Discovering Brighton Museums

We have many free museums and galleries a short bus ride from Stafford House Brighton and directions to these are available from the school reception or just have a chat with the Activity Coordinator for details. Stay warm and dry and enjoy some local culture!

Booth Museum of Natural History

The Booth Museum of Natural History was founded in 1847 by Edward Thomas Booth who amassed a large collection of British birds in the 19th century. He built a museum to house his collection, displaying each of the birds in a series of dioramas. Edward Booth employed George Saville, from Belgium via Cambridge, as his taxidermist, who was rumoured to been paid £25 per month, a huge sum in those days. Booth’s technique was to shoot the specimens and probably while still in the field he would make a large, rather primitive painting of the area in which the bird had been obtained. The skinned bird along with the painting would be presented to Saville. A painting of the bird would be made and cut out, then placed on the landscape painting, moved around until the desired composition was achieved, and glued into place. Saville would mount the birds and replicate Booth's painting in the form of a display case. These cases range from two feet by three feet to six feet by six feet. Prior to Booth’s collection, mounted birds were usually placed on simple wooden perches. Booth’s dioramas, as well as his museum, are his major legacy to the world. The idea of exhibiting the bird as well as its environment has been widely copied all over of the world and perfected in large museums in the USA such as The American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institute.

The Brighton Museum & Art Gallery can be found in the grounds of the Pavilion, and has many interactive exhibits. The World Art collection is one of the finest in the country with artefacts dating back two millennia. The Fine Art collection contains some 2,000 paintings – almost as many as the National Gallery. The Fashion gallery celebrates centuries of style from Regency to Punk.

Brighton Fishing Museum

Images of Brighton and Exploring Brighton galleries present both the traditional and unconventional aspects of the city’s rich and colourful history through audio, film, artefacts, local ephemera and imagery. At the Hove Museum and Art Gallery you can step into a world of toys, cinema, local history and fine art, it has one of the finest craft collections in the country.

 Or you could visit the Brighton Fishing Museum which is housed along the sea front. Uncover the history and heritage of Brighton’s fishing industry through a wealth of photographs, remarkable artefacts and restored traditional Sussex clinker fishing boats.

Nature walks near Brighton

Brighton is a busy city.  But just a short bus ride and you can find yourself in beautiful scenic open countryside.  One of the most popular places for our students to visit is the Seven Sisters, which forms part of the South Downs, this always has the most numbers of students sign up as part of the social programme we offer.  The Downs are chalk cliffs which cover 260 miles of the English coastline. The name Downs is from the old English word Dun, meaning hill. The South Downs became a National park in 2009 and contains a number of nature reserves.   An alternative destination is Devils Dyke, again a short bus journey to what John Constable ( one of the greatest English landscape painters)  called “The greatest view in the World” At nearly a mile long, The Dyke valley is the longest and deepest in the UK. Legend has it that the Devil dug the chasm to drown the parishioners of the Weald. (Although scientists believed it was formed 10,000 years ago in the last ice age).

One of my favourite places after the cliffs to visit is near Patcham where you can find Jack and Jill, one black and one white windmill standing side by side, you will also be able to walk to the Chattri Memorialwhich marks the spot where the bodies of Indian soldiers were cremated. During the First World War, (1914-18) over one and a half million Indian army soldiers saw active service alongside British troops. Twelve thousand Indian soldiers who were wounded on the Western Front were hospitalised at sites around Brighton. These included York Place School, the Dome, the Corn Exchange and the Royal Pavilion.

The fifty-three Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in Brighton were taken to a peaceful resting place on the Sussex Downs near Patcham for cremation, after which their ashes were scattered in the sea, in accordance with their religious rites. The nineteen Muslim soldiers who died were buried in a purpose built burial ground near to the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking. Built in 1889, the mosque is the oldest of its kind in north-west Europe. 

Written by David Burgess, Principal, Stafford House Brighton

Shopping in Brighton

The Laines in Brighton

Brighton is famous for the variety and quality of its shopping.  Churchill Square is a shopping Centre / Mall with all the usual high street names, but Brighton also offers a vast array of independent traders and unusual second hand shops. SnoopersParadise is my favourite, it is a collection of stalls, clothes rails and cabinets all overfilled, many of them themed.  Full of retro video games, old toys, vintage clothing, cameras, telephones etc.   This shop amongst many others is located in the lanes, (spelt "laines") which is a network of historic  twisting narrow lanes and cobbled courtyards in the city centre.  On our weekly  orientation tour which all students receive at Stafford House School of English, the laines will be pointed out to you, but it will be up to you to go and wile away the hours just looking at the vast selection of unusual gifts, designer fashion,  retro-Fifties wear, oriental and Balinese furniture and many jewellery shops,  and even  specialist shops such as the one  just offering kites. And the list goes on. Even when you leave the laines the streets are full of other weird and wacky shops, so it does not just resemble the usual British high street with all the usual retailers. 

Written by David Burgess, Principal, Stafford House Brighton

October in London

After the most fantastically sunny summer, we are now getting our jumpers, coats and umbrellas ready for the Autumn.  It’s a lovely time of year in England as the leaves on the trees change colour and the crisp cool mornings wake you up as you leave home in the morning. At Stafford House London October means two things in particular this year:

Firstly, our Cambridge Exam courses are underway! This autumn we have a full (First)  FCE class, a full (Advanced) CAE class and 7 students taking the (Proficiency) CPE. These are fantastic 11-week preparation courses for the B2-C2 levels and we are delighted to have so many students aiming for excellence in these exams! These are exams that are a lifelong certification that you have achieved a certain standard of English and are often asked for by employers and academic institutions around the world.

The classes themselves are intensive preparation for the exams which test Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking and Use of English. They are not easy exams and the students studying together usually have a wonderful shared sense of purpose that can lead to some close and lasting friendships between the students on these courses. For more information about these exams visit the links above or this page on our website.

We wish all our Cambridge Preparation Course students the best of luck with their studies and the exams in early December!

Secondly, at Stafford House this October, we have a “Halloween themed social programme”! There will be the “Jack the Ripper Walking Tour”, the “Haunted London Walking Tour” and a visit to the “London Dungeons” in the last 2 weeks of October. Spooky!

We also have some other new additions on the social programme, suggested by the students. We have a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral next week, the “Classic Duck Tour” on 10^th October and a Sunday Roast lunch on October 27^th. Finally, we have managed to get some great discounted tickets for our students to see The Lion King! Lots to look forward to! This along with our all our usual popular events to help you enjoy London and keep on speaking English! To check out the social programme in London visit our site here. You can even add the calendar to your phone.