Locally owned and run quality magazine for Exmoor, the Quantocks & North Devon. Posts by the Editor.
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I think that our signposts are things of beauty. Especially this one. If this looks inviting then do dip into our Autumn Issue, out soon, which includes both a ride by and a walk by Sue Viccars around Dunkery. Photo by .warstat. Does anyone know where Dickie’s Path got its name? Have a great Sunday everyone.
Smile! It’s Friday! By Jo Hackman Photography.
I haven’t seen a wild boar in a while - used to see them near the Jubilee Inn. Have you seen one lately?
Fancy going to see a Turner?! Look no further than the The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon! Huge congratulations to Alison and her team at the museum for making this possible - it’s no mean feat.
Turner in Barnstaple is open!
It's been a busy start to our 'Turner in Barnstaple' exhibition.
It's been great to see so many people coming to see Turner's work and learn about what life would've been like here at the time he visited Barnstaple in the early 19th century.
The exhibition runs from July 20th to October 12th 2024, so there's plenty of time to visit the museum and see it over the summer.
Three Combes Foot by Sarah Exmoor with Jack - if you like Sarah’s work you’re going to love our Autumn Issue 😉
This photo comes from John Richards, one of our farming contributors. Today our Autumn Issue is being prepped in the mailing department of the printers. If you have been enjoying our two new series from Yarner Farm, don’t miss the fourth instalments in the new mag, out soon. If you’re off to Dunster Country Fair today have a fab time!
I have only seen a green woodpecker a handful of times. Last year I saw one up at Dead Woman’s Ditch and I saw one this July flying over the hedge near my house, at Torre Cider Farm. Apparently they like apples, so maybe orchards are a commonly loved habitat, even when the apples are not ripe? This photo is by the late, much-missed Julia Amies-Green.
It’s nearly heather display time - is it going to be a good year do we think? Photo by . Have a good week everybody!
Golden hour at the lighthouse by Andrew Turner Red Stag Safari
Happy weekend everyone! This post of some sunny and colourful shots of Dunster from this week comes from .g.davey. Like Shaun, I hadn’t realised that the Yarn Market isn’t ‘square’ to the buildings on either side of the street - and I once lived next door to it! It’s great to see it from above. Discover Dunster Visit Exmoor Dunster Winter Festival The Luttrell Arms Hotel
Ada Lovelace Day 2024 - Cream Tea with Inspirational Women
On Saturday 5 October Porlock will be celebrating International Ada Lovelace Day with its 11th annual “Cream Tea with Inspirational Women”, inviting women from all walks of life to share their inspiring stories and achievements. This year’s speakers are:
Heather Goldstraw, a graduate of the MOD Science & Engineering Fast Stream who now brings 30 years of systems thinking and leadership to the Defence Enterprise, aimed at improving the exploitation of great science and technology
Diane Turner, NHS Senior Practitioner and MATS Clinical Lead and upper limb specialist with experience gained in the NHS, army and private practice who also using her skills coaching others and working for two specific charities close to her heart
Natalie Dyson, a qualified commercial property lawyer with a wealth of experience in the charity sector who has recently taken up the post of CEO of Diversity Voice, a Somerset based charity whose aim is to help refugees to integrate and settle into the local community
Alex Prideaux, a senior quantity surveyor working in the defence industry leading a team of 12 overseeing construction projects with a total value of approximately £500million, a position achieved just 7 years after starting her apprenticeship
Karla Tresher, RNLI skipper who joined the lifeboat service aged 17 and in 2022 was successful in her application to become a full time Lifeboat commander on the river Thames working from Gravesend managing an Atlantic 85 class of Lifeboat covering 26 miles of the river.
Cream Tea with Inspirational Women takes place in Porlock Village Hall, starting at 2.30pm. Tickets are £8 and are available online at wegottickets.com/event/603583. (booking fee applies) and from Rosalinde Haw (payment by card or cash) and Porlock Information Centre (cash only). Please buy your tickets early, as there will only be a limited number available on the door and the event has sold out every year since it was first held in 2013!
