Blackmore Gardens, Sidmouth, Devon

Once part of Blackmore House, which no longer exists, the gardens were taken over by the Urban District Council in 1952 and subsequently made into a public park, retaining much of its original walls and horticulture. 

I'd often walked past during my visits to Sidmouth and was quite intrigued by some of the features, notably the very old walls, and other interesting things that I could see in the distance. A week before Christmas in 2011 I had some time to kill whilst waiting for films to be processed, so I had a wander in.

Looking from the other side of the gates, above, I was rather pleased to capture a seagull in the photo...even though it looks more like a flying handkerchief!

Palms aren't indigenous to Britain, but we do have a lot of them on the South-West peninsular, thanks to those intrepid explorers who brought seeds and plants back from their travels abroad. The climate is temperate, therefore palms thrive here and are very much a part of our coasts and townscapes now.

One of the more unusual features, I was enchanted by this wonderfully quirky wall post.

Below; a palm that looks as if it's growing from a giant pine cone, presumably caused by the outer palm fronds dying off and being cut back. The tiles look quite old and may have been part of the original garden, now used as a very pleasant seating area with wooden benches.

 

Next to that is a glasshouse. From the outside it looks like the kind of modern conservatory that often gets tacked onto the back of a house to create an extra room. Inside however, it's rather lovely with a tiled floor and interesting plants.

An interesting piece of rock in the centre of a pool, which I suspect acts as a flowing fountain but it wasn't switched on during my visit and the pool was almost dry.

A cottage garden is created in the corner outside, with a fake door and shuttered window. It's quite nice but not really very cottage-gardeny. The brick path and weathered wall is almost authentic but the planting is more municipal than rural, and that door canopy is just horrible to my mind.

Below is a wonderful avenue of pleached trees, pleaching being a technique of weaving the branches of trees together to form a hedge.  I'm glad I saw them in the winter, as the bare branches make such lovely shapes.

 
Another original remain is this delightful wall, below (photo taken on a further visit the following Spring). As well as enjoyment, the gardens would have provided for the household too, and this type of wall may be for training fruit trees against; probably plums and damsons or even peaches. It may also have kept the kitchen gardens separate from, and out of sight of, those walking in the garden for pleasure. However there are some lovely old trees there and the wall could be merely to create 'rooms' so that not all of the garden is revealed at once. 

And finally, a look across the lawn with the wintry shadows of the trees. An altogether enjoyable visit. As well as a place to walk, sit and enjoy, it's also one of the venues used during the Sidmouth Folk Week. Personally, I love it quiet like this, but it's also fun with outdoor music and dancing too. :)

Belmont House, Lyme Regis, Dorset

This is a house with some very interesting history attached, not only locally but also from my own personal point of view. A simple two-storey Georgian seaside villa built in 1774 by Simon Bunter, it was originally known as 'Bunter's Castle'. Passing to the Coade family and renamed Belmont House, it was later added to during Victorian times, and was the home of two of the town's most celebrated residents.

The first of these famous residents was Eleanor Coade, the originator of the Coade Stone; the house given to her by her uncle in 1784. Her family originally lived in the area, where she was born, but later moved to London. The rich decorations of Coade Stone on the facade was created by her own factory in Lambeth. There is a lot of conflicting history about Mrs Eleanor Coade, not least because she shared her name with that of her mother. However, Eleanor never married, but as a business woman in Georgian times, she was given her prefix as an honory title. Owning a business was not considered a suitable occupation for a single lady!

The second famous resident was the author John Fowles. Although a prolific writer, he is probably most well known for his book  'The French Lieutenant's Woman', the story of which was set in Lyme and was completed and published whilst he lived at Belmont House. A film of the same name was also made in Lyme Regis. By then, of course, the house had seen some alterations during Victorian times, with the addition of further buildings to the rear and a quirky turreted tower.

Original boot scraper by the front door.

The Grade II Listed house was taken into the care of the Landmark Trust in 2007 at the request of Mr Fowles’s widow Sarah to fulfil his wish that the house should not be inappropriately developed and also made available for others to enjoy.  It was John's wish that it would be made into a writer's retreat. Sadly, Landmark Trust was granted an application to demolish the Victorian additions, bringing it back to its original standing as a Georgian seaside house and retaining the tower as a stand-alone edifice.

As soon as I discovered that the house was about to be so drastically altered, I was keen to visit and take photos of it in 2010. However, this wasn't my first visit...

During my final year at University in 1994/5 I produced an animation for my main project, and it was something I wanted to continue with. After graduating, I had the idea of making an animation about the Undercliff between Axmouth and Lyme Regis, and as part of my research I wrote to John Fowles. He replied to my letter and invited me over to visit him, which I did. He was a lovely man and showed me around Belmont House, including his studio, where he wrote his books on an old Underwood typewriter overlooking the sea. I've never forgotten that visit and I felt very sad that part of his heritage was soon to disappear.

The beautiful old building in the grounds (above) was the original stables and coach house, which has been retained by Landmark Trust and made into a museum.

 
The observatory tower was originally built by one of the owners of Belmont House, a Victorian gentleman called Dr Richard Bangay. A local GP, he also had a passion for astronomy. The machinery that opens the dome and moves the telescope has been retained and the whole tower restored, now standing on its own since the additional buildings have been removed. These photos were all taken before the restoration of course, so the tower is shown with part of the later addition that attached it to the main building.

