Budleigh Past and Present

Fairlynch has been awarded 1 st prize in the Community Gardens category of the 2015 Budleigh in Bloom competition. The Museum’s volunteer gardeners are feeling pleased that they are certain to have contributed to the town’s success at regional level. In the South West in Bloom competition Budleigh Salterton won a Gold Award and the Ayre Cup for being the best in its category of a small coastal town with a population of under 10,000.   Fairlynch Chairman Trevor Waddington congratulated the team of gardeners – Odile Cook, Ann Hurt, Sylvia Merkel and Lynn Weeks – who work together to make the Museum garden such a magnificent spectacle.  “We know that the garden looks great, but it's nice to have this  officially  recognised by the experts!” he said.   South West in Bloom is one of eighteen regional/nat...

  A wheely special garden feature for the Museum I’ve been waiting quite a time for a spell of fine weather and some summer floweriness to show off this garden feature at Fairlynch Museum. Yesterday it was looking at its best when it was joined  by my friend Annie. Wheelbarrow planters are common enough items for sale at garden centres. But this one, sited on the pavement outside the Museum, is rather special, says Bob Wiltshire, chairperson of Budleigh in Bloom, which donated the wheelbarrow and arranged the display. It is, with its metal wheel, so Bob tells me, “a genuine antique with an authentic squeak.” It's certainly over 100 years old and  came originally from Lochmaben, a small town in Scotland,   according to Sylvia Pavey, the local resident who gave it to Budleigh in Bloom. She looks forward to seeing it for many years more, looking splendid with ever-changing floral displays in its final resting-place outside ...

A quiet corner of the garden at Fairlynch Museum If you've ever visited Fairlynch and wished that your garden had that same charming cottagey feel, vintage specialist Sheila Hyson has a few tips for you and would be happy to advise at the Budleigh Salterton Garden Fair that she’s holding in the Public Hall on Sunday 3 May, from 10.00am till 3.00pm.     You may have noticed this rather fine 19 th century stone chimney pot nestling among the shrubs at the Museum. It’s all that remains of ‘Woodlands’, a grand house on West Hill that was rather foolishly demolished like so many other notable buildings in Budleigh Salterton.   Image credit: Hyson Garden Fairs    The opening of ‘Woodlands’ pot has been filled in, but old chimney pots like these are often used as planters and often come up at Hyson Garden Fairs.     A more elaborate chimney pot Image credit: Hyson Garden Fairs   S...

 The trumpet-like flowers of Amaryllis belladonna Costumed ladies and the occasional besuited gentleman are usually what people come to admire at Fairlynch. But on Saturday 4 April the museum’s opening event will offer visitors plenty of outdoor interest in addition to a range of displays in the exhibition rooms. And just in case the weather is unkind, Fairlynch now has its own marquee!   Hot homemade soup will be available, and there will be a treasure hunt and a tombola. For keen gardeners the Museum has organised a plant sale which will include specimens of one of the late summer flowering glories of Fairlynch garden as well as many other popular varieties. Amaryllis belladonna – known by many as the ‘Naked Lady’ plant – is one of the items which are certain to be sought after, with their pink trumpet-like flowers.   Amaryllis about to flower with its 'naked' st...