A rainy day

Thursday 26^th September

Last night our host Jacqui asked us to make selections from a breakfast menu and nominate a time we’d like it served. This morning she knocked on our door and delivered a sumptuous feast on a trolley…it was fabulous.

Alas the weather was not at all fabulous…quite gloomy, overcast and the constant drizzle foiled our planned quiet day wandering around town. We decided to drive 20 k’s to West Bay where Broadchurch is filmed. This is another program we’ve recently watched on the ABC; it stars David Tennant, the Dr Who before last!

The weather was a little better, but still threatening to rain so we took an umbrella just in case.

The red cliffs of West Bay provide a very 

dramatic backdrop for the program.

West Bay is along the same stretch of the Jurassic Coast as Lyme Regis and in this photo you can see the layers of rock in the cliff. After storms, fossil hunters come along and search for new treasures that may have been uncovered in the resulting erosion of the cliff face.

I couldn’t resist taking this photo of the photographer…I love the way he wears his tweed hat to the side so that it doesn’t get in the way of the camera!

Not long after this it started POURING and even though we had our umbrella and coats, by the time we got back to the car our legs were wet and felt very damp and bedraggled! We drove directly back to Lyme Regis, dried off and waited out the rain…it was actually quite nice to have a some quiet time for an hour or two.

We then decided to wander into town for lunch and browse around the galleries and shops.

Lyme Regis is on the Dorset-Devon border. For centuries it was a fishing village and port. Since the late 18th century it has attracted tourists, the most famous being Jane Austen, who visited with her family in 1804 and set part of her novel Persuasion there. More recently it provided the setting for The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles.

I was keen to emulate Meryl Streep on the Cobb (breakwater) 

but was foiled by the weather again.

The cliffs by Lyme Regis expose a layer of Jurassic limestone rich with fossils, which has attracted fossil enthusiasts for over 200 years. One of the reasons I was keen to come to Lyme Regis was having read a novel by Tracy Chevalier... Remarkable Creatures about Lyme Regis's famous fossil-hunter Mary Anning and her friendship with Elizabeth Philpot. If you haven’t read it I would strongly recommend giving it a go…a fascinating story that brings real events and people to life…apparently a movie based on the novel is in production.

Believe it or not there is also a Beatrix Potter connection…she came to Lyme Regis on holiday in 1904. While staying here she wrote The Tale of Little Pig Robinson, set in the fictional town of ‘Stymouth’, which she based in part on Lyme Regis, as well as on the nearby towns of Sidmouth and Teignmouth in Devon. Views of all three towns are used as backgrounds in the book.

We had lunch in a little café in the main street and then went for our stroll around town. We were impressed with the creative work of the local artists on display in the galleries…beautiful paintings, ceramics, glass, jewellery and some very tempting sculptures. There are lots of fossil shops too and I just had to buy a small Ammonite. Alas…it started raining again and we retreated back ‘home’ and will venture out again later if and when we feel hungry!