If you are looking to visit a quintessentially English seaside town, you could do a lot worse than starting with Bournemouth. Bournemouth is a lovely seaside place, located on the south coast of England. It has plenty of places to stay, and visit, as well as a lot of beaches to explore. So for tips on how to plan your most delightfully English holiday there, keep reading.
What to do there
The first thing you tend to think about when booking a holiday is deciding what activities there are to keep you busy when you are there. Happily, in Bournemouth, there is plenty of stuff in a traditional English vein.
Bournemouth is home to seven, yes seven wonderful beaches! Including the famous Bournemouth Central Beach, and the pleasant Durley Chine Beach. So there is plenty of opportunities for sunbathing, paddling in the sea, or taking the dogs on a long coastal walk. Don’t forget to treat yourself to some fish and chips in paper, and an ice cream too, while you are there.
However if your tire of the beach life there are oodles of other things you can do as well. Why not book some tickets for a performance in the Pavilion Theatre? A panto is a particularly good old English choice.
Or why not sample one of the many classic afternoon teas on offer in the area? Which is a lovely activity to do with the whole family. You can visit The Hotel Miramar or the Steam Tearooms? Or why not try Frieda’s Tearoom? Where they even offer a vintage bus tour with afternoon tea included. It doesn’t get any more quintessentially English than that!
Where to stay
Once you have established that Bournemouth is the right place for you most English of holidays. Then it is time to get on with the process of locating and booking some accommodation.
Happily, as Bournemouth is such a well established English holiday destination, there is a huge range of place to stay to choose from.
You can try a more traditional B&B, with a hearty fry up of sausage, eggs, bacon and the like provided for breakfast. Or indulge in a little high-end luxury by considering the homes like the ones on offer at Smart Holiday Rentals Bournemouth. In fact, there are a lot of properties that you can rent out in full for your stay.
This is a good idea because, it means you can find ones that are located very close to the beach. Perfect if you want to take a bracing, but a restorative dip in the sea before breakfast!
Or if the price is a concern for you, it might be a better option, to take your own tent. Camping is definitely one of the best greatest British holidays traditions. Ever the weather doesn’t stop us! If this is something that is appealing, then make use of one of the many well-equipped campsites in the surrounding area.
How to get there
Of course, it’s no good knowing where you are going, and where you are staying, if you don’t know how to get there. Travel to, and from your destination for UK breaks can be something that is more stressful than when you book a package holiday abroad. This is because, package holidays arrange everything. But when you holiday here, you have to sort it yourself.
Buy all is not lost, in fact, you can embrace one the most English of traditions and load the family up in the car and drive down to Bournemouth. Just remember to say ‘if you kids don’t shut up, I will turn this car around,’ at least 10 times for that authentic English holiday feel.
Or you can make use of the English rail system and take the train there. You can get one out of Waterloo Station which takes about 2 hours to reach Bournemouth, so it’s pretty easy.
Another option, is to rent a caravan and combine your drive with your accommodation. This is a particularly good idea if you want to tour around the surrounding areas and check out all of the experiences that Bournemouth has to offer.
Hidden jewels
Remember too, no marvelously English trip to Bournemouth would be complete without including some of the curiosities it has to offer. Happily, Bournemouth is full of very English, and very Victorian oddities.
One such place is the Russell-Cotes Museum. Which is full of Victorian artwork and sited in a most interesting period building.
Or if you time your visit to perfection, you can gain access to the Bournemouth Natural Science Society. Which is a one-weekend exhibition that happens but once a year! There you can view a whole host of stuffed and preserved animal specimens from the Victorian period.