Buy tickets for music, comedy, theatre, film, festivals and much more - with the best service in UK ticketing
Another angle on this lovely drone view of Broadsands, captured by Charlotte - have a fab Friday everyone!
Watch the latest from ITV News - The new West Country stretch becomes part of the King Charles the Third England Coast Path
The Hangmans looking moody under broody skies (hmmm, or would that be Hangmen? - I genuinely can’t decide in this instance), captured by
If you’d like to find a walk up there try this one from the
https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/walksdb/259/
There’s lots to read about the area even if you can’t get out to do the walk. For example: “At 1,044 feet, or 318 metres, Great Hangman is England’s highest sea cliff. From the cairn at the top here are tremendous views over the surrounding countryside, including the rounded humps of the “hogsback cliffs”, formed of the red Hangman Grits which were laid down as desert sands here 300 – 400 million years ago and raised high by the movements of the earth beneath.”
Thank you to reader Robert Hickley for sending in this photo. He says, ‘Hi I got this shot from Culbone Combe whilst walking along the Coast Path from Lynmouth.’ Thank you Robert. Have a good Wednesday everyone.
Don’t worry, nicer weather is coming. In the meantime why not soak up this shot by .wheatley2: ‘A superb evening spent on Morte Point in July, with Bull Point in the distance catching the last of the light before the sun disappeared below the horizon.’
Coming up at the Mayfly Studio: Antony Moggridge’s Musical Instruments, words by Tony James
If you find it hard to believe that sweet music can be played on instruments made from stuff like cigar boxes, bits of snooker tables, tuna tins and an Ouija board, visit the Mayfly Studio, Watchet, between July 19-26, where Blue Anchor musician and self-taught instrument-maker Antony Moggridge’s eclectic creations can be seen and heard.
Over the past 15 years, Antony has produced over 300 exquisitely-made instruments under the Shonky Musical Instruments and AM Guitars labels, and is one of only a handful of professionals to make guitars, banjos, mandolins and double-basses out of cigar boxes.
“I love the challenge of making music from something which would usually be thrown away,” he says. “I recently got some lovely wood from a demolished Devon cider factory and have made 15 guitars from it - and every one sounds different!”
lovewatchet Visit Exmoor
Rain clouds over Sherdon Hutch by .wheatley2. It is St Swithun’s Day or St Swithin’s Day (depending on which source you read). There are lots of variations around the traditional belief about the day predicting the weather to come, all of which come served with a big dose of salt! But this is my favourite amalgamation of versions:
“St Swithun (this is the preferred spelling in Wi******er, the city with which he is most closely associated) was a Bishop of Wi******er in the 9th century and tutor to King Alfred the Great. He is said to have performed one miracle in his lifetime, mending the eggs of a woman who had dropped them in her astonishment at seeing the bishop. After his death, he was buried at his own request outside the cathedral, exposed to the footsteps of the people of the town, and to the rain. When his body was moved inside in the following century, a great storm was thought to have been caused by his anger at this contravention of his wishes. So the tradition is that if it rains on St Swithun’s/Swithin’s Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather.
Encyclopaedia Britannica at www.britannica.com also adds that as weather frequently changes around midsummer, the tradition that this day influences the weather may stem from ancient pagan belief. On the European continent similar beliefs are attached to other saints (e.g., St. Médard, June 8, France).”
Come on you fabulous lot! Exmoor is cheering you on
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Here’s our Sunday Girl Revd Ann Gibbs. This week her Reflection is called Butterflies. If you read Ann’s Reflection every week don't worry in the last two weeks of July when it does not apear as Ann is taking a well-deserved break but will be back in August. Happy Sunday everyone. The photo of a common blue is by Andrew Turner Stag Safari
“A butterfly is a miracle, a divine creation that fleets, propelling the caterpillar within, an array of predators it cheats.”
