Last of the holiday snaps....

Here are a few random pictures of Lyme Regis. I just loved the harbour and the buildings around the town.

Here you can just see the Cobb along the shoreline

This boat is called a "gig" and Lyme Regis has a very active gig racing club. It was great to watch the boats out in the bay.

Colourful fishing nets around the harbour

These pink cottages are on many a postcard. You can imagine Jane Austen walking through the door of one. However they were built after her visit to Lyme so sadly it's not likely to have been a reality.

Seen from the promenade below.

Pink is clearly a popular colour for houses along te promenade!  This house had quite unusual architectural features - not least the rather elaborate drain pipes!

And that's the end of my Lyme Regis adventure.  No this picture isn't of a tropical island but of the shore just along from Lyme Regis.... who needs the Caribbean!

Below is a picture of the apartment block we stayed in. If you're looking to stay in the town I do recommend Lyme Bay Holiday company.

Right - now time to drag my mind from the memory of warm sunshine to the cool autumnal weather in Orkney!

And more from Dorset...

We paid a visit to Forde Abbey while in Dorset.  This is still a family run home and estate. The house began life as a Medieval Monastery before being turned into a country estate. The architecture is still very reminiscent of ecclesiastical buildings.  The gardens are beautiful, even at the end of Summer they are a riot of colour.

A small lake has a magnificent fountain that is one of the highest I've seen.

And grazing contentedly on the lawn was "Twiglet", the old family pony. He's 46 years old!! He was oblivious to all the visitors, just happily munching on the lovely grass.

And on the subject of four legged creatures....we also visited the Dorset Donkey Sanctuary.  I came soooo close to adopting two donkeys.....

If it wasn't for the fact they don't do well in rain (their coats aren't waterproof), I would have had two shipped up to Graemsay immediately!!  I just love donkeys!  OK, they make a bit of noise, but they are such lovely creatures.

At the sanctuary you could "meet and greet" donkeys in the yard. They loved having their heads and backs scratched!  These two were doing some mutual grooming....











The Donkeys with "special needs" were in a barn nearby, but also had access to outdoors. These donkeys need extra feeds or medication.

And were quite happy to chat through the fence!

The hairy donkey reminded me of Highland Cattle, but is actually an unusual French breed.  It's companion is a mule I think.....






I mean - how can you resist fluffy lugs (ears) like these??

But I did, somehow,  largely by being bodily dragged from the sanctuary before I could sign the adoption form.....sigh.....

More on Dorset & Devon

As well as exploring Lyme Regis while on holiday, we also visited some of the surrounding villages. Lyme Regis is in Dorset but on the border with county of Devon. Two of the very prettiest villages in East Devon that we visited are Beer and Branscombe. Both had winding roads leading to them, and a plethora of thatched houses and "chocolate box" views down to the beach.

Beer was a bustling large-ish village with a main street winding down to the shore. (see photo at top of post). There were the usual mixture of old houses, some with a thatched roof.

Unusually, Beer had a small stream running alongside the road down to the shore too. You had to watch when stepping out of your car!

The beach is quintessentially English too with deck chairs........

And beach huts (these are really large sheds along a beach which can only be used during the day). Useful if you have a family as shelter if at the beach for the day, to make a "brew" (no electricity or water but often calor gas camping stoves are used).  Many will be individualised too.  Some around the coast of England are in private ownership and are sold for vast amounts! Others are rented from the local authority.

And of course there are plenty of boats, often used for fishing trips......

Then there was the lovely village of Branscombe, also in Devon.  This had a lovely Norman Church (as with most villages and towns, the church was the centre of the place).

The road was winding and lined by beautiful houses down to the shore again. Unfortunately it was such a narrow lane we couldn't stop the car to take pictures.  But I *did* manage to snap this most stunning cottage with beautiful traditional "cottage garden" flowers out front.

And again there were boats ....

We also paid a quick visit to the town of Seaton to go on the electric tramway that runs through the Axe Valley. It was lovely being on the top deck, though it was a HOT sunny day and I felt like a broiled lobster by the time we got back!

The tram takes you 3 miles along the valley to the station, where there is a gift shop and, most importantly, a tea shop too!

Along the way we followed the estuary and passed another pretty village.

As well as picturesque villages we also briefly visited the county town of Devon, Exeter. Exeter is full of history too, but we were meeting up with a friend who lives in the city for lunch, so didn't spend too much time sight-seeing.  Exeter has a beautiful cathedral

Lots of lovely cafes and restaurants (we tried the one on the right which was great).

And, of course, opportunities for retail therapy...... I fell in love with these shoes..... I *almost* bought them....but I couldn't think of a single occasion when I could wear them!  NOT practical for getting on and off a boat, walking the flagged streets of Stromness, negotiating stairs at home, or dancing to "Strip the Willow" in the Graemsay Hall.  So, despite them being comfortable, and YES I could walk in them, they remained on the shelf.....sigh...

Ah well that's it for today....a few more photos to come..... I shall go off and continue to dream of shiny red shoes.....

