What is the fascination with walking along a very cold beach in the middle of winter? I fear I will have to live in England a long time to discover the secret. But this is what Pippa and I have been doing over the last couple of days. Strictly not always on a beach, we also walked along the Beacon overlooking Wellington in Somerset.

Australia Day was quiet, we had some wine and cheese by the fire and imagined being warm like in Australia.

But yesterday Pippa and I finally got to the coast. We went via Tiverton then headed down the M5 to Honiton, then along the A35 to Bridport. All the roads in England are numbered, they are also like this in Australia, but here they really help with navigating and giving directions.

It was a more time consuming trip than the Google Map directions suggested as we got caught behind a house on a truck in the lanes just out of Honiton and followed it to Axminster.

But eventually we passed the turn off to Lyme Regis without taking out Meryl Streep in the "French Lieutenant's Woman", you will need to have seen the movie to understand the reference.

We were in West Bay in time for lunch and given the time of year, and as this was a seaside resort town it was quiet to say the least. But the George Inn was open for lunch and dogs were allowed inside. (Another lovely thing about England). The bar man recommended the Mushroom Stroganoff, which I had while Pippa had the Pepper & Courgette (Zucchini in the real world) lasagna for lunch. Both were delicious and the puddings were even greater. Berry Crumble and custard, chocolate crumble. All washed down with beer and wine and admiring the beautiful building. I had imagined the opening chapters of Treasure Island and Jim Hawkins talking about the town with the pirate taverns. This town reminded me of that. But then I expect this would happen to me at any South Coast village, with the exception of Lee-Upon-the-Solent (which is more Orlando, Florida inspired than Orlando Bloom).

After the Inn we briefly looked around town then drove to a car park near Chisel Beach. This is the long beach that attracted us to this town in the first place as a place to walk Anouk. This proved correct.

The beach under the cliff was stunning. The cliff was so perpendicular that it gave the optical illusion of leaning over the beach. The sand was very coarse and pebbly. Harder to walk on but it did not stick to everything so our shoes and the dogs paws were clean when we came off the beach. (relatively! Ed)

Back in the car to allow the cheeks to thaw, all 4 cheeks, as the wind was brisk to say the least and came through the clothes. We drove back to Culmstock and had a yummy supper of vegetarian bolognaise and went to the Blue Ball which Pippa and I have decided is our new local.

We are planning a trip to Edinburgh and another to London at some point so keep in touch for more pictures of cute thatched cottages and green fields and stone buildings with Tudor roofs.