AN INSPECTOR CALLS
WE TAKE the last few turns quicker than we should on the way to the Seaside Boarding House, perched atop the Jurassic coast near Bridport. That’s because I want to catch the last 20 minutes of the England v France rugby game, but, sod’s law, none of the rooms here has a TV.
Thankfully, a small portable set has been left in the library where I join a fellow guest and we put the world to rights during any lulls in play.
My goodness, this is a friendly, down-to-earth, elegant bolthole and I bet it’s impossible to bag one of the eight rooms in summer, not least because it occupies such a prime position with direct access to mile upon mile of pebbly beach.
Mary-Lou Sturridge, a former managing director of the Groucho Club in London, opened for business here 18 months ago, offering a pared-back nautical style with a hint of kitsch, a whiff of Cape Cod, a splash of Shoreditch and huge measures of simplicity.
It works brilliantly. And if you’re in room 402, as we are, you can look into next door neighbour Billy Bragg’s garden. ‘He’s a champagne socialist and we get on fine,’ says the charming assistant manager as she shows us to the large room on the top floor.
We can see Chesil Beach from the gorgeous bathroom, with its roll-top bath and tongue-and-groove wood panelling. The big bed is piled with luxurious pillows; a few books sit on the dresser next to a silver tray where bottles of water stand to attention.
This must be the only so-called ‘boarding house’ that has a comprehensive cocktail menu in the slinky bar just across the corridor from the dining room, which stretches across the entire front of the building, with doors that open on to the terrace. It’s all deliciously pretty.
Great care has gone into choosing the glasses, the little flower vases, the French butter, the paper tablecloths, the linen napkins. We take for ever to decide what to eat because we want to eat everything. I stick with fish (haddock scotch egg followed by cod), while my wife has the fish soup, which is superb, and the steak, which is not. It’s gristly and flavourless.
We walk for almost an hour before breakfast, working up an appetite for a feast, complete with antique silver teapot, home-made marmalade and wonderful sourdough toast.
Before leaving, I pop back into the library, where a portrait of Mary-Lou’s grandfather in military dress hangs above the hearth.
On the mantle, there’s a note that says: ‘Not quite finished the book and desperate to know what happens? Please ask for a self-addressed envelope for £5 and return when finished.’
It’s that sort of place. Seaside Boarding House, Cliff Road, Burton Bradstock, Dorset DT6 4RB Tel: 01308 897 205 theseasideboardinghouse.com Doubles from £180