The snows still melting beside the hedgerows , after the "Beast from the East " we set off to Charmouth for a refreshing little break away Dinosaur hunting again .
The weather was absolutely beautiful for the whole week , raining only at night !
We drove down to the beach car-park and got stuck in fossil hunting straight away . We each found a few of these pyrites coated ammonites dotted here and there on the shingle . That geological hammer might just as well have stayed at home . All our finds were found just lying on the shingle and sand , well away from the dangerous cliffs .
Next off to Axminster where we always love to visit The Old Chapel Antique and Craft Centre ..I bought this pretty chamber pot with Violets on for £3.00 !!! It will look so lovely under the bed ...actually no.. lol !..I am planning to put a plant in it ....anyway ..very pleased with that . They have a vintage book shop within the centre too..but didn't find anything this time .
I was really looking forward to going and having breakfast at The River Cottage Cafe in Axminster ...only to find it was closed ..several people walked up to the door as we did , to find it locked :( ....sigh .....so we went over the road to the TH Home in Store Department store , where we enjoyed beautifully done toasted tea cakes (not burnt as in so many places ! ) and a big pot of tea ... very enjoyable indeed !
Naturally we had to pay a visit to Groves Nursery ! They specialise in Violets , which were so sweetly perfumed that I just could not resist !
Gloxinia corms , Colocasia ,onion sets ,shallots , beans and a very small variegated Rubber Plant from their wonderful House Plant section .
Back in Lyme Regis..to the wonderful Fine Food Ammonite Lyme Regis Shop !
Look at it..how can anyone resist going in here !
We stocked up again with our favourite Relishes and my husband bought a bottle of something .
There are a few charity shops and I found this little fox for my grand daughter in the Children's Hospice S.W shop .
I found a sweet pair of fire bellows with a Cornish Piskie on , in the Antique and vintage collectables centre ...I apologise for not being able to remember the name of this gem of a place....crammed to the gunnels with intriguing bric-a-brac and gems and fossils . There is a brilliant cafe in there too , but we didn't have time as the ticket on the car was about to run out !
I filled in odd moments stitching a vintage kit ....but there was more fossil hunting to be done too !
Fifteen or twenty years ago there used to be lots of these broken Belemnite pieces and then they all seemed to dry up , it seemed to me anyway . I noticed this time that they are back..lots of them ...not that I want to collect lots of them but I think it is a good sign of other and more exciting things to be found too .
While I am talking about the beach , I noticed that there seem to be more people with dogs than ever before..but I also noticed that people ARE cleaning up after their dogs and the beach is nice and clean . Well done Charmouth !
There is still a lot of plastic being washed up though..everyone..new rule.... if you go to the beach you must pick up three plastic things and put it in the bin at the top of the beach . If everyone does this it really will make a difference !
A little more stitching time . I will let you into a secret ....I,m not enjoying this kit . The instructions call for one to use the Anchor Embroidery cotton all six strands as it comes off the skein ! The linen is in my opinion not the correct fabric for this kind of surface embroidery ...but I will persevere ...while I,m on holiday anyway .
Then off to the church of St Peter and St Paul in Cattistock Dorchester , clutching a pot of sweetly scented Violets to give the lovely Rev.Linda Wilcock , who gave me permission to take photographs of the William Morris and Sir Edward Burne - Jones stained glass window , from which I have embroidered one of the Pre-Raphaelite Angels .
It was a surprise to see so much of the Arts and Crafts style here ! If you're in the area....you must pay a visit to this Church .
Please see my other blog for more on my embroidery .
pixiepinsandneedles.blogspot.com
I took some better photos of the window than this to study and I may embroider another of the Angels some time in the future .
Coming to St Peter and St Paul's church Cattistock was my main reason for coming on this trip and I was delighted ..by the way if you were in Cattistock last week you might have seen me waving the Cornish flag as we drove through ! :)
More fossil hunting and my husband found this lovely sea urchin fossil which he says has come out of the Greensand layer along the top of the cliffs .
No he didn't climb the cliffs to get it ! Once again it was found in the shingle further down the beach .
We have never found any Echinoids here in Charmouth all the years we.ve been fossil hunting here ! Very envious ! ....but not for long .....
Next day , I was too tired to stomp the long walk up the beach towards the Golden Cap...so I said goodbye to the others , warning them to keep away from the slumping and crumbling cliffs and not to go onto the mud in case they should get stuck or sink into the sinking sand ..etc etc etc....they were glad to be shot of me !
I,d only been on the beach for less than five minutes and where the shingle meets the flat sand ...I found this !
A roll of four baby Ichthyosaur vertebrae !
That made the whole trip more than worthwhile ! Very happy Mummabear me !
So then we came home and had another day of snow which really didn't last very long .....and the sun has come out again .
The snowdrops have finished and all the pretty Primroses and Violets are coming out in the hedgerows .
Lots of people down at Poldhu , families and children sitting in the sand building sandcastles with their buckets and spades ...paddling in the stream that flows down through the valley and crosses the beach to the sea .
The Poldhu Beach Cafe is very busy serving delicious food , seating inside or we sat outside at a picnic table over looking the beach with our coffee and chocolate ice creams .
Lots of happy wagging tails too , as people take their dogs to the beach for their last week of fun . No Dogs from Easter Sunday .
Please pick up after your dog and either take it home with you or put it in one of the dog poop bins in the car-park . (God Bless the person who has to empty it ! )
Don't leave it in a bag on the path or beside the road .
Do not throw it into the hedgerows either..disgusting..clean up after your dog and keep our beautiful village clean and hygienic .
You wanted that lovely dog, now clean up after it !
We are watching you !
So now I,m busy, really busy sowing seeds and getting Mummabear's Veg Garden 2018 up and running . My Celery and Leek seeds are already germinating ..I sowed them just before our trip .
I,m not unwrapping the outside garden tap just yet ...but Spring ..she has definitely arrived !
