From Tony Grant, whose contributions to this blog are numerous: “Two years ago some of my friends wanted a weekend away so we decided on Lyme. Our wives went off to New York for the shopping. We tend to go to places more for the local beer than the literary connections, I must admit. Lyme has some very nice pubs and also we wanted somewhere where we could take a brisk walk. We thought of the Undercliff.”
The Cobb at Lyme Regis. Image @Tony Grant
It depends on the weather conditions but the Cobb at Lyme can look and behave like an evil spirited leviathan; a Moby Dick. It’s a savage beast. At other times it can be a gentle, peaceful and calm creature.
Jane Austen used the Cobb at Lyme for the setting of an integral scene in her novel, Persuasion.
The accident on The Cobb, to Louisa Musgrove, brings Anne Elliot to the fore. She is the one looked to by Captain Wentworth and the others to take charge.
John Fowles, who lived in Lyme for most of his life, used Lyme , The Cobb and The Undercliff as the settings for his novel ,The French Lieutenants Woman.Indeed these topographical elements of Lyme are like a group of brooding characters within the novel and shape the action as much as the human characters…” - Read the rest of the post at Tony Grant’s blog, London Calling.
View of the Undercliff from the Cobb. Image @Tony Grant
Click on image.
Wow, that was fascinating! I have been meaning to go to London Calling and finally did tonight. I loved seeing all the views of The Cobb though I still think I’ll have to see it to really “get it”. I loved the 360 degree feature. I’m absolutely going to Lyme Regis on my next trip over.
Vic, I hope I don’t sound like I’m making it up because I say it so often but I so enjoy your posts. Thank you, again!
What a great post. I love all that is England, and living in the U.S. it is posts like these that make me really miss England and wish I had stayed there.
Well, Patricia, you can always come back.
Thank you both for your very kind comments.
Lyme Regis, Dorset and the West Country as a whole, are worthwhile places to visit. They have some beautiful rugged landscapes and scenery. I’ve been lucky to have had many summer holidays in the West Country.
But hey!!! Where you come from has some fantastic places to see and visit too. I loved the Yosemite and driving down the west coast. Flying across the Rockies and out across America looked amazing, admittedly from 30,000 feet. You have a very lovely country.
Tony, Thank you so much for these lovely pictures. A close friend of mine who now lives in Dorset has been trying to convince me to visit. I have visited England (the home of my ancestors)and like Patricia felt as if I were home. I often wondered why my grandparents would ever leave such a beautiful place. In my heart, I long to return. I just love this site and all you offer.
Thanks as well, Tony. It all brings it back to me. I was born in South Devon and returned to live in East Devon so I knew Lyme well. A walk along the Undercliff is an experience because it has its own topology and micro-climate. Unusual plants grow there and it has this fairytale and slightly sinister feel in some parts. Though I now live in western Canada I have several water-colours of Lyme on my wall, painted by Andy Wood, who lived there for a while.
Charles