When you’re feeling a bit worked up about anything this is a great place to come as everyone here is incredibly relaxed and welcoming. I was feeling particularly wired as I’d just spent an hour or so with my teenaged daughter helping her with her university grant application forms which was turning out to be a Kafkaesque task. I was in need of some downtime and the Buddhist centre cafe was the ideal antidote.
I came upon this cafe by chance and its become one of my firm favourites for whiling away some time reading and writing. Cycling along into town along Lansdowne Road I spotted the cafe’s sign out on the pavement and thought I’d take a further look. Continuing up the driveway to the Bodhisattva Buddhist centre.straight ahead. The centre is set in two acres of grounds and quite a discovery situated as it is just minutes from the busy thoroughfare of Western Road. Above the main doorway was painted ‘Welcome’ so I went in to see what it was like. Inside its sunny, bright and relaxed with a cold counter displaying some of the wonderful vegetarian food on offer and sumptuous looking home baked cakes. All the prices are amazingly reasonable and the volunteers who work here offer a friendly service. The decor is a mixture of warm chilli red, shelves displaying a stock of books, cards and candles, with the light streaming in from the tall windows through wooden slatted blinds.
Sometimes I sit out on the small south-facing terrace at the front but today with a bit of a chill in the air I stayed inside after ordering my pot of tea. As the time approached 12.30 the cafe became busier as people started to arrive for the lunchtime meditation. I’ve often thought I would benefit from meditation in terms of having more energy and being more relaxed but until now never had the inclination to actually practice it. For £4 on Wednesdays and Fridays the centre offers a half hour meditation and a quiche and salad or soup and bread lunch, all freshly home-made. The meditation is very accessible and great for winding down. Then after my half hour practice I joined some fellow meditators for lunch and some chat. A friendly gardener from Lancashire and a woman from Eastbourne were my lunch companions while on other days I’ve met a healer who works all around the world, a retired architect working on a wind turbine project with his son and a volunteer who was staying at the centre for a week’s break. I find that the combination of meditation and lunch is a really good mix of relaxation and sociability and great break in the middle of the day. Unusually for me I slept like a log that night, university grant forms completed and my time in meditation still paying rich rewards.
Brighton and Hove’s seafront cycle path runs all the way from Hove lagoon in the west to Brighton marina in the east linking up loads of my favourite cafes. On a gorgeous summer day I took this route once again riding pretty much the whole length of its four miles to one of my best-loved summer cafes at Yellowave beach volleyball centre. I was grateful for the head wind as it gave me a bit more exercise as I pedalled my way along past the expanse of Hove lawns, the sinking hulk of the West Pier and then the glitzy Palace Pier. With the marina now in view I carefully crossed over the tracks of Volks Electric Railway to reach the Barefoot cafe smack bang on the beach.
This cafe is unlike any others in Brighton with its integral beach volleyball court and climbing wall. I discovered that Yellowavve is an official 2012 training venue and the centre is approved for Olympic teams to train in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. The sandy courts were busy not with Olympic athletes but with what I found out from the barista were staff from the Inland Revenue having a couple of days out of the office on a team building tournament.
There are always plenty of mums here too as the children love the large sandpit to play in. All in all lots of activity but I headed inside to discover that the cafe has had a makeover. The light ash paneling gives an authentic washed out beach-side feel and the curved banquette seating gives a positive ambiance. All the glass doors leading out to the patio were wide open allowing the fresh breeze to waft in. What a perfect spot for a drink of tea to quench my thirst after all that bike riding. With Bob Marley playing on the sound system it was easy to imagine I was in the Caribbean. Maybe my creativity and imagination is expanding after all with my break from the workplace. The food is fresh, tasty and healthy looking for all those budding sports people who only want to eat the best. Everyone looked happy here, well it would be hard not to in such an idyllic setting. I sat back contentedly with my drink and enjoyed one of my favourite past-times of people watching and felt good for those Inland Revenue staff having picked such a great spot for their away days.
