Pump Farm, Whitford, Devon

 

Pump Farm comprises a farmhouse called Pump House - which is a Grade II Listed Devon Longhouse - along with various farm buildings, and has belonged to the same family for 400 years.  

I didn't realise that the farm belonged to Pump House on my first visit in September 2007. I was walking along the road when I glimpsed a tractor through the chink of another building. I took a photo and decided to investigate further.

Thinking this was a derelict site I took more photos from the road further on until bumping into the owner and after a chat he very kindly invited me to take more photos around the farm itself. He also told me that the farm is usually available to let by other farmers, although at that time it had been left empty for a while.

I love the rusty corrugated iron barn with the walkway, looking all bright in the Autumn sunshine. A wooden barn seen below.

 

I don't have any information about the barns as such. It looks like this one was for livestock, such as cattle. It was a great place for taking photos, especially the shadows from the slats in the front wall. I wish I'd have taken more of those!

 

I took another photo of the corrugated barns with the walkway as I could see the left barn better from here.

On the opposite side to the wooden barn is another corrugated iron and stone rubble building...

...where I took a photo through the space between the wonky doors.

A further visit gave me the opportunity to look at some of the parts that I'd previously missed. It was the same time I took photos of the nearby WW2 pillboxes, just after the floods in Feb 2010, and the weather was quite different, making everything look darker.

I don't have a decent photo of Pump House itself as the one I took came out very dark because of the weather, the deep brown thatching and wisteria branches all across the front. It's also difficult to get the whole of the front in one photo, due to its length and position on the crossroad corner...even with a wide angle lens and standing in the middle of the road. However, the corner can be seen above where it adjoins the next building.

Built circa 16th century this farm building is also a Grade II Listed Building along with Pump House. The pump, dated 1834, was originally used to supply the village water and still remains on the front wall. As well as being the family dwelling, Pump House is also run as a Bed & Breakfast during the summer holiday season.

A stone rubble wall with corrugated iron roof, there is also weatherboarding on the end gable to the listed farm building. There may have been a winch at one time for the boarded up window space to move fodder or grains to and from the top floor. There is also an entrance for carts the other side.

More buildings after that can be seen below... 

...which happens to be this side of the corrugated iron buildings with walkway inbetween. I took another two photos of the other side, below.

Followed by two more photos of the small corrugated and stone building with the wonky doors.

And there we go! Another of the ones I wanted to revisit and take more photos of. I really enjoyed working with what I have though, and hopefully will be able to travel again at some time. Meanwhile, there are still plenty of articles to write. The one I had planned to finish is another rural one but as I tend to mix things up for interest I might choose something else. At this point I don't know, lol.

Cheers. :)

 

Congregational Church, Beer, Devon

 

Situated on Fore Street in the lovely village of Beer, the Congregational Church was opened in 1856. It has been enlarged twice for growing congregations, once in 1880 then again in 1920. 

This wasn't particularly on my radar but, after taking photos of the cemetery and its chapel in 2017, I walked past and noticed that it had been decked out for Harvest Festival. So I decided to go in and have a look.

As it happened, 'decked out' was right, as it was specifically for the annual Fisherman's Harvest of the Sea Service. I hadn't heard of this before but it brings together both fishing communities of Beer and Brixham, and has been a continual event since 1946.

 

As a centrepiece where the altar would normally be is this rather nifty display of a small boat with some of the fishing accroutements, such as the yellow oilskin coat and old style of floats, etc.

The church itself is fairly plain but has some rather nice details. Looking back down the aisle towards the entrance, there's a balcony for extra seating with a view of the attractive windows on the front of the building.

The clock on the balcony, above, and below is a transom window above the entrance door from the vestibule.

The wording on the leaded glass says 'He is risen'.

I braved going up to the balcony. It was rather steep and when I leaned back slightly to take a photo of the windows I almost fell backwards because of my backpack. Considering I was right in front of the low parapet it didn't help my acute acrophobia! However, I managed to save myself and take a few more photos leaning well away from the edge.

The centrepiece as seen from above with the fishnets stretched above the pews from side to side.

Although there is very little information about the church, an interesting snippet is that of the organ. The very first Wurlitzer organ to come from the US, this arrived in Britain in 1924, and was first installed in the Picture House - a cinema in Walsall, Staffordshire. It was later sold and spent time in private ownership before being installed in this church in 1957, where it is used for church services and concerts.

I wondered where the organ was as I hadn't seen it. Expecting something large and majestic, I finally discovered that this particular type of Wurlitzer is very small and that it's the light wood instrument on the right side of the platform.

It was nice to be able to see the high windows from the balcony. I don't know why but I have nine photos of these windows, some with a small amount of the netting and some with a lot, lol. I was probably overcompensating for being up high and wanted to get as much as possible while I had the opportunity.

I took the next two going back down the stairs, which I rather liked the look of with the diffused light coming from the above window.

