We often stay at West Bay Cottage ourselves. Here are some of the things we get up to time and time again on nice and easy days. All just a short stroll away:
Sit on the front garden bench with a coffee in the morning sun.
Walk to the end of the Jurassic Pier and breathe in the sea air.
Pop into the West Bay Discovery Centre to uncover a little of West Bay’s story. They have changing exhibitions alongside the permanent displays so it’s worth going back whenever there is something new.
Stroll around the harbour and look at the boats and all the busy fishing and crabbing activity.
Visit Watch House Café on East Beach for breakfast or lunch. Sit outside with views across the bay.
Walk up and down East Pier and probably take another photo of the cliffs (to add to the hundreds I’ve already taken!).
Visit Sladers Yard and admire the beautiful furniture, art, and craftsmanship.
Eat atRubicon Kitchen harbourside shack. It’s a wonderful lunchtime spot for fresh fish by the harbour.
Relax on East Beach beside the golden cliffs, sitting on the sand with a book and the sound of the sea.
Paddleboard from East Beach when the sea is calm (though this is very occasional!).
Pick up some pasties from the Cornish Bakery for an easy lunch.
Treat myself (or more likely my daughter) to Le Bon Shoppe socks from Sea Purslane. They’re addictive!
Walk along West Beach, listen to the waves rolling over the pebbles. Choose an interesting stone or two to leave in the front garden.
Decide on an ice cream flavour from Baboo Gelato. Eat it sitting by the harbour or in the cottage’s back garden, trying not to attract seagulls.
Have a go on the rope swing in the play area. It says it has an age limit of 99 so it’s practically mandatory.
Wander around the Customs House vintage emporium – mostly tat, but worth a browse if you’ve got time on your hands.
Circle the Welcome Hub looking at all the motorbikes, especially on a sunny Sunday. This one is much more my husband’s thing.
Stop for cake and tea, or earlier for breakfast, at West Bay Tea Rooms. Or drop in for an emergency takeaway slice of carrot cake for revising daughter!
Sit outside on the riverside terrace at The George for an early evening drink.
For a special occasion, splurge a little on supper in an old railway carriage atPlatform Restaurant.
Pick up burgers and cheesecake from Platform, or pizza from The Palour Pizzeria, for a takeaway back at the cottage.
End the day watching the sunset over the sea. A perfect way to slow down and relax.
Drop your own local tips in the comments – we’d love to hear them 🙂
If you fancy doing your own thing in West Bay and you haven’t yet booked accommodation we’d like to welcome you to West Bay Cottage. Take a look inside the cottage, or head to our Book With Us page for availability, the rates and how to book.
If you go down to the Bay this spring you can’t miss the elephants. All together there are more than thirty of them to be seen across several West Dorset locations including Burton Bradstock, Lyme Regis, Bridport as well as West Bay. Each elephant has been painted by a different artist. The public art trail, called Stampede by the Sea, is a collaboration between local charity Weldmar Hospicecare and public art trail producer Wild in Art.
The trail will be running until May 25th, with maps available online and on a Stampede by the Sea app. You can also pick up a map or buy your own knitted elephant at The Trail HQ which is sited at the Salt House in the harbour. In June every elephant will be auctioned by Dukes Auctioneers to raise funds for the charity.
Here are some of the West Bay herd. Which one is your favourite?
Some more spotted in Bridport. This one covered in rope outside the museum is very clever.
We’ve just come back from a long weekend in West Bay. We ate out a couple of times, coincidentally both times in nearby Burton Bradstock. We really enjoyed the two meals so I thought I’d highlight them here.
The Three Horseshoes
It’s only a five minute drive but on a lovely sunny Sunday January morning it was good to walk. There are a few different routes to get to Burton Bradstock. This time we started by walking up the old railway line from West Bay towards Bridport. Then we turned off to go around North Hill before coming down the other side into Burton Bradstock village. It was rather a muddy walk though several fields. We’d spent a while trying to scrape the mud off our boots but a sign saying “muddy boots allowed” when we arrived at The Three Horseshoes was welcome. It’s a lovely old stone-built thatched building (see photo above).
We’ve read good things about the pub and been keen to try it out for a while. However forward planning isn’t our strong point and each time we’ve tried to book we’d left it too late. This time we’d been luckier, although only just, a midday slot available. We sat in the restaurant part of the pub near a fire burning away in the wood burner. It all felt pleasant and comfortable. We shared a starter of bread with tapenade, oil vinegar and garlic butter with a pint and a cider. Yummy.
