please empty your brain below
CHIDEOCK - forever etched in my memory as the answer to a maths exam question for a place in Dorset with perfect symmetry through its name.

Man of Kent | 15.05.25 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I know the area well having spent many happy times at Seatown. Its great walking country including walks to Bridport from Chideock using the holloways you mentioned and from Bridport to Lyme via Golden Cap and Charmouth.

Just inland to the west of Chideock is Whitchurch Canonicorum with shrine of St Wite / Candida, also well worth a walk and a visit.

IanD | 15.05.25 - 5:38 p.m. | #

Also in Whitchurch Canonicorum.... the grave of Georgi Markov, died in London in 1978 after being stabbed by a poisoned umbrella on a London Street, allegedly by the Bulgarian Secret Service

Paul Bohane | 16.05.25 - 8:01 a.m. | #

Splendid photo of one of the Ammonite lamp standards on Lyme Regis sea front. When the major reconstruction finished in 2006/7 Dorset Council was going to put in horrid "sodium" street lights. There was a large public march through Lyme Regis - a place not generally known for such activity - demanding better treatment for the splendid seafront, and the lamp standards with the Ammonite features were the result. And they are a help for "dark skies", because of their special design.

Paul Bohane | 16.05.25 - 8:12 a.m. | #

Happiness at around 11 or 12 was a Letraset catalogue, given to me by an older relative. I found it again recently, possibly for the first time in over 30 years.

Paul | 16.05.25 - 8:19 a.m. | #

Please please go on holiday more often. This series is pure pleasure.

Caroline | 16.05.25 - 8:41 a.m. | #

This has taken me back, not only to my childhood but other times with my own kids as well.
Beautifully written, thanks.

Chris | 16.05.25 - 8:55 a.m. | #

As chauffeur, co-walker and father of the groom I can confirm that a very enjoyable and memorable week was had by all the holidaying party.

bblb | 16.05.25 - 9:08 a.m. | #

It's not only the top of the Cobb that slopes alarmingly. Go into Lyme's parish church and you really do walk up to the altar. The church also remembers a favourite Londoner with its stained-glass window depicting Thomas Coram.

Jonathan Wadman | 16.05.25 - 10:03 a.m. | #

I have simply loved this series, it has brought back lots of wonderful family holiday memories. Thank you

Mark | 16.05.25 - 10:37 a.m. | #

The Blue Waters holiday camp at Seaton was our destination for the autumn holidays in 65/66/67. Ultra modern at the time, I followed its inevitable demise with sadness online. A place of family memories, sunny days and ice cream.

Back then the original tramway, created by tram enthusiasts, some well known in the London transport scene, was still part of the rail network and BR steam hauled trains ran back and forth.

Steve | Homepage | 16.05.25 - 10:56 a.m. | #

There are very few words at all as long as ‘CHIDEOCK’ with vertical symmetry, so there are unlikely to be many place names (unless constructed specifically for that property, of course), meaning it's got a good chance of being the longest in the UK.

The only place I've found longer than that anywhere is OKEECHOBEE, a ‘city’ of 5000 in Florida. It's named after a lake, which in turn is a transliteration of ‘oki chubi’ = ‘big water’. So I don't think anybody was specifically choosing the name for symmetry!

Smylers | Homepage | 16.05.25 - 11:05 a.m. | #

A walk I would recommend is the approx. 4-mile coastal walk from Beer to Branscombe. You can either follow the clifftop path or descend to the path through Hooken Undercliff, a dramatic landslip in 1790. Great views of Beer, Branscombe, Sidmouth and the coasts beyond.

JohnC | 16.05.25 - 1:25 p.m. | #

Exquisitely delivered, Ted Rogers style.

tops | 16.05.25 - 2:40 p.m. | #

BOKIDDICK, south of Bodmin, is barely more than a single farm but has the Bokiddick Downs named after it so probably counts as a place. Anyway, at 9 letters it's the longest in the Office for National Statistics' GB place names gazetteer. There's COED COCH in Wales for another 8.

WAITHWITH in Catterick has the record for places symmetrical if written vertically. A special effort award goes to HOUGHAM WITHOUT, a parish near Dover, for its 13/14 near miss.

HTFB | 16.05.25 - 3:00 p.m. | #

Seaton tramway has a live channel on YouTube, it's surprisingly relaxing viewing.

mclm | 16.05.25 - 3:01 p.m. | #

We nearly bought a chocolate box cottage in Chideock 20 years ago on the main road but the traffic noise put a stop to that idea.

I know the area well having worked in Charmouth and spending a quite few holidays along most of the Jurassic coast and can absolutely recommend. The Palmers brewery tour was terrific as was the sampling, served by a member of the brewers family. All of this is backed up by, in my opinion,t he best of all in the UK ,namely the Lyme regis webcam available on YouTube. Zooms and rotates regularly and is a brilliant snapshot of seaside life. Watching fishing boats going about their business and brave souls taking a dip in all weathers is very tempting! Always the second thing I check every morning, after DG of course.

BongoJoe | 16.05.25 - 4:17 p.m. | #

?neht ytirestosp rof stsop eseht tnaw uoy ti ekat I

Graeme | 16.05.25 - 4:34 p.m. | #

The feeling of emotion and nostalgia at reading DG explore my home for the first 18 years of my life! The walk from Charmouth to West Bay is a must and only rivaled by Seaford to Eastbourne imho. There are lovely self catering cottages at Stanton St Gabriel (at the foot of Golden Cap). I volunteered at the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre for a summer 20 years ago. Highly recommended!

Taffy | 16.05.25 - 4:54 p.m. | #

Yay, Elephants!

Sorry for traumatising you a second time on Wednesday by remarking on it was tricky to collect them all.

Hope you and the family all enjoyed your time in West Dorset

Jonnus | 16.05.25 - 5:15 p.m. | #

But did you get any Dorset Knobs?

miker | 16.05.25 - 8:30 p.m. | #

I used to drive regularly between Exeter and Bournemouth so know most of these places you've visited. Golden Cap is absolutely my favourite place in the area so glad you were finally able to make it there and that it didn't disappoint.

cjw714 | 17.05.25 - 7:05 a.m. | #

The Lyme Regis fossil museum, as mentioned in the post, is really worth a visit, with a series of great dioramas of the animals alive at different times. It is inside an old Congregationalist chapel which Mary Anning attended, and also has interesting displays on the Victorian dispute between science and religion. One for "Locksley Hall" fans!

Morden Man | 17.05.25 - 12:24 p.m. | #

No wonder the lady in the Jane Austen story fell off The Cobb in an effort to advance the story!

Tones | 18.05.25 - 3:41 p.m. | #











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