The One Where I Said 'Yay To A Staycay' In Bournemouth.

2021, the year of Staycations! When we originally looked to book a trip in June we were very tempted to head off on a jet plane to sunny Portugal. Well as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing and I’m so glad we decided against it as days later the government changed the travel rules at the last minute (again!) and we would have had to cancel. However we also wouldn’t have had the opportunity to explore the beautiful Bournemouth and Dorset! We knew we wanted a beach, a nice hotel and lots of activities to keep us busy during the day and this location ticked them all. Plus we were blessed with a scorcher of a heat wave so we ended up feeling as though we were abroad anyway!

Our search for a hotel was lonnnnnng. ‘’This one’s too pricey’’, ‘’This one is too far from the beach’’, ‘’This one would be perfect but it’s fully booked…’’. Finally, we came across a deal on Secret Escapes for the dates we wanted. It was a ‘mystery hotel’ but we just went on booking.com and worked out that we would be staying at The Hilton Hotel. If we were wrong, it was fully cancelable so we had nothing to lose! We had a king room with a balcony, breakfast included plus £25 per person per night to spend in the hotel’s restaurant (which we discovered pretty much covered dinner!). The hotel was beautiful. The room was spacious, there was a sky bar on the 8th floor and there was a gym and spa facilities we could make use of. We paid roughly £1200 for 5 nights and it was a 5 minute walk from the beach - perfect!

I drove from London (which should have taken 2.5 hours but it ended up being around 5 hours with the traffic + the obligatory McDonalds stop off!). We worked out that it was actually way cheaper to park in the NCP car park across the road from the hotel rather than paying for the one at the Hilton. It worked out at around £7 per day, which was half the price of the hotel parking, and it was super easy to pay via the app.

The day had finally arrived. I had packed my entire wardrobe and we were on our way! Once we had checked in, we got ready and headed to the restaurant for dinner. The food was great and we enjoyed a well deserved glass of wine. From here, we went for a walk to get our bearings and ended up on the big wheel as the sun was setting. I was slightly terrified as I don’t like heights but it’s situated next to the beach and the view was incredible! After a walk along the pier we went back to the hotel and got an early night.

Our first full day of the trip was Raj’s Birthday! I had an awesome chocolate birthday cake delivered to the hotel from Sweet Indulgent Fancies and I decorated the room with balloons while he was asleep. We had breakfast and made our way to a bar called Sixty Million Postcards to watch England’s first football match in the Euros. Once we had celebrated the win (an added bonus birthday present for Raj!), we headed back to the hotel and got ready for the evening. First we had drinks in the Sky Bar at the hotel and then got a taxi to the Rick Stein Restaurant in Sandbanks. They specialise in seafood but surprisingly, they also have a great vegetarian menu and the food was just incredible. We were sipping our wine, looking out onto the water, watching the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen in my life.

Day two consisted of an afternoon sunbathing on the glorious Bournemouth Beach. I felt like I was abroad - until I tepidly dipped my toes into the sea and found it to be FREEZING! We had some lunch at Harry Ramsden's Restaurant and then retired to the hotel to get ready for the evening. We decided to drive to Sandbanks again where we discovered another beach where we probably would have chosen to spend the day if we had found it earlier. It is a prestigious ‘blue flag beach’ and is just completely beautiful.

The following morning we used the hotel gym and decided to chill (aka me having a power nap while Raj watched the football). We went for a walk and came across the Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. It cost us £7 each for entry and this allows you to walk around the house where the famous couple lived, taking in the paintings and sculptures they had collected along their travels whilst seeing their house as it would have been all those years ago. A pianist began to play the piano which provided a nice backdrop as I was instantly transported back in time. After snacking on some scones whilst looking out over the sea, we hopped on the open top tour bus which took us on a round trip from Bournemouth through to Poole and back again. We learned some interesting facts - like the story that Winston Churchill almost died when he fell from a bridge while staying in the area when he was 18 years old!

Our final full day was upon us and it would have been rude to be in this neck of the woods and not visit Durdle Door and hike to the Golden Gap. We visited Dorset a couple of years ago and the Jurassic Coast is one of our all time faves. This time we accidentally parked in another car park and the hike ended up being easier (by half a mile!) but regardless, the view was perfect. We finished the day off at Durdle door and then went back to the hotel for our final evening. After another fabulous dinner at the hotel restaurant, we had a game of mini golf booked at Mr Mulligans which was across the road from our hotel. I wouldn’t recommend the cocktails - but the golf was fun!

Before we began our journey back to London we wanted to make the most out of our morning. We spent an hour in the spa at the hotel which was great. We used the sauna and steam room, the jacuzzi and then went for a swim. After checking out of the hotel, we made sure we wasted a load of money at the arcades on the 2p slot machines and then spent a couple of hours in the Oceanarium. This was amazing as we saw penguins, sharks and I now have a new bestie in the form of a Turtle! We collected our suitcases, said goodbye to the town we had grown so fond of and then got in the car. It was as we closed the car doors that the heavens opened and it started to rain. I could not believe our luck with the weather!

This trip came at the perfect time for us and I would do it all over again, even if we were allowed to go abroad!

Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.

Laura-Ann

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