A Week in England: London, the Jurassic Coast, and Back Again
From the grandeur of Westminster to the fossil-strewn shores of Lyme Regis, a week in England offers a little of everything — history, charm, coastal adventure, and more pubs than one could reasonably visit.
Days 1–2: London — Westminster & Beyond
We flew overnight to Heathrow on Friday with British Airways. We decided to upgrade our seats to World Traveller Plus (a.k.a. premium economy). BA charges a pretty hefty fee to upgrade but, for me, it's one of the best upgrades out there. I actually got a last-minute deal offering the upgrade at $300 per person, which normally would have cost $600 so, yes please! The upgrade takes you from a 31-inch pitch to a glorious 38-inch pitch, which, for me at over six feet tall, is a blessing. The meal service is also considerably better.
Arriving on a Saturday morning, we needed to make our way into London. The best way by far is taking the Heathrow Express. This takes you to Paddington Station in about 15 minutes, and then you can jump on the Tube to get to your final destination, which, for us, meant hopping on the District line. I recommend buying your Heathrow Express ticket in advance, as it can save you more than 50% of the cost.
Our first base of operations was the Conrad St. James in Westminster, a hotel so close to Westminster Abbey that a well-struck golf shot, maybe a 5-iron for me, might rattle its stained glass. It's an ideal launchpad for exploring one of the most historically dense neighborhoods on Earth.
We weren't able to check in that early, but Hilton did store our luggage, allowing us to spend Saturday morning getting acquainted with Westminster on foot. The sheer number of landmarks here is staggering — every turn reveals another piece of British history. After working up an appetite, lunch was at the Feathers, a classic London pub that does exactly what a proper pub should. We were then able to check in and take a much-needed catnap.
That evening, dinner was at the Blue Boar, another Westminster pub with a warm atmosphere and solid food. It was a fitting end to the first full day. Here, I was introduced to the Padrón pepper, which, for all intents and purposes, is the same as the shishito peppers I'm so familiar with and love. They're served the same way, too: tossed in olive oil over an open flame and then garnished with a little Celtic Sea Salt.
Sunday brings a change of scenery. A ride on the London Underground takes us to the Sky Garden — the public garden perched atop the "Walkie-Talkie" building at 20 Fenchurch Street — for a leisurely Sunday lunch with panoramic city views. The gardens are quite lovely, but not particularly large. The views, however, are epic. As for the meal? Delish, but not cheap.
While access to the gardens is free — albeit with the expectation of a very long wait in the queue — booking at the restaurant will run you around 20 quid per person. In our case, this included a window table and a glass of bubbly on arrival. Then there's the cost of the meal itself. You're looking at around 60–80 quid each. Total expenditure for our group of three: £250, or about $335 USD. If you have a reservation, you can skip the line, at least. Make sure to go to the hostess and let her know you have a restaurant reservation, and she'll let you bypass the queue.
From there, it's a wander east to the Tower Bridge area, one of London's most iconic stretches of riverfront, where the bridge never quite stops impressing, no matter how many postcards one has seen.
A nearby store was a nice spot to stop in once the heavens opened up and nearly drenched us. Inside, we bought a few trinkets and learned about the ravens of the Tower of London. Legend has it that if the ravens leave the fortress, the Tower and the kingdom will fall. Therefore, a minimum of six captive ravens are kept at the Tower, protected by royal decree. Of course, my daughter had to purchase a raven charm for her school backpack while we were there.
Later, the evening draws westward to Soho for dinner at Shoryu in the pedestrianized Kingly Court — a Japanese ramen spot tucked into one of Soho's best-kept courtyard secrets. There are a dozen or so dining spots in this tightly packed court, so finding something to suit everyone's taste would be rather easy.
After dinner, our night rounds out with a walk through Trafalgar Square, where the lions stand watch and the city hums with its usual restless energy.
Day 3: Big Ben, Waterloo, and Arrival in Lyme Regis
Monday morning has a specific mission before the train: catching the noon bells at Big Ben. After years of restoration, hearing those bells ring out across Parliament Square is a genuine moment, the kind that earns its place on any London itinerary.
A taxi to Waterloo Station and a South Western train towards Dorset mark the shift from city to countryside. The train to Axminster passes through increasingly green and rolling English landscapes, and from there, a taxi delivers us to Lyme Regis — the beloved Jurassic Coast gem perched on the Dorset-Devon border.
