Sarah and I recently made a short visit to Boscombe. We have been to Bournemouth and Boscombe many times, it is where my brother lives. Indeed, the reason for this visit was my brother’s birthday. That, and the fact we haven’t seen him for over a year due to the covid lockdown.

It was by chance we ended up staying in Boscombe. We just happened to pick The Westby Guest House. This proved a great little place to stay. We were given a warm welcome.

Although we have visited Boscombe before we had never actually looked around. This time, we took some time to explore. It was well worth it.

There are quite a few artworks dotted around the town. This new large-scale mural was commissioned by Bournemouth Emerging Arts Fringe (BEAF) and provides a stampede of colour on the front of the Sovereign Centre.

This dachshund is another mural created by local artist Krishna Malla, also commonly known as Tech Moon.

We had arrived late in the evening and passed the murals on our way over to the recently opened Baboo Ji Vegetarian Kitchen.

This was the latest edition to a burgeoning vegetarian and vegan scene in the town. The chefs have created a menu containing dishes with some fantastic flavours. It is well worth a visit. 

We finished the evening by taking a short walk along the beach.

Another set of public art installations are these sculptures. There are seven of them in total and they form the Boscombe Arts Trail.

The following morning we headed back down to the seafront again. We relaxed with a cup of coffee and watched the world go by.

What a fantastic way to start the day!

After coffee, we took a look around Boscombe Cliff Gardens.

Then made our way through Shelley Park. Boscombe. These were the grounds of Shelley Manor, the former home of Sir Percy Florence Shelley (son of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley). At the far end of the park is Shelley Theatre.

Of course, the reason for our visit was to meet up with my brother Chris on his birthday.

We went for a meal at his favourite carvery.

Afterwards, we returned to Boscombe and walked up the Chine Gardens.

Chris has wanted to play a game of crazy golf … so we did.

Later, we passed another of Tech Moon’s art murals.

For our final morning, Sarah and I began with a walk along Boscombe cliffs.

Before returning along the promenade.

It was another fine day, so we had to finish our stay with another coffee by the beach looking out to the sea.

Boscombe had been to be an excellent place for us to stay.

We may have visited before, however, we realised we had never really seen the town, and there are plenty of things to see and do in Boscombe … and we haven’t mentioned the pier!