A splash of Lyme
JASON BEATTIE finds the beautiful Dorset town still has its Jurassic spark
NOT much has changed in Lyme Regis over the last couple of hundred years. When Jane Austen visited in 1803 she wrote of a main street “hurrying down to the water” where there was a “pleasant little bay” dotted with bathing machines.
The bathing machines have been replaced by colourful beach huts but otherwise this Dorset town is more or less as Austen found it.
A bustling high street still leads down to the sea.
There you can walk along the beach towards the Cobb – the solid-stone harbour wall made famous by the French Lieutenant’s Woman (a book it took me so long to read she was the French Admiral’s Woman by the end).
Much of the beach is shingle but at the far end, near the small harbour, there is a sandy stretch perfect for building sandcastles and dips in the water. If you wish to venture a bit further there are fantastic walks along the coast.
Thankfully, there is no shortage of pubs for a post-stroll refreshment though, in these Covid times, you may need to book your table in advance.
If history has been kind to Lyme that is because Lyme has been careful to look after its history.
No more so than at the Town Mill just a few yards from the seafront where you can find a little colony of art galleries, a micro brewery and (the name gives it away) a restored water mill.
Welcoming volunteers are on hand to explain how the mill works and sell you the finished product – organic flour perfect for lockdown baking.
Lyme is also the perfect place to get stoned, so to speak. At the heart of the Jurassic Coast it probably has more fossil shops per capita than anywhere else on earth.
If ancient bits of stone are not your thing there is also a large number of tearooms and bakeries, though it is disappointing that not one of them is called Rock ’n’ Rolls.
Lyme may be a difficult place to get to – the railway line fell victim to Dr Beeching’s vandalism in the 1960s and the main road from Dorchester can get congested – but it is worth the journey.
We stayed in the newly refurbished Rock Point Inn right in the centre of the town where all but one of its nine rooms boasts a sea view.
If you are lucky, as we were, you can lean out of your window and find yourself watching a baby seal bobbing along in the bay.
The Rock Point Inn was previously the site of a fish and chip shop but has now been tastefully turned into a pub with rooms. Covid restrictions meant they could only offer a limited menu but the food they served was well-priced and went down well with a pint of Tribute.
Opening a new pub at the height of lockdown must have been a challenge for the manager David and his friendly team of staff and a lot of effort had gone into making everything was Covid secure.
Like many of England’s forgotten seaside gems, Lyme is benefiting from holidaymakers unable to travel abroad.
Even on a blustery weekend in October there were plenty of visitors enjoying the walks along the front, a warming cup of tea in the many teashops and the chance to have fish and chips on the prom. To paraphrase Jane Austen, you must be very strange not to see the charms of Lyme Regis.