Brook Cottage Lyme Regis, Lyme Regis (2024)

11/03/2023

I cannot even begin to describe just how magical Lyme Regis was in the cold March dusk last night. It was impossible to not take allll the photos!

Happy Saturday, everyone.
What are you up to this weekend?

Mila & Matt

08/02/2022

Good morning ✨ Ah, we had such a good time in Lyme this weekend! We went down for my birthday and so much happened in just 3 days! We had a delicious lunch in River Cottage in Axminster , a shoot in The Cottage with the lovely James Loveridge and then our wonderful friends T&H .olsen.artbooks Modern✨Women✨Artists] came to stay with us 🤍 We hadn't laughed so much in a while!! Harriet also showed us the beautiful design you see in this post, she has just published a book about artist and designer Eileen Mayo, read more about it below 🐚 Sunday was a day for a roast in The Millside and long walks on the beach. And on Monday we finally got to meet the fab Louise from who is staying in The Cottage for a few days 🤍🤍🤍

And here's more about the artwork - it's from a book called Shells and How they Live by Eileen Mayo. Harriet is the founder of the indie publishing house Modern✨Women✨Artists] who makes books about female artists and the last addition to their
collection is a book about this multi-skilled artist and designer who is sadly largely forgotten in the UK. I for one can't wait to read it. The rest of the collection features books on Sylvia Pankhurst, Frances Hodgkins, Marlow Moss, Laura Knight, Lee Miller, Eileen Agar and Nina Hamnett. If you ever come and stay in The Farm you'll be able to lounge around and read our copies! 🤍🐚🤍 See more in stories.

03/02/2022

Hello friends, hope you're all well! We've been up to all sorts this week, here's a few bits worth sharing. Head to stories to read more and get the links:

1. We finally saw Ammonite and it's definitely worth the watch. Obviously, is was very exciting to see all the filming locations in Lyme. I loved the cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine who also shot Jackie (2016) and Captain Fantastic (2016), both very visually pleasing.

2. Have you heard of the ‘Rooting for Real Farms’ campaign? It was started by Lyme Regis based TV chef and book author Gill Meller .meller and organic farmer Harry Boglione. The initiative urges people to stop factory farming by voting with their wallets and buying from local, high welfare farms. Very cool. See more in stories.

3. We finally started posting on and it was lovely to collect shots from projects we've completed. Even just thinking about and working on The Space brings us inspiration and calm and gets us into the flow, hope it'll do that to you too.

4. The Jurassic Coast was named one of the most beautiful places in the world by travel company Kuoni. They did a study using an interesting sounding eye-tracking technology to reveal which destinations around the world grab people’s attention the most. The Jurassic Coast, which is the only natural World Heritage Site in England, came third. See the rest in stories.

5. We're headed to The Cottage for the weekend as it's my (Mila) birthday on Sunday and we thought we might as well enjoy Lyme, the sea, and the new sofa and prints whilst we can 😄

6. This week we completed a project, painting the exterior of a new build extension in Bristol. We used Little Greene exterior paint and can confirm it's really really good. Great coverage and such a lovely deep matt finish!

7. We finally had our Christmas dinner with all the trimmings after it got cancelled in December as we both got ill. We had Matt's family and a bunch of friends over. Christmas pudding in Feb rocks 😂

That's the dispatch done for tonight, see you guys around!

Mila & Matt
xx

26/01/2022

[ad] A few weeks ago, we were approached by offering us to choose a few prints or canvasses for the cottage. We've been on the lookout for seaweed artwork in this size for ages so we went for these beauties and we love them. The prints are so impactful they have so far generated a positive reaction from everybody who's come to see us in the cottage! We both loved the moon phases print too, now off to find the perfect spot for it.

What do you think?

have also given us a discount code to offer to you guys: thecottage25. The code will give you 25% discount + free shipping on any product on their website and is valid for 2 months.

The prints we chose are called Seaweed Under Water, Seaweed Under Water IV and Phases.

24/01/2022

Hey folks, hope you all had a gentle Monday! So much has been happening our end in the last week or so that we dropped right off the insta cliff. Here's what's worth sharing, dispatch style. Head to stories if you want to see more 😊

1. We did three photoshoots as part of our Studio work. We haven't started posting there yet but if you do want to see updates soon check

2. Both ceramic pieces in this shot are made by Matt. They are things of beauty. I think he should be making more. He doesn't listen. Please help. Thank you.

