Budleigh Past and Present

The Sir Walter Raleigh pub, East Budleigh  I’m writing on a more refreshing note after all that scholarly stuff about 17 th century pamphlet wars, which you can read about he re This time my search for Sir Walter and his legacy has taken me on a pub crawl. And what better place to start than the pub named after him in his home village of East Budleigh. Thanks to the Otter Valley Association’s research I learnt that the building started life as an early 16th century cob and thatch farmhouse.  So young Walter may well have known the place, but not until the 1830s did it open as a pub under the new Beerhouse Acts. And only in 1967 was it named after East Budleigh’s most famous resident. Previously it was known as the King William IV, shortened to The King’s Arms. The innkeeper at that time was a Thomas Williams who built barrel organs on the premises as well as running the pub.  A later 19 th century licensee, John Brock, ...

  Trevor Waddington: “We’re talking about the survival of small cider producers who don't want their industry to become history.” Fairlynch Museum’s Chairman Trevor Waddington has added his voice to the protest movement led by Britain’s small cider-makers whose livelihood is threatened by EU bureaucracy. Since 1976, cider-makers who produce fewer than 12,000 pints a year have not had to pay duty. Earlier this year the European Commission demanded  that Britain end the tax relief which has allowed many small producers to flourish, and which has encouraged the revival of a traditional craft particularly strong in the West Country. The National Association of Cider Makers believes that such small producers make up 80% of Britain’s 480 cider-makers, and that four out of five could be put out of business if the EU tax demand is met. “If you enjoy the occasional glass of English cider you may well feel like...