sarah shepherd

It was Christmas time and being New Zealand orphans living in London we didn't have the usual family obligations for our festive celebrations.

So it was decided that we would go 'somewhere'. Oh the fabulous destinations we toyed with ... Sardinia, Luxembourg, Rome. But the snow came down and the fabulous destinations list came down with it.

So where to go? Well fate directed us toward the Devon/Dorset coast, specifically Lyme Regis. My obsession with River Cottage meant I had Axminster (a nearby town) on my list of things-to-do-before-we-go-home.

And oh, what a truly wintry English holiday we had. Three days of fog, unable to see the country side or sea views we had read about. Three days of changing directions as activities we had planned (albeit planned earlier than morning) were thwarted by Christmas closing times.

But as to be expected, the clouds did hold some silvery linings for us and I have some wonderful memories of our foggy, activity starved holiday in wintry England.

One of my favourite being the walk on the pebbly beach, unable to see much of the sea at all, but instead inspired by the colours of the boats,nets and buoys so richly revealed by the low lying cloud. Still and cold it was like walking into a postcard.