Brighton snow

Well as everyone else still seems to be talking about the snow I thought I might as well join in!

Brighton & Hove has always been a popular spot for photographers whether it's iconic shots of the Royal Pavilion or the Brighton Pier, the Regency architecture or just the eccentric people of Brighton. So we were not surprised to see lots of snowy pictures of Brighton appearing in the newspapers over the weekend and in the Brighton Flickr group.

It also gave Sarah a good opportunity to go out and get a few shots in order to update our Winter image library:


Lovely pictures Sarah - definitely feeling the festive spirit now!

Charlotte

Christmas Shopping in Brighton

With only just over a week to go until Christmas Day why not book yourself a last minute break to Brighton so you can finish off the Christmas shopping and then relax and look forward to the big day?

As I mentioned earlier in the week if you're coming down this weekend it's the Brighton Christmas Market but whenever you come you also have all the shops of the Lanes and the North Laine to be explored so if you're still stuck for present ideas you're bound to find something even for the most awkward of family members!



Although with over 300 shops it may all seem a bit daunting, so here's a couple of suggestions to get you started:

• Last - Beautiful homemade shoes that your feet will love.
• She Said - Erotic boutique (don't think I dare say more then that!)
  
• Lavender room - perfect place for men who are stuck for ideas of what to buy the ladies in their life
• Papillon - Beautiful gifts for the home
• The Antique House - unsurprisingly they sell antiques!
  
• RING - contemporary jewellers where if you don't fancy anything in the window you can go in and design your own
• First Light - Is one of your friends a photography fanatic? You'll find the perfect gift for them here
  

I hope this has helped but you if are still wondering why you should do your Christmas Shopping in Brighton then luckily our colleagues in the council have asked some locals this very question:



There are 5 videos to get you in the festive spirit so to see the rest of them go to the Brighton & Hove City Council page on YouTube.

Charlotte

Brighton Christmas Market

With less than a fortnight to go until Christmas Day this is the time to start panicking and checking the shopping list to see if you've remembered to buy presents for all and sundry. And if you suddenly realise that you've forgotten someone then don't worry as this Sunday is the Brighton Christmas Market.

The Market is being held in The Brighton Centre so you won't need to wander around in the cold. There will be about 40 stalls selling a range of gifts and decorations including a lot of locally made products.


But it's not just about shopping as Sunday is also the first day of 'Get Your Skates On' public ice skating event. Then at the end of the day if your feet are sore from shopping and your bum numb from skating then why not head over to the Indulgence and Wellbeing Zone for a massage :)

Charlotte

Brighton Beach Huts Advent Calendar

Well it seems the good people of Brighton simply cannot get enough of advent calendars! In case you missed my previous post, we already have a VisitBrighton advent calendar and a Peter Pan advent calendar but we are now going for the hat-trick with the Beach Huts Advent Calendar.

Local group Beyond gives people the opportunity to explore spirituality through a variety of creative approaches and in recent years this has included turning the famous beach huts into one large advent calendar.

Every day a different beach hut will open its doors to reveal something new about the festive season. The huts open from 5.30-6.30pm each day and you can be entered into a prize draw to win dinner, bed & breakfast at the Hotel du Vin. Download the flyer from the website for full details of which huts are open each evening.

Charlotte

Red Party and Recipease

It's going to be a double whammy today as I have two things I want to share with you, aren't you lucky?

The first one is just to let you know that any ticket holders for the Wild Fruit Red Party at Oceana on Sunday night can also get free singing and cocktails at Lucky Voice

The other bit of news is that you can now go to Jamie Oliver's Recipease on Western Road for breakfast or lunch. I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch there yesterday and it was really lovely. For anyone unfamiliar with it the front part is a shop and then there is a kitchen area at the back where you can do a number of different cookery courses. So when we went yesterday we were sat around the kitchen counter which was good for a couple of reasons. First of all we could watch the chefs in action, perfect for nosy people! And it helped me decide what to order as I thought a couple of the dishes sounded tempting but then I saw them preparing the beef and pumpkin salad and decided to go for that.

So if you fancy trying something a bit different for lunch then I'd definitely recommend it as the food was delicious and the staff were very friendly. And to those cynics who say that I would give it a good review as I was invited for lunch there, my reply is that I was well brought up and so if I didn't have anything nice to say I wouldn't have said anything ;)

Charlotte

Kiya Survivors Christmas Party

Sunday 13th December - 6-12pm

We like to support local stuff at VisitBrighton, so if you want to do your bit for charity this Christmas, why not join the Kiya Survivors Christmas Party at The Greenhouse Effect, Hove on Sunday 13 December?

There's loads of great music, plus:

• a charity auction

• Peruvian cocktails

• live bands

• Latin-tunes
  

• and a piňata!
  

Tickets are only £7.50, so please come along to enjoy the festive cheer and celebrate the brilliant work Kiya Survivors has achieved in 2009.

Help special needs & abandoned kids

If you don't know Kiya Survivors, they are a local Anglo-Puruvian charity who aims to provide a new beginning for Peruvian children and young people who have special needs or have been abused or abandoned.

Kiya Survivors now support over 200 children, young people and their families and without Kiya they simply would not have the life they deserve, if any life at all.

Buy tickets to the Kiya Christmas Party online
Tickets are easy to buy online on the Kiya Survivors new website at www.kiyasurvivors.org

Kiya Survivors, started by local Hoveite Suzy Butler, have also been chosen as this year’s charity to be supported by the Discovering Latin America Film Festival in London, which is brilliant news.

I volunteered with Kiya in Peru and they are a wonderful charity, so why not come and join us on the 13th for some festive fun Latin style...

Find out more abou t Kiya Survivors & their work at www.kiyasurvivors.org

Sarah
VisitBrighton

Advent Calendar double whammy!

Well first of all please accept my apologies for being a day late with the Advent Calendar but to make up for it I have two for you to have a go at :)

As you may already be aware this year's pantomime will be Peter Pan and to get you in the mood the Theatre Royal Brighton has launched a special advent calendar

And here at VisitBrighton Sarah has also created a lovely Advent Calendar chock full of events in Brighton for the whole of December.

Make sure you open the calendars every day as there are also some competitions hidden under a couple of the dates.

Charlotte