A Few Refreshments Along The Way

Last week-end was the final opportunity to visit the Artists Open Houses as part of the Brighton and Hove Fringe Festival.  So on Saturday, we once again got on our bikes but this time travelled to the Dyke Road and Preston Park area - we visited 8 more houses and saw the work of over 100 artists and makers.

This was thirsty work and called for refreshments along the way - this year we were spoilt for choice as many of the houses now have their own pop up cafes.

morning coffee

Our first stop was for some freshly brewed coffee and a chocolate and beetroot cupcake in a sunny garden.  Unfortunately the photo doesn't do the cupcake justice and it looks as though a dog might have done something it shouldn't have on the plate, but I can assure you this was not the case and the cup cake was delicious!!

lunchtime Pimms

Two or three houses later our energy levels were starting to flag and we were delighted to be offered a glass of Pimms - another excuse to have a sit down in a lovely courtyard garden.  We were enjoying our Pimms so much we almost forgot to take a photo.....

Moving on towards the final houses, we had to negotiate a hairpin bend on a very steep hill.  There was a whole crowd assembled on the bend and there seemed to be an unofficial skateboarding event in progress - some of those guys had no sense of fear at all (as per usual with photographing steep hills, they never look as steep in the photo as they actually are in real life!)

mad skateboarders

At the final house we visited, we were starting to feel quite weary and after climbing the many stairs to the top of the house, we were delighted to discover that they had turned the loft area into a sunny tearoom.  We found a table with a pair of very relaxing chairs as we sank back and enjoyed some reviving afternoon tea.

afternoon tea in china cups

Mr Cocopopia ordered a home made scone and was particularly pleased to find his all time favourite jam - home-made rhubarb and ginger.  A perfect end to our enjoyable day of cycling art trail!

I haven't forgotten to tell you about the artists themselves - those deserve a separate blog post and I'll be sharing the highlights of those with you next time.