It’s that time of year again as you probably know unless you are an ostrich with your head in Christmas coloured sand. What you may not know is that instead of braving the High Street scouting for gifts like a chicken or (ostrich) without a head, there is another option.

Enter Artist’s Open Houses.

AOH is one part festival, one part yard-sale and infinitely less frustrating then getting elbowed at Churchill Square.

Every December local artists show and sell and most likely tell you all about their work at various Brighton venues. This year there are 70 different venues participating, most within walking distance of each other. Some of flats, some are cafes and some are studio spaces.

This is the last weekend of Artist’s Open Houses. So if you are looking for a special present/unique shopping experience/Christmas-Easter Egg Hunt (find the gift) head over to some of the Open Houses.

Ahh, Seven Dials.  If you know Seven Dials, it’s probably just a transitionary place to you.  The thing that sticks out in my mind about Seven Dials is the view up the hill when you walk up from Brighton Station.

If you climb the hill directly bordering the station, you’ll be treated to the most spectatular view of the city. If you are a Londoner it’s a comparable view to Muswell Hill in North London.

I recommend going to Seven Dials for a few reasons. One of them is Le Gourmet shop, which I have mentioned previously that sells squid ink pasta and italian dishes to take away. There is also a good vegetarian selection here and it is nice little pitstop for gourmet cheese.

Another is to get some stationary at Fullertons.  Say hello to the gorgeous greyhound who lives here. You can also pick up a nice greeting card here or some pens.

Nearby is St Nicholas church and a historic graveyard park that is small but a nice place to stop. St Nicholas church is quite eye catching archecturally and looks like a combination of a church and a castle! I had a spirtual breathrough in the churchyard  here. Maybe you will too!

One of the best gourmet shops in the city is Grocer and Grain near Brighton station. This is a good place to pick up some speciality items.  Nearly everything is locally sourced and they also sell videos.

Head over here before having a look at Taboo, which is as naughty as it sounds and sells all sorts of toys in a non-seedy environment. I love this store. This store is for men, women, anyone. It’s the best.

Another place nearby worth a mention is the comfy casual pub The Trafalgar right near the station which is a good place to have a drink and kill some time.

If you follow up the aptly named DYKE road, you will eventually end up at the naturally scenic Devil’s Dyke. Devil’s Dyke is about 3 miles away from there.

Some people come to see the Booth Museum with is one of the city’s primary attractions as a serious national history archive.

While Seven Dials is not the most touristy place around, this is a good place to stop if you are in Brighton for a few days and want to cross over to Hove, Preston Park or Devil’s Dyke. And no, I don’t live on Dyke Road.

Easy To Miss Markets

One of my regularly scheduled stops during the weekends is the antique market right off the Lanes held every Saturday. This blink and you might miss it market has outdoor stalls and an indoor antiques market, which is quite large and open every day.

This market is a place where you can buy really good dutch cheese and cupcakes and vintage shoes.

The market is very informal, think blankets rather than only tables and you can make offers.

Open Market

The Open Market is near the Preston park area and is open most days but busy weekends. The market itself is a bit grimy but I was pleased to score a water bottle for 39p, never a bad thing. Pulse Organics is a great little store selling really inexpensive health food items.

This market doesn’t look like much and it isn’t but if you want a cheap haircut or to get your bike fixed, you may find what you are looking for.  I’ve also bought cheap MAC make-up here.

Today I went to the Brighton Food Festival. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the event. It’s the “Borough Market” of Sussex.

The top question on everyone’s mind is- Were There Any Samples? Freebies? Could one be a total pig on just samples?

Yes, Yes and maybe.

Here are some oral highlights:

Prosperity Brownies:

Not wanting to commit to a whole brownie yet jonesing for a chocolate fix, I sampled some incredible bits of brownie from Prosperity brownies. The sample wasn’t too hard nor too soft. If you like brownies, you know the importance of a good consistency. Prosperity delivers the goodies.

Carluccios:

I have to say I was very impressed by the whole Carluccios tent. If you love risotto or need to buy some mushrooms head over to Carluccios. The girlfriend wolfed down a sausage sandwich with rocket for a mere 2 pounds near closing time. I swear the risotto amazing.

