“I love Eastbourne because… it is a unique, often sunny, tourist resort by the sea with the beautiful downs on its doorstep; it has many cultural events to suit all tastes throughout the year; the bus services are excellent; the council is welcoming and helpful; it has regular and direct rail links to Gatwick airport and London; more cycle lanes are being developed; it has provided me with a secure, comfortable and cosy home since I came seven years ago.”
Congratulations to Shirley Silverside who is the winner of a £20 voucher to spend at Le Loup! Her fabulous entry reveals the combination of wonderful culture Eastbourne has to offer, alongside the reliable services and glorious sunshine which were also suggested by many other entries. The friendliness of our vibrant town was something that appealed to everyone and it was lovely to see why so many of you choose to call Eastbourne home.
The fact that Eastbourne’s coastline is a great place to be, whatever your age also seemed to be a popular reason for people. There really does appear to be something for everyone, whether it’s the lovely gardens, theatres and traditional pier or being able to go to the beach, the Downs and shopping all in one day. One resident described it as a ‘holidaymaker’s dream’ and all of the above suggest why. The local people of Eastbourne are proud to boast they are the sunshine coast and it is this passion that attracts tourists from far and wide.
Lily
Experience the UK's sunniest place... From award-winning beaches and the sheer natural beauty of the South Downs National Park, to the cosmopolitan Sovereign Harbour Marina and a rich tapestry of culture and heritage – Eastbourne is the south coast’s hidden gem and we want to help you discover it!
Tuesday 27 March 2012
Thursday 22 March 2012
A glowing review of Eastbourne
So you can imagine our delight this morning when we logged on to the VisitEastbourne twitter to read a brilliant review of Eastbourne and The Grand Hotel from Emma Bumpus who blogs as Career Traveller. The blog entry is nothing short of glowing, from raving about the accommodation to Eastbourne's stunning coastline and City Sightseeing Bus Tour. Read the blog entry for yourself and we guarantee you'll be wanting to book your own Eastbourne family experience!
The excellent feedback from those visiting Eastbourne continued this week following a familiarisation visit that Jenny and I organised last weekend for a group of 11 Spanish and Italian travel buyers. The group were given a whistlestop tour of the south east, including a visit to East Dean, Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters on Saturday afternoon, an overnight stay in Eastbourne and a tour of Towner on Sunday morning. Their feedback rated Eastbourne very highly in the list of places they saw - here's hoping they encourage more visitors to Eastbourne over the coming months!
Emma
In the VisitEastbourne Marketing & PR team we are always striving to raise awareness of Eastbourne as a visitor destination and generate positive coverage for the town. Each year we organise dozens of familiarisation trips for journalists and more recently, bloggers, so that they can experience Eastbourne and then write about it in all sorts of different media. We work closely with our tourism partners to arrange as much as possible for the travel writers, from accommodation to attraction visits, eating and drinking and more!
Over the past couple of years we have achieved some brilliant coverage for Eastbourne, including articles in the likes of The Telegraph, Express, Times, and many other national titles. It's always good to read a nice piece on Eastbourne when a lot of work has gone into organising as much as possible for that journalist so that they receive the best experience.
The excellent feedback from those visiting Eastbourne continued this week following a familiarisation visit that Jenny and I organised last weekend for a group of 11 Spanish and Italian travel buyers. The group were given a whistlestop tour of the south east, including a visit to East Dean, Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters on Saturday afternoon, an overnight stay in Eastbourne and a tour of Towner on Sunday morning. Their feedback rated Eastbourne very highly in the list of places they saw - here's hoping they encourage more visitors to Eastbourne over the coming months!
Emma
Thursday 15 March 2012
Jem Southam at Towner
So, here’s Rowan’s first guest blog on Visit Eastbourne! A fantastic review of the latest exhibition to be shown at the Towner contemporary art museum last weekend, 10th March 2012...
"If you've been to Eastbourne's Towner gallery lately, you may have seen some of Jem Southam's photography in the New Eyes exhibition. One of the UK's leading photographers, Southam is best known for his contemplative colour landscape collections, often captured over decades. His pieces are particularly distinctive due to the large format film camera he uses to produce pictures with incredible depth and intensity. I was particularly drawn to the somewhat eerie picture of Ditchling Dewpond that is in the current exhibition, so was thrilled to be invited by Visit Eastbourne to go along to hear Jem Southam give a talk at Towner last Saturday. In front of a full house, he revealed the man behind the pictures, sharing some of the stories, ideas and inspiration behind his work.
Transporting us back to when he left art school in the early Seventies, the charismatic photographer explained his quest to unravel the English landscape on film, by getting up close and personal with it. His artistic journey began in earnest in 1975 when as fresh faced romantics, he and his brother embarked on an unplanned adventure - hitchhiking, walking and sleeping under the stars, hoping to be inspired. The trip brought some memorable experiences - including a terrifying encounter with a thunderstorm and a magical intimate moment with a hare - but failed to spur on the photographic mission, which is when Southam decided he needed to work with landscapes that were more personal to him and began exploring places closer to home.
