‘Southend-on-Sea? Sorry, where?’

‘You’re going to Southend-on-Sea? For the weekend? Why?’

We have to admit these were the two most common reactions when we told people we were going to Southend-on-Sea last weekend and to be honest, having never been there before, we didn’t really know how to challenge them. We would never turn down the opportunity to explore a new place, but peoples reactions were making us feel that we had made a mistake choosing to travel here.

However, after having spent THE MOST AWESOME weekend in Southend-on-Sea we have to say if you haven’t been there you are certainly missing out. We are full on Southend-on-Sea converts, Southend-on-Sea lovers, Southend-on-Sea fans and we feel confident to challenge anyone who says, ‘You’re going to Southend-on-Sea? For the weekend? Why?’

You can catch one straight train from Fenchurch Street which is only 45 minutes straight into Southend Central (don’t get the long train… like Camilla did… that takes quite a bit longer she found out…) and we were lucky enough to be staying at Roslin Beach Hotel – a beautifully decorated dream right on the beach front.

We arrived just before dinner and checked into our room, which had views over the sea and a balcony so you could really soak it all in. One of our favourite things about the room – apart from the huge comfy beds, stylish bathroom and sea views – was the vinyl record player. This may shock you, but we’ve heard music on a vinyl before, so the crackly sounds of the old classics was amazing for us!

After a bit of time relaxing in the room, we headed down to dinner. The hotel is covered head to toe in flowers and it really is the most beautiful place. The staff during our whole stay were awesome, but Lea who served us dinner had to be our hands down favourite – we feel bad, its like when your not supposed to have favourite children – she was such fun and chose us the best bottle of wine! To be fair an easy way to win our hearts.

We started with Seared Yellow Fin Tuna with Avocado, Radish, Pickled Mooli and Kombu Dressing. Plus, the Smoked Dingley Dell Ham and Duck Liver Terrine with Salt Baked Celeriac, Walnuts and Dandelion. As soon as they came out we knew we were going to love this meal. There were different flavours from all different angles, complimenting each other insanely well.

For mains we went for the Sirloin Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce and Triple Cooked Chips and Chicken with Spring Greens and Turnips. Again, delicious. Obviously it would have been rude not to go the whole way, so we ended with Cheesecake and a Chocolate Sphere – chocolate on chocolate on chocolate – what more could you ask for?!

After one of the best meals we’ve had in a while, we rolled back up to our bedroom and listened to little more Lionel Ritchie on our vinyl record player before falling asleep. Perfect evening if you ask us!

The next day we work up early and headed out to the beach. We are shocked. We have no idea what caused it, whether it was fog or mist or what but you couldn’t see the horizon. It just melted into the sky. So yeah… we ended up just looking at the view for half an hour, while taking pauses every now and again to stroke the local doggies. Southend-on-Sea has some great local doggies, they are a reason in themselves to go!

After a little paddle in the sea and before we started our morning walk, we headed back to Roslin Beach Hotel to grab breakfast. Not going to lie, we were excited about breakfast – we’re always excited about breakfast. Sitting under a flowery tree, we tucked into not one, not two, not three, but four courses for breakfast and each one kept getting better and better.

After all the food we needed fresh air and a long walk, so we headed East along the beach and walked and walked. One of our favourite things about Southend-on-Sea was the multicoloured beach huts. We think there is something completely magical about them, and we loved seeing all the different colours and designs. We walked until the beach huts stopped and then walked back. We then walked along to the pier.

Now, we’ve been to Brighton before and we thought Brighton had a pier… well Southend-on-Sea has a pieeeeeer. It’s so long! It’s insane! We were totally blown away – it just kept going and going and going and going! Worth a trip to Southend-on-Sea just to see that to be honest.

After one of the longest walks of our lives – and we’ve climbed Snowden and walked around Lake Bled twice in a row – it was time to head back to London. We were extremely sad to be leaving Southend-on-Sea and especially Roslin Beach Hotel behind. We’d had the most magical time with crazily good weather for March.

So, overall we’re Southend-on-Sea converts. If you haven’t been you haven’t lived. Southend-on-Sea 4 lyf.

Disclaimer: We were gifted this stay by Roslin Beach Hotel in exchange for a review. However, everything we have said is completely our own opinion.