I’m full of the joys of Spring this morning. Over the weekend, we went all Graham Greene, and headed down to the seaside at Brighton.

(Actually, ignore the Graham Greene reference, we did nothing even remotely approaching the sinister activities of Brighton Rock. Honest.)

I was there for my sister’s hen party, but the baby and partner sneaked down too on Saturday evening, so we had a few family days afterwards pootling along the seafront and window shopping in the Lanes.

The weather was unbelievably glorious. Blue skies, sunshine, a breeze off the sea to keep you cool.

Here’s a little pictorial evidence of our time…

The pier was everything I had expected: fairground rides, doughnut shops, arcades, music blaring out, flags flying. It’s the English seaside experience of the 1930s, still going strong today. I loved it.

Our hotel was directly opposite the old, West pier, that burnt down in 2003. Now, the carcass of the pier and the metal rods that supported it are all that remain. The shell looks rather stunning, sitting out there in the sea, and the old metal supports look almost like an art installment sticking up in the beach…

Further down the beach, is an actual metal beach sculpture, which I thought was equally glorious…

…though not quite as glorious as this shellfish stall…

…which also had its very own bit of beach art. A giant sculpture of a prawn.

Oversized prawns aren’t the only oddities in Brighton, of course, as it’s the home to the fabulously bizarre Royal Pavilion.

The pavilion was created for the Prince Regent, George Prince of Wales (who gives his name to the Regency period and architecture). Started in 1787, it wasn’t fully completed until 1823 and is a fabulously un-English building, taking inspiration instead from Indian, Chinese and Islamic architecture.

History lessons finished, we ducked into the Brighton Museum…

…but we couldn’t spend too long indoors, when outside the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the trees were in bloom.

In the museum, and everywhere we went, I spotted a lot of glorious patterns in everyday objects, which I’m going to post here as well. But I think that can wait until tomorrow, since this is already a galumphingly long post. (Update, you can see them here: a plethora of pattern.)

Just time for one more photo. Because Brighton wouldn’t be Brighton without these:

Ta ta till tomorrow. Enjoy the sun.

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• Hardly the same kettle of fish, but you can see my photos of Hong Kong if you feel like an armchair jaunt a bit further afield.