They were very nice and the place was extremely clean, but £35 doesn't buy you a lot of B&B floorspace in Brighton these days. The room was about 1.5 times the width of the single bed, which was under a sloping attic roof next to the window. The en-suite was about what you would expect on a jumbo jet, but with much much nicer fittings, each fixture a mixture of Regency, 1920s and 21st century hospitality, brass sink taps etc. Shower cubicle the same width as my shoulders. For all of that it was very comfortable and cosy, and not a bad window view considering the orientation. Can't blame them for the length of the bed either; NORMAL people would have no problem. Excellent, huge continental-with-add-ons breakfast this morning in a terrific Regency front breakfast room with view of the Square, the only issue being my need to try almost everything on offer and the resulting indigestion...on the very narrow, twisting, four-floor climb to the room afterwards I thought I might faint! Packed, stowed my luggage for the day at their kind request, and went out. Posted postcard. Mad power-walk across town to the Royal Pavilion to make the 11.30am guided tour. It's absolutely true: if you come to Brighton and don't see the Pavilion you are missing out on one major piece of walk-through decadence. The work involved, the sheer years taken! ... not only when the Prince Regent bought and converted the existing farmhouse and ended up more than quintupling its size, but after Queen Victoria had it stripped out and sold it empty to Brighton Council and the whole thing was then painstakingly redecorated from the 1950s on using period watercolours as their guide. Restoration, inside and out, is an ongoing, massively expensive enterprise, funded privately as well as from government money, door proceeds and the rather good gift shop. The unbelievable Music Room was victim of a student arson attack in 1975 and extensive storm damage a few years ago, both of which were major setbacks which have been conquered and repaired. Utterly extraordinary, and with the only tourist giftshop I have yet seen with as much porcelain and silverware on offer as anything else.
On to the Brighton Museum next door, a visit not initially on today's list and rather rushed because of that. Included a rather good subcultures exhibit, complete with 1960s Lambretta scooter. Legged it out the door just as truckloads of visiting German high-school students came loudly bundling in.
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