Budleigh Past and Present

  Visitors to Fairlynch may be puzzled on seeing this colourful panel in the Museum’s front garden. All will be revealed if they buy their copy of The Times of their Lives, the second in the Heroes of the Jurassic Coast series of adventure stories set in East Devon. The stories are written by pupils of St Peter’s, Drake’s and Otterton primary schools with the help of their teachers and the support of a guest writer. The first of various murals which illustrate scenes in this latest book was featured in an earlier blog post  here This panel in the Museum garden relates to Chapter One, entitled ‘The Fireship’ and was painted by students from Exmouth Community College. Can’t you can just hear and see the “devastating battle cries with boats bursting into flames, wild flames that were swirling and spinning out of control” and the “constant firing of the hurtling cannon balls”?   Sir Francis Drake makes an appearance...

The second book of the Budding Creativity project managed by Budleigh Salterton Decorative & Fine Arts Society was launched on 1 June at the town’s St Peter’s Church.  It features the same young Budleigh heroes Peter, Caroline, Eddie and Bud the dog, whose adventures were the basis of the first book in the series. The Times of their Lives takes the reader on a trip back to the age of Queen Elizabeth I. Which ties in rather well with the opening earlier this year of the Sir Walter Ralegh Room at Fairlynch Museum. Artist Jed Falby's mural shows the young Budleigh heroes passing through the time portal in All Saints Church where they enter the colourful age of the Tudors  Sir Walter, Sir Francis Drake, Queen Elizabeth herself and even William Shakespeare all make an appearance in this ripping yarn where imagination plays as important a part as historical fact.  We learn for example that Fairlynch Museum’s thatched...