THE ROYAL PAVILION

It stands in the centre of Brighton, its oriental domes and minerets spied amid the tree tops and the other Georgian edifices, all the way from the beach.

The Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

The evolution of the Pavilion from a modest, neoclassical structure originally designed by Henry Holland, to the grand orientalism created by John Nash is an interesting reflection of the changing status of George, Prince of Wales, from Prince Regent to King George IV.

The Pavilion survives today as a museum, and probably Brighton's biggest attraction, other than the beach.

Through the foyer, or Octagonal Room, into the Long Corridor, the Banqueting Room, the Great Kitchen, the Music Room... each quarter is recreated with accurate detail, some set amidst pieces of original furniture and wallpaper.

The Great Kitchen is particularly impressive, first erected in 1816. Its high ceilings and sash windows, providing light and aiding ventilation, are supported by four cast iron columns with painted copper palm leaves.

A kitchen fire with a smoke jack, a device for mechanically turning a spit, and a table in the centre of the room set adjacent to a steam room, and connected to pipes, meant that food could be kept hot while waiting to be served. All these features were well ahead of their time.

There are over 500 pieces of copper in the kitchen, too, still on show today. And it is interesting to know that famous French Chef Careme cooked here for King George in the 1820's.

All in all, the rooms are quite amazing - though as we walk through the corridors, up staircases and between passages,we can't help but notice all the places we can't go - the secret servants quarters, hidden behind inlaid doors in each room; the King's bathrooms, which we can only assume lay in ruin, also behind closed doors; narrow stairways that lead to the attics...? It all seems a bit of a mystery. But then perhaps that is part of the appeal.

And sometimes its good to leave it to the imagination...