Budleigh Past and Present

Fairlynch Museum's 2016 exhibition 'Our Little Clown' is a a centenary tribute to Reg Varney, former Budleigh resident and a much-loved figure among past British entertainers. Imperial Productions, as locals will know, has been in the business of entertaining audiences in the area for many years. They are delighted to return to Budleigh Salterton this Christmas with a whacky, wicked and wonderful update of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic court-room comedy, ‘Trial by Jury’.   Simon Jones as Mr. Justice Soxon This hilarious adaptation - by prize-winning composer/lyricist Alaric Barrie - started life as a charity show in the Guildhall School of Law Courtroom and has since been produced at the Inns of Court in London and as part of the New Wimbledon Theatre ‘Fresh Ideas’ season, where it was their most successful studio production ever. Robert Felstead and Rebekah Engel...

  Friend of Fairlynch Iris Ansell, who helps in the Museum’s Costume Department, recalls some memorable moments from her time as proprietor of Southlands Hotel.  This first article is one of a total of eight pieces about life at the hotel. The former Southlands Hotel on Budleigh Salterton’s Marine Parade After several years running what my husband called a ‘bucket & spade hotel’ - everybody in and everybody out on a Saturday change-over - we felt it time for a change ourselves. In the late 70s, we came to Budleigh Salterton, which we loved at first sight, and I still do to this day. We bought a different kind of establishment, open all the year, and requiring a different kind of staffing levels, with chefs and commis chefs. All required handling with kid gloves, but that is another story. The guests, however, were delightful. Some more than others. The ‘Countess’ was, I think, my ...

  Meg Peacocke, a poet with wartime memories of Budleigh Fairlynch Museum and the Otter Valley Association are combining to present a talk on 13 October which will give a special insight into life in Budleigh Salterton during the Second World War.   A sister of the composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Meg Peacocke is a distinguished poet who was brought up in Budleigh Salterton in the 1940s.   A World War Two recruitment poster Image © IWM Local artist Joyce Dennys had suggested that the family move from the London area to Budleigh to escape the danger of Nazi bombing raids, and Meg’s father, the children’s author Rodney Bennett, served as a warden at the ARP hut on The Green.     Meg Peacocke’s poem ‘Walking to Church 1940’ is one of several compositions which give a flavour of wartime life, describing how the Bennett family made its way to Sunday servic...

After my survey of Budleigh as used by so many authors as a ‘small town’ setting I’m left wondering   what the future holds. I was going to stop after Part 3, but a friend told me the other evening that he’d enjoyed my rambling in previous instalments so much that I thought I’d now go a bit imaginative in this one. If you haven't seen my previous postings they are  here  for Part 1, here    for Part 2 and  here  for Part 3. The St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, 23-24 August 1572. Painting by François Dubois, a Huguenot painter born circa 1529 in Amiens, who settled in Switzerland. Although Dubois did not witness the massacre, he depicts Admiral Coligny's body hanging out of a window at the rear to the right. To the left rear, Catherine de' Medici is shown emerging from the Château du Louvre to inspect a heap of bodies.  Image credit: Wikipedia For example, will the budding creatives who gave us Summer Storm transport us b...