Once separated from Brighton but now its sister-city, the site of slightly less decadent and in-your-face Hove has been been settled by humans for a very long time.

Building work in the 1800s revealed a huge and splendid Roman tomb under a burial mound near Palmeira Square, dating back to 1200BC and stuffed with treasures including the famous Hove amber cup, now on display in the Hove Museum & Art Gallery.

Who knows, Hove's reputation for being a bit posh might reach back that far. A place with a high status burial mound was probably pretty important.

Then there are areas like Hangleton, home of the once seriously posh Hangleton Manor, a beautifully preserved 1500 flint manor house built in around 1540 for Richard Bellingham, the High Sheriff of Sussex. You can see his initials carved into a fireplace and his coat of arms decorates one of the ceilings. Visit the Manor, now a pub and restaurant, to soak up five hundred years of high-end Hove history.

In Regency times Hove really took off with yet more poshness. The beautiful Brunswick estate to the east is a collection of large, luxurious Regency homes, developed as a smart resort far away from the smells, noise and hoi polloi of nearby Brighton.

Take a walk further west and you'll find a series of broad, elegant avenues beginning with First Avenue, rows of very fine Victorian villas with carefully-planned artists' mews and artisan workshops. Not for the common folk, it was created as a haven for the wealthy and artistic.

The smart Grand Avenue area was built during the 1870s and '80s, many homes constructed by one particularly tasteful and refined chap, William Willett.

Hove remains gracious and leafy, with most of the area's social housing popping up in the outer reaches of west Hove, Hangleton and the Knoll in the '50s, collections of considerably less posh yet comfortably solid terraced and semi-detached homes.

Once very tatty and neglected, Hove seafront is a fashionable, buzzy strip of shops, galleries, clubs, cafes, pubs and restaurants, all facing the sparkling sea. It's a  pleasure to stroll in all weathers and perfect people-watching territory, scattered with colourful beach huts.

The area's posh reputation lives on in local phrases like, "Hove, actually", affectionately taking the mickey out of an area that's as attractive as ever as well as jammed with great independent shops, pubs and eateries.

Hove architecture tip: Look upwards for treats in the shape of beautiful friezes, decorative windows and panels, ironwork, stained glass and intricate stone carving. Just watch the traffic!