MY WEST BAY
By Frances Hunt

East Beach

I have known West Bay for over 50 years, and loved to visit it as a child, as I was able to play on one of the two beaches. Now I visit West Bay more frequently to fish off the piers or from the beach.

In West Bay I’m known as “The Fishing Cook”, as I’m a cookery writer (under the name of Frances Kitchin) who loves to cook what she catches and tell other people in “Total Sea Fishing”. When I want someone else to do the cooking, our apartment is ideally situated for eating out, with the West Bay Hotel next door, Seagulls opposite, and the Bridport Arms just round the corner. Around the harbour are lots of kiosks selling food, where you can buy your supper and either eat it there or else looking out to sea. A particular favourite is Rachel’s on the other side of the harbour, which sells more than the usual shack fare with several interesting dishes including Mediterranean Fish Stew, Chowder, Caribbean Fish Curry and Crab Salad. She’s very popular, so you may need to queue for a table. If you only want a drink, then there are three pubs that are within easy reach of staggering home!

There’s always a lot of activity around the harbour, so I spend a lot of time walking down the piers and watching the fishing boats bringing in their catches. The fishermen land a variety of fish, as well as shellfish, such as scallops, lobsters and crabs. Children also love to catch crabs by dangling their lines over the sides of the harbour. I use drop-nets to catch prawns when they are in season. Not all the boats are commercial trawlers, as there are others that offer a day’s fishing or shorter trips if you want to see the Jurassic Coast from the sea.

A few years ago they strengthened the piers and in doing so enlarged the outer harbour and provided floating pontoons for visiting boats. They also built a much larger slipway so it’s great fun just watching the boats going in and out. If you walk to the end of the piers there are wonderful views to Lyme Regis and Portland from there. They left the original Esplanade as it was, and this too is a lovely walk along the sea to Eype beach.

There are lots of shops in West Bay, and you don’t really need to leave it for everyday provisions. If you do, there’s a Morrison’s and a Lidl on the outskirts of Bridport and a Waitrose in the town itself.

Bridport is a very old, traditional market town with a proper street market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a Farmers’ Market once a month (on the Third Saturday). My husband often catches the bus by the harbour up to Bridport, and walks home. There’s also the Jurassic Coaster bus, which runs services hourly in summer and every other hour in winter to Weymouth, with connection to Poole, and Lyme Regis and Axminster, with connection to Exeter.

If you are a keen golfer, then bring your clubs as the Bridport and West Dorset Golf Club used to be just five minutes walk away. The green is still there, and some of the holes overlook the sea, but the entrance is now on the coast road to Weymouth. In the summer, there’s also a putting green.

So now you can see why I love West Bay, and hope that, if you have a holiday in our apartment, you will enjoy everything it has to offer.

Here are some other websites that you might find very handy …

· West Bay Angling Centre, where you can buy live bait and anything else you need for fishing.

· West Bay Sea Angling Club, where you can see what has been caught recently.