Marine Mansions

The seafront villas of Bexhill-on-Sea tell a very particular story about Victorian seaside ambition, and Marine Mansions are its grand statement. These imposing properties line the coast like a row of thumbed noses at modesty - built by wealthy merchants and industrialists who wanted everyone to know they'd made it. You won't find a theme park or interactive experience here. Instead, it's a walking tour of architectural confidence from the 1880s onwards, best appreciated from street level while you pick apart the details: the turrets, the wrought ironwork, the sheer audacity of those bay windows facing the sea.

It's the sort of place that appeals most to architecture types and anyone interested in Victorian social history. Families with young children might find a single circuit enough - perhaps half an hour - before they get restless. The real magic is in the context. Stand on the promenade and you're looking at the physical manifestation of how Britain's seaside towns were built by and for the wealthy, before package holidays made the coast democratic.

Bexhill is about twenty minutes from Hastings, and handily positioned between several holiday parks. Park Holidays UK sits just 1.3 miles away, making it a natural morning walk if you're caravan-based. Combe Haven is another option at 2.3 miles. The seafront itself offers decent walking whether conditions are pleasant or properly grim - that's rather the point of the British seaside. Admission and opening hours aren't clearly published, so it's worth checking locally in Bexhill before you go. The walk costs nothing, at least.