Budleigh Past and Present

Continued from https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/02/stories-from-southlands-hotel-by-iris_28.html   Pictured above is Budleigh resident Iris Ansell. As a volunteer at Fairlynch Museum Iris looked after the Costume Department. In this article, the eighth and last in the series, she recalls more memorable moments from her time as proprietor of Southlands Hotel in Budleigh Salterton      About the late 1980s the economic situation changed in Britain. VAT was increased, stocks and shares were paying very little, and the cheap holiday abroad had arrived, with guaranteed good weather.   Southlands Hotel brochure After two years with bad weather, and guest occupancy down due to lack of funds of our older clientele, we decided to give up the hotel life after nearly 20 years.   The Jacuzzi: offering hotel guests a sensuous experience, it remained sadly empty!   Image credit: Pavel Ševela We sold to a young couple w...

      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 It has been replaced by Marine Court   Not all hotel guests arrived by car during the 1980s.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 suc...

Iris Ansell, who as a volunteer at Fairlynch Museum looked after the Costume Department, recalls more memorable moments from her time as proprietor of Southlands Hotel in Budleigh Salterton.    This is one of a series of her recollections, and ends on a sad note.   Usually I write about guests at the Hotel; this time it is about a member of staff. Henry – not his real name – was brought by his wife to enquire if we had any jobs going in the garden. As it happened, our gardener had retired and so we had a vacancy. Southlands Hotel in its heyday on Marine Parade, Budleigh    Henry was 62 years old, could neither read nor write, never spoke – although he could ­– but smiled and laughed all day. He had lived with his elderly parents all his life, never had a job, just worked in his beloved garden.  When his parents died, he found himself not only on his own but homeless as well. A widowed neighbour took him...