3. We finally made it to Lilac - Michelin starred restaurant Robin Wylde's sister space. Lilac is a restaurant and wine bar offering fantastic small plates with a focus on seasonality, local produce, foraging, sustainability and reduction of waste. It was really good!

4. At Lilac we tried the Langham English sparkling wine and absolutely loved it. Langham are a Dorset wine estate which won Wine Producer of the Year 2020 at the International Wine & Spirit Competition, beating top Champagne brands and taking the title away from V***e Clicquot. I know what I'll be drinking for my birthday in 2 weeks!

5. Matt just finished his read and highly recommends Isabel Allende's The Long Petal of the Sea. It's a love story that spans across generations and, in his words 'it choked me up a bit' (take it from me, that is something).

6. We finally got to meet our insta friends Siobhan, Dan and Hugo .10_on_the_avenue. Hugo was even allowed to the Marine Theatre Sea Shanties evening. Yes, he did sing along.

7. The news from The Cottage is that we finally found the perfect pre-loved sofa on FB marketplace and we received our new seaweed canvasses for the wall above it. Can't wait to share with you all tomorrow.

Big hugs from us,
Mila and Matt

11/01/2022

Ah, the snug. How we love it. Not that it looks like this at the moment, it's a veritable mountain of freshly laundered bedlinen and towels!

Normally though, it's such a great little spot for a cuppa and a read. Putting the panelling here made all the difference and really helped define the space and make it as cosy as it can get.

We're having some very special visitors tomorrow and we can't wait to show them the cottage in real life!

Hope you have a lovely evening,

Matt x

09/01/2022

Good morning, lovelies. It's shaping up to be a good day here. We are heading to a Yin & Sounds day retreat only a few miles down the coast from The Cottage. I was invited by my friends to join and take a few shots whilst I'm there and it just sounded too nice to pass. Would be wonderful to catch up with them too! Bring on a day of yin yoga, sound baths, meditation, writing and slow flow.

What are you up to today?

Mila & Matt

08/01/2022

Good evening all,

Well, despite it being an absolute stinker here in Lyme Regis today, there's plenty of excitement in the air (as well as rain) as we're soon going to know who's won our giveaway!

The lovely will be announcing the winner very soon and we'll be shouting about it as soon as we hear too so keep those beady eyes on our stories.

We've been blown away by all the lovely comments about our little cottage, and a massive thank you to all our new followers 🥰 Love this community!

Right, off to the fish & chip shop now in celebration 🎉

Big love everyone,

Mila & Matt

08/01/2022

Good evening all,

Well, despite it being an absolute stinker here in Lyme Regis today, there's plenty of excitement in the air (as well as rain) as we're soon going to know who's won our giveaway!

The lovely will be announcing the winner very soon and we'll be shouting about it as soon as we hear too so keep those beady eyes on our stories.

We've been blown away by all the lovely comments about our little cottage, and a massive thank you to all our new followers 🥰 Love this community!

Right, off to the fish & chip shop now in celebration 🎉

Big love everyone,

Mila & Matt

07/01/2022

Good morning all! It's the last day of our giveaway with Mel today. Head to her post and tag your friends if you want to be in with the chance to win a 2-night stay in The Cottage in Lyme Regis ✨ Thank you to everyone who already entered and shared!

We've been completely overwhelmed by your marvelous feedback, all the sweet messages and interest in the cottage. Thank you 🤍

We've been answering questions about the cottage in stories the last couple of days. When the question box expired, more questions came in our DMs so we'll keep that going on stories again. You can find all the answers saved in our Q&A highlight.

We're heading to Lyme today so do let us know if you want us to share anything specific whilst we're there!

Big hugs,
Mila & Matt

05/01/2022

Hello everybody, hope you're all well! We're really enjoying the Q&A over on our stories so we'll keep that going until your questions stop coming in ☺️ Do let us know what you want to be seeing on our account this year too, we're curious!

One of the questions that we get asked a lot is whether the cottage is dog friendly. It is! There was never any doubt whether we would allow dogs to stay as we both love them and want to give them a chance to enjoy the seaside too. This here is Mila enjoying her stay at The Cottage 🤍🐾 Isn't she the cutest!?

We are preparing a big highlight packed with information about dog friendly things to do in Lyme, places to see and things to be aware of which we'll be putting up soon!

Have a fab day, you lot!