Moshi Moshi:

Local fav Moshi, Moshi was giving out free sushi which looked delicious but alas, was a california roll so I wasn’t in luck. I have been to this fantastic sushi bar though and I would have definitely taken up any vegetarian offerings.

Orange Grove Organic:

Whether you are an affirmed plant only eater, you’ll find Orange Grove’s selection of dips pretty damn good. I consider their dips  hummos 2.0.

Stratta Fruit Vinegar:

I love vinegar. I have been known to bizarrely drink some out of the bottle as a tonic to all ills. Stratta Fruit Vinegar is a revelation. These vinegars spiked with fruit are so perfect I wouldn’t even recommend making them into a salad dressing ingredient. Just buy some bread and dip it in for perfection.

Chocoholly:

Chocoholly supplies to several shops locally and can also be found at Waitrose. Try the white chocolate for a special treat.

Taste Of Calabria:

Taste of Calabria has these fantastic italian biscuits which are not very sugary and unlike anything you can easily buy.

Jethros:

Jethros sells marinades that if you cooked would be truly fun to play with. If you don’t like me, you can use some of them like dressings or sauce over meat or meatless meat.

Aloka:

Aloka was my choice for supper. I had a Seitan burger with garlic mayo and salad.  The burger was pretty good but the price made it as it was reduced. I would be interested to try the beatroot burger on offer. I will also say the staff here are lovely. Most of their food if not all, is vegan and raw.

I’m certainly looking forward to the Fiery Food festival and more upcoming events. I’ll just save all my calories and then splurge kind of like a shopping spree.

The annual Ace Club event today rocked my universe.  After I arrived at Old Steine and saw all the bikes I realised what a converting force motorcycle culture is. This gorgeous woman who looked like Angelina Jolie before she went soft walked in front of me and started up her engine. It only got better after that.

Chrome, rock and bikers. I die. I found out today my favourite make is the classic Bonneville by Triumph. Lucky for me the ACE Club had loads of bikes on show including vintage Triumphs.

Ace Club is THE London motorcycle club. Every year they do a ride from London to Brighton like in the movie Quadrophenia. The club hosts the event but many businesses sell and display here and clubs from all over the UK. This is also the place to get cheap motorcycle gear.

The whole town was overtaken by bikers. I saw every type of motorbike imaginable including car/bike hybrids with rubber rats attached. The best thing to do is just walk around and compare models. You’ll be sick with envy if you don’t own a bike and really feel bad but have a reason to make more money.

The musicians performed sort of rock-a-billy type music that seemed to be nicely suited to the mods and rockers hanging out on Vespas and Triumphs.

I didn’t get a chance to catch any of the stunts unfortunately as I was too busy oogling all the Triumph bikes and comparing veneers.

I want to stress to people this event is enormous. It is literally miles of bikers and bike gear. Ace Cafe is really a brand stressing bikes and rock and roll based out of the historic Ace Cafe in London. The motorcycle club holds many events during the year and has weekly nights for “diesel heads” of different persuasions.

While there are several dealers here, there aren’t that many and really if you love bikes, come here for the gear more than to buy a bike.

This event literally changed my life. I am now obsessed with becoming a biker babe. I’ll substitute latex for leather though. But count me in for a Triumph jacket.

If you think Brighton is just a seaside resort without much to offer people beyond fish and chips, you are sadly mistaken. True enough, the fish and chips are amazing especially at Bankers, but there is a lot more to choose from.

I’m writing this on the eve of the Brighton Food Festival which is a series of food festivals which focuses on locally sourced food and runs over the month of Sept.

Generally, there are a lot of gourmet restaurants and stockists in some offbeat places. For instance in Hove, The Real Eating Company is a restaurant and cheese shop that uses local seasonal produce and is a great date night place for foodies.

One place that really deserves a mention is Coriander Restaurant And Deli. The deli has fantastic cheese, bread  and dips. This place is located in a blink and you might miss it place, near Hove Seafront.

I’ve also been to Le Gourmet shop in Seven Dials, where I was captivated by squid ink pasta! It was sooo black.

You also can’t forget Bill’s Produce Store, where everything is marked with the Bill’s label and fairly expensive but worth it.

One really great place to go is Hove Farmer’s Market once monthly on a Sunday, if you are in the area to get local honey still on the comb, dips and sausages. I’ve also bought nice chutneys here and bakery bread. The market is just around the corner from Hove railway station.

