Ten years on, Budleigh gets an 'honourable mention'



On the South West Coast Path,
just a few miles west of Budleigh Salterton


Ten or so years after being described as "the last retreat of Britain's chronologically challenged" and a "grey icon" noted for becoming less and less tourist-friendly, Budleigh Salterton has been ranked with Bath in a survey of best places to visit in the South West of England.

Travel writer Simon Heptinstall, who was brought up in the nearby village of Woodbury, succeeded in ruffling a few feathers when in a Telegraph article still online at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/722544/South-Devon-The-home-of-winceyette-jimjams.html he described in Budleigh a town that takes pleasure in not inviting you, and which, after dark "slips into an Ovaltine-induced coma" having successfully repelled the tourist invasion.  

But in a recent article based on his independent selection of the ten best days out in England's South West - including Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall - he places Budleigh on a par with St Ives, Burgh Island and many other noted tourist hotspots including Lands End and Bath. All gain what he calls 'honourable mentions.'

The town may rise even higher in the Heptinstall ratings in future, given its location on the South West Coast Path. The 650 "memorably scenic miles along the seashore between Minehead and Poole" which he describes in the article as "simply one of the best things in the world" came top in his survey. 

And it may be that when he next visits Fairlynch he'll discover more than the "delightfully eclectic mix of locally donated period costumes, radioactive pebbles and natural history (ie, stuffed seabirds)" on which he commented back in 2001.

You can read Simon's recent article at http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/9034/Feature_Article_Experience_The_best_sights_and_places_to_visit_in_the_south_west.html

This post also appears at
http://www.devonmuseums.net/Ten-years-on,-Budleigh-gets-an-honourable-mention/Latest-News/Fairlynch-Museum/Museum-News/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

People from the Past: 3. Reg Varney (1916-2008)

Image
Reginald Alfred 'Reg' Varney was an English actor, most notable for his role as a cheerful Cockney bus driver in the 1970s TV sitcom On the Buses . For ten years he lived at Dark Lane House on picturesque Dark Lane in Budleigh Salterton, seen above.  Millions of television viewers remember him with affection. He has been described as belonging to the old school of comedians, with his dislike of much contemporary television and his pride in never using swear words to get a laugh. Varney was born on 11 July 1916 in Canning Town, which was then part of Essex but is now part of East London. His father worked in a rubber factory in Silvertown and he was one of five children who grew up in Addington Road, Canning Town. He was educated at the nearby Star Lane Primary School in West Ham and after leaving school at 14, he worked as a messenger boy at the Regent Palace Hotel, pictured above. ...
Read more

AROUND THE TOWN AND OVER THE POND - 15. SALEM CHAPEL AT FAIRLYNCH MUSEUM

Image
  Continued from  https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2024/07/around-town-and-over-pond-14-looking.html AROUND THE TOWN AND OVER THE POND A walk around Budleigh Salterton to interest transatlantic visitors. Every so often there’s a diversion which may inspire you to visit places like East Budleigh, Exeter, Sidmouth, Colyton or even places in the United States and Canada.        The walk is set out in parts. Here’s the fifteenth part: 15. SALEM CHAPEL AT FAIRLYNCH MUSEUM  Summary: How East Budleigh’s Salem Chapel and the USA were founded on the same principles of freedom and diversity thanks to an Otterton man’s friendship with one of the Western world’s greatest philosophers. Top: Salem Chapel, East Budleigh. Centre: Portrait of John Locke in 1697 by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Lower: The 1823 facsimile of the final version of the 1776 Declaration of Independence East Budleigh’s Salem Chapel lies on the outskirts of the village, about 500 metres no...
Read more

WW2 100 – 23 January 1945 – A tragic accident in Burma: Captain Gerald Arthur Richards (1909-45), Royal Army Medical Corps

Image
Continued from 21 January 1945 FLIGHT SERGEANT RENNIE ARTHUR LOADER (1915-45) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), 518 Squadron https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/04/ww2-75-21-january-1945-forecasting-for.html         A photo of Gerald Arthur Richards sent to me by his daughter Louanne   Like a number of war dead whose names are not listed on Budleigh’s War Memorial,  Gerald Arthur Richards is mentioned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) as having a link with the town through his wife Kirstine. It was difficult to confirm that link, but there were enough intriguing aspects to Gerald’s story to raise questions that I wanted to see answered. Further research led to more East Devon links – to Honiton, Exmouth and further afield. In a very roundabout way I finally made contact with his daughter Louanne, to whom I am grateful for providing information about the family, not least some family photos like the...
Read more