Dorset Spring 2012 :: days 1&2

:: DAY 1 ::

Weather report ~ cold with a stormy grey sky, although miraculously no rain.

Very similar to our last visit in August 2011 the weather on the first day of our holidays looked a bit grim. The sky was ominously dark and grey and we felt sure we would be in for a downpour at any minute.

We journey to Dorset in the evening, arriving late in the dark, and always my very first thought upon waking on Day 1 is that we must get down to the sea. Quick smart, no matter what the weather, we must get to the sea. It's become something of a ritual for us, this first trip to the coast, it's less than 10 minutes drive to West Bay from where we stay at my Dad's house and I honestly cannot tell you how very much I look forward to it. It's my Day-1-sea-fix.

10am and there we were, striding/scootering/toddling out along the pier to breathe it all in. Brrrrrrrrr it was cold though! There was a damp feel to the air (very autumnal actually), and it really chilled through our clothes. But oh, the air smelt divine to me, that familiar fresh, salty tang that fills me with joy every-single-time. And the light was rather incredible, sort of dramatic and unpredictable. Cos although it looked incredibly stormy, there were some wonderful shafts of distant sunlight alighting on the landscape. And no rain came to us either. We could literally see it falling further round the bay, but it never made it as far as our patch. We were blessed I think.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know these boaty scenes well by now. I never tire of this amble around the harbour, not ever. The sight of the boats bobbing gently on the water, the sweet familiarity of it, the fact that it remains so unchanged across the decades, I just love it all. It spells Childhood to me, takes me back to my own Little Years in an instant.

I am a bit lost for words all of a sudden. How beautifully boaty this picture is?! My heart is squeezing at the sight of it, I feel like I could still be there.

I have to tell you that Little B also loved the boats. It was great fun having him with us this holiday as he is a jolly good little walker now, and his speech is coming on a treat. He's still just using single words (he can say "boat" beautifully), and I just loved to hear him exclaim and point out everything he could see and name.

We are into the afternoon now, I put my camera away while we went to my favourite cafe on the beach for morning coffee, then off to a country pub for a delightful chatty, lengthy (rather boozy) family lunch.

My brother and his family were also visiting, so after the aforementioned lengthy lunch we found ourselves back down at the bay, pootling about with them.

My sister-in-law decided that it should be crabbing time, do you remember me telling you about this last summer? Such fun for the Little Peeps! Thirteen crabs were caught, admired, inspected, chatted to, then released back into their watery abode.

While the crabbing went on (and it was quite a long crabbing session), I wandered off by myself  for a little bit of salty me-time.

I took myself onto the rolling shingle of East beach, lay myself down on my back, arms and legs stretched wide and eyes closed. I took in the sound of the waves crashing in and the gulls screeching overhead, the faint sounds of shouting children and a barking dog. I probably looked very daft indeed, but I did not care. It was quite delightful.

:: DAY 2 ::

Weather report ~ wet, wet, wet. Blustery winds and pouring rain all day.

My brother was leaving that morning, so we had arranged an early 9.30 rendezvous back at the Watchhouse cafe for a family breakfast. We are a large party (8 adults and 5 children) and we took over two tables. The cafe was warm, fragrant and busy, the windows cosily steamed up with rivulets of rain coursing down the outside. Great coffee and super poached eggs on toast. Mmmmm.

With the weather preventing us from doing Outdoorsy things, we took the Little People to sample the delights of Indoorsy things. West bay is charmingly unspoilt, and there isn't much in the way of Amusements. But this dinky little place has been there forever, and it remains sweetly old fashioned and rather full of nostalgia.

The Little People were captivated by the Tuppenny Falls, so we gave them £1 each converted into 2p's (50 coins) and let them at it. Little Man kept his going for ages, feeding them strategically into the machine and waiting excitedly for them to finally tumble over the edge. Great whoops of joy when the machine spit out a handful of coins, which were then promptly fed back into the machine. All good fun.

The afternoon passed slowly. We spent the time at Lady B's, cosy and warm indoors while the rain continued to fall. Her garden always looks so lush and beautiful no matter what the weather.

In actual fact, a whole afternoon cosy indoors with Little People happily occupied was quite blissful. I settled myself at the table and immersed myself in circular hooky bliss while the LP discovered the joys of Monopoly. Little Lady, almost 8 years old now, was new to the game and it was really lovely listening in to Little Man's careful explanations of the rules and helpful guidance as she learnt the skill. It was a long game (2 hours), and they thoroughly enjoyed it, so much so that the very next day we went and bought one for ourselves. We are not a gaming family (I actually really cannot stand to play board games, never have done) but in recent times J has introduced Scrabble to the Little People, and now evening games of Monopoly have become a regular occurance. Little Man is quite a skilled Monopoliser it seems, not sure if that's a good thing or not?!

