fish and chips yet, but, in the spirit of teaching them about trips to British beaches, one step at a time.

Brighton’s best attractions

We were only in town for a couple of days and will be sure to take the children back there as there’s so much more to explore.

But we packed a lot in. Here’s a quickfire look at the things we did manage to do, in pictures:

Sea Life Brighton: My youngest didn’t quite understand why I wasn’t too keen for him to go swimming with the sharks (Picture: Merlin Entertainments) Getting lost in The Lanes: I’ve always enjoyed visiting The Lanes, but it was a bit less attractive to the children who would much rather walk to and from our hotel along the Promenade (Picture: Visit Brighton) Brighton Palace Pier: You’ll either need to be armed with a lot of money or the ability to say things like ‘just choose one ride’ or a flat out ‘no’ to some of the attractions along the pier (Picture: Visit Brighton)

Richard Hartley-Parkinson was a guest of DoubleTree by Hilton.