South Australian State Flower

A visitors tale:

Rose Hampel is a lady from Australia, who travels the world and visited Lyme Regis for its literary connections.  Rose arrived in Lyme early in 2005 to see the places she had read about and apart from book prices it looks like the stay was enjoyable.

I arrived at Lyme Regis late in the afternoon. I had a small map of the town in my Lonely Planet guide, and the street on which my B&B was located seemed quite normal – until I turned in to it – it was no more than a glorified footpath! Thankfully only one-way traffic, although I had my doubts to begin with! Lyme Regis is a tiny village tucked into the side of a valley in a little bay. The houses, all white and pastel pinks and yellows seem to tumble into each other. Being mid-winter it was very quiet, and unfortunately a few places I would liked to have visited were closed.
 
My B&B, Coombe House, was very pleasant, and the hosts lovely and interesting people. Hugh’s comments in their little introductory folder were very entertaining! I stayed for two nights, as I wanted to have a full day to wander about the town.
 
My main reason for choosing to visit Lyme Regis rather than any other adorable seas-side village was because it was one of the settings for my favourite Jane Austen novel, Persuasion. I had read that Austen visited the place with her family, and really loved the place. I had also enjoyed the film adaptation starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. I wanted to see the places that featured in both the novel and the film.
 
I spent the day wandering along the seashore, making my way slowly to the Cobb, the protective wall that enables the bay to be used as a port. In spite of the fact it was winter, and it was snowing wildly throughout most of the rest of England, it was a perfect day, with a clear blue sky and sunshine. The beach was pebbled, and I loved the swish the water made on the smooth rocks. I walked along the Cobb until I found the steps Louisa was supposed to have fallen down. The steps Jane Austen had in mind are called ‘Granny’s Teeth’, and were a little too precarious to tempt me to walk down them. A little way further along  were another, more stable, set of steps that were used in the film adaptation.

I returned to the town to wander up the high street – a very steep climb to the top! The town seems largely unspoiled by tacky tourism, and there were some charming shops. I found a sweet little second-hand bookshop at which I found a copy of Baedeker about Italy. I had always wanted to see this book since I had read A Room With a View. I couldn’t resist buying it, although at 25 pounds, I have no immediate intention of flinging it into the Arno when I visit Florence! It came in quite cold in the late afternoon, and even began to snow a little.
 
I left the following morning well satisfied with my visit to Lyme Regis. I really did fall in love with the place and should love to visit again some day. My B&B host encouraged me to visit one of the local charity shops to buy the copy of Persuasion she had seen there for only a pound, particularly as I was now heading to Bath. I am glad I took her up on the suggestion as I devoured it in two weeks – being able to picture the places Austen writes about really does bring the novel alive!

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