More from Lyme Regis, Dorset

Above are the lamp posts that adorn Lyme Regis.  The symbol of the ammonite reflects that the town is slap bang in the middle of the Jurassic Coast.  The town is also home to Mary Anning, a Victorian Paleontologist, remarkable particularly given she was a woman and was a carpenter's daughter from a working class background. Both factors which meant she didn't get due credit from the scientific community at the time, which, as in much of Victorian England, was dominated by "English Gentlemen". Pah!  But she rose above all that and made some fantastic finds in Lyme.  She was out in all weathers hunting for fossils.  She discovered the first ichthyosaur skeleton when she was just 12! She also found the first plesiosaur and pterosaur skeletons (outside of Germany apparently), as well as lots of other important finds.

The author, Tracy Chevalier, based her novel "Remarkable Creatures" on the life of Mary Anning and her friends the Philpot Sisters. According to historians in Lyme Regis, most of the story is true. Though Chevalier has Anning with her father still alive but her mother dead, while in reality it was the other way around. Not sure why such artistic license was necessary but there you go.

The town Museum was built on the site where Mary Anning was born, right next to the town jail! We went on several history walks organised by the Museum, which, despite having to go up and down the hills rather a lot, were very interesting and gave another perspective to the town that you wouldn't get otherwise.  The guides really bought the place to life.

The town is limited from development as it is surrounded by cliffs that are unstable geologically and liable to landslip. This is great for fossil hunting but probably not so good if you live near the unstable ground!  There was evidence of recent land slips along the shore when we were there.  The cliffs around range in geology and colour and are stunning.

These cliffs are along the coast from Lyme.

These were just outside the town, some sea caves spotted on a boat trip

This was just along from the museum - Mary Anning would have hunted on this beach for fossils.  You can see the brown mud coloured stone - this soaks up water and then collapses on the shore, bringing the yellower sandy coloured deposits above down with it. You can just see some tiny figures at the base of the cliffs - these people are hunting through a new landslip for fossils. Probably a bit foolhardy as the cliffs are still unstable from the recent slip.



One of the most famous beaches on the Jurassic Coast is Chesil Beach. It stretches for 18 miles around the coast and for most of the length of the beach it's separated from the shore by a lake full of brackish water (water that is has more salinity than fresh water but not as much as sea water). It's an amazing site.

And walking on it is amazing too - it just goes on forever......

So that's it for another day. I'll share more photos soon. Meanwhile, here are the harbour lights of Lyme (a not-very-good TV series called "Harbour Lights" was filmed here too some years  ago).

Lyme Regis, Dorset.....

OK folks, those wanting to hear tales of life on a small island might want to skip the next few posts! I'm just back from a lovely holiday in Lyme Regis in Dorset (England) with tales and photos of the place Jane Austen wrote about in "Persuasion", John Fowles in "The French Lieutenant's Woman" and Tracy Chevalier in "Remarkable Creatures" (the story of the most fantastic Mary Anning).

Above you can see part of the town along the beach (the sandy beach is man-made, it would normally be shingle). You can see the wee coloured sheds that act as changing rooms on the beach.

There are lots of old buildings around the harbour, some dating back to the time when Jane Austen spent a holiday in the town. She stayed with her family just up from the Assembly Rooms in the main part of the town. (Sadly the Assembly rooms were pulled down some years ago to make a car park!!!).

 These buildings are at the start of "The Cobb" where she had Louisa Musgrove falling down the steps and missing the arms of "Wentworth" (forever in my memory as Rupert Penry Jones from the TV film!). And of course where the main character of the French Lieutenant's Woman, Sarah, is staring out to sea.

 Here are the steps that the "Jane Austen Society" think are the very ones Louisa Musgrove is said to fall down. Though our history guide on the tour we took read out the part in the book and felt they didn't fit the bill.  These particular steps are known locally as "Granny's Teeth"

Our guide thought these were more likely to be the steps - read the passage in the book again and see what you think!  But I can imagine running up and down THESE steps in an 18th Century gown more easily than "Granny's Teeth", however "spirited" I might be!

There are lots of wonderful houses and buildings around the town - it's like walking on a film set!  Here's just a small selection of them

Lots of winding streets, mostly UPhill.

This is called the Weaver's Cottage - there were several mills nearby.  The white stones at the base of the house can be seen around the town (and many other towns in England). They were designed to keep the old cart wheels away from the base of the houses along the streets.

These houses are along the river Lyme that runs through the town down to the sea.

Now, have a nice cup of tea and a scone with some jam and clotted cream (a traditional English Cream Tea") and take a break. I'll be back tomorrow with more about Lyme Regis and the amazing Mary Anning.....

Interlude....

Just back from a holiday in Dorset (UK) so while I catch up, here is a short interlude....

This film by local film-maker Raymond Besant has won the Wildlife in HD category of the British Wildlife Photography Awards.  The film is called "Hoy, the High Island" - take a look, it really shows the beauty and wildness of Hoy.  (I might have put a link here before but it's worth watching again!).

Click here