I had the privilege the other day of watching a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis in my garden. It was fascinating to see its wings gradually take shape and then to see the butterfly tentatively moving them, gently at first, and then more confidently. I kept an eye on this little insect while I carried on weeding and, after some time, it launched itself into its first flight and danced through the air across the length of the lawn and disappeared from my sight. I remember being astonished and somewhat skeptical when I was first told about this lifecycle in butterflies as a small child. As an adult I am still amazed at the process and the ingenuity of a creator who can imagine into being such an intricate and beautiful being with the most mind blowing of life cycles!
This weekend the Big Butterfly Count is under way and there will be many, many people carefully watching and recording the butterflies that they see in their gardens or local parks and countryside. One that I always look out for is the heath fritillary which is rare and endangered but inhabits parts of Exmoor not too far from my home. There have been major efforts in recent years to ensure its survival and I know there have been sightings so I remain hopeful.
You may have realised by now that I often do research and look at references for my chosen topics week by week. I came across numerous quotations this week that referred to the courage and bravery of caterpillars allowing themselves to cease existence in that form and change into the beautiful butterflies that they become. I haven’t used any of them because I don’t really agree that this process involves any bravery on the part of the caterpillar – this is the way it was created to be and this is what it does. I don’t think the caterpillar munching its way through a pile of vegetation is actually thinking about its metamorphosis or wondering if it will cope!
No, I think that if there is something for us to learn from these insects it is more to do with recognising that change is not always a negative thing. Occasionally I will have a parishioner bemoaning the fact that church services have changed since their youth and why can’t we stick to all the old traditional hymns? To be fair we try to have a mixture of old and new and some of the new are truly beautiful. No doubt we have all heard people talking about the good old days and I can see why but there is much that is good in the world now too, if we would just allow ourselves to see it. “If nothing ever changed, there would be no such things as butterflies.” (Wendy Mass).
Things do change and not always for the worse although many of us seem to assume that this will be the case. I am encouraged by the knowledge that for me there is a creator who has taken the trouble to design a creature as beautiful and intricate as a butterfly with its incredible life cycle. If he cares that much for such a tiny thing then I need not worry that he is not caring for me and understanding of my worries about change.
“Nature was one of the key forces that brought me back to God, for I wanted to know the Artist responsible for beauty such as I saw on grand scale in photos from space telescopes or on minute scale such as in the intricate designs on a butterfly wing.”
(Philip Yancey)
And here’s the weather from .g.davey ‘Incoming: dramatic shower clouds arriving across the Vale of Porlock.’ A cool July brings many things, most of which I love. But of course it’s a big hay headache and obviously for tourism it’s not ideal. However, it’s not often that foxgloves last so long into willowherb season or the fields look so green in July. And, as this photo proves, Exmoor looks even better with some weather. If you’re visiting I hope you enjoy your stay, whatever the sky is doing! Check out as well for lots of inspiration. Happy Sunday everyone.
Sponsorsheep. 😅 whoever did this poster come and work for me please 😅 This looks like fun.
Crowcombe Village Shop are supporting CRUMBS PTA 'Great Stogumber Sheep Race' and hope you are too! Go along and have loads of fun and laughter whilst supporting our great village schools. From 11am on Sunday 14th July!
All of the best colours, at Woody Bay, posted by - have a fantastic weekend on Exmoor everyone!
Happy Friday everyone! The big butterfly count starts today. say: “You can call in to any of the Exmoor National Park Centres - Lynmouth, Dunster and Dulverton - to pick up a FREE butterfly identification guide and become a citizen scientist, helping to record rare and interesting species of wildlife like the Heath Fritillary.
Photo credit: Trevor Stevens
What a fantastic day Sarah had yesterday! She says: “Fabulous day out on the moor. Thanks for showing me the ropes.”