This was followed by the best Sunday roasts we’d had in ages and we’ve had quite a few! Both the beef and the lamb were delicious. They came with a big Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and a good selection of vegetables included cheesy leeks. There was even a jug of extra gravy.
We were tempted by the puddings but were both pretty full by then so decided we’d reward ourselves with an ice cream when we got back. We planned to go back along the coast path but it is still shut so instead walked through the golf course. And yes, we did have room for a Baboo Geleto ice cream back in West Bay. Thinking about that Sunday lunch I’m already looking forward to returning to the Three Horseshoes soon, just need to make sure we plan ahead.
Hive Beach Café
Two days later we were back again in Burton Bradstock. This time we drove to Hive Beach for lunch at the Hive Beach Café which is right by the beach. Arriving early we went for a walk up the hill next to the cafe, along to Cogden Beach and then back along the beach. The weather was rather grey that day and the sea looked grey too.
We’d booked into the cafe to take advantage of the Silver Surfers menu. It’s available on Tuesdays and Thursdays, two courses for £15 or three for £20, with a set menu which has a choice of three starters, three mains and a couple of deserts. I think it changes weekly. We thought it was for Over 55’s, one of the few benefits of getting older, but it did seem that anyone could have it if they wanted.
My husband went rogue and ordered the sardines main course but I stuck with the offer and had the fish main and a chocolate sundae pudding. The fish was stone bass, something I’ve looked up afterwards and it turns out it is a chunky fish with a huge mouth and a grumpy expression. I was oblivious to this when it arrived on my plate. It was a chunk of mild-flavoured, quite meaty fish. To be honest I find it hard to tell one white fish from another but it tasted nice and came with potatoes, shallots and leeks, plus a creamy puree. I was hungry and forgot to take a photo before it was rather too late!
The chocolate sundae, a mix of ice cream and cookies, was big enough for two. All in all, good value.
So there we have it, we come home pleased with our Burton Bradstock lunchtime choices and happy to recommend them here.
Has this whetted your appetite for a break away in West Dorset? If so you can get more information on staying in our cottage here. Head to our Enquire and Book page for availability, the rates and how to book.
The weather forecast takes on an extra significance when you’re on holiday. You don’t want to see grey clouds and raindrops. We hope you’ll be spending your holiday under clear blue skies but help is at hand if rain does make an unwelcome appearance. Read on for some local attractions and activities that are perfect to make the most of a wet and windy day.
You may believe that there is no such thing as the wrong weather, just the wrong clothes. Indeed we’ve been out in a gale with near horizontal rain and waves crashing over us on the pier and it’s been a lot of fun, rather salty and very memorable. This photo is not a black and white one! But this post is not for the (foolhardy?) all-weather adventurers, it’s for people who want to stay warm and dry, especially if you have a family to entertain who may not share a love of the great wet outdoors.
Go Ten-Pin Bowling
The Jurassic Fun Centre at Freshwater Beach Holiday Park in Burton Bradstock has six full-sized American 10-pin bowling lanes. Do ring to book ahead.
Go Swimming
You’ll not stay dry but you will keep under cover if you go to the Jurassic Fun Centre to visit their indoor pools, best for younger children with slides and other water features. Again ring to check availability and book.
Bridport Leisure Centre has a 25-metre, six-lane main pool. They also have fun sessions with inflatables, see the timetable on their website.
Visit A Soft Play Centre
If you’ve small children then rain doesn’t need to stop play with several indoor soft play areas in the area.
Bridport’s latest indoor soft play centre is the Reef Soft Play at Seal’s Cove. Suitable for primary school children (aged 12 and under) it has a sectioned off specifically for children aged 0-3 years. Also at Seal’s Cove, for older children (from 5+) and adults, is Jurassic Ridge, South West’s newest indoor climbing centre. The centre has routes for beginners and stronger climbers too. You can grab a drink and watch all the action from the viewing galleries too.
Vurlands Animal Farm and the Eggcup has a soft play area in their Play Barn. Their tearoom serves delicious home-cooked lunches and cream teas.
The Community Waffle House in Axminster has created a small indoor soft play area for under 4’s. They also have some retro computer games older children can enjoy, plus a library of board games. Not forgetting the waffles of course.
