Lockdown easing meant we could welcome our first visitors this year – perfectly timed to coincide with our schedule of replacing the greenhouse base as well! However the first day of their visit was far too windy and wet to contemplate spending the day working outside, especially moving fragile panes of glass, so instead we decided to treat them to a day out at the coast.
Lyme Regis is less than half an hour’s drive from us, and one of the reasons we wanted to move here – close enough to the seaside for a day out, but still within the Blackdown Hills and all the nature that the countryside has to offer. The row of pastel beach huts are always a beautiful sight, and walking out to the end of the cobb (the sea wall) and looking back to Lyme across the harbour is so picturesque. This time though, the weather was too windy to walk along the top of the cobb, and so we stayed on the inside, mostly sheltered save for the waves crashing over the top from time to time.
There are so many places to visit in Lyme – this time we walked above the town to the Langmoor and Lister Gardens, which in summer & winter weekends would have the mini-golf, table tennis and putting green open; and the rest of the time has a lovely woodland walk and various sculptures. The Lyme Regis Museum is a little small, but full of fossils and the history of Mary Annings, a Victorian fossil hunter – a great place to spend a wet afternoon!
As the weather started to dry up, we also walked along the River Lim up to Uplyme, a lovely village situated in East Devon. Not really knowing what to expect (we’d not walked it before), we were pleasantly surprised by the luscious woodland, pretty views of the river, and the various former mills that were located along the way. It’s a different contrast to the busy narrow streets of Lyme – only a short gentle walk and you’re straight back into leafy peacefulness.
A great way to relax our worker bees and get them ready to spend the next few days taking apart the greenhouse, deep-cleaning it and building a new base… more on this in the next blog!
Ley Farm Cottages 