Budleigh Past and Present

Make a note in the diary of the following events taking place during 2015 at your local museum.   Saturday 4 April     Spring Opening  Fairlynch garden.   12.30-4.30pm Plant Sale,  hot homemade soup stall,  tombola, under 10s treasure hunt. Storyteller Steve Manning will perform as Sir Walter Ralegh. Will you be the lucky lady that he'll lay down his cloak for? Just some of the plants on offer at bargain prices: Ajuga reptans, otherwise known as 'Bugle.' A useful grand cover plant with pretty blue flowers. Can be a bit invasive, but easy to grow.     Iris ensata, otherwise known as 'Japanese Iris.' Hardy and easy to grow. Pretty white flowers with that splash of blue. Very reliable.  Wednesday 29 April      Friends of Fairlynch AGM Peter Hall.  3.00-5.00pm Tea and cakes, cake & wine raffle, information board display, talk by Mag...

Guy Kerr, left, with OVA Chairman Roger Saunders at Fairlynch Museum  You may have noticed that Fairlynch Museum changed its logo some time ago. We thought a dash of colour was needed, and that  Mediterranean shade of blue seemed just right.  Those Budleigh pebbles form an important part of our geological display. And of course we are the only thatched museum on Devon’s World Heritage Coast… Hence the recent visit to Budleigh by Guy Kerr, who was appointed as Jurassic Coast Trust Community Coordinator last year. Roger Saunders, Chairman of the Otter Valley Association, and I met up with him at Fairlynch to find out more about his role.  Q: You work for the Jurassic Coast Trust? Can you tell us something about it? GK: We’re an independent registered charity which supports the delivery of science, conservation, arts, education and sustainable development programmes along the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Q: And your job? GK: My j...

 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...