Lyme Regis

Although there was some sun on the garden as we got up this morning, the weather forecast warned of stormy showers all day so we decided to go on a bit of a road trip and hope we could walk and explore between showers.
John joined in with my morning workout which was very entertaining- he’s still not mastered curtsy lunges 😂
We headed off to the north east of Lyme Regis and ended up in Beaminster - a picturesque little town. We easily found a parking space in the town square and went first (obviously) to a charity shop to pick up a book each as John had finished the one he brought with him, this morning. We had a wander in the church and then seeing more black clouds approaching we found Tangerine - a little cafe that served veggie and vegan options in an 18th century listed building, run by a retired couple. It is also a space for art work to be displayed. It had 3 rooms with seating - we sat towards the back of the building in a room facing onto the garden with a big sunlight in the roof through which we could check the progress of the passing rain. Also seated were a couple with a baby of about 6-7 months old who was a big distraction- for me anyway. We had some tasty soup with fresh bread, vegan spread and a side order of chunky chips for John and oat milk lattes.
On the way out we had a chat with the owners and read about some of the history of the building, which had been a butchers for several generations and more recently a patisserie.
A quick stop off at Lidl’s for food supplies then back in the car towards West Bay for a brief walk along the beach - the spectacular but precarious looking cliffs giving respite from the strong wind. The next black clouds approaching gave some moody, atmospheric skies which we attempted to photograph before the rain came down.
Back in the car we saw a sign to an art exhibition in a tiny hamlet of Eype so we headed there. The exhibition was part of Dorset Art Weeks and was in a village church which made a surprisingly good space for the work by Stephen Bishop (I wonder if we are related?) The paintings were oils and in my humble opinion needed a big space as they improved at distance! Meaning the play of light on water and perspective that they portrayed was much more effective slightly further away. We had a chat with the artist but didn’t commit to the £3k price tag most of them commanded.
A brief stop at Seatown but too rainy to venture out then back to the annexe.
We whiled away a couple of hours waiting for the wind and rain to pass and Johnnie rustled up a pasta supper. By about 8 pm the skies were clearing and the wind had dropped so we donned our coats and went down for a walk along the sea front. It was a lovely evening with clear skies turning to pink and an almost full moon. The wind had completely dropped.Read more