The Royal Pavillion Gardens

Lovely place to go in the summer/​winter and sit and stare at the world go by.
You will always find a right character or two to watch. Brighton is well known for its array of nutters! This is a hub for them. But good nutters — I’m laughing with them not at them.
Very good to go in the summer — they will often have some sort of music playing –a busker or two. Normally they are pretty good!

Une des visites incontournables de Brighton.
Au cœur de la ville, on trouve cet intriguant édifice battit sous George IV, prince régent puis roi inspiré par l’Inde et la Chine sans jamais pour autant n’y avoir jamais mis les pieds.
De l’extérieur, l’édifice ressemble à un mini Taj Mahal, à l’intérieur, c’est inspiration Chinoise, avec un lustre dragon de plus d’une tonne tout à fait original surtout pour le XIX. Une interprétation exubérante de ce que l’Orient était vu d’un œil occidental.
La suite du roi fut installé au rdc car celui-​ci très friand de loonnng repas (plus de 80 plats) né pouvait plus se permettre de monter les escaliers. George IV a également fait creusé un tunnel afin de pouvoir traverser les jardins de sa résidence sans que son embonpoint puisse être aperçu par sa Cour.
Env 10 livres, audioguide en supplément. En période de disette, l’extérieur constitue déjà un point d’intérêt intéressant, ainsi que les jardins qui valent le détour.

The gardens are home to one of Brighton’s most photographed tourist attractions (The Royal Pavilion). As well as the occasional busker there are usually loads of people on the lawns having a picnic or just chilling out. The squirrels here are really cute and often happy to pose for photos in return for a few nuts.

The Royal Pavilion Gardens is such a lovely place to sit and unwind amidst the hustle and bustle of Brighton — especially in the summer.
A little bit of peace and tranquility, where you can sit on the grass and enjoy the sunshine, listen to the soothing sound of music being performed by buskers. A lot of the time there is a man playing the saxophone duetting with another guy playing the mbira — honestly it sounds SO wonderful, I love to hear them play!
Get there early to get yourself a good spot on the grass, especially once the weather starts to heat up. It’s a good place to chill out, particularly if you don’t feel like sitting on the beach.

Gardens was a really great treat for a weekend getaway from the city to the shore. Love it in spring when things are in bloom. Get to see the bumblebees pollinating all of the wonderfully coloured flowers. Monument to Edward VII is a must see as well.

You’d be hard pressed to find a nicer spot in the centre of Brighton to sit and relax on a sunny day, apart from maybe the beach!
Although often busy, you’ll always find a little area to take a seat and soak up the sun/​eat your lunch. There’s a little café under the trees if you haven’t brought your own picnic along, so you’ll never be caught short.
With the lovely sounds of busking musicians and the delightful sights of the Royal Pavillion/​museum nearby, this is a wonderfully peaceful (yet typical to Brighton, nonetheless vibrant) place to enjoy yourself in.

As a local residence, I really enjoyed walking around the pavilion — it was such a surprise inside, lots of dragons on the ceilings and elaborate sculptures — it was really beautiful.
The gardens however are even better — it is the best place to sit down and have lunch during the summer and is always busy with people.
There are always musicians playing in the park no matter what the weather is like and it’s a great place for locals and visitors to hang out.

So I’ve been to Brighton a few times and never been inside this place. I imagined that it was a shell and no point. However, I was glad to be wrong.
At the moment there is an exhibition to show how the RP was converted into an Indian Hospital during the war. It’s great to see the rooms restored into regal majesty alongside pictures of how each room looked at a hospital ward.
One of the things I like the most is that despite it’s opulence, there is a lot of fun design that’s gone into the palace, with a mix of Indian, Chinese and Egyptian themes running though. There is no Disney to be seen here however, and you will be impressed with the amount of dragons that seem to hold up chandeliers and even the walls. The steam powered kitchen is also fantastic — you can get a real feel for the different eras explored.
The best part of all of this is that you are not allowed to take any pictures! So the wonders you see have to be captured with your eyes and kept in you memory — not a selfie stick in sight!