Dorset Holidays :: Part 3

Hello Lovelies,

on Sunday night I slept much easier and the next morning... Monday, we woke to sunshine.....that's one of my favourite things on holiday....opening the curtains and seeing a bright new day.

Eldest and I headed off to the shop straight after breakfast. The harbour looked as lovely as ever in the early morning light............

and we found another short cut...this one was super cute..........

when we passed the play park it was empty so I took some photos to show you...isn't it great..............

This part is my favourite. I may have joined eldest, swinging back and forth while standing on the thick rope at the bottom............

it was great fun.

Behind the harbour at West Bay there is a river where you can hire rowing boats for a gentle paddle. it wasn't open when we passed early in the morning, but that gave me chance to take some pictures of the cute little hut where you pay............

Wow, those hanging baskets are really something, and I loved all the sweet quotations...........

I was also intrigued by this building. It's lovely that the area still has some of the buildings linked to it's maritime history..........

The sign says that this was a salt house, used for storing the salt needed for the local and Newfoundland fishing trade. It's now a community hall.

 Our caravan is on a large site just behind this building. The vans are rather packed in, but there are nets for privacy and I can just see the top of East Cliff through the kitchen window.....that makes me happy.

It's clean and cosy....and I brought bunting and crochet to add a homely touch..........

The children are keen to head back to Lyme Regis as they loved the beach there so much on Sunday.

Yes, of course we could go.....I'm longing to explore a little further anyway. We set up on the sand and Mr BM and I headed towards the shops.........

Trying hard to ignore that ominous black cloud

We climbed the steep path thorough the lovely gardens and gazed down upon the beach and harbour looking pretty in the sunshine............

At the top of the hill, all short of breath, we came across this pretty corner, with a resting cat.........

and beautiful Dahlias..........

The shops here are all individual and the buildings are delightful...........

Yikes, that sky is really black now.

We gazed at cheerful pottery.........

and the super pretty, bunting festooned high street...........

with blue sky and the sea in the distance.

But then the rain came......a real downpour. Mr BM and I stood in a doorway with lots of other people. We wondered how the rest of our group on the beach were fairing...............

After a few minutes in eased and we continued down hill.....past shops laden with stripy goodness......

And yummy cakes.............

Through this cobbled passage we were almost on the seafront............

But then the heavens opened again......I wonder if the rest of the U.K. had rain like this.......maybe Bertha was not letting us of as lightly as we thought............it was freakishly heavy..........

Bouncing of the ground and making rivers everywhere.........

We were forced to wait again........hoping our group had found shelter too. They had actually decided to go in the sea initially, as they thought it was just a shower!
 Then the thunder and lightening came and we knew it was time to make a dash for the beach and then the car........grabbing armfuls of wet stuff and running as fast as we could with drippy wet shivering children.

The drive back to West bay was horrid....rivers of water on the road, more thunder and lightening  and even hail.

Then, early afternoon, the sun came out. Time to try and dry off all our wet clothes and beach stuff...........

I did spend that sheltering time enjoyably though.....browsing and buying this post card in the first shop........

It's by Janet Bell....I love her work.....and though it's actually of Looe in Cornwall it reminded me of Lyme.

Then in the second shelter I visited the National Trust shop and bought this coaster of the Harbour in Lyme.

Sadly I can't find any info on who the artist is, but I love the use of patterns and bright colours.

By mid afternoon we were wandering West Bay harbour again. The children had seen lots of folk crabbing and were keen to give it a go too.

In the past we have had lines with little bait bags that were OK, but you often lost your catch before you could land it.

This time we bought THIS type from one of the little cabins around the harbour. They worked brilliantly with a bit of ham in the bottom to tempt the crabs.

Within minutes the boys and their cousins had caught the first specimen. He soon had LOTS of friends in that bucket.............

We were crabbing from the pier and walking back to the caravan after a happy couple of hours ( all catches safely returned to the sea ) I loved the late afternoon light on the harbour.............

West bay was turning out to be a perfect holiday destination.....It's even got a visiting T.V. crew to watch across the river. Those super bright lights were for the shooting of the latest series of Broadchurch......

see a close up HERE

We generally eat picnics or simple meals in our caravan whilst on holiday....but this evening we enjoyed the treat of a yummy meal in one of the pubs around the harbour. I loved the stone floors and huge fireplace. I'm sure it's a wonderfully cosy place in the winter........

And who can resist a thatched roof.

What a roller-coaster day that turned out so well in the end.
Jacquie x

Edited to Add :-
Thank you Sarah for letting me know who the artist behind my coaster is. It's Caroline Tucker. Find her HERE