It’s an easy cycle ride from my home in West Hove to St Ann’s Well Gardens. On such a scorching day I didn’t want the glare of the seafront but instead fancied the dappled light and shade of some trees so I picked my way through the quieter roads as much as I could and found this oasis of calm in the heart of the city. The park was busy with local office workers on their lunch break so I found a quiet corner to eat my home made sandwich while I read more of the book I’m absorbed in at the moment. The Power by Rhonda Byrne, the follow-up to The Secret, most definitely gives you something to think about. Her premise is essentially that the more love you give out then the more you receive back whether in work, relationships, health or money. Even more so if you believe and visualize that you are abundant in these areas already. She talks about being as positive as you can be and withholding any negativity and how important it is to show gratitude for everything you already have.
Now mid afternoon the office workers have moved on and its the young mums with kids, the students, the retired and those not at work like myself who populate the park. The Garden Cafe is fronted by huge City Council planters brimming with tall pink tulips and a myriad of other blooms. Inside there are fascinating blown up photos of the park in earlier years including one from Empire Day in 1908. There’s loads of seating, both wooden tables and chairs and comfy sofas too.The food seems very reasonable and is served up by a friendly bunch of women. The sun was just coming over the roof onto the north facing patio so I picked a table outside still in the shade to drink my tea. I could see the the local bowling club, dressed smartly in their whites with a flash of blue, playing a game just through the trees.
The Power talks about showing gratitude and love for what you have. Well I’m loving the sunshine, the cafe and the park. I really appreciate not being in the workplace and having time to sit around this lovely park on a gorgeous day and I’m loving writing. I don’t even mind the kid who has just started whining and am getting used to not having as much money as before – life is great!
On a dull and drizzly Friday in May I was headed for a gallery to take in a Festival exhibition. Hangover Square is a film set installation inspired by the Patrick Hamilton novel of the same name. The curator hands you a key and you climb the steps and enter another world. That world is of the mid 1930’s and an hotel room depicting a scene in the story of the two central characters George Harvey Bone and the object of his unrequited love and obsessive desire the elusive Netta Longdon. While you sit there in the room amid the props of the stub filled ashtray and half empty bottle of Scotch on the bedside table a narrator reads out an extract from the novel transporting you right to the heart of their story.Then there is the adjoining period set of a seedy flat in Earls Court where the climatic murder scene was committed. I’ve read a couple of his other novels and this one is now on my list books to read next. Stepping out from the dark, seedy, desperate and atmospheric into modern day Grand Parade my thoughts turned to a cafe stop.
Cafe Coho is set in a small corner of Ship Street in the heart of the Lanes and is the winner of Brighton’s Best Loved Cafe. Plenty of people certainly seemed to like it as the queue at the long reclaimed wood counter never stopped all the time I was there. I settled into a table at the end of the long bench seating parallel to the counter with full vantage of the whole cafe. A large cup of tea is an eye-watering £2.20 but with the quality of Tea Pigs teabags and an award winning cafe this is the price you pay. The two baristas are constantly serving up hot drinks to a rhythm of clicks and bangs of the coffee grinds dispenser and hiss of the steamer that is modern day coffee making. The blackboards list all specials and regular items above a wonderful array of pannini and cakes laid out invitingly on the counter.
The last time I was here there was no free seating for me on the ground floor so I headed upstairs to the relative calm of one of the other rooms with views towards Dukes Lane. I was quietly reading a book and drinking my tea when a father and teenage daughter settled in at another table. Now when cafes are quiet and you are actually quite close to the other customers you really can’t help hearing what they are talking about. I felt quite some sympathy for the dad who was having relationship trouble with his new girlfriend who didn’t seem to be his type at all. He seemed to be an outdoors chap while he talked of the girlfriend’s unwillingness to get her shoes muddy while out on a country walk. His daughter showed some empathy but obviously sided with her mum not really wanting her dad to find a new permanent partner. I felt like playing matchmaker as I have a few single girlfriends who are the outdoor type and who would have been glad to meet him. It seems that relationships whether fictional or real life, modern day or from a period long forgotten are never straightforward. I found both stories just as intriguing with their twin narratives of despair, longing and hope.
