By the sea

Beach huts.

Bournemouth pier.

The funicular railway down to the beach.

Seafront hotels.

Joe by the sea.

Me by the sea.

Late afternoon light over the sea.

I'd never really been to Bournemouth before last year when Lola started studying there. Since then Joe and I have made several trips and got to know it quite well. It's a four hour drive so we usually stay over. Each time we try out a new hotel which is part of the fun. There are plenty to choose from and I always try and get a good deal. I hate paying full price.

We've been lucky so far but last time we were hugely disappointed. The location was good and the building itself was rather lovely, in a faded sort of way. But it was draughty and dirty and in definite need of a lick of paint. I was so cold I had to huddle under the bedcovers to keep warm.

We won't be going there again and perhaps it's not surprising that it's the cheapest one we've found so far. I guess you get what you pay for, but we didn't pay for a dirty carpet. We've already booked into a boutique hotel for our next trip. It looks very stylish - and clean - much more our sort of thing.

Bournemouth appears to have two predominant populations - students and pensioners - or people that look like pensioners. Nothing wrong with that, but it is very noticeable. The students keep it vibrant and the 'old' people keep it comfortable.

The thing I like most about Bournemouth is being by the sea. Our first hotel had a fantastic sea view which we really enjoyed, especially in the early evening light with the sun glinting on the water. There's also something magical about a huge expanse of sand. Bournemouth's beaches go on for miles.

There's also a pier, but like most piers it seems sad, a relic of a bygone age that has no real relevance to the modern world. We still paid our 50p to walk along it right to the end and stare out to sea. We were the only people there.

I really like Bournemouth. I like its compactness, its safeness (it feels safe anyway with all those pensioners!), its leafy avenues and its gardens.

But most of all I like the beach.

And being by the sea.