Easter week we went down to Bournemouth to visit Millie’s great grandparents and decided to turn it into our first little family holiday.
Travel time
About 4 1/2 hours by car from Leeds, but it took us 6 with stops for the little’un.
Where to stay
The Bournemouth Central Premier Inn is a great hotel! It’s a sympathetic renovation of an art deco hotel on Westover Road. The rooms were large and If you ask for one at the front of the hotel you get a balcony with sea views (see pic). It’s 5 mins walk from the town centre or beach and we only paid £49 per night, even in a school holiday week. They even provide a travel cot free of charge.
Where to eat
We were visiting family so didn’t eat out much – but there were plenty of options near by. We did have a very nice lunch in a beach front restaurant though…
The West Beach Restaurant is a fancy fish restaurant at night, but by day you can get a more reasonably priced (and more relaxed) meal. We sat on their outside decking overlooking the beach as it was warm & sunny. I had a gorgeous fishcake with poached egg & hollondaise sauce and T had tempura prawns, with some chips & cumin carrots to share (see pics). Washed down with a cold glass of Prosecco and the sound of the waves lapping at the sand. It seemed perfectly acceptable to have the baby there with us and there was plenty of outside space for the pushchair by the table.
Things to do
Walk along the seafront – 7 miles of beach & no ticky tacky arcades etc. You can also walk out along the pier for a small fee.
Valley gardens – link the town centre to the seafront. Lovely gardens with a crazy golf course & lit up with lanterns at night.
Drive out to Sandbanks – most expensive part of the uk to live? Beautiful for a bit of fantasy house & yacht shopping!
Poole park – a short drive along the coast to Poole will give you a great choice of fish & chips (and ice cream!) and the beautiful park to wander through. Feed the swans, row a boat, go on the miniature train or visit the petting zoo – great with kids.
Marion Said:
on April 18, 2010 at 11:27 am
This reminds me that sometimes I really miss being there. I remember happy times just as you describe from my childhood – except we had the advantage of a beach hut!!