For my birthday last year my little family and I had a fairly chilled weekend away at the sea-side town, Brighton. My daughter was around four months old at the time.
Brighton is under 2 hours away from Hertfordshire, however, with multiple stops with baby girl to feed, change her and have a breather from the car seat every now and again, it was more likely 3 to 3 and a half hours.
We arrived very late for check out, which is usually 3pm, however if I recall, we arrived late evening around 8pm as we were celebrating my birthday at home.
Where we stayed:
We stayed at one of my favourite boutique hotels, the Artist Residence. I’ve stayed at the Oxfordshire branch and the Cornwall one, but hadn’t stayed at the Brighton branch until now.
The Artist Residence in Brighton is nestled in a peaceful area of Brighton, which was perfect for us. We also paid for an apartment as we felt we needed the space with the baby and dog. Plus it was my birthday treat!
I don’t think my iPhone snaps do this hotel justice, because it was b-e-a-u-t-i-ful inside. A designer’s dream! I wish I had brought my canon camera with me as it’s slightly better, however I needed to pack light.
The design of the apartment was very ‘me’, I loved the pink tiles in the kitchen, the velvet blue sofa, the fish eye mirror, the light shades, the pillows, everything was carefully thought of and had that ‘Artist Residence’ interior stamp. STUNNING!
The AR provided everything for our little one too. They set up a cot for us in our bedroom. Then we just bought our usual travel amenities, such as Milton tablets, formula, bottles, nappies and so forth.
I have a more in-depth guide of what to pack when traveling with your little one here.
It’s always worth asking your hotel if they can provide any baby equipment for you, they are usually happy to help.
For our first night, we ordered take-out pizza from down the road – which may I add, was insanely good. And spent the evening in matching halloween pjs – had to be done!
The following morning, we treated ourselves to room service, took some more matching pj photos and spent the day wandering around Brighton. We did meet up with Joe’s dad, his wife Tracey and some of their friends as they had a friend’s birthday too and were staying near us.
What to do:
Strolling down the pier is iconic. And a must-do!
The Lanes are great too for picking out a few foodie options.
We were being creatures of habits and stayed mostly around The Artist Residence area as it was quieter away from all the crowds.
Turns out at thirty six years old, I don’t enjoy loud noises or being around too many people and we happened to stumble into Brighton on what seemed like the busiest day.
Being around too many people with a 4 month old baby and a reactive dog was driving my anxiety wild I must admit.
However, we did pop into The Lanes for lunch at Dishoom. As well as meeting Joe’s family and their friends for a drink on the beach front.
Where to eat:
The food in Brighton is amazing! However I stuck to what I know and like and that was eating at restaurants I was familiar with. Apart from the delicious pizza take-away place we found close to AR.
As I mentioned above, Dishoom was one of my go to’s for incredible Indian food. And, the Artist Residence was great for brunch-type-options. Although, not as good as the Oxfordshire branch’s food.
Although saying that, the cocktails and coffee at the AR were extremely good and the butter they used for brunch is something I can’t stop dreaming about. Yes, even all these months later.
Thoughts on traveling with a 4 month old:
Overall it was a super chilled weekend, and super lovely to get away and stay at the beautiful Artist Residence.
At the time, and four months into motherhood, I was shattered and my anxiety levels were high, however, the snaps don’t show how I’m feeling.
I will say traveling with a baby under the age of six months old – before the crawling and walking stages is ideal as I found this period much easier compared to the reality of now having a thirteen month old who won’t sit still.
Every stage is incredibly different and hard in other ways. However you take for granted that you can put your baby on the bed or sofa and she won’t move. These days, I’m like hawk eye, watching her every single move, making sure she doesn’t tumble over and injure herself.
Any who, I do have some other traveling posts to write, such as our trip from the Cotswolds in Spring this year and another trip to Spain we had in May. So I will try my very best to write those when I can. As well as the other backlog of other content I have.
My time is SO precious at the moment, as I rarely have any time for myself, however, my husband is swimming with Alessia this morning, so I have a moment to myself where I don’t feel exhausted, at long last!
Hope you’re all having a lovely Summer so far. I miss the blogging community so much! But for now, ciao ciao.
