Does everyone have that special place \u2013 or is it just me? Mine is Lyme Regis in Dorset. Going there makes me happy, walking on the famous seawall, The Cobb, makes me feel at peace with the world and leaving gives a tug to the heart that\u2019s painful.<\/p>\n
Lyme Regis \u2013 ah Lyme Regis! How can a place wiggle its way into your heart and stay there, no matter to where it\u2019s compared?
\nMost years, since I was five, I\u2019ve gone to Lyme. Sometimes for a full-blown holiday, sometimes just a long weekend, occasionally only for the day. This summer I managed a quick stopover, just for the night. I was desperate to get there, as I missed a trip last year due to having the puppy. I was concerned about how he\u2019d cope with such a long journey but also how anywhere we stayed would cope with him (and his chewing and mess!)
\nIt was busy. The weather was warm and, after the long and bitter winter we\u2019ve endured, people obviously wanted to get on the beach and make the most of the sun. Even though I prefer Lyme in its quieter months, I still got pleasure from being there. The sky seems more brilliant, the air milder and, for a landlocked midlander like me, it\u2019s exhilarating to be by the sea. <\/p>\n
But why has it such a hold over me?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just a seaside town, albeit one with rich literary connections. Jane Austen famously set her pivotal scene in Persuasion<\/em> on the seawall; Tennyson loved it, as did Beatrix Potter, and John Fowles encapsulated its charm in The French Lieutenant\u2019s Woman<\/em>. Even so, it\u2019s still just a seaside town, with a harbour, the usual smattering of amusements and beach huts. And there are some drawbacks! Some shops and restaurants have been known to close for lunch, even in the high season, the locals aren\u2019t all that friendly. As for parking \u2013 it\u2019s a nonsense \u2013 and expensive when you eventually find a space. Nearby Seaton works so much harder to attract the tourist.<\/p>\n But it still has a pull. If I haven\u2019t been there for a while, I get twitchy. I need my Lyme \u2018fix\u2019.<\/p>\n Over the years, I\u2019ve watched as different groups have \u2018discovered\u2019 it. For a while, it was populated by surfing dudes, with seal-like wetsuits and bleached hair. When the pound was weak, the French, Dutch and Germans came over on the ferry connection. For a while, \u2018Chelsea tractors\u2019 towed expensive motor boats out of the harbour. And it\u2019s always had its fans with the family holiday buckets and spades brigade. <\/p>\n But I\u2019m selfish. I like it best early in the morning in autumn, when the crowds have gone, the tide is high, and I can walk on my beloved Cobb, dodge the sea spray and dream I\u2019m Sarah Woodruff. Then the air is clear, the views across to Portland Bill are good and I have it to myself. www.lymeregis.com Does everyone have that special place \u2013 or is it just me? Mine is Lyme Regis in Dorset. Going there makes me happy, walking on the famous seawall, The Cobb, makes me feel at peace with the world and leaving gives a tug to the heart that\u2019s painful. Lyme Regis \u2013 ah Lyme Regis! How […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,39,61,64,60,63],"class_list":["post-160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-beatrix-potter","tag-jane-austen","tag-john-fowles","tag-lyme-regis","tag-persuasion","tag-tennyson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFor more information on Lyme Regis and the Jurassic Coast see:<\/p>\n
\nwww.lymeregis.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"