We had arranged a taxi ahead of time through Go Eco Cabs, and it was a good decision. Not only was the taxi waiting for us at the train station, but our driver also gave us lots of lovely tips for visiting the town. That's how we learned about the pathway into town that follows the River Lim. It's a gentle, lovely walk along a narrow little river that winds its way to the town center. It's the perfect gentle introduction to a place that moves at an entirely different pace than London.
That evening, dinner was at Rock Point, overlooking the sea. See that little fossil symbol? It is an ammonite, and it is prevalent throughout the town. The food was very good. I had a few appetizers instead of a full meal. I started with the seasonal soup, which at that time was nettle soup, and it was exceptional. Paired with the prawn cocktail and a little gem salad, I was set. My wife loved her Mediterranean bowl, while my daughter was quite content with her tomato penne pasta. After dinner, we strolled leisurely back to our little cottage, marveling at the silence around us. The transition to the idyllic life was complete.
Day 4: Fossil Hunting on Monmouth Beach
The Jurassic Coast has certainly earned its name, and Lyme Regis is its most famous address. Tuesday is reserved for fossil hunting along Monmouth Beach, to the west of town. It's home to the remarkable ammonite pavement, a stretch of shoreline where the rocks themselves are embedded with ancient spiral fossils, worn smooth by centuries of tides. Several smaller fossils make the cut for the trip home. Oh, that's right, did I mention you can keep any fossils you find?
On the beach, a chance encounter with another family on holiday turns into an impromptu plan: meeting up that evening at the Royal Lion Inn, where they're staying. I chatted with the parents while their young son and my daughter explored the rocks for fossils. My daughter was complimented on having a "proper tool kit and satchel" for the adventure. (I bought it on Amazon)
They had been coming to the region every summer for years, as it's a very popular vacation spot during the warmer months, offering a lovely beach area for swimming. This was their first spring trip, though.
Before meeting up with the family, we decided to have dinner at Poco, a popular pizza restaurant in town. Popular enough, in fact, that a wait is involved. This is solved pleasantly by ducking into Swim, a restaurant and bar on the boardwalk, for drinks and a shared appetizer while we wait for a text letting us know our table is ready. Poco was worth the wait after all, as the pizza was fantastic. After pizza, it's off to the Red Lion to reunite with our new friends.
The night delivers exactly what English pub culture promises: several rounds of ping-pong, pints, and the sort of easy camaraderie that seems to come naturally in a good pub. It's one of those unplanned evenings that ends up being a highlight of the trip.
Day 5: The Charmouth Walk — Six Miles of Fossils and April Fool's Day
Wednesday is the big walk for my daughter and me. A double-decker bus carries us from Lyme Regis to the neighboring village of Charmouth, and from there — critically, at low tide — it's a six-mile walk back along the beach to Lyme Regis. Why low tide? Well, that's the only time the beach is passable in certain sections, and many a hiker has been cut off by the returning seas. In fact, on the very first day we arrived, there was a helicopter rescue of someone who did indeed get trapped between the cliff face and the sea. The moral of the story? Plan ahead and know the tide tables.
It also happens to be April Fool's Day, which the beach treats with full thematic commitment: despite covering six miles of fossil-rich shoreline, not a single keeper turns up. Plenty of impressive larger specimens embedded in the rock face earn photographs, but the pockets stay light. It's a beautiful, blustery, completely satisfying walk regardless.
The last stretch of the walk takes you along a high sea wall where you will meet Mary Anning, or rather, her statue. Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was an English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist. Back in Lyme around 2:30 in the afternoon, there's time to poke around a candy shop and a couple of local museums.
Of course, my daughter wanted an ice cream, which she fully earned. A six-mile walk with zero complaints? Miraculous! We sat on a bench on the boardwalk as she ate, all the while keeping a wary eye on the skies, watching for the dive-bombing seagulls known for stealing food right from a person's hand. Ice cream finished, we headed back to the cottage for a rest. The evening circles back to Swim for dinner, having earned a more thorough look at the menu after only an appetizer the night before. It does not disappoint.
