Come Visit Brighton This Easter!

With metrological Spring having sprung, it means Mother's Day and Easter are upon us. So what better than a short break by-the-seaside and a chance to enjoy and explore Brighton while it's still relatively quiet.

Maybe a long weekend at a bed and breakfast, or for those with a penchant for the more upmarket then a few snatched lazy nights in one of the city’s highly recommended hotels?

Once you are in the city then thoughts turn to nights-on-the-town and long lazy days of shopping and eating-out. Plus, the city is blessed with a brand new community sports stadium (home of Championship side, Brighton & Hove Albion), and the all-new Brighton Wheel.

Various city venues play host to See Festival, which runs from 24th March to 1st April. Billed as a documentary film extravaganza, it is headlined by the eccentric and never-less-than-entertaining, Shaun Ryder.

As the city gears up for its annual spring festival season, brighton.co.uk will be your one-stop online resource for hotels & accommodation, eating-out, shopping, what’s on listings and much more.

You can read our first Brighton Festival preview in The Brighton Magazine, where bassist Peter Hook talks about Joy Division's legacy; ahead of the Heritage Orchestra's unique take on the band's back catalogue.

The Great Escape Festival, Europe's leading festival for new music, takes the city by storm over this May's middle weekend. Thirty local venues will host three hundred bands, and local cyber cafes & wifi hotspots will be alive with young punters tweeting and filling chat forums with updates from all their favourite bands.

Brighton even had a link to the BAFTAs, when a local teen got to interview some of the world's biggest cinematic stars. City school & colleges are providing plenty of free opportunities for their students to get involved in the arts.

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Finding Brighton Hotels During the Festival

Brighton is a very popular tourist destination throughout the year, so it can be a challenge to find somewhere to stay. And during the Brighton Festival throughout May the city is even more vibrant than normal attracting a broad cross section of visitors.

You might have used generic hotel websites and directories for other cities, where you never seem to find exactly what you are looking for, but Brighton has its own local hotel website Hotels Brighton as part of Brighton.co.uk.

Navigation of Hotels Brighton is very user friendly giving you simple key information about things like budget and size, pictures as well as the essential information about each Brighton hotel's main services.

On Hotels Brighton you can search specifically for things like guesthouses and B&Bs in Brighton, medium hotels in Brighton, boutique hotels in Brighton and self catering in Brighton. And, unlike many other hotel websites, it is kept up to date by people living in and around Brighton and Sussex, who know the area because of many years getting to know the hotel owners. Furthermore, you can actually use the site to book directly with the hotel avoiding unnecessary third party fees.

Let us know what you think.

Zoe Ball Praises City College's Prince's Trust Team

In her capacity as a Prince's Trust Ambassador, TV and radio personality Zoe Ball recently met a team of young people from Brighton who have successfully completed City College Brighton and Hove's Prince's Trust 'Team' programme, a 12-week personal development course which helps unemployed young people gain the skills and confidence to move into work or training.

Read the full article about Zoe Ball's visit to City College

Brighton Festival Launch

It's that time of year again. I think everybody in Brighton looks forward to May and the annual festival.

This year's Brighton Festival launched on Saturday with a blistering performance by Asian Dub Foundation, at Brighton Dome. And I'm looking forward to another great schedule of events from Brighton Fringe.

You can find a gallery of images from the festival events so far, including Asian Dub Foundation, at: Brighton Festival Images.

Here are a few forthcoming events which might wet your appetite:

• The Muel and The Moulettes performing at Komedia;
• Neil Ansell's (former Panorama journalist) - near death experiences;
• National Comedy Talent Competition in Brighton

If you're a bit "bookish" or enjoy a lively and thought provoking discussion you might like to the Books and Debate programme, which launched with Billy Bragg on Sunday.

And, just a quick reminder: If you're travelling from out of town you can find a broad range of hotels, bed and breakfasts and hostels by visiting the Brighton Hotels section of Brighton.co.uk and you can find Restaurants in Brighton too.

Enjoy the Festival!

And, remember if you have anything to share about the Brighton Festival post your comments at the bottom of this Blog.

FILM-MAKER ALAN PARKER COMES TO BRIGHTON

Brighton's monthly media event The Space boasts of hosting regular unique arts and media events in Brighton and more often than not they more than live up to the claim.

Where else would you get film-maker, Alan Parker, and Charlie Parsons, the creator of Channel 4's The Word, on the same platform. On Monday 18 October Brighton's The Space is doing just that.

Check out The Brighton Magazine to read the rest of this article about:

BRIGHTON’S UNIQUE ARTS AND MEDIA EVENT

October Yoga Nidra Workshop in Brighton

There's a great article on today's The Brighton Magazine all about meditation, what it is and the benefits you get from it.

Sometimes meditation can sound very complicated or detached from reality, so it is refreshing to be able to read, and even learn about it, in a common sense practical way.

The article on The Brighton Magazine gives some basic information on meditation in an easy to read format avoiding jargon, so you understand meditation is neither a new age fad nor a complicated spiritual practice. Maybe it is something anybody can learn and benefit from - lets hope so.

There is also information about a new monthly meditation workshop starting on October 9th. The workshops are three hours long (10am to 1pm) on a Saturday and they are taught by Brighton meditation instructor Andy Lucas. He teaches using Yoga Nidra as well as some NLP and some other influences including the Huna tradition.

There is more information about Andy's Brighton Meditation Classes on his website as well as some interesting stuff about how he teaches Yoga Nidra in Brighton.

Associated Links:
Brighton Magazine
Brighton Magazine - Brighton Meditation article
Brighton Meditation Classes
Brighton Yoga Nidra Workshops
What is Yoga Nidra
Booking your place on the next Brighton Yoga Nidra Workshop