The Town Mill Bakeries, Lyme Regis & Sherborne

As promised in the last post, a look into this unusual eating place

One walks into what appears to be a large kitchen where cooks are busy preparing delicious food

We walk in and help ourselves and I try not to think about the ones who may not have washed their hands!

Delicious Italian bread smothered in goats cheese, olives, tomatoes and herbs and several other variations

Home-made soups and vegetarian casseroles, not to mention the salads and breads straight out of the oven

or the jugs of freshly made apple juice 

Alan and I choose Carrot and Coriander soup and the bread outlined above. The bowls were large, the soup was thick and I have to say it was the best I have ever tasted

Everyone sits communally at long tables and in no time we were chatting to people we had never met before 

No napkins but enormous kitchen roll freely available

and large dishes of butter and jam (jelly)

Breakfasts are served until 11.0 am (you make your own toast) and then lunch from 11.30 am until 2.0 pm (menu changes daily) followed by afternoon tea with delicious home made cakes straight from the oven. One pays on leaving and is trusted to say what they have eaten.

IT WAS FUN

The next day we visited Sherborne where they had a small franchise

There was just time to sample a late afternoon tea before leaving 

It was closing time but the owner said he would stay open as long as there was a customer in the 'house'

Here the bakery was on the ground floor with the eating space upstairs

Alan had one of his favourites - fruit scones and I had 

Lime Polenta (corn meal) cake

I make a lemon version of this at home and the texture of the ground almonds and polenta instead of flour is yummy

http://www.townmillbakery.com/

Looking through the photo album on  the above site is a treat

Lyme Regis, Dorset

We arrived in Lyme Regis in the rain and sat in the car park for a while until it eased somewhat
We then began our visit by walking down the hill that overlooks the famous Cob that juts out into the sea, English Channel. Those old enough to remember the film 
The French Lieutenants Woman 
will remember Meryl Streep standing at the end of the Cob dressed in a black cape and hood and looking like she was about to be blown off.

If you double click you will see that the outer Cobb wall is high above the sea and this is the part one can walk on 

We then walked down another hill into the town

There were a whole line of these sports cars, obviously a club holiday

After walking a while we had lunch in a very different and interesting place which I will keep for the next post

and then  proceeded to walk along the front to the far end of town where the Cobb, beach and harbour are

This picture is obviously out of sequence because the sky is blue and the sun did not come out until later in the day

We have walked from the far end of the bay and still have a way to go yet

because as you can see the Cobb is still some way off

We pass a picturesque beach side restaurant

and finally we leave the harbour and as we walk on the Cobb I do not take any photos as we are on a narrow strip high above the sea with nothing to hold on to. Do not like!

We are now at the end of the Cobb

We are looking at the famous Jurassic Coast where people go to collect fossils. It is 95 miles long and said to be 

185 million years old

Colourful fishing nets on the harbour side

These children have just been out to sea on a fishing trip and were very pleased to pose for my camera (with parents consent)

They had been fishing for Mackerel on this boat

Would have been fun but we were not planning on cooking fish back at the cottage

We are now walking back the way we came and have to walk back to the furthest point seen here as well as walking back through the town and up a very long and steep hill to the car park, so while sitting on a bench taking a rest in the sun I spot this Seagull feeding her chicks 

Beach front houses

Hope you enjoyed your visit and I will share with you the very interesting and unusual eating place in the next post 

Garden and Family

Slipping a garden and family post in between holiday escapades

dear little Oliver is now 5 (hard to believe)

Master of the House

Here we see him in the play house that Alan and I and our son bought him for his birthday

We kept telling 2 year old Rebekah that it was Oliver's present to which she kept replying 'Oliver must share, share, share'

Oliver's Birthday Card

and on our previous visit these two little darlings offered to help clean  up their family room

They wiped the dining room floor tiles with anti-bacterial cloths and then proceeded to use the same cloths to clean the TV screen!

At least their heart was in the right place

August is the time when I begin to get a little bored with the garden

The early colour has gone, or is beginning to go over and it is not yet time for the late or Autumn flowering stuff

so lets have a look at what there is just now

I love this two coloured Spirea

I bought it for £1 in a market sale quite some years ago

I have a number of Thymes but like this one by the pond best

The Grace smoke bush never fails but likes to take over

The above two were taken Sunday evening when arriving back from another whole day walking the streets of London

many pictures from this day eventually

All I wanted to do was sit in the shade and recover 

I love this Itea Ilicifolia

It is taking a long time to establish itself and it is quite rare

The only place I have ever seen it was where I bought it

at Christopher Lloyds gardens at Dixter

Some of the new roses that I planted out front last November to replace the ones we used to have there

Well goodbye Tree

It had to go having become quite diseased

Will be gracing  daughter Janie's open fire come the winter

Having had a number of days out recently I have so, so many photos to post but will be back to recent holiday ones in next post