Mila & Matt

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02/01/2022

Thank you to everyone who joined the giveaway we're running with Mel ✨ And welcome to all our new followers! We've already discovered a bunch of fabulous accounts today and can't wait to see more of what they're up to in the coming weeks. We'll share some of our new finds on stories tomorrow.

Lots of you are asking us questions about Lyme Regis and The Cottage too and we've put a question box in stories so we can answer all of your inquiries there and share with the others. Feel free to ask us anything!

Have a fantastic Sunday evening!

Mila & Matt
Xx

01/01/2022

✨NEW YEAR GIVEAWAY! ✨

Good evening everyone, hopefully you're all fresh and ready to hit 2022 running (yeah right?! 😜). Well, we have some excitement that will banish the worst of hangovers - a free stay in Brook Cottage!

We've teamed up with the lovely Mel from and she's announced the giveaway on her grid so pop there, have a read, take part and potentially win a stay!

Let's be fair, after the last couple of years this could be just the thing you need 🥰

Good luck to everyone who enters and, of course, a very Happy New Year to you all 🥂 This little community has been a beacon of light during these challenging times and we're truly grateful for all the lovely interactions we've had. Big love everyone,

Mila & Matt xx

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31/12/2021

Good morning, lovely people. As this year draws to a close, we wanted to say a huge thank you for all your support, kind words, wise advice and for generally being an awesome bunch. As a thank you and to celebrate you all, we've decided to run another short break giveaway. We did it last year and it was hugely popular so check back here tomorrow for more details on how to enter!

✨ Here's to 2022, may it be a glorious one in many ways but also a calm and nurturing time in others ✨

Mila & Matt

30/12/2021

Hello hello, how's everyone doing? It's the last day of isolation for me today and I have to say, I am looking forward to being out. We're thinking to head to Lyme for a couple of weeks after New Year's. We absolutely love low season there so can't wait! Snuggling in the small room with the sailor, the mermaid, a good book, a cuppa and some chocolate is right on the top of my list.

What are your plans for January?

Mila x

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29/12/2021

Good morning, folks. We just realised we never put our new cushions up on the grid. For those of you who missed it, we got approached by the BBC and were offered a catalogue of upcycled items to chose from for The Cottage. Our refuse-reuse-upcycle ethos is what caught their attention and it turned out we're a great match. I immediately liked those embroidered cushions, not only the colours but they also resemble my favourite ikat, so we decided to go for them. The BBC came to film in The Cottage and so we'll be a small part of next season's Money For Nothing programme to air around March. We had some good fun but most importantly, we love the cushions and the statement they make: do luxury the sustainable way!

Have a great day you lot and keep an eye on our grid as something very exciting is coming soon!! ✨

27/12/2021

We've got a dilemma so we thought to put it out to you and see what you think. As you know, we've had the British Seaweed poster on our green wall behind the sofa ever since we finished the renovation. We love their work and we always try to promote and support local artists and small businesses. However, it's always been too small for the space, as are their original prints too. The dream has always been to have two large seaweed prints up here to complete the scheme and make an impact. We've looked for a while but we either don't like what we see or the size we want is hugely pricey.

So now we got approached by a company for a collaboration, which would enable us to put two gorgeous big printed canvasses. And they do have seaweed artwork!! 🤍 Downside is, they're not original and it's not local. And we're torn!

What should we do?

26/12/2021

Good afternoon you lovely lot, how's the gout?! 😂

We hope you all had lovely Christmasses! Ours didn't go quite to plan thanks to us catching covid just before the big day - talk about rubbish timing! It meant we were unable to spend the day with my parents after all ☹️ Equally annoying was that I lost my sense of taste on Christmas eve! Absolutely sod's law!! Anyway, at least the fever was gone, and our dinner looked tasty so that's something, ha! Despite it all, it was still a nice, cosy day with nice chats with our families and some Christmas movies.

Can't wait for the quarantine to be over so we can go for some long walks. The light looked amazing out there today.

Right, I have an appointment with a cup of tea now so am popping off.

Hope you enjoyed the Christmas whinge! 😆

Matt x

24/12/2021

✨ Happy Christmas Eve, you lovely bunch! ✨

Wishing you all love, health, inspiration and growth this season and for the coming year. And chocolate of course. Never forget the chocolate 😜

We decided to do a minimal coastal Christmas styling this year and we had a lot of fun making these decorations for The Cottage. The trees were made from an old, damaged book and we knew the baubles would perfectly match our decor so we used some old wallpaper offcuts and samples given to us by the lovely . What do you think? Our fisherman certainly seems to like them!