Describing his desire to unlock the "narrative myths of the landscape", the photographer went on to talk about several of his epic projects in fascinating detail, relaying a string of anecdotes about the people and places that inspired the photographs. Coming from a part of the coast where the phenomenon is common, I was particularly intrigued by his obsession with rockfalls and the dramatic pictures that in his words explore "the vertical's desire for the horizontal". In what many may see as simply a pile of stones, this man finds symbols of the movement of time and space, and persisted for six years in pursuit of the perfect example. The series of pictures he showed at the event were taken in the Isle of Wight, our very own Seven Sisters, and across the channel on the Normandy coast (a rare departure from home turf).
As well as capturing this type of natural geological occurrence, Southam also explained his interest in landscapes that have been created through industrial processes, such as rivers formed from clay extraction. In fact, rivers in general have been a source of fascination to him, particularly in respect of how other people perceive them. Early on he was interested in the Red River (turned that colour by waste from a nearby tin mine) in Cornwall, and even dedicated an entire book of photographs to it.
For the last half or or so of the talk, we were treated to an in-depth insight into a particularly intense and lengthy project involving a pond and a patch of land - which was a lot more engaging than it sounds. Over several years, Southam visited said pond, to witness and capture the process of one man's attempt to transform the place from scrubby junk pit to Arcadian idyll. Although a lot of changes were made, the vision was never realised and eventually someone else took over with a completely different approach. Throughout all of this, Southam continued to be drawn to the spot and pursued his quest to philosophically investigate its evolution, through the lens.
What came through the most from all his stories and anecdotes is that Southam looks at landscapes in the way that many people will approach people photography - seeking the details and nuances that expose the innermost characteristics of the subject. His closeness to, and perseverance for, the subject make his pictures more accessible and compelling to the end viewer. As a keen amateur photographer and someone who has taken great pleasure in capturing the landscapes of Sussex over many years, I found Southam's passion for his art extremely infectious. Next time I am wandering the beaches under Falling Sands, I shall be looking at (and photographing) the rockfalls in a whole new light.
Towner's New Eyes exhibition, featuring two of Jem Southam's pictures, runs until 22nd April: http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/new-eyes. He also has a number of photography books available via Amazon: http://amzn.to/zaJplR
Towner runs regular artist talks - have a look at its web site for details of upcoming events: http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/events/talks-tours-events."
Guest post by Rowan Stanfield - http://www.rowanstanfield.com/
"If you've been to Eastbourne's Towner gallery lately, you may have seen some of Jem Southam's photography in the New Eyes exhibition. One of the UK's leading photographers, Southam is best known for his contemplative colour landscape collections, often captured over decades. His pieces are particularly distinctive due to the large format film camera he uses to produce pictures with incredible depth and intensity. I was particularly drawn to the somewhat eerie picture of Ditchling Dewpond that is in the current exhibition, so was thrilled to be invited by Visit Eastbourne to go along to hear Jem Southam give a talk at Towner last Saturday. In front of a full house, he revealed the man behind the pictures, sharing some of the stories, ideas and inspiration behind his work.
Transporting us back to when he left art school in the early Seventies, the charismatic photographer explained his quest to unravel the English landscape on film, by getting up close and personal with it. His artistic journey began in earnest in 1975 when as fresh faced romantics, he and his brother embarked on an unplanned adventure - hitchhiking, walking and sleeping under the stars, hoping to be inspired. The trip brought some memorable experiences - including a terrifying encounter with a thunderstorm and a magical intimate moment with a hare - but failed to spur on the photographic mission, which is when Southam decided he needed to work with landscapes that were more personal to him and began exploring places closer to home.
Describing his desire to unlock the "narrative myths of the landscape", the photographer went on to talk about several of his epic projects in fascinating detail, relaying a string of anecdotes about the people and places that inspired the photographs. Coming from a part of the coast where the phenomenon is common, I was particularly intrigued by his obsession with rockfalls and the dramatic pictures that in his words explore "the vertical's desire for the horizontal". In what many may see as simply a pile of stones, this man finds symbols of the movement of time and space, and persisted for six years in pursuit of the perfect example. The series of pictures he showed at the event were taken in the Isle of Wight, our very own Seven Sisters, and across the channel on the Normandy coast (a rare departure from home turf).
As well as capturing this type of natural geological occurrence, Southam also explained his interest in landscapes that have been created through industrial processes, such as rivers formed from clay extraction. In fact, rivers in general have been a source of fascination to him, particularly in respect of how other people perceive them. Early on he was interested in the Red River (turned that colour by waste from a nearby tin mine) in Cornwall, and even dedicated an entire book of photographs to it.
