Budleigh Past and Present

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 It has been replaced by Marine Court   Not all hotel guests arrived by car during the 1980s.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

It's been quite an eye-opener to discover the thousands of photos in Fairlynch Museum's collection. I used quite a number in the recent re-edition of the Budleigh Salterton Railway booklet.  Now that the Museum's Local History Room is being re-organised there's a need for photos to illustrate various aspects of the area's past.  Sometimes the photos are not quite as perfect as one would like. The attached pic shows waitresses at the Rosemullion Hotel in Budleigh, demolished many years ago and replaced by blocks of flats. No date is given for the photo, and only Miss Lucy Sanders, front row, left, has been identified.  If you think that their uniforms look unnaturally dazzling white, as if they've been washed in biological detergent, that's because the wonders of the IT age allowed me to clean up those pinnies, which were definitely on the grubby side in the original photo.  After all, the Rosemullion was s...

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 in Budleigh Salterton Like most hotels of a certain size, to elongate the season, those of us that could, took a coachload of pensioners, early and late season. As we were newcomers to the hotel life, we employed a cook for the season. She was a treasure and stayed with us for many years. She did however enjoy a glass of sherry while waiting for everyone to be seated for dinner. (Pensioners who came on very reduced rates had fixed meals and times, so everyone arrived at the same time and took a while to be seated).  Peg, as she was called, enjoyed her sherry, stirring her lovely home-made soup and waiting. My husband bought sherry by the box, putting it on a shelf above the hatch where Peg was waiting with her soup. Unfortunately the tap came unattached and the sherry poured into th...

  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 ...