We planned a short stay in the City of Bath
but were recovering from flu and so did some outings close to home.
Budleigh Salterton
This is our go-to seaside resort for a nice breath of sea air and a walk along the prom.
We have already created a page of images on a trip to Budleigh but nothing had prepared us for this trip. We like to park in Lime Kiln car park at the River Otter exit to the sea. Imagine our surprise when we drove in to find there was a massive civil engineering project called the Lower Otter Restoration Scheme, taking over 1/2 the car park.
And Yet,
just along the prom we found the seashore fish shop going strong and well supported by locals and day visitors. Thank goodness, despite the upheaval in the valley, things remain the same, year on year on the front.
Sadly I positioned my camera in the wrong place. The guy on the left doesn't have a seagull on his head!
We carried our picnic lunch along the coast path towards Exmouth onto the top of West Down to our favourite bench and were reunited with the resident robin.
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I have enlarged the photo and you can just make out a dash of red which is the construction work and beyond the trees there is evidence of a new temporary road for heavy equipment.
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This view is world famous and preservation and reconstruction is so important.
After a stroll along a footpath across the golf course and back to our car where we found the weather had changed and it was soon to rain.
That's it. Time for Home.
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Want to see more of Budleigh Salterton?
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Kilve
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We travelled north from our home to visit some Somerset coast scenery north of the Quantocks.
The walk took us through the churchyard at Kilve and onwards in a westerly direction across fields to the pretty village of East Quantoxhead with the medieval church and pond embedded within a Privately owned Estate where the scene hasn't changed very much over the years.
We returned to our car via the fascinating low cliffs and views out to Wales.
This is Sheila's car.
It is called Margaret
Margaret is parked in
Sea Lane, Kilve.
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This is her second brush with national exposure having had many favourable comments on the Blue Anchor page on this site.
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Evidence of former businesses close to the shore which is beyond the hill as seen in this old furnace.
This interesting walk starts at Kilve Church as the footpath runs past the front door of this medieval building which is steeped in history.
The full title of the church is St Mary the Virgin and it has a recorded list of rectors dating back as far as 1265.
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The church is closely linked with the ruins of the nearby chantry which itself dates from 1329 when it had a complement of five chaplains to celebrate daily in the parish church for the soul of the Lord of The Manor – Sir Simon de Furneaux and his heirs.
The long view down the church
A closer view by the prayer stool with its beautiful embroidered cushion.
The FONT is located at the back of the church and it dates from the 12th century and has a plain bowl with a cable-moulded base.
Outside again, Sheila, ready for being fog bound again, decided to wear a red hat. This is the public footpath to the next village of East Quantoxhead and yet another medieval church.
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You might be interested to know this
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It is thought that the tower may have been added as late as 1636 (when the wardens were ordered to build an extra room) and its plain windows in 1771.
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The tower houses two bells, one of which came from the Bristol Foundry, circa 1500, and it is believed that at first they were housed in a separate thatched building.
Pretty as this scene is, we had another burst of beauty at the duckpond in rural East Quantoxhead.
I completely forgot to photograph the outside of this church, but in true Blue Peter tradition, here is one I took in previous visits
The church of St Mary is a listed Grade 2 building.
This is a really lovely church, kept in good condition and freely open to visitors.
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Here, a lady with a red hat photo-bombs my picture.
From East Quantoxhead we made our way down to the coast to have a wander on the beach before returning to walk back to Margaret along the low cliffs.
The beach is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a favourite haunt of geologists with its spectacular rock formations and fossils, including ammonites and reptile remains.
The foreshore and cliffs at Kilve are early Jurassic in age. Over 12m of limestone and shales from the Lower Lias is exposed at Kilve. These contain Psiloceras planorbis succeeded by a thick sequence of shales with a few thin limestones.
This pebble, rock and sand beach, with many fascinating rock formations, sits on the Somerset coast, where the Quantock Hills meet the sea. From here there are views out across Bridgewater Bay towards the South Wales coastline.
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The beach is backed by unstable cliffs with visible bands of blue lias, shale and limestone. When the tide goes out, a large expanse of wave-cut platform is exposed. This area is full of rockpools which are teeming with interesting marine wildlife.
Thanks for looking at this sequence. I hope you found it interesting
Dr. Catherine Mottram, Senior Lecturer University of Portsmouth
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has produced a superb set of YouTube Videos
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