See A Film
In Bridport the Electric Palace shows films occasionally. The nearest multiscreen is the Odeon in Dorchester.
Visit A Museum
Still looking for something family friendly? We have the award winning West Bay Discovery Centre just a few minutes walk away but if you want a day trip there’s loads of museums in Lyme, Dochester and beyond.
In East Devon there’s the Beer Quarry Caves. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like when you’re in a cave!
Enjoy Some Live Music
Have a look at what’s going on locally. Check out the guides for the Electric Palace and Bridport Arts Centre. Many of the local pubs and bars have live music regularly too, with some starting in the afternoon at weekends. A good bet is The Ropemakers. Look at Lemonrock to see listings for the area.
For Antique And Vintage Lovers
It may be too wet for the alfresco courtyard café but you will stay dry wandering around The Customs House Emporium, housed in an old listed warehouse near East Beach in West Bay. Lots of individual traders sell an eclectic mix of stuff, both old and new.
Antique and vintage lovers should also make a beeline to The Alleyways Bridport Antiques Centre in the Art & Vintage Quarter on St Michael’s trading estate in Bridport. It has 50 traders under one roof and is open every day.
For Art Lovers
From The Alleyways you can also visit the large art gallery Global Art Galleries and Bridport Vintage Warehouse at Unit 61. It has paintings for sale by a range of different artists with an eclectic and extensive number by the world’s most prolific reformed art forger, William ‘Billy The Brush’ Mumford. Painting versions of the works of many famous painters and passing them off as originals, he was eventually jailed for two years after putting more than £6 million in fake works through some of the art world’s best-known auction houses. He now recreates pieces legitimately under his own name.
Just around the corner from the cottage the art gallery at Sladers Yard sells contemporary British art, very lovely and expensive handmade furniture designed by local craftsman Petter Southall and designer craft by leading artists, designers and makers. Downstairs you can eat locally produced lunches, snacks and cakes in the gorgeous rustic café.
You can shelter from grey skies within the white walls and vibrant works of Artwave West, a contemporary art gallery based in Morcombelake, Dorset, just a short drive from Bridport. The gallery exhibits a frequently changing, collated and diverse range of British and international award-winning contemporary artists.
For Beer Lovers
Palmers Brewery have been brewing ales non-stop since the 18th century in the lovely old thatched brewery on the way into Bridport from West Bay. Take a tour and as you walk through the buildings you will learn about each of the stages involved in the process before a spot of beer tasting at the end. Tours run daily at 11am, Monday to Friday all year round and last two hours. Book in advance.
Put Your Feet Up!
Of course, you could always stay dry and warm by staying in before venturing out when the rain dies down. Light the woodburner and relax with a good book perhaps, you’re on holiday. If you’ve read all this and haven’t yet booked accommodation for your trip to the area, we’d love to welcome you to West Bay Cottage. Take a look inside the cottage if you wish, or head to our Book With Us page for availability, the rates and how to book.
I’ve just spent a nice long weekend at our cottage and thought I’d write a little about it here. I’m surprised it’s been so long since my last post. At this rate it will be an annual event. So here’s what’s been going on with West Bay Cottage this year.
The start of 2021 coincided with another lockdown which meant our first visit to the cottage wasn’t until April. We finally took down the Christmas decorations.
In May I had a solo trip to do a bit of painting. In the cottage, not landscapes. After much deliberation I repainted the kitchen cupboards exactly the same colour that they had always been. Afterwards I treated the kitchen to a new toaster and myself to a G&T.
A visit in early June we walked along the cliff path to The Anchor Inn in Seatown for lunch. It was so unexpectedly hot we got quite sunburnt on the walk. The pub is in such a nice spot with great sea views from the terraces. Walking back we wondered why all the cows stand so near to the cliff edge.
Later in June we bravely left our teenage daughter and a group of her friends home alone in the cottage for a few days. I’m glad to say that they, and the cottage, were all in one piece when we returned. Watch this and you’ll see why that’s quite lucky!
On to August and we spent a whole week in West Bay. Apart from going out on a paddleboard a couple of times, the main excitement was the replacement of the front door. The new door looks just like the old one, it has to as the cottage is Grade II listed. Unlike the old one it isn’t full of wood filler. Funnily enough I returned last week to find that Henry, aged 11, had written in the kid’s guest book this summer (big thank you to Henry for his effort) and had a lot to say about the new door. Brute force and and a run up required to shut it!? We were warned that the new draught excluder strip would take a while to compress but it isn’t very hard to close, honestly!