“Hurley! Fetch me a gin and tonic immediately!” Autumn Issue has just gone to print. Thank you to our fabulous mini team, our writers and photographers, our advertisers, stockists and of course our readers! Get your subscriptions in as soon as you can everyone. 0345 224 1203. And we have a new, improved subscription shop on our website. www.exmoormagazine.co.uk
Gift and international subscriptions available. Have a good evening all.
Bluebells look much bluer on a grey day. And I think that bright barges are the same; the current greyness just highlights their colourfulness. This comes from .lock.photography
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🩷 The Tiverton Canal Co and Horse Drawn Barge () are celebrating their 50 year anniversary. This weekend (13th July) there will be an open day to celebrate in Tiverton. It’s always such a pleasure seeing the Barge and Horse on the beautiful Grand Western Canal. It’s such a lovely family-run business. 🩷
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It’s Snooze HQ here. I just can’t get the staff today! Must be the low pressure! Anyone else feeling like having a duvet day?
I went for a walk up to Selworthy Beacon yesterday then saw this lovely 360 by @shaun.g.davey - it’s utterly stunning up there at the moment. And the belties - stars of our summer cover from @hindon_farm - are looking magnificent too! There are skylarks everywhere (don’t forget it’s dogs on short leads season on any open access ground) and if I’m not much mistaken it’s a bumper foxglove year?!
My walks are drenched in skylark song at the moment. It’s the best sound. Ali Pegrum from @stockham_farm has been enjoying the same soundtrack, as shown here. This might be my favourite sound of June. What is yours?
From @theporlockpippin 65. Dunkery is one of the great national Beacons of England. It was for centuries the beginning of a signal system, a chain used to send warnings with fire at night or smoke by day, warnings that an enemy was approaching, that invasion was imminent or had started. At times of national emergency, Beacon Keepers were appointed to keep watch. Messengers on horseback, called Hobilers, were also on stand-by and the alarm was sent both visually with the lighting of the beacon, and verbally with the hobiler galloping down the line to the next beacon with the news, which was then passed on from one to the next all the way back to London. The Hobilers were so-named because their horses were hobbled to prevent them from straying whilst waiting. The last recorded use of beacons came in 1690, when a hostile French fleet was anchored off Torbay and the hilltops were finally set alight. Then, during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) some of the ancient Beacon sites were reused but as signal sites with the Admiralty building an inland chain of telegraph stations using lamps with shutters. A look at the map will reveal many hills with the name Beacon, including our own Martinhoe Beacon, the site of an old Roman fort and believed to be a beacon used by them to communicate with Wales. Then in the second world war all church bells were silenced, only to be rung when an invasion had started. Beacons have also been used at times of national celebration, the most recent being Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1952. Jim Sanders remembers “There was a big bonfire built at the top of Dunkery. People told one another it was there and we all went in the night. Thousands went up. There were bonfires at high points everywhere on the hills. Wales you could see bonfires.” 📸 1 The 1935 Dunkery Silver Jubilee beacon. 2 Constructing the 1911 Dunkery beacon for the coronation of George V. 3 The finished beacon ready for 60 ga
Morning all. This comes from @theporlockpippin David Ramsay’s No.64 post - memories from The Valley of Rocks Hotel (don’t miss his Unforgotten Exmoor books, available from unforgottenexmoor.com): “I made porridge for of Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Wilhelmina. I was on reception one afternoon, no other staff on. She sent down a message - could she have a bowl of porridge? Me? I’d never made porridge in my life! Hadn’t got a clue, and it all stuck to the bottom of the pan, so I scraped it off, put it through a sieve and sent it up. A little later I got a message back “Best porridge I’ve ever tasted!” Sonia Squire continues: “My mother was born in Wales. At the age of 16 she caught a paddle steamer across to Lynmouth and looked for work, ending up as chambermaid at the Valley of Rocks Hotel. Her main job was to empty the chamber pots and wash them out. That’s where she met my dad who was the night porter there, and they soon married. I was born in 1930. Then, soon as I myself had left school I got a job there too, but on reception. Second generation of my family working at The Valley of Rocks Hotel” Queen Wilhelmina was one of many illustrious guests visiting Lynton and Lynmouth. Earlier, as rich tourists started arriving in private horse-drawn carriages, the two principal hotels would watch the top of Countisbury Hill through telescopes. They’d rush a post boy with extra horses to help the carriages up the hill, and so to their own establishment rather than that of their competitor. Later, as motor cars started arriving, garages were opened, although many of the early cars had to be taken up on the cliff railway as they couldn’t manage the last steep hill. When Queen Wilhelmina visited she and her whole entourage took over the entire hotel. Later in life she became the world’s first female dollar billionaire. 