Day 6: Back to London
Thursday is a travel day, but a civilized one. Before boarding, a stop at the Railway Kitchen at Axminster Station provides sandwiches for the journey. It's a pleasant little station café that makes the departure feel less like an ending and more like the next chapter. I should add that the trains here, most of them, it seems, do not have any dining cars or snack shops aboard, so make sure you bring your own food.
The South Western train rolls back into London, and after checking into a self-catering property near Baker Street (you know, that most famous fictional address...), the evening is spent on foot through Soho and Piccadilly Circus — an area that never seems to sleep and always has something to look at. At dusk, a Tube ride to the station nearest Buckingham Palace yields some atmospheric photos of the famous façade in the fading light.
The rest of the evening is spent on a pub crawl in search of a dartboard — a quest that, somewhat surprisingly, comes up nearly empty. We found one, just one, pub that had a board. One board and it was being completely monopolized by a group of very loud, and very drunk Eastern European chaps. London, it turns out, has fewer dartboards per pub than one might expect. I admit, I was rather put out.
Day 7: Richmond, Ted Lasso, and the Tate Modern
Friday is one of the best days of the trip. Family is waiting in Richmond — a prosperous, beautifully kept Thames-side town that turns out to be every bit as charming as its reputatin suggests. Lunch is at the Prince's Head, a pub with a notable claim to fame: it served as one of the primary filming locations for the hit TV series Ted Lasso. For fans of the show, it's a genuinely fun stop.
The Ted Lasso store nearby provides ample opportunity for souvenirs, and by ample, I mean around $300 worth of stuff! Hey, I like the show, and the number of acknowledging smiles I get when I walk around back home wearing my Richmond Greyhounds tracksuit jacket is impressive.
After lunch, a walk along the Thames at Richmond is mandatory. The riverside path here is leafy, peaceful, and a world away from the tourist scrum of central London. An ice cream stop completes the scene.
Back in the city, the afternoon takes a more cultural turn with a visit to the Tate Modern. Tickets had been booked in advance for an exhibit featuring the work of Tracey Emin — which turns out to be, to put it diplomatically, not to everyone's taste. The work is graphic and unsettling in ways that catch us off guard.
I am not a fan of "modern art," but I've been willing to endure several visits to appease other family members. To put it less diplomatically, however, this exhibit was gobsmackingly horrible, and I hated every last second of it. Noted for next time: preview exhibits before purchasing tickets, particularly at modern art institutions. The rest of the Tate offers more accessible pleasures, but the visit leaves us with mixed feelings overall.
A late dinner at a random Soho pub closes out the evening on a more congenial note.
Day 8: Portobello Road and the Journey Home
Saturday morning brings one last London experience: the Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill. It's chaotic, crammed, wonderfully eclectic, and absolutely mobbed. Stalls stretch in every direction, selling antiques, vintage clothing, food, trinkets, and the kind of one-of-a-kind curiosities that can't be found anywhere else.
Not everyone in the group shares equal enthusiasm for the crowds, but forging ahead through the press yields rewards, including a proper Liverpool road sign, the kind of souvenir that actually means something and looks great on a wall back home. It's also a lovely little neighborhood to walk around, at least away from the main crowded areas, and it has a row of very colorful houses that have been featured in several popular movies. From Portobello Road, it's westward to Heathrow again on the Heathrow Express and then onward home.
The Essentials
Where to Stay
London (Westminster): Conrad St. James — central, comfortable, and practically in the shadow of Westminster Abbey
Lyme Regis: Self-catering cottage via Booking.com — ideal for a longer stay in a coastal town where you'll want a base
London (Return): Booking.com apartment near Baker Street — convenient for the northern and western parts of the city
Don't Miss
The ammonite pavement at Monmouth Beach (low tide recommended)
The River Lim walk into Lyme Regis town center
Kingly Court in Soho for dinner
The Sky Garden for lunch with a view
Richmond — especially if you're a Ted Lasso fan
Portobello Road Market (go early, and go hungry)
A Word on Timing
The Charmouth-to-Lyme beach walk is only possible at low tide — check tide tables in advance
Book the Sky Garden well ahead; it fills up quickly
Preview Tate Modern exhibits before purchasing tickets
England rewards slow travel. A week is enough to scratch the surface — Westminster's grandeur, a coastal town that feels like it belongs to another century, Richmond's quiet elegance — but it's also just enough to know exactly where to go back.
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