I only took a few photos, but a few more along with these can all be seen on my YouTube video slideshow set to music; link below.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIWJ4BywGdU

 

Village Hall, Axmouth, Devon

This Grade II listed building was once the village school and now serves as the village hall. It was built circa 1840, although the later addition of a gabled porch bears a shield above the door with the date 1894. Like many buildings in this area the walls are of stone rubble, with stone quoins and stone coping to the gable ends.

The first two photos were taken on a previous visit to St Michael's church, next door. The others were taken on a visit to a village history exhibition held in the hall, in spring 2011.

The porch, below, which was added some 50 years after the original build, which answers why the later date was added. The gable end has a three light window with intersecting tracery.

 
The gable end facing the road contains a Y-tracery window, below.

 
Across the courtyard is this funky little building. I don't know what it's used for now, but I suspect that it was once a toilet block for the pupils when the hall was a school. It reminds me of my infant school, when using the loo meant a nice walk out in the sun...or a run across the playground during cold and rainy weather.

Below, a view of St Michael's where the south and west sides of the hall abut the churchyard.

And a view of the south gable end taken from the churchyard.

As well as the playground, the interior also reminded me of my old infant school due to the long room running throughout the length of the building and a partitioning screen part-way along. I also took some interior photos, but they were too blurred to use apart from the one below. 

And, to round off my visit to the exhibition, I sat and enjoyed coffee with a huge slice of chocolate cake...visible by its absence on the plate. ;)

Balfour Lodge, Sidmouth, Devon

This delightful Cottage Orne was the former lodge to a large residential house called Knowle Cottage, now called The Knowle which is where the East Devon Council Offices are housed, and is situated at the start of the driveway leading to the main house. Oddly enough, the lodge is now called Balfour Lodge, taking its name from Balfour Manor across the lane behind it. This never was a lodge to the manor house, as the actual lodge is situated at the gateway to the manor drive, and is called South Lodge. Have I confused you yet? ;) Well, just to make things even more confusing, there is another house further up the lane called Knowle Cottage, which is nothing to do with the original one, but I think it may have been a second lodge belonging to it on the north-west of the estate.

 

A Grade II listed building, Balfour Lodge was built circa early to mid 19th century. Comprising two storeys, with the first floor in the attic, there is a steep pitched hipped roof with gable ends at each side and pretty gabled first floor windows to the front and back. With it's 'crazy paving' finish, and ornate bargeboards, it's a striking and quirky building of the 'gingerbread house' variety.

The Gothic windows are an absolute delight, with cute foliate carvings of ivy, holly and other leaves forming quatrefoil shapes below the hipped and tiled roof of the ground floor oriel window (above).

Above can be seen the projecting stone porch, with tracery patterned bargeboards. Stone quoins surround the door. I'm not sure if that is the original door, as the listed building entry is slightly confusing. Mention is made of a 2-light casement at the entrance front and the door having ornate iron hinges, of which there is now no trace of either...unless the original entrance was at the adjacent side. This may be the case as the house has been converted into two flats. I do love this door however, and the way the window apex echoes the Gothic shape is quite lovely.

The photo above is of the rear, taken from the next lane along; a narrow lane which, oddly enough, is called Broad Street, presumably built when it was broader than most roads in the vicinity at the time. ;)

I couldn't help but notice this fab little house whenever I went past on the bus occasionally, but this time I was in a friend's car and as she enjoys mooching around unusual places too, we stopped to get a better look. Which led to us having a meander up Broad Street lane and finding several other places of interest. Great day, with lots of photos to show for it!

Axminster Railway Station, Axminster, Devon

As the date plaque shows, the station was built in 1859, and was subsequently opened on the 19th of July 1860. The original service offered travel between Queen Street in Exeter to Yeovil in Somerset, with the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). Eventually services were extended to include express trains to Waterloo station in London, and also local services to Exeter St David's and Salisbury.

Typical of the period in this area, it's a beautifully quaint building which has continued pretty much unspoilt. Designed by Sir William Tite in the Victorian Gothic style, it isn't derelict or abandoned, but very much live and used. In fact there have been improvements to the line since these photos were taken during late 2008. The Beeching cuts during the 1960s had earmarked the line for closure, but it was reprieved to having just the one line cut; bringing the two lines down to one. However, recent work has reversed that by opening up the other line to extend the London service to an hourly one, and a new passenger footbridge was built in february 2010, to enable travellers access to the other side.

As can be seen in the photo above, one track was in use and the former one had been taken up. The direction shown is the up line for London; the down direction (same line until recently in 2010) to Exeter. The building on the right now houses a delightful little cafe, which was originally a parcel office and staff room.

A close-up of the road bridge, in the photo above. Below, a very rare moment with no people, cars, taxis or buses in front of the station. Mind, I did have to stand there for a good twenty minutes or so to get that photo!

Wonderfully mellow red brick with stone quoins, there was a time in circa 1990 to the early 2000s when the brick was painted over in a very pale magnolia type of colour and the quoins and roof slates were in light grey. I don't recall seeing it like that as I had no occasion to be in Axminster at that time, but having seen a photo of it I can only say that thank goodness it was put back to its original unfaced brick and stone.

A couple of photos of the station side.

And finally, another one of the front.This time with a car in front as I didn't fancy waiting too long for another clear photo! ;)