Perhaps the most impressive gourmet shop is Taj. I take Taj for granted because I live here but Taj really is something else. Where else can you buy German tofu, freshly made Curry and Thai sweet and sour sauce?!  A lot of people come to Taj for upscale picnic fare.

If you are in the market for something a bit more simple at Cook Brighton, tourists can buy an amazing packet of Munchy Seeds and locals can buy a gourmet ready meal frozen that is revelation in fast(ish) food. For the unitiated,  Munchy Seeds are sunflower seeds covered in spices or sweet powder.

I can’t forget about Carluccio’s which is a chain but a particularly good one, selling Italian freshly baked-breads and pastas. Carluccios also has a cafe serving authentic Italian antipasti and delicious beverages.

I really enjoy eating at Foodilic which serves cold, buffet style gourmet. This is one of the only decent places in the Churchill Square area to eat.

A lot of times on holiday, all you need is a nice bottle of wine and some tapas style foods. The gourmet shops I’ve listed are places to buy a bit of cheese or bread for this purpose. Or some very, very black squid ink pasta to take home!

No uniformed tourist knows about Seven Sister’s. Consider yourself in the know. Seven Sisters has woods with a capital W and is about 1 hour from Brighton. The number 12 or 12A buses will take you there from Churchill Square, in Brighton Central.

The great thing about this particular open space is the diversity of the landscape. When you arrive at the park, head over to the tourism office.  Get a free map of the woods or buy one of the Country Park, for 1 pound. The Country Park has a lake and rolling hills and clearly definable paths.

Many people row on the lake. I didn’t spend much time in this part of the park but I will on my next visit. There is a sign illustrating the potential to see Badgers, which is inately facinating to me hailing from a concrete jungle. The Badgers can be seen more near dusk because they are nocturnal animals.

There is a country pub at the top of the hill, selling overpriced food and Real Ales but I recommend eating at one of the other restaurants near the Tourist Information.

As I said before the woods was the real draw for me and many mountain bikers. You can actually rent a bike here. Both the Country Park and the woods are bike friendly and paths are all easy to follow.

In the woods, people can go Orienteering, which is a game where you find landmarks. The great thing about these woods is that they are huge and fairly dense but it is hard to get lost. If you wanted to not see a soul you could.

I also saw some lovely butterflies whilst here. There are many different kinds of birds that live here but you need to go a little thicker than the entrance to hear them. Some the park is quite hilly but while you would need to think about  proper footwear if it rains heavily, a lot of the paths are rocky with small stones and therefore less muddy than one would think.

As Seven Sisters is right near Eastbourne, if you want to make a day of it head over to the town afterwards. Eastbourne is fairly large with a good selection of restaurants and a pier with amusements like Brighton. The vibe is kind of similar to Brighton but less urban.

I really enjoyed visiting this park. If I lived closer to it, I would have gone back today. If you’re a nature buff you’ll really like this park. It is worth the one hour ride to visit it.

A friend of mine has a fantasy of being locked overnight in a department store so she can try on all the clothing. You could lock me in Miss Selfridge and I would gladly get no sleep.

A really fun shop off the beaten path is Lady Jaquelina near Preston Park which sells really, really inexpensive alternative attire like vynl and gothic fashions. This store is great place to snap up a corset or skirt.

Get Cutie on the North Laines has some nice dresses and skirts made of unique fabrics. It’s a bit pricey but if you have money to burn, burn some at Get Cutie. The style hear is sort of 50’s but the prints really make it stand out.

Mad Hattersis a small store in the North Laines selling only hats and hairpieces, which would really suit your outfit at Royal Ascot, if you are so inclined.

If you fancy something very English, buy a ” Keep Calm and Carry On” shirt at Pussy. Yes, that is actually the name. Pussy is in the North Laines.

For shoes I love Flawless, which sells the boutique brand Irregular Choice that makes shoes that look like a cross between punk carnage and Dorothy. Flawless is also in the North Laines.

I think one of the best places to get a great deal is Snoopers Paradise on the North Laines (big surprise) which sells old and new fashions. The newer fashions are very punky and they sell my favourite brand Hell Bunny. The vintage selection is surprisingly good as well. At the top of this store is a selection of photographs and prints that showcase Brighton and make a nice souvenir.

