Lyme Regis, and Some New Chickens!

Last Saturday Family W took a trip to Lyme Regis. It was a gloriously sunny day, but with a stiff breeze that necessitated the wearing of layers - strip them off in the sun, pile them back on in the shade, on, off, on, off, a typical "summer" day in Blighty. I'd forgotten just how steep the main street (Bridge Street) is in Lyme, and we managed to park off yet another hill at the top of that one, which did my calf muscles no end of good (although it didn't feel that way at the time) as I pushed the pram along. Pity poor hubby though who had DC perched on his shoulders most of the way.

Our first port of call was Absolutely Cupcakes where hubby & I chose a vanilla (him) and raspberry ripple (me) cupcake; DC didn't get a look in. Bad parents. Or good parents, from the point of view of preserving his teeth and waistline. Then it was down the hill, round the corner to the Blue Lias Gallery for a bit of a nosey at the "competition", and over the road to the beach. Obviously the first thing we had to do was get the packed lunch out: then it was time for a stroll along the prom to the sandy section of the beach where we tried to persuade DC to have a little paddle; but he was having none of it - every time a wave came even barely near lapping his tootsies he would scarper leaving Mummy to pretend that having icey cold sewage between her toes was fun. Clearly the child is a lot brighter than he makes out as only days later Lyme Regis was reported as having the 6th worst beach for water quality (read: sewage content) in the UK.

Feeling the need to recover from our dip in the Channel, it was time to stop for ice cream at a fab little 'kiosk cafe' called Pinky; DC had a little tub of ice cream while hubby had a lemonade and I had a delicious hot choc. Next time though I'm going to make sure I have room for one of the fantastic-looking sundaes that were being paraded past us to the other tables - yuuuuuuuum.

After all the fun beachside, we made our way back up the steep, steep hill with a brief pause along the way to buy a Gazillionaire's Shortbread from Mulberry Manor. I wish I'd taken a photo of it (and the shop) so that you could all join me in drooling over the delicious-ness; possibly one of the nicest of these types of cakes I've had in a long while, although VERY VERY sweet.

On the way home we made a small detour in Axminster to visit Axe Valley Bird and Animal Park where we bought two new chooks to keep poor old Gail company. May I present Betty (grey/black) and Fizz (red/brown). Gail has established the pecking order already, with poor old Fizz languishing at the bottom; but there is very little fighting going on and they all seem to be getting on well. So far.