My holiday hooky has been quite wonderful, I'm so enjoying this yarn and these colours. The simplicity of this circular pattern (which you can find a tutorial for here) makes it a very relaxing pastime. I think I could quite happily crochet circles forever.

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ps more holiday tales to follow tomorrow with Days 3&4, thank you for indulging me ♥

 

 

Comments

[Anita]

Lovely pictures.

[Victoria]

Stunning photos - as usual. Glad you had a great break in a great part of the world. x

[Yvonne]

Such a lovely blogpost! Am really enjoying your pictures and story's and could never get bored of boaty pictures.

[Caroline]

that does look like such a beautiful place to visit.

[greenrabbitdesigns]

I can taste the salt on my lips! :)

[Penny]

thank you, thank you, gorgeous English holiday blog. Penny in Australia.

[Cate @ Twig & Blossom]

Thanks for indulging us! So lovely. Cate x

[Pembrokeshire Lass]

What lovely and dramatic photos. Glad you had a good time despite the weather. Joan

[penny freshour]

oh my...what a wonderful way to start my day!
thank you so much for sharing!

[nzcynth]

Thanks for sharing! Lovely pictures and tales of your holiday...

[jennie]

ahh so good, thank you for sharing, you've made me quite envious I love pottering about the coast and harbour, love indoor days we have a huge bag of 2ps on my little peeps bookshelf that comes out every holiday, love sitting surrounded by family while I crack on with knitting or crochet. bliss

[VintageVicki]

I love WestBay and that cafe - been to both several times on our hols - sadly no plans to visit in 2012 though :(

Can't beat a play on the pennyfalls on a wet day - appeals to all ages :)

[Linda from Boston]

I want to live in Dorset.............

[Patricia]

Lovely. I can almost smell the sea and taste the salty wind. You are such a talented writer. I haven't been to England for years now and your posts make me feel nostalgic for all those pleasurable moments (seaside cafes, brightly coloured boats, seagulls, children gathering shells and stones...). I love love reading about all that. My children are about the same age as yours, just a bit younger, but I think I'm going to buy a game of Scrabble too, and perhaps (a bit later) a Monopoly. Thank you, as always, for sharing.

[lynne at Textile Treasury]

Glad to see the rain didn't stop play! I have a horror of modern 'amusement' arcades but crikey, a pounds worth of coppers each will hardly break the bank and it did look fun.

We weren't a particularly gaming family either - but when the 'larger' extended family got together all the cousins would play monopoly - 2 hours?? Phwt! You aint seen nothin' like our whole -day marathons! (granted we were slightly older!)

Oh the boats, the boats, I love those views. Here in Norfolk we do see a few(!) but my probably-never-to-be-realised dream of moving to a coastal village in Wales or Northumberland would satisfy my soul! Great post, Lucy kep those piccies coming!

[rose-marguerite]

Thank you for sharing. Your pictures are so lovely. Dorset seems to be so beautiful.
Regards from Brittany, France

[louise]

Sounds super so far, I have loved all of your pictures. I live about as far from the sea as it's possible to be in the UK so don't often get to the coast but I love it so much!

I'm looking forward to day 3 and 4 now!

[Kirsty]

Beautiful photos, I really love the third one with the patch of sun falling on the headland/houses, it's quite magical.

[Joey]

What do you think of the new Cafe?! We really like it - love what they've done with the outside space but still cute inside too. It's so fun seeing your pictures of the harbour- we love the same boats! There's a yellow one I've got my eye on at the moment too - I'll take a pic for you x

[Nanita]

Ahhh bliss! I too can smell the sea just reading this, so keep them coming! ;-) We're off to the sea within less then a month, can't wait! xxxx

[Naomi]

Aaahh lovely jolly holly pictures :) My hubby and I are board game lovers, scrabble and monopoly are our faves! xxx

[Lynn Dudley-Taylor]

Absolutely heavenly! Can't wait to get back to the UK in the summer for some of the same, thank you!!!

[Virkarina]

Gorgeous pictures, glad you are back and that you all ad a great time :)
Nothing quite beats the sea air , I just came back myself from a weekend away by the sea .

Looking forward to tomorrows post :)

Have a great day !

Http://mamaviking.blogspot.com

Virkarina

[Maggie]

Oh it looks lovely and cosy at Lady B's! Maggie xx

http://prettyflowersinthewindow.blogspot.co.uk/

[Val]

Lovely blog. Sometimes the simple things are the best. We always used to go rock-pooling when I was little and then when my boys were young we did that again, you can never get bored, there's so much to discover. Looking forward to your next report, Thank you for cheering me up. Val x