For the last half or or so of the talk, we were treated to an in-depth insight into a particularly intense and lengthy project involving a pond and a patch of land - which was a lot more engaging than it sounds. Over several years, Southam visited said pond, to witness and capture the process of one man's attempt to transform the place from scrubby junk pit to Arcadian idyll. Although a lot of changes were made, the vision was never realised and eventually someone else took over with a completely different approach. Throughout all of this, Southam continued to be drawn to the spot and pursued his quest to philosophically investigate its evolution, through the lens.
What came through the most from all his stories and anecdotes is that Southam looks at landscapes in the way that many people will approach people photography - seeking the details and nuances that expose the innermost characteristics of the subject. His closeness to, and perseverance for, the subject make his pictures more accessible and compelling to the end viewer. As a keen amateur photographer and someone who has taken great pleasure in capturing the landscapes of Sussex over many years, I found Southam's passion for his art extremely infectious. Next time I am wandering the beaches under Falling Sands, I shall be looking at (and photographing) the rockfalls in a whole new light.
Towner's New Eyes exhibition, featuring two of Jem Southam's pictures, runs until 22nd April: http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/new-eyes. He also has a number of photography books available via Amazon: http://amzn.to/zaJplR
Towner runs regular artist talks - have a look at its web site for details of upcoming events: http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/events/talks-tours-events."
Guest post by Rowan Stanfield - http://www.rowanstanfield.com/
Visit Eastbourne Super Bloggers
The day has finally come round for our VisitEastbourne Tweetup! A chance for those who love Eastbourne to come and meet us today between 4pm and 7.30pm at the Winter Garden’s Congress Suite to become a Virtual VisitEastbourne Greeter.
For anyone interested in getting involved send us a tweet on twitter and we look forward to seeing you later on!
The next few months are going to very exciting (and busy) for Visit Eastbourne and we plan to embrace this by getting local people to share their love for the town with visitors to the area.
As part of this, we will be introducing the ‘Super Bloggers’, a team of Eastbourne experts who will be attending all the big events for us and guest blogging about their experiences.
And to start us off will be Rowan. Here’s a quick question and answer session to help you learn a little more about her…
How well would you say you know Eastbourne?
I was born and raised here and moved back in 2010 after fifteen years away - so I'd say I know it pretty well, although it's changed a lot over the years and I am still discovering new things since returning.
Tell us what you love most about the town in 140 characters!
I love the serenity of Eastbourne's seafront, the drama of the Downs and the hours of glorious sunshine that pour over both.
What Eastbourne secret or hidden gem would you share with a visitor?
Motcombe gardens, my local park, is a really tranquil spot that is a bit of a hidden treasure. Most people know about Gildredge Park, which is also lovely, but Motcombe is tucked away in Old Town and mostly frequented by locals.
If you were a tourist for the day, what are your must visits and must dos in Eastbourne?
Breakfast at Central Eating
The Redoubt Fortress
Thayers for an ice cream
Camilla’s second-hand bookshop for a browse
A swim at Holywell beach and a walk over to Falling Sands
Lunch at Love All
Air hockey on the pier
A potter around Seaside Antiques market
Tea and cake at Neate's
Dinner and a pint of Harvey's at the Lamb
And for the quickfire round…
Coast or countryside? Beachy Head - it has both!
Sand or pebbles? Pebbles
Summer or winter? Summer
Past or present? Present
And finally, tell us a little more about yourself!
If you want to know more about me and my adventures, you can tune into my blog: http://rowstar.blogspot.com/ or follow my Twitter feed http://twitter.com/rowstar
Thank you Rowan – we look forward to seeing where you visit first!
Lily
For anyone interested in getting involved send us a tweet on twitter and we look forward to seeing you later on!
The next few months are going to very exciting (and busy) for Visit Eastbourne and we plan to embrace this by getting local people to share their love for the town with visitors to the area.
As part of this, we will be introducing the ‘Super Bloggers’, a team of Eastbourne experts who will be attending all the big events for us and guest blogging about their experiences.
And to start us off will be Rowan. Here’s a quick question and answer session to help you learn a little more about her…
How well would you say you know Eastbourne?
I was born and raised here and moved back in 2010 after fifteen years away - so I'd say I know it pretty well, although it's changed a lot over the years and I am still discovering new things since returning.
Tell us what you love most about the town in 140 characters!
I love the serenity of Eastbourne's seafront, the drama of the Downs and the hours of glorious sunshine that pour over both.
What Eastbourne secret or hidden gem would you share with a visitor?
Motcombe gardens, my local park, is a really tranquil spot that is a bit of a hidden treasure. Most people know about Gildredge Park, which is also lovely, but Motcombe is tucked away in Old Town and mostly frequented by locals.
