Budleigh Past and Present

With our landscape currently being battered by unusually stormy weather the forthcoming talk should be of special interest. Dr Sam Bridgewater, Conservation Manager of the Pebblebed Heaths, and David Daniel of the Otter Valley Association will talk about the way human settlement and economic activity interact with the underlying geology and ecology of the Lower Otter Valley, to produce the landscape we see today. Their talks will be based on presentations they were asked to give to a group of landscape and engineering third year students from Bath University as background to a project being conducted in collaboration with Bicton College. David Daniel is well known as a speaker on the history and geography of the Lower Otter Valley. Dr Bridgewater has been Nature Conservation Manager for the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths (EDPH) and the River Otter Estuary since November 2012. He is responsible for the management of the 2,800 acres of heaths - which lie b...

    Francis Kelly's depiction of Hayes Barton, described as “a delightful countryside etching" by the Brook Gallery which sells his work. See http://www.brookgallery.co.uk/ for details. Francis Kelly (1927-2012 ) is one of two important figures from the Arts world with strong connections to the Budleigh area who passed away last year. Artist, author   and athlete, Francis Kelly, known as Bob, was born in Minnesota. He served with the U.S. Navy until 1948 when he entered the Art Centre School in Los Angeles, studying in Paris in 1951/52, and then the Universities of Hawaii and California. With a Fulbright grant,   he came in 1955 to the Central School in London where he decided to live.  He had strong links with the Budleigh area, visiting whenever possible: our gentle countryside has greatly inspired much of his work.  Field Gate Exhibitions of his work have been held at 24 British galleries. He was called...