🖋️ In conversation with Sonia Squire (nee Way) May 2024. 📸 1 Exterior of the Vall
Another gem from David Ramsay @theporlockpippin 62. Lillian Moffat’s family harvested bark as a sideline to their farming - early diversification. “Dad used to have the rights from the Blathwayt estate to take down sections of standing oaks from the very steep area between the farm and the sea. Brother Fred would cut these down and then, using a special tool, twist the bark off in sections. As a child I would help by gathering up these sections of bark and lean them upright to dry off. I received a little pocket money for this. We’d load them onto a cart and take them down to the tannery where they were used in the tanning process.” On the coast path it is still possible to see many of the Sessile oaks, now grown-out and multi-stemmed, originally coppiced for their bark. Interestingly these are often considered the remnants of the charcoal industry rather than that of the Porlock Tannery, which used vast quantities over the two hundred years it existed. Founded in the early 1600s the Tannery was situated in the middle of the village opposite the Castle Hotel. Sections of woodland, known locally as a “rap of wood” were coppiced in the spring and the stumps left to re-grow. The bark was stripped off, dried, and then weighed by the cart load at the entrance to the Tannery. It was stored in huge sheds and then ground up and added to the water in the tan pits where hides were left to soak for about a year. During that time the tannin from the oak seeped into the pores of the skin, replacing the water with natural preservative. It was not pleasant living near a tannery; the petrifying hides in the pits stank and there was continual smoke from the fire in which the spent bark was burnt. The Tannery finally closed in the early 1930s. 📸 1The Bark House at the Porlock Tannery 2 bark stripping tool 3 bundles of bark being delivered 4 weighbridge at the entrance to the tannery 5 the tan pits 6 Flesher at work within the tannery Photo 1 cou
This is from David Ramsay @theporlockpippin Two gates hung together in parallel, on opposite hanging posts, and closed without fastenings - such was Brendan Two Gates. When the wind blew, it would open one but keep the other firmly closed. The lack of fastenings made it easy to pass through on horseback without having to dismount. The Brendon road crossed the common and was the least steep route into Lynton, and so became increasingly popular as the area was developed. During the Depression the government made funds available to generate work, and it was decided to widen and improve this road. With only one man - yes just one - registered as unemployed in the area, the result was large numbers of men coming in looking for work, with the vast majority of them actually walking in from Cardiff. Over three years they were employed on a casual basis, living in hutted camps which followed the road as it progressed across the moor. These camps consisted of a kitchen hut with cooking utensils, tables and forms, and two separate dormitory huts. Each man was supplied with a bed (or boards), a straw mattress or palliasse, a pillow, and three blankets. There was also a drying hut which was almost always in constant use. Many problems were encountered. There was no water high on the common and the steam rollers had to continually trundle down to the valleys in order to fill up. Unfortunately the gradient on the return journey caused the water to spill out and extinguish the fire, so they had to return in reverse gear, which was incredibly slow. There was also little suitable stone on the moor and this all had to be brought in and broken by hand down to the three inch gauge required. The weather on the high moor was also extremely cold and wet, with the District Surveyor writing on one occasion, “Some days it was too cold for many of the men to work, and on the 27th of January, while paying the rent, the ink in my fountain pen froze.” The road took three years to comple
It must be true then: summer IS coming. Swallows spotted in the vale posted by @discover_porlock - have you seen one yet? Have a lovely week everyone!
