took place in 1839 on Christmas Day and the
country people were awakened during the night by loud and continuous
noises like the rumble of distant artillery. It was found the next
morning that a chasm nearly a mile long and about 400 feet wide had
been formed parallel with the shore. This subsidence continued for a
couple of days and took with it, without loss of life, several
cottages. The wildly erratic disorder has been covered with a lovely
profusion of flowers and plants in the sheltered valleys and ravines
of this miniature Switzerland, and the whole undercliff as far as
Rousdon and beyond is a wonderland of beauty.

Uplyme, three-quarters of a mile beyond the station, is in Devon. This
may have been one of the pleas put forward a few years ago when
strenuous efforts were made to get Lyme Regis transferred to the
western county. The pretty village is about a mile and a half from
Lyme Esplanade on the Axminster road. The church has been judiciously
restored, but there is nothing of great interest to be seen apart from
the old yew tree in the churchyard. Not far away is a beautiful old
manor house called the "Court Hall"; it is now a farm house. The fine
porch and queer old chimneys make a picture worth turning aside to
see.

[Illustration: OTTERY CHURCH.]

CHAPTER VII

EAST DEVON

To go from one Dorset or East Devon coast town to another by rail
involves an amount of thought and a consultation of time-tables that
would not be required for a journey from London to Aberystwyth, and
unless the traveller hits on a particularly lucky set of connexions he
will find that he can walk from one town to the other in less time
than by taking the train. From Lyme to Seaton by the Landslip is
barely seven miles; by rail it is fifteen, involving two changes. From
Seaton to Sidmouth is nine miles by road and twenty-four by rail, with
two changes and a possible third. Each of these sections can be
comfortably tramped by the average good walker in a morning or
afternoon with plenty of time for "side issues" and rambling about the
towns themselves in the evening. One word of warning to those who
adopt this method of seeing their own land, the only effective way in
the writer's opinion. Do not be deceived into thinking that a mile on
the map is a mile on the road. In this country of hills and valleys
the distance can be added to considerably by these "folds in the
tablecloth." A contour map in colours such as Bartholome