If you like Day-glo flourescent fashion, try Red Mutha or Cyber Dog . You can buy 80’s shirts and day-glo legs at Red Mutha and proper insane rave fashion at Cyber Dog. The lights!!!

If you want a slice of unique Brighton fashion, also try the South Lanes, more for accessories. This historic fishing quarter has many jewellers and is particularly known for jewellery. If you are into hair accessories, stop at Jaffa Hair, which has lovely clips from France that last years and range from tortoise shell work-ready designs to multicoloured parrots.

Whatever your style is, you’ll find some new pieces in Brighton. I’m more eccentric but even if you like classic fashion, you’ll get your fix.

Brighton is like Madonna and Hove is like Christopher Ciccone. Brighton is the famous big sister leaving Hove in the dust. Many people don’t even make it to Hove, which is kind of unfortunate as Hove can be a blessing on a busy day.

For instance, the beaches are far quieter in Hove. You can take a cycle path all the way to Hove Lagoon, where kids can sail and Heather Mill’s cafe is and onward to the lovely quaint town of Shoreham by sea and further on to Worthing if you really fancy a trek.

First of all, I know for a fact, you can get the best minced pie you ever had at Canham and Sons on Western Road in Hove. I’m vegetarian but I’ve been told this place does pasties and pies to die for.

A lot of the nicer shops in Hove are on the high street but the George Street has some good offerings like home furnishing shop, Burts and some cafes.

The most famous restaurant in Hove is probably Topolino. Topolino Duo serves classic Italian dishes and is always busy. It is one of the few restaurants in the area that has no concept of the recession. Topolino is also affordable.

Most of the rowdy kids who come to get drunk in Brighton (and there is a signifigant number) do not venture into Hove. If you party in Hove, your evening will be more civilized.

H-Bar in Hove is a nice venue with a bottom floor lounge and an upstairs club. I also recommend Kobawhich is a cocktail lounge spread over a few floors that does special deas on shots and sells Pimms.

There is also a branch of The Tin Drum which is a really nice little pub to have a chat in and actually hear the person you are sitting with. This is a smaller branch of the pub than the Kemptown one, if you recognise the name.

Probably the best attraction in Hove, other than Hove Lagoon if you like watersports, is Hove Park which is a large rolling park that is actually the perfect place to stop on a nice day.

Another thing to do in Hove is catch a cricket game at the Sussex Cricket Club which holds international matches and is located in Central Hove. There is a very inexpensive pub next to the cricket pitch that offers a meal deal.

If you are staying Brighton for a few days, don’t neglect to visit Brighton’s little brother.

Anytime you go to a new destination, you honestly wonder if the main tourist attractions are really worth the expense. I thought the same thing in Italy when I went to see ” David”.

Too often tourist traps leave you feeling, well, sucked in. This is not the case with the Pavilion, trust me. If you think it looks ultra cool on the outside, it is even better inside.

If you reside in Brighton and Hove, you get an extra discount on admission. Otherwise you pay full price but you also get an informative audio guide tour.

From the moment you walk into the Pavilion, you are taken in by the period furnishings, elaborate murals and chandellers. Seriously, when I walked into the first room I gasped.

When you view the first floor you walk around in circle and see a music room, a banquet hall, and a kitchen. A lot of furnishings could be described as being baroque with a lot of Oriental touches.

Surrounding the Pavilion is magnificent gardens and the Pavilion Cafe.  You will see loads of people lazying about on the grass on a nice day. The adjacent museum houses Salvador Dali’s lips and is also free, an added bonus.

Inside the Pavilion, if you are more curious about the history surrounding this architectural masterpiece, you can watch a short free video which explains the historical significance of the Pavilion.

I think older children will enjoy this attraction but young children will not appreciate the stylistic value.

The nicest part of the Pavilion is the traditional cafe on the top terrace where you can overlook the grounds and have a cream tea. The bottom floor is accessible but the top floor isn’t but you’ll still feel like you’ve seen quite a bit if you can’t make it upstairs. If you can you should though because when Queen Victoria inherited the Pavilion, she made her very tasteful quarters upstairs.

There is also Pavilion based artwork on the top floor near the cafe.

I’m very skeptical of these things (I haven’t even seen the London Eye) but it is worth the admission charge. A few times a year, you can buy tickets to have a banquet at the Pavilion and eat like a king!