Bournemouth or Broadstairs with 3 yr old + recommondations please

[Squigglypig]

Hi there

My husband is going away for a festival in August for a few days around a weekend, it will be the first time that he's left me and DD (3) for any length of time and I was thinking perhaps I could take advantage of it and have a couple of nights somewhere with a beach in a hotel.

The time of year means it will be a bit more pricey than I was imagining. I don't have a car and was planning on going by train so I was thinking either Broadstairs or Bournemouth for the beach and stay in a hotel or B&B with a good sized rooms.

Does anyone have any recommendations for hotels in either town or think that one may be better than the other for DD? I'm not interested in Brighton as I want a sandy beach really and I also find Brighton a bit full on.

Thanks

Also recommendations for any other towns good for small children within a 2 hour train journey of London (the towns do not have to begin with a B)

If you stay in Bournemouth there are lots of other places nearby that are nice with a toddler I think - get the open-topped bus to Swanage and go on the steam railway to Corfe Castle from there. Beaches at Sandbanks and Studland are lovely, again you can get the bus there. Peppa Pig World is about half an hour away too although I'm not sure how to get there if you're not in a car... The station is a good walk away from the seafront and in a not-that-nice area so you'd have a walk/taxi/bus ride to think about. Not great on hotels I'm afraid, the one that my family likes when they come to stay is the Royal Exeter which is lovely and very close to the sea/pier, but they don't have little children so couldn't say how good it would be for your DD.

Thanks!

I could hire a car but I'll have to weigh up costs against train and actually I think train would be cheaper and more convenient, I could always save Peppa Pig for another time with DH and DD so we can all experience the joy (horror) of it.

All good tips. 1 for Bournemouth. I think I'm going to do it.

Bumping for traffic - all recommendations gratefully recieved.