The Pig Yard

We enjoy holidaying in Dorset, it's one of our favourite counties and we were here in February. For us it has everything - quiet walks on rolling hills, pleasant seaside towns and usually sunshine. Normally we try to avoid holidays through the summer months but this year summer appears to have given us a miss.

Prior to booking the holiday we managed to get tickets to BBC's Gardeners' Question Time open day. We  took a detour to Sparsholt where the GQT team have their potting shed. The heavens opened as we arrived and it rained whilst we wandered around but we were lucky to see Bob Flowerdew, one of the panel, before we left.

Our flat had views of the sea from the patio. No matter what the weather was like it was an ever changing scene. It was a short walk down to the town and although it was downhill all the way the return journey was a hard slog. On the first morning Jane did this trip several times and the muscles on the front of her legs ached for the rest of the week.

The patio was a really pleasant area. We found some garden furniture and on several occasions we had breakfast outside in the morning sunshine.

The evenings were quite cool so sitting out was not as attractive.

Jane particularly enjoyed her toast and marmite.

The Cob at Lyme Regis is famous for the scene in The French Lieutenant's Woman where Meryl Streep wanders wistfully along the Cob looking out to sea. If you click here you will see a trailer...

Several evenings we strolled down to the Cob to walk out and watch the sun setting or the clouds forming.

English seaside is nothing without beach huts. They have to be painted brightly and various colours so they are personalised.

In an ever inflationary world these small huts will change hands for in excess of £15,000 without running water or electricity and various restrictions on how they may be used.

Between the time this photograph was taken and when we left some of the railings to the left were damaged.

Lyme is a very quiet town but it seems that it doesn't avoid vandalism.

This is a wonderful picture and somehow captures the ancient and modern feel of our holiday.

We decided to visit a local garden that featured in a two for the price of one offer. As we drove in there were rabbits everywhere so Steve stopped whilst Jane leaned out of the window and snapped this shot.

They weren't bothered by us at all.

Ever the gardening optimists we saw this shrub, a Cornus, and liked it immediately. The flowers are delicate and have a silken look to them.

It does grow quite large so we are going to try growing this in pot. If it becomes too successful for the pot then we'll find a spot in the garden for it to spread.

We're real suckers for interesting structures. Steve noticed this on the map before the holiday and was determined to find a walk that took us right by it.

It was relatively easy to find and although the way onto the top was blocked off we managed to squeeze through the railings and get the view from the top.

Although we were not aware of Golden Cap we somehow finished up walking here. It happens to be one of the highest cliffs along the coast and there is, of course, a considerable walk up hill. As we reached the top we came across some other walkers trying to set up a picture so we traded cameras and took pictures of each other.

This is a shot of Golden Cap from out Patio. With its yellow sandy cliffs its easy to see why it's called golden and from the distance it's possible to see how high above the sea it stands.

Ten miles from Lyme is a donkey sanctuary. Jane was in her element with over 100 to choose from. Her only disappointment was that there were no youngsters because all the rescue animals are gelded when they arrive so no chance of foals.

They are very well looked after and it seems incredible that they managed to keep the place going without charging an entrance fee and relying solely on donations.

In many towns along the coast there are notices warning visitors not to feed the gulls. We turned a blind eye and whilst Jane was throwing bread scraps into the air, Steve snapped away getting a variety of gull pictures with their wings outstretched.

Considering their size they are surprisingly agile in the air and can twist and turn to snap bread pieces.

A trip to the Jurassic coast wouldn't be the same without a stroll along the beaches looking for interesting fossils. In the past we would've spent time cracking open rocks in the hope of turning up something worth cleaning. Now we tend take pictures of them.

There were plenty of people breaking rocks for hours on end - is it a lottery or a rockery?

Every holiday requires a snap of the old fogies at leisure.

For a couple of 57 year olds we're not doing too badly.

Our final evening and so a walk down to the town for a meal in a small restaurant followed by a stroll around the harbour and out onto the Cob.

The sun was setting and the red sky was a for runner of a very wet start to the Saturday drive back home.

We loved our week away.