Stories from Southlands Hotel, by Iris Ansell: 6. The Wrong Emmanuel

 

 

 

Pictured above is Budleigh resident Iris Ansell, who as a volunteer at Fairlynch Museum looked after the Costume Department. She recalls more memorable moments from her time as proprietor of Southlands Hotel in Budleigh Salterton. This is the sixth in a series of her recollections.

 

Southlands Hotel as it used to be, situated on Budleigh's Marine Parade. It has been replaced by Marine Court  

Not all hotel guests arrived by car during the 1980s. They would take the train or coach to Exmouth, then on to Budleigh by taxi. A week, full board accommodation, sea facing room of course, just gentle exercise – an amble through town to the ‘Dolphin Café’ for morning coffee, a stroll along the front in the afternoon, tea in the ‘Longboat’, maybe a walk along the Otter, take in the cricket, a sherry before dinner, or maybe just sit in the garden and watch the world go by.

All very relaxing, and all needing good weather.

One such couple was a young Baptist minister and his elderly disabled mother.

Unfortunately the weather had been dreadful all the week, a cold easterly wind, a rough sea making it a red/brown colour. Having exhausted all the paperbacks, crossword puzzles and jigsaws by Friday everybody was getting fed up. The young man informed me at lunch time that he had booked a taxi to take him and his mother to the cinema in Exmouth (only one screen in those days).

 

He had been informed by one of the other guests, that there was a biblical film showing, that he was sure they would enjoy. The taxi duly arrived and away they went with their box of liquorice allsorts, ready to enjoy their outing.

 

Above: Designer Léo Houper with the original poster that he created for the 1974 French film ‘Emmanuelle’ Image credit: www.filmfestamiens.org

A quick look at the local paper informed me that indeed there was a film called ‘Emmanuelle’ but it was French with English subtitles, soft porn and very explicit.

They arrived back three and a half hours later, a bit subdued, and retired early to do their packing.

Now this poses three questions:

1. Did the guest who recommended the film know it was pornographic and was he hoping to get a laugh out of it? If so it was very unkind.

2. Did they get to the cinema, discover for themselves what the film was about, and engage the taxi to just take them on a sightseeing tour?

3. Or, as I think happened, the young man saw the film while his mother slept through the whole thing, as she did every afternoon.

We shall never know. The young man came back, later in the year, for a cream tea, bringing his wife and two young daughters, staying in a cottage on Dartmoor.

He said he wanted to see Budleigh in the sunshine.

Budleigh did not disappoint.

The previous, fifth, Southlands Hotel story was told at https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/09/stories-from-southlands-hotel-by-iris.html

The next story is 7.i 'Budleigh's Cherry Ripe' and can be read at  https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/02/stories-from-southlands-hotel-by-iris.html