Took the hound for a leisurely stroll along Southsea sea front and stopped at the Canoe lake cafe for a much deserved ADB with some sausage and chips for the Mutt. This is a wonderful place to take a break off season, but in the midst of summer it can get really busy with long waiting times. I have always found the staff here very friendly and welcoming and great dog lovers too. The food is always freshly cooked and delicious with crispy bacon and HOT beans. At £7 for a full English it is also very reasonably priced, so what's not to love about the place, great food, great staff and great views of the lake and swans, awesome 👍😉👌

On the 6th April 2018 I went on a visit to Southsea and Portsmouth to first visit the newly refurbished D day museum. Southsea is a seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern end of Portsea Island, in the county of Hampshire. It developed as a fashionable Victorian seaside resort in the 19th. century, originally it was named named Croxton Town. The name Southsea originates from Southsea Castle; a fort, located on the seafront and constructed in 1544 to help defend the Solent and approaches to Portsmouth Harbour. Palmerston road is the main High Street of Southsea and contains two national department stores, as well as a local library. Albert Road is a distinct street containing shopping and cultural venues, which includes the Kings Theatre, a regional theatre built in 1907. The Pier here is great for a stroll on a hot summers day. It looks magnificent from any angle you view it. The D-Day Museum is located in Southsea, was the place I wanted to visit having seen it on the Internet. It was opened in 1984 by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, it tells the story of Operation Overlord during the Normandy D - Day landings. The D - Day Museum is home to the Overlord Embroidery and was specially built to hold it. The Overlord Embroidery took five years to complete and measures 272 feet ( 83 metres ) long. It is the largest work of its kind in the world. Visitors are handed a Sound device upon entering the museum, which allows them to hear an audio commentary. As well as the film and embroidery there are also vehicles and displays of other material associated with D-Day and the war. The museum has its own shop and restaurant. The museum is run by Portsmouth Museum Services, a branch of Portsmouth City Council, and is supported by Portsmouth D-Day Museum Trust, a registered charity. I have to say building work and renovation was still being carried out when I visited the Museum so I was a little unhappy with the £8.00 entrance ticket fee. Inside the Tapestry work they call it Embroidery work was unique. But the rest of the museum was clean laid out well but lacked something in presentation. Following a £5 million transformation project - with thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund - the museum has now been transformed, to provide an engaging insight into the lives of those who took part in D - Day, whether they were individuals on the shore based in Portsmouth, or those who went over to Normandy. To commemorate the millennium, a scenic walk was created extending to Gunwharf Quays from Southsea seafront. Being the beginning of April this walk which I completed was very cold and windy. The route is marked on the pavement, and is lined by distinctive blue street lanterns. The Portsmouth Naval Memorial, sometimes known as the Southsea Naval Memorial, is a war memorial and can be seen on the Southsea Common beside Clarence Esplanade, between Clarence Pier and Southsea Castle. The memorial commemorates about 25,000 British and Commonwealth sailors who were lost in both World Wars. Around 10,000 sailors in the First World War and 15,000 in the Second World War lost their lives. The memorial features a central obelisk, with names of the dead on bronze plaques arranged around the memorial according to the year of their death. The model Village opposite the pier, the address is Southsea Model Village, Lumps Fort, Eastney Esplanade, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO4 9RU. Where you can marvel at the 1/12th scale buildings, which features forty miniature buildings, houses, forts and castles, as well as a `G' scale garden railway. The third-acre landscaped gardens are set inside the grounds of an old Victorian fort. Contained inside are a large scale electric garden railway, a 100ft-long rifleman's tunnel, a scale model of Portsmouth Guildhall, a 10,000-gallon waterfall and stream, and a small toy museum. The cost was £4.00 to get in. There is a small cafe with a few chairs outside for light refreshments.