A trip to the beach

Boats in the harbour at West Bay
 We've been AWAY!

I'm not going to call it a staycation, because as far as I'm concerned, that's staying in your own home - if you go away, it's a holiday, and holidays don't have to be abroad. 

Anyway, Mr Robot and I took a week off work, and spent two nights of it down in Dorset, in West Bay. I knew it had been a while since we last visited as we haven't been since Broadchurch was filmed there, but looking at this blog it's been ten whole years. It was always a fairly sleepy place, being the harbour for Bridport, and happily being on telly hasn't spoiled that. It seemed rather busier, mostly with older people and families with senior members, but there's still only the one arcade and the fish-and-chip huts are still there. It hasn't gone tacky.

The cliffs at West Bay. A grassy slope leads up the side, while the side facing the sea is a sheer rock wall.
Mr Robot booked us a room at the Bridport Arms, the pub right beside the beach. He booked it on a whim one night after there had been wine, and when we arrived the young woman showing us to our room said, "Oh, you've got the best room in the place!" He'd forgotten he'd splashed out. We had a little sitting room as well as bedroom and bathroom, and I swear it was as big as one floor of our (admittedly tiny) house. The bed was definitely bigger than the one at home; we wouldn't have woken up all creaky from sharing that one with the cats.

Of course, you can't do a lot in two nights. Most of the other visitors seemed to be daytrippers and the town was pretty empty by 6pm on Wednesday night – unfortunately that meant most of the food places closed. Still, we'd had fish and chips from a hut for lunch, and we had tea at the pub – a local burger with Dorset Blue Vinny cheese for me, and mussels in Dorset cider and cream for the Mr.

A sandy path leading through wild flowers a few metres from the edge of a cliff
Being Fat Hobbits, our trip was fairly foodie. The following day we walked along the cliffs to Burton Bradstock. Though it's only a couple of miles I wasn't sure if we'd make it after a year being pretty much sedentary on lockdown, and it was hard work going up and down (the cliffs undulate, so it wasn't just up at the start and down at the end) but we made it. The sky was slightly overcast, but that meant we avoided sunburn (we did wear sunblock, but all that climbing was sweaty work). It was lovely seeing all the plants – sea thrift, vetch, and the like – and butterflies. We had lunch of a sharing board of mixed fried mostly fishy things at a pub, then walked back. 

A wooden board bearing several half-pint mugs full of fried food, and a pint of beer beside it
Netflix were filming a Jane Austen adaptation further along the beach, and even though the shoot was well out of sight of Burton their security were a bunch of twats ("Oh come on, Mim," I hear you say, "tell me what you really thought!"), harassing everyone who walked on Burton Beach with a camera as though we'd somehow known they were there and were desperate to photograph it all. I work in Bath, I'm not chasing anything Austen-related on holiday because I'm trying to get away from it! I just wanted a nice walk and a pub lunch. A fellow walker said they'd been at Lyme the day before and were obnoxious there too. I hope they all got sandfly bites on their bums!

Thursday evening was a meal at Station Kitchen in West Bay. It's a little restaurant made from the converted railway station – closed as part of the Beeching cuts, I believe – and a railway carriage that's been done out. 

The interior of a railway carriage. The walls are wooden, and decorated with pictures and mirrors. The carriage is filled with chairs and dining tables, with an eclectic range of vases and glassware on them
We didn't have any bad food while we were away, but the food and atmosphere here was perfect, and finished things off wonderfully. I had a tomato and mozzarella salad (desperate for a salad after two days of fried things), then sole, and finished off with an amazing cheesecake. Nowadays I find cheesecakes in restaurants are often unpleasantly bland, just a hyper-sweet mound of clag. (Don't get me started on why white chocolate cheesecake is THE WORST in my opinion.) But this had cherries on! It was billed as a cherry bakewell cheesecake, and though I didn't taste much almond in it aside from the flaked ones on top, the cherries were fat and juicy and added a much-needed tart note to the whole thing. It's re-enthused me for cheesecake!
A cylindrical cheesecake with cherries and a whole fresh cherry dipped in pink chocolate on top

Anyway, that was our trip away. Short, but very much needed. There aren't any photos of me because I'm really feeling bad about my lockdown weight gain right now. Covid cases have suddenly shot up in Bath, so I'm probably not going to be going out much for the forseeable. We've got our second jabs next week, but I don't want to catch Covid or spread it, so we'll carry on being cautious. I hope you're taking care too – stay safe!



