Drip, drip drop little April showers
April is known in the United Kingdom for April showers (spring rain), and we are experiencing some at the moment. We have had a very dry winter so the rain is most welcome, but it can come down very fast without much warning, as the weather can change quite quickly.
As I said last week the children are back to Uni this week, and after I had dropped my son off at Axminster station I stopped at West Bay (formerly known as Bridport Harbour) for some refreshment.
Daisy and I sat outside at the Watch House cafe, out of the wind enjoying the sunshine, the view, bakewell tart and hot chocolate. We were not the only ones interested in the bakewell tart, the seagulls were looking at it too! Luckily they weren't interested in taking a bite. I have become more wary of seagulls since one took a complete icecream cornet out of my OH's hand in St Ives last summer!
We had a lovely walk on the beach. I love these sandstone cliffs, I recently saw them described as gingerbread cliffs - what a great description ! This is the far end of the Chesil beach that I took you to in February, the size of the pebbles changes as you travel along the 18 miles (28km). At West Bay the pebbles are the size of grains of sand.
As I said last week the children are back to Uni this week, and after I had dropped my son off at Axminster station I stopped at West Bay (formerly known as Bridport Harbour) for some refreshment.
Daisy and I sat outside at the Watch House cafe, out of the wind enjoying the sunshine, the view, bakewell tart and hot chocolate. We were not the only ones interested in the bakewell tart, the seagulls were looking at it too! Luckily they weren't interested in taking a bite. I have become more wary of seagulls since one took a complete icecream cornet out of my OH's hand in St Ives last summer!
We had a lovely walk on the beach. I love these sandstone cliffs, I recently saw them described as gingerbread cliffs - what a great description ! This is the far end of the Chesil beach that I took you to in February, the size of the pebbles changes as you travel along the 18 miles (28km). At West Bay the pebbles are the size of grains of sand.
The April showers were not far away in the distance, the sky was turning very dark.
The train stopped running here in the 1960's and the old train station is now converted into a cafe.
In the far distance you can see the Isle of Portland at the other end of the Chesil beach.
We managed to get back to the car before it started raining and luckily reached home, to get the washing in before the clouds burst.
I hope you have a good weekend with not too many April showers!
Sarah x
Hi Sarah, love your pics, love the Watch House Cafe, see from your pic the've got some nice new seating for the summer, the cafe belongs to the Hive Beach Cafe at Burton Bradstock. Julie xxx
ReplyDeleteYes the Watch House Cage has been completely refurbished during the winter.
ReplyDeleteSarah
we've had some really torrential down pours this week! and hail stones....sun is out at the moment though. But still going to take my brolly with me!
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely pictures! Visited Dorset about 4 years ago and was very beautiful (unfortunately it rained the whole week!), my friend, who I was visiting was very apologetic and said it was normally sunny, but we could still see it's loveliness through the showers ... also love the book On Chesil Beach, so nice to see the actual beach get a mention ... have lovely weekend, and dodge the showers! xxx
ReplyDeleteLovely photos. My Mum had a caravan at Eype and it is a beautiful area. xx
ReplyDeleteThats a dramatic coastline, lovely pics; I read "on Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan recently so it's nice to be able to picture the setting. Have a good weekend, I think the cricket will be rained off here, hooray!! x
ReplyDeleteSuch fabulous photos, thanks for my little trip to the sea. Suzy x
ReplyDeleteOoh lovely Chesil beach...we were talking about it at lunchtime with some friends who have just returned from there...and yes, very very showery here in East Sussex!
ReplyDeleteSarah -x-
Hi Sarah, thanks for following me ... we do have a lot in common, and my maiden name is Barker! xx
ReplyDeleteWe all love Dorset but sadly we haven't visited West Bay before :( - a great excuse to organise another visit xx
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeletejust discovered your blog via Emilie's daughter!
I admire your lovely pics - especially the last one!
Have a wonderful sunday!
♥ Franka
Even though I live on the Dorset coast, my heart hurts when I see these pictures. We are so overwhelmingly fortunate to live here.
ReplyDeleteHello - I found your bog by trawling through the comments on Attic 24's blog. I love Dorset and also live on holiday (Brighton) we used to go down to Dorset, Devon and Cornwall a lot when I was small so your photos really made me smile. You need to know that I've fallen in love with Daisy and will be coming down to pick her up shortly! Jo.
