After our tour of Button House (West Horsley Place) we drove south-east towards the coast, with Brighton as our first stop. I had pictured a smallish city but was surprised at how big it was - there were people and cars everywhere! We headed for the famous pier but unfortunately roadworks right out the front made it difficult to access. After several laps we eventually found a carpark further down the shore and were able to get a better look. 

The day we visited was particularly dull, which contrasted well with the whiteness of the pier. It was built in 1899 and is just as grand as it looks on the movies, stretching over half a kilometre out into the English Channel. It is full of sideshow rides, arcades, trampolines and a horror house, and would be a great day out if this is your thing!  

Just beyond the pier on the skyline are dozens of offshore wind turbines. We had noticed these as we were flying in over this area, as well as over the European coast. They were quite an unusual sight - I was aware that they existed but had never actually seen them before. It makes sense to capture the wind on the ocean as it is much smoother than land, however I wonder how they stop the turbines from rusting? I'm sure science has it all figured out!

Brighton has a long history, with burial mounds, tools and bones found that date back to the Neolithic period - specifically 3500 BC to 2700 BC. The area has had a number of different inhabitants since, including the Romans who arrived here in the 1st century. 

Not surprisingly for its location, Brighton has been the subject of many invasions and destructive storms over the years, and in the 18th century its population had declined to only 2,000. Fast forward to today and over 280,000 people live in this popular seaside resort city.