I spent last weekend at the cottage with my friends from college days. See this post for a write up of a similar weekend a few years ago. As ever, it involved lots of food and drink, and a little exercise too. On Saturday we walked the cliff path west before heading inland after Eype to have lunch at Downhouse Farm Garden Café. I forgot to take my phone so no photos but it was very pleasant and the walk means you feel you’ve earned your lunch, and the walk back means you deserve an ice cream from the Baboo Gelato kiosk too. That evening we had a takeaway from S&E fish and chips, it’s practically a tradition. On Sunday we went to the friendly Seagulls Restaurant for a good roast dinner, and couldn’t resist their yummy bread and butter pudding too. Book ahead.
I pottered about for a few days at the start of the week. West Bay was still busy but not as busy as I’d half expected, but of course schools are back now. One interesting sight was this big old ship in the harbour on Tuesday, called the Lydia Eva. It turns out it is quite a historic vessel, see here. Delving a little more I found out it was on its way to Lyme to appear in a Hollywood movie tracing the early life of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka. It’s going to play the passenger steamer that brings Willy to England. See this link.
Continuing my stroll around the harbour I noticed that the catch from the Top Cat catamaran was being unloaded. I peered to see what they had caught. The crate contained something that looked like it came out of John Hurt’s stomach in the film Alien! Definitely something it’s best not to see until it’s served up on a plate.
My last blog post at the start of the year marked ten years of owning our West Bay Cottage. No one would have guessed what Year 11 was about to bring. A trip to the cottage in early March and then lockdown meant we didn’t go back until July. We decided in May that if we could open the cottage in the summer at all it would be safest to leave big spaces between bookings. Once I’d arranged and rearranged bookings with that in mind it meant there were no gaps left for ourselves! So it was very nice to get down there again last weekend. Plus it gives me a few cottage related bits and pieces to update on here (which is a good thing as I’ve almost forgotten how!).
We had a lovely long weekend at the cottage in July, checked all was all fine, and gave it a late spring-clean. During lockdown we’d had all the windows refurbished by a local sash window company. They’d sent pictures of our renovated windows but it was good to finally see them in real life. They make such a difference to the cottage. A pleasure to open and close and no more rattling on windy evenings.
Another happy sight was outside the cottage. I was so pleased a lovely gardener had started to look after the front and back gardens last year. I hate to think what they would have looked liked left untended for so long. Luckily she loves gravel gardens and has made it much nicer and more colourful than my efforts ever could.
During our July weekend we looked out of the front window late one evening and saw three small badgers running around. They were easy to see as they’d turned on our sensor light. How lovely we thought. Perhaps not so lovely we agreed after we’d got a message from one of our August guests saying badgers were getting into the bins. We hoped it was just a phase they were going through. This Sunday we woke up to find a bin turned over and fish and chips leftovers scattered. I’m hoping two bungees now secured on the lids will put a stop to this unruly badger behaviour. If you stay on our cottage please keep them on the bins and do let me know if you have another messy badger invasion, although we don’t have a Plan B yet.
UPDATE – Our first guests after this reported that the determined badgers made a such a racket in the night they had to bring the bin inside, two big chunks had been taken out of a lid. Bungees not a success. We have a new plan, we are putting the bins in the garage for now.
That weekend in March we ate at The Hive Beach Cafe. They have a shop in the cafe and I couldn’t resist this poster. In July we got to hang it up, half way up the stairs. What is especially nice is that a local Lyme company makes them using seaweeds collected at our beaches in Dorset as well as Devon and Cornwall.
Did you indulge in a little lockdown retail therapy? I told myself it was good to support some independent businesses in a small way but frankly it was more for my own gratification. The excitement of a parcel arriving! So I bought a couple of very tactile additions for the cottage. First, a super soft sheepskin rug. I put it in the cottage’s back bedroom this weekend and your feet just sink into it. I was tempted to bring it back home again. Also, a gorgeous feather duster. Why use a dreary duster when you can be cleaning the cobwebs away with one fashioned from ostrich feathers? When William Morris said his ethos for domestic life – “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”- he might just have been talking about these two lovelies.
Well, that’s our cottage news. Fingers crossed we can remain open over the coming months, and for now we’ll be continuing with the big empty buffers between bookings for the peace of mind of guests, cleaners and ourselves too.