ReplyDeleteOh Sarah! My nose was on the screen when I read your post! Such wonderful photos and descriptions! It all looks amazing and I would like to but my feet on the sand and walk and walk and walk... The last picture made me smile - the colors of the tea cloths are so gay and seem to dance in the wind! Thanks for those minutes and also for your sweet comment on my post! Have a wonderful start into the new week! Christa
ReplyDeleteOh wow! I can't get over that cliff face! So photogenic. And the rolling hills. I've already told you about my thing for those english rolling hills, haven't I?!
ReplyDeleteThe Harbour called West Bay
ReplyDeleteA pony trots among the Sunday crowds
across a bridge that separates
a river and the sea
(above the gates to organise the tides)
at West Bay and the River Brid
where earthquake, fire and water
have shaped
a changing scene
the falling cliffs (buy fossils in a shop)
the shingle and the pebble beach (safe bathing)
a Wesleyan chapel closed (so pray elsewhere)
the Bridport branch line (last train departed)
Post Office (last stamp sold)
the pubs renamed ('Ship Inn' and 'Neptune' sunk)
ships built and launched (the schooner Speedy, 1853)
a German bomber landed on the beach (the crew are captured)
the Salt House (preserving fish from Newfoundland)
became a milking parlour, cycle shop then hall
and films were shot (The Navy Lark and Harbour Lights
and Reggie Perrin walked into the sea)
where new defences face persistent waves
this Sunday where a pony trots
past leathered bikers eating battered cod
and families with ice-cream dreams
and seagulls shrieking rights
(their 'good sea-fishing' guaranteed)
and son and dad dip lines for crabs
(at steps where Joanna of Navarre
came to be married to a king in Winchester)
and one black cannon points across the waves
where shifting sand bars threaten deeper keels
and you and I take photos in the sun
of Golden Cap and small chalets
this Sunday where a pony trots
on water mirrored in the glass
of new apartments
at West Bay.
Tony French
____________________________________
Thanks Tony for that wonderful poem. I can picture all the things you mention and I have also learnt a few new facts too. Thank you so much for sharing you must know West Bay so well.
DeleteSarah
It must seem very quiet with the children away again. We're not suffering from drought up here! Juliex
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful post with its breathcatching views and progressively deteriorating weather! Nothing beats Britsh train stations for aesthetic charms in my opionion and to have one transformed into a cafe is lovely. Two friends of mine own Westies too and are besotted. (I favour my Cavalier King Charles,of course ;-))
ReplyDeleteThat last picture is poster worthy!
Stephanie
Gorgeous photos Sarah, I love the look of those sandstone cliffs, really amazing! xo K
ReplyDeleteMore photos and details of those Dorset cliffs etc - for your coastal/New Zealand friend - at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Coast - if I'm allowed another comment. Cheers, Tony
ReplyDeleteComments are always welcome even if you post more than one in the same post! Thanks for the link Tony.
DeleteSarah
How about a gallery & profile of Lyme Regis, Dorset sea lover? It was fantastic this afternoon - from The Cobb to garden terraces, sand, bouncy castle, fishing boats, sea, rocks, shops selling everything you could ever imagine and never need, cliffs dwindling into a mist towards Portland, up-market restaurants, ice cream parlours... we bought a book on clouds, and Enid Blyton (presents), sticky notes with seaside art... then the quaintness of alleys, long-unused gates shaped to arched-stone walls...
DeleteHi Tony,
DeleteNice to hear from you. I envy you being in Lyme Regis this afternoon and it is very remiss, of me to not have done a post on Lyme Regis it has been on my list but the weather hasn't been brillant at weekends or we have been busy. I did mention Lyme back in 15th January but it was freezing cold and not very picturesque. Will try and go there in the next few weeks!
Sarah
Few photos in this wet July.. a poem instead? Mine are not cheerful enough at present, but, seaside blogger... I think of our top floor flat in Exmouth looking across the Exe estuary to Dawlish, and red cliffs battered by the waves... and drives to far-off Wales with hang-gliders across the mile-long sands... and glamorous friends from countries where pleasure seems forbidden, posing for photos in the sun of Wales... <that last bit may seem obscure, but the sea, and friends you took there from countries less free than ours... well it conjours memories... more of your seascapes soon I hope...
ReplyDeleteWe love the views across the Exe estuary too and walking along the cycle path along by the estuary too.
ReplyDeleteSarah x
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2286471016499&set=a.1278373854700.32004.1690634312&type=1&theater
ReplyDeleteHi Tony I love that photo you have captured the rain clouds so well. Thank you for sharing.
DeleteSarah x