I was up early and out on my bike taking the back roads through Hove and Portslade and on to Southwick. The roads were quiet as it was after the school run and the main commuter rush as I’m no longer keeping office hours by working and this was a ride just for my own enjoyment. I cut through Southwick recreation ground past the kids play area and crossed over to the library. It feels strange coming over to this area again as I have spent six years working locally and six years of lunchtimes walking around the local shops and cafes and sitting by the green.It seems as if the ghost of my past still lingers here and I feel a bit sad for her.
My pre-ordered books were ready for collection and that was my reason for being here Books collected I was back on my bike and heading over to the lock gates to cross over to the other side. There were a few boats ready to go through so I lingered a while with the other pedestrians and cyclists watching the water levels equalise and then the gates opening for the boats to go through. Soon the pedestrian bridge had swung round again and I crossed over to the beach side to reach Carat’s cafe billed as “Southwick’s hidden secret”
It’s very urban fringe what with the heavy industrialised docks yet the natural beauty of the sea sitting cheek by jowl. I ordered my drink and took a seat out on the patio.It’s a very cool vibe here with the sound of the waves lapping at the shoreline just a few yards away and the sound system delivering very laid back music. Most people opt for the all day breakfasts and other various fry ups and jackets but I am just as happy with my mug of tea. The patio offers shelter from the strong breeze and I watch the clouds scudding by and the fishing boats out at sea.
I think a bit more about the job and the company I have just left located a few yards over the road from here and though I’m now free of it I’m also free of a regular salary. In this time of transition I’m keeping an eye out on the local job market while making the most of having some longed for free time to explore new interests. This time is important as I want my next move to be one that is right for me. I’m much more relaxed than I used to be but then that’s not hard with few pressures on my time.
Back on the bike the westerly wind makes for an easy ride along Basin Road South past the heavy goods yards of timber, girders and aggregates. The power station and sewage works to my left sit in sharp contrast to the seascape on my right. I’m soon at the end of the road at Millionaires Row and Hove Lagoon. My mileage is only about five miles this morning but I feel as if I’ve travelled a bit further.
Before I reach my cafe stop of the day I have around a six mile walk to do first. I enjoy climbing up towards the ridge of the South Downs Way from Foredown. I can feel my muscles stretching and the sun on my face as it’s a rare sunny May day. The ridge is busy with teenagers doing their Duke of Edinburgh award treks laden down with huge rucksacks on their backs but still heading strongly eastwards with the energy of youth.
There is a strong wind coming from the north so I manage to tuck behind some shrubbery to have my picnic lunch and read another chapter of the book I’m reading this week. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari has had me hooked all week. It’s a spiritual fable with many wise words on how to find a more fulfilling life. Some of the ideas include getting out in the outdoors to enjoy the natural world and to be vegetarian, so I can readily tick those two boxes though there’s plenty more ideas which I’ve yet to adopt.
The downhill towards Mile Oak is the easiest part of the walk with the glint of the Channel ahead of me all the way and of course the promise of a tea stop coming up soon. Mile Oak Farm cafe is housed in what is essentially a large shed. I order my pot of tea and take a seat at one of the tables and begin quenching my thirst. There are just four inside tables all covered with coffee themed table cloths. It’s first and foremost a farm shop though where the earthy smell of bird feed and dog biscuits mixes with the aroma of coffee and freshly baked scones to make the trademark bouquet that makes this cafe one apart. The Gran Stead’s ginger ale sits comfortably alongside the local farm chutneys which sit next to the wooden bird houses and the seed potatoes.
The cafe used to just consist of a small counter 
with a hot water urn and some takeaway cups changing gradually over the years to this heady mix of undisputed cafe and farm shop combo. Its busy with local families taking their kids to see the wild fowl, goats and donkeys which are just outside. I’ve decided to sit inside to get away from the glare of the sun and to finish reading the last chapter of my book.It’s been an uplifting book and a great day on the downs. After another five minutes walk I’ll be at the bus stop to catch the number one back home but it will take much longer to digest the insight to a life lived well from my charity shop paperback.
you might like to know:
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma, amazon link:
[[ASIN: 0007179731 The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari (Paperback)]]
Cafe Dharma 