The Alexandra Hotel and Restaurant

Famed for its dra­matic scenery, Lyme Regis is a UNESCO World Her­it­age site and the pearl of the Jur­as­sic coast. It still con­jures up memor­ies of Meryl Streep’s Oscar-nominated per­form­ance in the film ver­sion of John Fowles’ book ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’. But today, a quarter of a cen­tury on, there is now another reason to remem­ber this beau­ti­ful Dor­set sea­side town, for The Alex­an­dra Hotel and Res­taur­ant, which looks out over Cobb har­bour, is rap­idly gain­ing a deserved repu­ta­tion for the warmth of its hos­pit­al­ity and the qual­ity of its cuisine.

Ori­gin­ally built in 1735 for the Dow­ager Count­ess Poulett and later the home of the Duc du Stac­poole, the Alex­an­dra became a hotel in 1901 and for over a hun­dred years has con­tin­ued to uphold its tra­di­tion as a time­less haven of Eng­lish peace and charm. Today, the hotel could not be in bet­ter hands, for pro­pri­etor, Kath­ryn Richards, was born into the hotel busi­ness, has first hand exper­i­ence of the global hos­pit­al­ity industry and is the second gen­er­a­tion of her fam­ily to own the hotel.

The Alex, as it is affec­tion­ately known, is set in its own pic­tur­esque gar­dens offer­ing mag­ni­fi­cent views over the fam­ous Cobb har­bour towards the his­toric fossil-strewn coast­line of Lyme Bay. Grades of bed­rooms are named after erstwhile own­ers of the prop­erty – ‘Poulett’ and ‘Stack­poole’, of course — but also ‘Gould’, after John Gould the fam­ous Vic­torian orni­tho­lo­gist (whose father was once gardener here) and ‘Peek’, who in his time turned the stable block into a beau­ti­ful chapel. There are two res­taur­ants, the AA rosette Alex­an­dra res­taur­ant – a formal set­ting with white linen, crys­tal glasses, candles, sil­ver table­ware – and the less formal Con­ser­vat­ory res­taur­ant for morn­ing cof­fee, light lunches, after­noon tea and pre-dinner drinks.

The cuisine falls under the aus­pices of Exec­ut­ive Chef, Ian Grant, whose exper­i­ence at London’s Park Lane Sheraton and the 4-star, 2-AA rosette Bed­ford Lodge in New­mar­ket is evid­ent in an award-winning wine cel­lar and inspir­a­tional food, which he describes as a fusion of the tra­di­tional and the con­tem­por­ary. Where pos­sible, Ian sources ingredi­ents loc­ally and is so proud of his sup­pli­ers, they are cred­ited in great detail on the hotel’s website.

For the past two years, the Alex has been using Café du Monde’s free loan cafetière ser­vice with por­tioned packs of Fairtrade cof­fee, served from eleg­ant stain­less steel cafetières. Also installed is a tra­di­tional La Spaziale Viv­aldi espresso machine sup­plied by Café du Monde and again using Faitrade cof­fee beans.

“I’d recom­mend them to any­one look­ing for a reli­able cof­fee sup­plier” says Kath­ryn. “In the time we have dealt together, they have never once let us down and the qual­ity of the cof­fee is unsur­passed – and that’s the view of our cus­tom­ers as well.”

| testimonial | Tags: cafetiere, espresso, Fairtrade