If you were a tourist for the day, what are your must visits and must dos in Eastbourne?
Breakfast at Central Eating
The Redoubt Fortress
Thayers for an ice cream
Camilla’s second-hand bookshop for a browse
A swim at Holywell beach and a walk over to Falling Sands
Lunch at Love All
Air hockey on the pier
A potter around Seaside Antiques market
Tea and cake at Neate's
Dinner and a pint of Harvey's at the Lamb
And for the quickfire round…
Coast or countryside? Beachy Head - it has both!
Sand or pebbles? Pebbles
Summer or winter? Summer
Past or present? Present
And finally, tell us a little more about yourself!
If you want to know more about me and my adventures, you can tune into my blog: http://rowstar.blogspot.com/ or follow my Twitter feed http://twitter.com/rowstar
Thank you Rowan – we look forward to seeing where you visit first!
Lily
Wednesday 14 March 2012
English Tourism Week
We're in full on English Tourism Week mode here in Eastbourne, taking part in the country's first ever week that's all about celebrating wonderful English destinations and recognising what an important year of tourism we have coming up in 2012.English Tourism Week started on Saturday and runs until Sunday 18 March and we have lots of different celebrations and activities going on in Eastbourne!
Tomorrow is our second VisitEastbourne Tweetup, organised this time to coincide with English Tourism Week and we'd love for businesses and individuals to come along between 4pm and 7.30pm tomorrow for a free networking opportunity and the chance to share feedback on the town too. We'll be asking what you'd like to see in the town as well as asking you to tell us what you love most about Eastbourne in our English Tourism Week competition, but more about that later... We'll also be using it to speak to those of you who expressed interest in becoming a virtual greeter. So, if you would like the chance to meet other Eastbourne tweeters in a relaxing setting, come along tomorrow!
What do you love most about Eastbourne? Tell us this week for your chance to win £20 to spend in Le Loup, a lovely boutique style store in the Grand Hotel Buildings Shopping Parade. To enter either call into the Tourist Information Centre (25% off Olympic and Diamond Jubilee souvenirs this week too!) and drop your entry in, complete our online form telling us what you love most, or come along and share your favourite aspect of the town at our tweetup tomorrow.
English Tourism Week is a great excuse to indulge in sweet treats and classic English recipes too! We've teamed up with The Really Scrumptious Cake Company in Eastbourne to offer a special edition box of cupcakes to celebrate English Tourism Week. Enjoy strawberries and cream, Victoria sponge, apple crumble and bakewell tart! Personally, I'd recommend the apple crumble - yum!
If you enjoy taking photos on the go then check out the new Smartphone Photography Competition launched this week by Viewpoint Art Gallery. We're pleased to be supporting the competition, particularly the Eastbourne category, and can't wait to see the entries! Good luck and happy snapping!
Emma
Thursday 8 March 2012
Spring-time Fun for Your Little Scientists
In celebration of National Science Week, we thought we’d experiment with a trip for our very own little scientists to The Observatory Science Centre.
With Spring in the air, a trip into the countryside was just the job as this former Royal Observatory lies in the heart of old Herstmonceux, next to grounds of the 15th Century moated castle.
Tracey
With Spring in the air, a trip into the countryside was just the job as this former Royal Observatory lies in the heart of old Herstmonceux, next to grounds of the 15th Century moated castle.Whatever your kids age, this is a great environment for fun and learning, whether its riding in a vacuum chair in the Forces exhibition or looking at objects through a microscope in Earth and Beyond – both of which fascinated my 3¾ year old.
The Domes of Discovery exhibition is a great place for budding star-gazers and visitors get a chance to marvel at the vast historic telescopes - some of the largest in the country.
Once the home of Greenwich Mean Tim e, the Tim e Exhibition explores The Observatory’s past as official time-keeper and a Light and Colour exhibition sparked much fun creating hand prints with spark discs and we even got to see a mini tornado!
Some Water Play tanks and a quirky Outdoor Discovery Park
Their temporary exhibition ‘The Mechanicals’ is a lovely combination of science and art and even proved great fun for my 1 year old who simply liked pressing buttons to see the mechanical characters at work. An interactive digital paint splatter exhibit was also put to great use and unleashed the creative genius of many youngsters there.
Although suited to an older age group (under 4’s get free entry), my wee ones clearly enjoyed themselves and I am sure will be back for more discoveries soon!
The Observatory is open every day (closes from April – Sept). Last admission is 2 hours before closing. For more information visit www.the-observatory.org
Special Offer – Kids Go Free!
Why not make the most of our VisitEastbourne.com discount vouchers and visit their astronomy open evening on 17 March when kids go free in celebration of National Science Week (one child free with each full paying adult). Tracey
Tracey
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