And a final look outside at the frontage, seeing the full length of those fabulous Gothic style windows and the stone rubble wall. I think the quoins and surrounds may be of Beer Limestone. The glass panes look coloured from outside but they are quite plain and light up the interior beautifully. Altogether an unexpected but enjoyable visit. :)

And that's about it. Next up will be Pump Farm, consisting of some interesting farm buildings belonging to a Devon Longhouse farmhouse. I've already completed a fair amount so that shouldn't take too long to finish, barring accidents or too much nice weather ;)

Cheers until next time. :)

 

 

Clifton Place, Sidmouth, Devon

 

Clifton Place is situated in a triangle of land between the cliff edge at the western end of the Esplanade and Peak Hill Road, which is just to the right of the buildings in the photo below. 

This is one of several visits when I didn't take enough photos and intended to go back, but unable to. However, I took these during one of my walks along the cliff underwalk, when I also included some of the houses seen from below, as well as a couple from the road side on the walk back, so I somehow managed to get all or most of them anyway.

The first one, seen on the right above, is No: 1, oddly enough. ;) Unlike the other buildings it doesn't seem to have another name to it. A Grade II Listed Building, all the listed buildings in Clifton Place form a group and are all the same grade. It looks somewhat plain but does have a rather nice tent-shaped porch canopy and was built circa 18th century.

The next building along from that is No: 2, although this one also has the name of Clifton Lodge. Again, probably 18th century with later alterations, although it has retained its lovely thatched roof and also has a fabulous Georgian style porch with trellis work and tent-shaped canopy.

The third one along is Clifton House, which was formerly an hotel. Almost destroyed by fire, the original two storeys on the seaward side has partly been retained. The doorways contain modern Georgian style canopies and slightly bowed bays to the windows.

We can just about see the bowed windows in the bit of Clifton House seen on the far right of the above photo. I don't have any information on the house next door to it, as it isn't in the Listings. It does have a rather nice bargeboard running along the roof edge and a gable to the eastern end along with one on the front plus a deep bowed ground floor window bay.

The next one along is a detached building called Rock Cottage; an early 19th century Cottage Ornee and the first house to be built overlooking the beach on this triangle of land. Semi-circular dormer windows are situated in the thatched roof, which also has bracketed eaves and polygonal chimney pots.

Behind that is the delightful cottage called The Beacon, and the last one along is Clifton Cottage. Some of the garden walls to the cliff edge are also listed, parts of which I do have photos for.

This is the beach side of The Beacon, above, showing a small part of the swiss chalet style balcony and the walls beneath. I'll talk more about the building itself further on as I walked back the road way and have better photos of it from that side. The top wall is the terrace wall to the cottage, constructed in flint rubble with crenelations, and it is Grade II Listed along with the other structures.

Another photo of the top and bottom wall, with a view of Clifton Cottage beyond that.

The lower walls were probably added later to strengthen the cliff and emulate the terrace wall above with its fortified style. Between the two cottages is a culvert with an outflow of a stream, the name of which I've read somewhere but can't recall and can't find again!

The retaining garden wall of Clifton Cottage on the sea side is also listed.

The style consists of bricks, flint and pebbles merging into the lovely curves and lines of the cliff face rock.  

Below is the cliff edge to Connaught Gardens, where I took the following two photos.

The view from the top shows, from the left, Clifton Cottage, The Beacon and Rock Cottage further on with the first five buildings beyond that.

Clifton Cottage is beautifully sprawling with additions and alterations at various times. An old photograph dated 1817 shows it to be a lot simpler consisting of one cottage with thatched roof and not the variety of rooftops and chimneys it now has. 

Interestingly, the accompanying written account of 1820 says that there were about forty homes along the beach below, some of which can be seen in that photo here. 

Still with a thatched roof the gables above the windows are also thatched, as seen in the above photo. 

The Beacon with Rock Cottage further along behind it, taken from the road on the way back, below. 

Originally consisting of two cottages in one building with separate entrances each side, The Beacon was later converted to just one dwelling. Built in the style of Swiss Chalet and Sidmouth Gothic in 1840, it's set at an angle to the road, which helps to give it a wonderfully quirky look.

The windows are such a delight. They consist of diamond-paned transoms above casements and wonderfully pointed heads. Note that I didn't say 'pointy heads', although I might be forgiven for saying so as some of my readers may have noticed that I'm also a Sci-fi nut! ;)

The wall on the road side is also listed, part of which can be seen above. A flint and rubble wall with flint capping, it's a continuation of the garden wall belonging to Rock Cottage, also listed.

And finally another view of the very first photo along Peak Hill Road towards the two cottages. Just because it's nice and I've run out of photos, lol.

For more photos (a lot more) and information about the incredible rock formations along the cliff walkway you can see the article here.

I'm not sure what's next although I'm working on a few things at the moment, including the second part of Weather Lore. Cheers for now. :)