Comments

  1. That Station Kitchen looks absolutely gorgeous, what a wonderful space! I've got an aversion to David Tennant and have never seen Broadchurch so didn't know where it was set but Dorset's utterly gorgeous and a brilliant choice for a holiday in the UK.
    I'm with you on the Stay-cation thing, most misused word ever!
    I don't know what's going on any more with regards to Covid, football is all I've watched for a fortnight! xxx

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    1. I don't dislike Tennant, and he's a good actor, but his much-proclaimed sex appeal passes me by.

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  2. I love West Bay. We had a few nights in Charmouth last summer and went over to West Bay one evening. We looked at that railway carriage restaurant so it was lovely to see your pictures of the interior. Isn't it just amazing how pretty you can make the inside of an old railway carriage!

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    1. It's really lovely inside, but also really hot! There's no air con in the carriage so it gets very warm. I'd hate to be inside it in the current heatwave.

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  3. I'm happy you were able to get a trip away. It looks like such a beautiful place. Have you ever had a New York style cheesecake? It is dense! Sort of like eating a block of sweetened cream cheese and not much else. The one you ordered is almost too beautiful to eat.

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    1. I don't think I have had had a New York one - we get stuff called that over here, but having seen people's reactions to British takes on American food, it's probably not very close. (I bet Nigella will have a recipe for it, though. The lady doesn't muck around when it comes to puddings.)

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  4. It's lovely to get away even if it is for only two night. It's the change of scenery and routine that's so good. As soon as I saw your photo of the beach and cliffs I recognised it from 'Broadchurch'. I'm glad to hear the programme hasn't brought about changes to what looks like a wonderful place. The food sounds fabulous, too!

    I'm surprised about the film crew being so arsey - agree - hope they got many sandfly bites on their bums!

    The lockdown stop start is really pi***ng me off.
    xxx

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    1. I'm fed up of lockdown, but understand why it's needed. It just wouldn't be needed if the government had got a grip last year – New Zealand and Australia aren't in this mess.

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  5. I really enjoyed tagging along on your trip to the seaside, Mim! I've never been to Dorset, apart from a day trip to Lyme Regis when we were holidaying in Somerset.
    Your walk on the coast path looks wonderful although I'm hearing you on the obnoxiousness of that film crew. How delightful is that railway carriage restaurant. I saw your photos on Instagram and the food looked mouthwateringly delicious! xxx P.S. The word staycation has made it to Belgium in the meantime, used wrongly of course!

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    1. Aaah you really ought to give Dorset a go - it is so lovely. We like Lyme Regis too, though Pete gets fed up of watching me potter about on the beach with my fossil hammer looking for ammonites.

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  6. I love the railway carriage, very cool. I love a good cheesecake especially baked cheesecake but yes I know what you mean about the claggy mush you get presented with in a lot of places. The numbers here are going mad too so we are staying very low key at home for the foreseeable too.

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    1. You're one of several pals I have in and around Oxford, and the 'rona rate there seems absolutely awful. I don't blame you for staying low key!

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  7. I watched Broadchurch, so I recognize that! How lovely that you made it away on a vacation, Mim! That totally counts in my book. It sounds so perfect - and isn't it nice when you splash out and have it a bit more special? I love the railway car, and your cheesecake looks scrumptious. We often have filming in my city and they are the same way here.

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    1. Wow, I had no idea that show had made it so far! I assure you, no-one was murdered on my visit...

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