Back in the old days the OH and I used to try and take a short UK break around our birthdays, which worked very well as we then had a holiday in late spring (May) and one in early autumn (October). This one was my choice for celebrating my birthday in 2014.
Just Back From… Dorset
A last minute booking to Bridport in Dorset for a birthday and wedding anniversary celebration was made in lieu of the proposed trip to Seattle. After a gorgeous sunny September, autumn also decided to come along too, so it was a mixed week of sunshine and showers and even a few dramatic thunderstorms with lightning and thundering waves.
Bridport
Bridport is a quaint market town in West Dorset and only a mile from the famous Jurassic coast at West Bay with its lovely harbour and shingle beach. It has an open and airy feel to it because of the wide streets that contain several hundred listed buildings many of them built to accommodate the twisting and dyeing of ropes and nets during the late 12th century. It also has a lively arts and literary scene.
Although in a self-catering house I don’t consider it a holiday if I do all the cooking so we ate take away fish and chips from Longs in West Street which were excellent – thin batter on the succulent cod and crisp chips. And the best deal was a thin crust pizza, salad and 1/2 pint of local cider from The Stable, behind the Bull hotel on East Street – £10 on a Tuesday. If you like it hot go for the Blaster! Or what about the Bucky Doo?
Burton Bradstock
Good fish and seafood can be found in local pubs and restaurants, but head to the Hive Beach Café, a tarpaulin-sided hut which is a popular place for lunch as it is right on the beach at Burton Bradstock, 4 miles from Bridport along the shingle Chesil Beach. It is very busy at the weekend, even at this time of year, but worth the wait (no bookings) for the fresh lobster, sea bass or grilled sardines. An obvious choice for Saturday’s birthday lunch.
West Bay
Only a mile from Bridport is West Bay with its newly designed harbour, vertical sandstone cliff glowing like molten gold in the late afternoon sun and sweeping shingle beach. West bay grew up as the harbour for nearby Bridport and was Thomas Hardy’s “Port Bredy”. More recently it was the location of the TV drama ‘Broadchurch’. Brightly coloured fishing boats bob in the harbour, fishermen line the harbour walls or the edge of the surf, and cute wooden shacks and kiosks line the harbour walk where you can buy fish and chips, fish stews, ice-creams. We stopped for dessert – a cone of delicious Purbeck fig and honey ice-cream.
Lyme Regis
The main attraction in Lyme is the historic medieval harbour known as The Cobb featured in the ‘French Lieutenant’s Woman’. Known as the gateway to the Dorset Jurassic Coast, Lyme Regis provides a good base for visiting walkers. The town has long inspired artistic and literary visitors including, Tolkien, Tennyson and Jane Austen who set the novel ‘Persuasion here. There are excellent facilities with plenty of restaurants, pubs and cafés as well as an interesting selection of galleries and shops to explore in the old town which dates from the 14th century.
As always on my holidays there were trips to the coast and visits to gardens. Not a lot of chances to visit historical places at this time of year and with the nights closing in, the days are shorter, but we had a wonderful time and hope it won’t be decades before we return.
This post is a contribution to Fandango’s Flashback Friday. Have you got a post you wrote in the past on this particular day? The world might be glad to see it – either for the first time – or again if they’re long-time loyal readers.
TRAVEL WORDS 
I keep wanting to read the name as Bridgeport. According to Wikipedia, Bridport is named after the River Bride. What’s not clear is whether that’s the same same word as the kind of bride that has just gotten married.
I hope it’s not decades before you go again!
We are considering it for a future move. We won’t be able to stay in this house forever and perhaps as we get older we may need to be closer to family.
Ah
I have been to Lyme Regis and Chesil Beach, but for some reason, we skipped Bridport. Thanks for showing me the town, Jude.
Best wishes, Pete.
A great little town, we did actually consider it to relocate to before we found the Cornish house, and may even look around there again. Much closer to family.
Such a pretty area. I love Dorset.
This isn’t a county I know at all, apart from an AL Geography field trip to Purbeck n the ’60s. I’ve been missing out all these years, evidently.
A favourite county for summer holidays when I was a child. We are thinking of maybe relocating to this region to be nearer to family once things (including the housing market) settle down.
Not a bad idea at all. Cornwall’s got a bit … crowded, non?
Very much so. And prices in restaurants seem to have rocketed – maybe that’s the pandemic or maybe that Londoners can afford to pay them. £30 for a steak is probably cheap.
No, eating out has become expensive everywhere. Shortages, staff scarcity, wages, the B word have affected us all. Even coffee and a cake is a luxury now.
I object to paying £16 for a burger!
I wouldn’t pay anything for a burger!
Your pictures have made me want to visit Bridport now. The list gets longer and longer and Covid shows no sign of letting us travel without worry.
I always wanted to visit Lyme Regis. When you eventually move I’ll have to come see.
Oh, happy memories! We stayed in an Airbnb house just outside Bridport and visited all these places. It’s such a lovely area. And we bought a takeaway lunch from the Olive Tree one day. Delicious sandwiches.
Yes, Dorset is rather lovely though I suspect as busy as Cornwall during the summer months.
Probably. We were there in September and it was wonderful. A tad chilly for us though. 🙂
Early October wasn’t too bad for us.
Looks like a lovely place but you grabbed my attention with the descriptions of tasty food. That ice cream sounds especially good. When we lived in Illinois, there was a place very close to us that had amazing fish and chips. We used to meet our friends there quite often and they had good beer as well. When they closed, we were all crushed.
It’s wonderful to find a decent restaurant or cafe, here everything seems to have got very expensive.
a while since we have been here – lovely part of the coast although very busy in summer
Sigh… are there any lovely places that aren’t busy in summer? Maybe we should be looking at a city.
oh I know, it is so difficult
Have you narrowed down an area to move to or are you staying put?
Getting to closer to narrowing it down!!