Lyme Regis

A quick visit to Lyme Regis earlier in the month. Starting with a stroll from town to Cobb, where we found a mobile sauna. Many more pictures of same to be found at reference 1, but don't bother if you are hoping for nubile occupants.

Strolled back to the Royal Lion, now part of the Hall & Woodhouse empire, to be found at reference 2. Took a time out in our room, containing, inter alia, the tribute to old fashioned craftmanship snapped above. Wonderful what they could manage without proper levels. The only catch being that it was rather awkward working at the plinth mounted table while sitting on a floor mounted chair. I made alternative arrangements, made possible by the formidable intelligence of the modern (computer) mouse. I might say that the Internet service was a great improvement on that offered by previous management.

Then down to dinner, no longer in the grand Oak Room upstairs, rather in what had been the rather underused lounge to the right of the main entrance, now upgraded to a dining room. While the Oak Room is now reserved for breakfasts and functions and the pianist has been moved from a part-time to a zero-hours contract. We supposed that there must be another kitchen behind the downstairs bar, as otherwise it would be a long walk from the kitchen behind the Oak Room.

In any event, we had the services of two waitresses that knew their business, one somewhat older than the other. Always a pleasure to be served by people who can do it properly.

There was a difficulty with the wine in that it turned out that there was only one bottle of the wine we selected, snapped above, and the second bottle had to be something else, probably a Sierra Grande Sauvignon Blanc with a light elegant style with citrus and green fruits; friendly approachable wine from Chile. First bottle to be found at reference 3, the second not run to ground. Or perhaps I should say terroir. As it happened, I wondered this morning whether there are specialists out there who specialise in knocking out these websites for wine growers. People with a real knack for sourcing arty pictures of grape covered hillsides, tastefully decorated with wraiths of mist. Arty pictures of wholesome peasant families knocking up their wine in antique surroundings. All that sort of thing.

I took steak and chips. Not bad for the price and triggering an inconclusive discussion about the relative merits of once, twice and thrice cooked ships. I made two contributions. First, I like my chips to have the texture of potato, not of some powdered confection. Perhaps 'al dente' is the proper phrase. Second, my understanding was that canteens liked twice cooked chips because they could do the first long cooking of a big batch in the quiet hours of the morning, then do the short second cooking of a portion as when someone asked for them. Freshen them up a bit. Helped to bear down on the time from order to food on the table. 

In due course we retired to the bar on the other side of the divide. No Calvados and I may have settled for Monkey Shoulder. Good gear, of which, as it happens, I had my own bottle at home, finished off last night. Which meant that I looked at the bottle more carefully than usual, it turning out to be an expensively crafted production, a fitting analogue to the winery websites.

So a very thick bottomed bottle, giving it a distinctive, heavy feel when you handle it, when you pour from it. A fake old label with just slightly ragged edges. Said to come from Batch 27, suggestive of that batch being far superior to any other batch. Three brass monkeys embedded in the bottle above the label. Three more monkeys cut stencil-fashion out of the plastic topping to the cork stopper. I shall have to take the time to notice which of the presently popular brands put so much effort into their bottles.

The whisky appears to be a joint production between Grant & Sons and Global Brands Ltd. The former of these is to be found at reference 4, where they admit to Irish as well as Scotch whisky. But Bing turns up lots of global branding companies, some of them into alcoholic drinks, but none of them the right one. Perhaps another time.

At breakfast the following morning, for once in a while, I tried one of the oranges on offer. Better than I expected. And I was amused first by the little slip of greaseproof paper that lots of places insist on putting under things like beefburger and fried fish. Rather unsightly once they have soaked up all the grease. Second by the fact that Messrs. Hall & Woodhouse appeared to have sourced their plates from the very same place as Mr. Wetherspoon. Is the latter a silent partner in the former?

Sour dough toast perfectly acceptable, if not quite the same as real toast.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Royal Lion lives on. Hall & Woodhouse have freshened the place up and we shall, no doubt, be back again.

References

Reference 1: https://shorelinesauna.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://www.sileni.co.nz/.

Reference 4: https://www.williamgrant.com/.