Amidst this agriculturally challenging if picturesque weather, may your evening be as cosy as a long-tailed tit building its perfect nest! Film by Andy Gassant. Wishing everyone a safe and happy Easter weekend from Exmoor Mag x
Wishing everyone a happy St Patrick’s Day! Here is something utterly inspiring from @bbcdevon to make you feel uplifted today.
The flushing of the inner harbour down at the Weir filmed by @shaun.g.davey
The owner of Fenton-oh-Jesus-Christ would like to remind us all that we are now well into the dogs on leads season on access land. It’s 1 March to 31 July. Short leads. Stay on the paths. Etc. Some people do not know this. I’ve seen loads of dogs off leads up on the Quantocks this week. Sad face. I’ve also seen loads of skylarks. Happy face. Nobody comes to our pages for arguments - least of all me (life is too short, let’s all be lovely to one another) - and so I actively avoid all of that nonsense; this is just a reminder, which we share every year, courtesy this time of an old classic. Have a lovely day. X https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/exmoor-for-everyone/out-and-about-essentials/exmoor-for-dogs
What’s your favourite birdsong? Here is a Wednesday wren from @anke_kneifel 🥰
Would you like to advertise in the Summer Issue of Exmoor Magazine? It covers May, June and July. Please email [email protected] to express interest. Rates and sizes are all on our media pack here:https://www.exmoormagazine.co.uk/documents/ratecard.pdf We’d love to hear from you and always do our best to help our advertisers however we can. Thank you for supporting local! 🌻
It’s official: we live in paradise. Sound up. Oliver Edwards @exmoor_hill_farmer captured this murmuration which he sees at Westermill most nights this time of year.
Something from @farmersguardian to make you smile on this wet afternoon. Perfect indoor fun for half term! 😂🐏😍
That’s quite the high tide! Thank you to @porlockinformationcentre for sharing this video by @exmooradventures - it even came up to our gigs! 😶
Before Monday morning pulls you into its madness, here is a kestral enjoying the view above Woolacombe. Posted by @wildseanorthdevon and guaranteed to lower blood pressure and increase seratonin. Wishing everyone a good week. 🥰
I’ve noticed a real increase in the people we feature doing reels about the mag. This is wonderful. Thank you! We can only work hard to promote all of our wonderful businesses - many of them independent makers - with the help of all you readers! Please help us to do what we do by picking up your copy of the mag. Here’s a reel from featured artist @sarah_le_breton - who is included in Spring Issue in a piece by Sophie James.
I love how excited people are getting about the new mag! This reel is by one of our lovely new stockists No.4creatives in Brook Street, Bampton. Thank you to our stockists, readers and advertisers for your energising enthusiasm. It means the world to us! Keep reeling everyone!
A quarterly, high-end publication for Greater Exmoor, including North Devon and the Quantocks, our approximate coverage area is a ‘rough diamond’, extending from Taunton in the east to Hartland in the west and Cullompton in the south. We are sold in local shops, along with Waitrose and M&S. If you missed out on summer issue we have a small number left and they are available to order through this page on on our website.
The magazine is also available, anywhere in the world, by subscription. Established in 1996, the publication remains proudly independent, being locally owned by Naomi Cudmore (MD) in West Somerset, and Elaine Pearce and Heather Holt in North Devon. It is edited, designed and run by Naomi (pictured). The magazine’s growing team of knowledgeable writers and photographers from Devon and Somerset share a common love of the area and a passion for the magazine.
The magazine’s office manager is Bryan Cath. You can call him about subscriptions and general enquiries on 0345 224 1203 or email him via [email protected]. You can email Naomi direct on [email protected].
