What is British And Best About Bognor Regis? Retiring to a sunny seaside, with seaside air, a beach, fish and chips? A pier and peaceful parks. Or a stick of stick pink rock and Butlin's?

Did you know that slipper limpets change sex? Or that London clay is found as far south as Bognor Regis? Or that cuttlefish change colour to camouflage themselves, and for courtship? Or that you find fossils here? Or that you can buy sticks of rock flavoured like Prosecco and bubblegum? Amazing what you can learn. I photographed the information panels along the Bognor Regis promenade and blew them up the photos to read them when I got home. My pleasure in my day out at Bognor Regis will provide entertainment for ages.

  

Sticks of rock. Bognor Regis Rock. Prosecco Rock. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The traditional rock was pink on the outside, white inside with the name of the resort all the way down. Called

Fish & Chips. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The path behind the beach huts. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

We could have walked along the beach. However, it was pebbly and would have ruined my shoes. So we walked to the pier along the path behind the beach huts. 

The History of Bognor

Bognor Regis is in West Sussex in the South-West of England on the coast. It gets more sun than elsewhere in Britain. Bognor Regis was named Regis meaning royal by a British king, George V, needing nearby sea air. That was some time ago. 

Bognor Regis, like many seasides, is still in a bit of a time warp. Nostalgic. Bognor Regis is now known as a popular place to retire. 

Advantages of Bognor Regis For Retirement

My second cousin has retired there. She says the retired local people are friendly with time, more sociable in the south than up north nearer London. You meet people walking the dog. You can drive to Chichester for theatre and steak pies.

What evidence is there that many people are retired? Apart from a wheelchair or two on the seafront. Large numbers who have time to own dogs. Large numbers of bungalows. (Bungalow - British word for a one storey one level building.)

However, Bognor also attracts the grandchildren, and families on visits. Butlin's has been in the area since before WW2.

Investing in Bognor

For some time British seasides were boringly old-fashioned, cheap and looked it and needed investment to upgrade the accommodation. British seasides saw their tourist trade killed off by package holidays taking tourists to warmer lands, in summer and winter. Time for investment and moving on? 

Good News For Seasides

Tourist boards and town councils made some changes, not always considered improvements. I was told that the sandy beach had been covered with pebbles to prevent erosion.

Bognor Beach. Lazing looking at the sea. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Covid-19 has done a favour to some seasides. Some other countries are on no fly, no vaccine, no entry lists, or simply it is uncertain whether you will get back. The staycation at English holiday resorts has seen a revival of the get in your car and go holiday. Same currency. Same weather. A bit warmer with global warming. More vineyards than ever before. And a touch of nostalgia.

We walked along the path behind the beach huts, along the promenade to the pier.

For a change of scene, we walked back along the promenade. The promenade wall is inset with reliefs of sea creatures.

We passed several parks and gardens with palm trees, flower beds, a fountain, and a children's playground.

The Pier

Boats

Beach Huts

Sticks of Rock

Fish and chips

Ice Cream

We bought a cone of ice cream, flavoured white chocolate and strawberry.

Bognor Regis museum by Andrew Augur, from Wikimedia.

The museum has old phones, wirelesses, cameras. Pictures of old times including a bathing machine. The shop sells toys.

Useful Websites

https://www.bognorregisbeach.co.uk/what-to-see-and-do-bognor-regis

https://www.bognorregisbeach.co.uk/what-to-see-and-do-bognor-regis/family-and-chidren-other-attractions/butlins-day-visitors

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g504216-d3847421-Reviews-Turner_s_Pies-Bognor_Regis_Arun_District_West_Sussex_England.html

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bognor_Regis

https://www.bognormuseum.org/

About The Author

Angela Lansbury is British as well as a Singapore Resident. She has family in Bognor Regis. 

What to see and do in Southport: Lawnmower Museum, Red Rum and more

Problem
I've heard of Southport. Friends who live there say it's lovely. But what can you do there?

Answer
1 The Lawnmower Museum
At first sight, I thought this was an unlikely and uninteresting subject. But when I read their website, I found it fascinating. the extraordinary thing about the lawnmower is that for years people had meadows with grass mixed with flowers. They cut down high grass with scythes to make it easier to walk about. Scythes are risky things to use. One day a man adapted a machine used to cut the surface of cloth - he decided to adapt it to cut a lawn. The result was the modern oblong garden like a picture frame with a neat lawn edged by two, three or four flower beds.

2 The Pier and the beach
The horse Red Rum used to run up and down the beach. You can run up and down the pier.

3 Red Rum statue in Wayfarers Arcade
After winning the Grand National, Red Rum became more famous than Black Beauty, the fictional horse hero of the book and film.
(Not to be confused with Shergar, part owned by the Aga Khan, which was valuable and famous, and that horse was kidnapped, disappeared, never found. Like Lord Lucan, the horse's disappearance is a great mystery, and has led to the ironic simile that finding something is as likely (meaning unlikely) as finding Shergar.)

4 Aintree
Where Red Rum won the Grand National, coming first three times and second twice. After winning many races, the horse eventually died and was buried at Aintree, where you can see the grave.

5 Queen Victoria statue

Tips
http://www.lawnmowerworld.co.uk
http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk
www.visitBritain.org
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576718/The-truth-about-Shergar-racehorse-kidnapping.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Beauty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rum
http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/10-best-things-southport-2017-12415732
(More later.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker