Monday 28 June 2010

UK seaside towns on the up?

Interesting report just posted on the BBC News site, saying that the British seaside resort is undergoing a renewed era of commercial success. Read all about it here.

To be honest this news report comes as no surprise to us here at the blog. Having been a regular visitor to such places as Blackpool, Scarborough, Whitby, Filey, Brighton, Lytham St Annes, and Ayr over the years, I'd have to say that for me the UK seaside resort has always been a cool option for a holiday. The diversity of these towns, their facilities and the warm welcome they offer has always been a dwar for tourists, so it's great to see that greater numbers of people are now discovering the joys of a UK seaside holiday. It might in part be down to people wanting to spend less money on the travel part of the holiday, or it might just be down to the fact that UK seaside towns are getting the appreciation they fully deserve.

One of my favourite seaside destinations is Brighton - easily accessible from Gatwick airport and by road from London, Brighton is of course a must-see destination for anyone who grew up watching Quadrophenia, even if you don't own a Vespa scooter! It's an easy-going, laid back kind of a town with something to offer any holidaymaker - Brighton has lots of shopping, piers that are not only fun to visit but also architectural classics, and it also has a growing music scene, in part due to its being a university town as well as a seaside one. The old image of seaside towns being sleepy and culturally overlooked is well and truly blown apart by Brighton. There's so much going on that its seaside status is just one of its benefits rather than being its main focus.

So check in at a hotel in Brighton and see what's happening there - you'll love the place!

Brighton a city by the sea

Monday 21 June 2010

Edinburgh - City of dreams

Edinburgh's been well-served by the cinema industry over the years, with appearances in black and white films like the arthouse-y Bill Douglas trilogy , the popular Greyfriars Bobby - the True Story Of a Dog and newer stuff like A Woman In Winter and of course the all-time classic Trainspotting.

Another film depiction of Scotland's capital city arrived on the silver screen last week with the premier of Sylvain Chomet's new feature, "The Illusionist", a Jacques tati-scripted animation about a peripatetic prestidigitator and his Scottish travels.

By all accounts (I haven't seen it myself yet) The Illusionist is a jawdroppingly beautiful film. Chomet was apparently in love with Edinburgh's ever-changing sky, and decided to move the script's action from another European setting, to Edinburgh.

Judging by the film's reception so far, it's likely that it will further enhance Edinburgh's reputation for being one of the world's most attractive cities. I'll definitely be going along for a look anyway. Since I don't live in Edinburgh, it's good to visit it by watching films, although I will undoubtedly be getting an Edinburgh hotel room sorted out for the Festival Fringe, which is a yearly trip for me. The event sems to grow each year, from the slightly anarchic days of the 1980s to the well-oiled, slick machine it's now become.


Princes St, Edinburgh (facing west)
 
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