Have a great couple of days everyone,

Mila & Matt

06/11/2021

Good morning, friends! We just woke up to the loveliest of messages on here, made our day and it's not even 9am yet. I'll pop it up on stories!

It's the Lyme Regis Fireworks display tonight, which should be fab. Even fab-er, Laura is coming to watch them with us ✨🤍

Hope you have a good Saturday too!
Mila & Matt

04/11/2021

Well, this shot visualises what today felt like really well. We woke up early and had all the intention to get stuff done. And then didn't. It felt great! We went for a long walk on the outskirts of Lyme instead. Then, when we came home to get aforementioned stuff done... we just ended up picking up our books and going to the beach to sit in the sun and have a coffee. Bliss. Means double stuff to get done tomorrow but who's counting anyway.

Also, the sun was on steroids today, have a look at stories!

Hope you lot had a good day too Xx

Mila and Matt

02/11/2021

Hello friends, we're finally back in Lyme! Yay!

Exciting things are happening. Firstly, Mel spent a few days in The Cottage and it seems like she and her family had a blast. We're always so happy to hear that people are having a good time in Lyme Regis, it's such a little gem. Head over to her post to read more about her stay.

And, tadaa, tomorrow the BBC are coming to film here. We're a part of the Money for Nothing programme and were supposed to be filmed a couple of weeks ago but plans had to be changed due to covidblah but it's finally happening. We'll try and post some stories about it tomorrow.

And now, chill. It's lovely to be back and we want to take it all in!

M&M
Xx

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01/11/2021

Hello you lot! What's the best book you've read lately? I'm at the end of my latest read and am ready to hear some fresh ideas on what's worth getting stuck into? ☕📖

We've collected a lovely selection of books for people staying in the cottage but when I'm there I often start a novel and then don't have time to finish it, which is (sometimes) highly frustrating 😂 Hopefully this time around there will be enough time to read after all the painting and touching up that awaits us...

Have a great week!

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31/10/2021

Sundays are a mixed bag for me. I used to hate them. As a kid, it'd be the day I had to clean my room 🙄 and, worst of all, wash my hair! 😄 And in my late teens it meant coming back to the city after a weekend of skiing, or kayaking, or hiking, or simply camping with my friends. One of the limited upsides of being an adult though is reclaiming Sundays. Reading. Lounging. The occasional restorative yoga session. One might even say I've started to really enjoy them. I still need to wash my hair today though, blurhgh...

30/10/2021

The perks of off season in Lyme. You actually get to sit and enjoy the nice spots without having to book days in advance! And there are so many pubs and restaurants with a grand sea view... you know where to find us next week.

Also, did you know that was one of the 12 new additions to the Michelin's Guide!? We haven't been yet but plan to remedy that soon. Lyme has always been a foodie heaven, even more so now! We'll keep you posted when we get there.

Anyway, here are some of our fave places that combine food and views:

Mark Hix's Oyster & Fish House 🦐
Poco Pizza 🍕
Swim 🌊
The Lyme Bay 🐚
Rock Point Inn 🍤
Kiosk 🍦

M&M
🤤

29/10/2021

Woohoo, what a week it has been! I am definitely ready for some sofa times. Roll on the weekend! Although these two days of heaven will surely get overly busy too. A girl can dream...

What are you lot up to this weekend? We're getting ready to go to Lyme for 3 whole weeks and I cannot wait!

20/10/2021

A little throwback to sunnier times and to when our outdoor space resembled a secret garden which one entered through the green arch you see on this shot. Sadly, an eager gardener with a big trimmer must have decided the arch should go so now it looks a bit... let's say lighter 😅 We can't wait for it all to grow back, it did look quite lovely.

We suspect the same chainsaw said goodbye to our neighbour's eucalyptus tree, which was my go-to for styling foliage. I will miss you, my friend! 🌿 Luckily, eucalyptus trees are badass and regrow quickly so it won't be too long before we are reunited. Check out stories for some eucalyptus styling 😃

17/10/2021

Good morning, everyone. we've been true insta lurkers in the past few months, I don't even remember when I did the last post but I have been enjoying all of your updates and stories. Now we're finally back in The Cottage, we're ready to get back on the horse.

Lyme is still the good old gem, absolutely love being here. We expected the season to be winding down by now but the town it's still quite busy and lively. We'll be back in November and looking forward to the quiet times too!

Have a good Sunday X
Mila and Matt

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