Seaways, Seaton, Devon - Part Two

As promised in the first article - seen here - I eventually got the further photos processed, scanned and edited. Just the right kind of sunshiny day for it too and without the trees in the garden it was easy to see the house from the lane. I took several photos of it as I walked up.

The oddly positioned corner gables can be easily seen now too, which is a bonus, although it is really sad to have lost all those trees.

 

Good to see that the pine trees near to the house have been spared though. What was also a surprise was the view from the erstwhile gateway, now blocked by Herras fencing. The next photo is the view down the lane to the hills opposite in the east.

And these others through the fencing across the grounds towards the cliff.

I managed to aim my camera through a gap between the two pieces of fencing for these other two. I thought I might manage to push it and squeeze through to get close-ups of the house but it's heavily overlooked by houses and I bottled out in case I couldn't get back through again, lol, as it was on an awkward slope. 

The view from the top floor of the house must be even more incredible. 

The owner wanted to put several houses here but planning permission was refused because the rest of the housing mostly comprise one-storey bungalows and it would be out of keeping to have taller buildings. At least that's one bit of good news. I don't know what's going to happen yet but I'll update this article when I do.

The gable on this side of the lane, above. At the top of the lane is an adjacent one, where the other gable can be seen.   

There's even a wall postbox this side too, which is another lovely bonus.

Then back to the first side with another view down the lane.

I'm so in love with this house and it's such a shame that so much gets demolished in order to develop a site with less interesting housing. I truly wish I could save it. 

 

I always seem to be apologising lately, but I am sorry that this has been so late and that I've hardly posted anything this year so far. It's been one of those years with lots of things going on and I became burnt out and completely lost my motivation. I really enjoyed writing this up though, so maybe doing more will help. We can but hope! ;)

Lots of things in the pipeline. I just need some extra time and to get my mojo back, lol. I will definitely try not to leave it so long this time. At least I managed to get this one in before the end of March - just! - and the cherry blossom's out on the tree in front of my bedroom window so that can't be at all bad. Happy Cherry Blossom Time. :)

 

Sunny Nook, Beer, Devon

I first noticed this lovely Arts & Crafts building whilst having a walk down Fore Street a few years ago, when I took some photos. I knew I needed more but kept putting off going on a photo shoot...not least because my photos were coming out very badly. I eventually realised that it wasn't me but the camera! It soon packed up and I used two of my back-up cameras but they weren't much better so I eventually gave in and bought myself a very near mint one from Japan (bearing in mind that I use 35mm film cameras, so brand new ones aren't available, although this one is as good as and was probably old shop stock and never used).

As I hadn't been out of Seaton for a fair long time I decided to start getting out and about again at the end of last October and made Beer my first one. It's only a short bus journey and I wanted to take more photos of other buildings at the same time, so I had a lovely morning doing that. I was on tenterhooks waiting for my films to be processed but I needn't have worried because they came out really well.

The first photo at the top of the page was taken in 2017. The rest are the new ones until the end, when I'll put the other earlier ones in.

Interestingly, I hadn't realised the extent of Arts & Crafts buildings in Beer before, but Fore Street is absolutely full of them, along with some other interesting buildings in their own right. Several of them were designed by the architect David Carr, who was employed by Clinton Estates and who lived in Beer. Sunny Nook was one of these, built in 1894 using the traditional local materials indicative of the area, and is a Grade II Listed Building.

Stone rubble walls with flint rubble garden walls; the limestone for the quoins, door and window surrounds come from Beer Quarry, situated just above the village to the west.

The building is a range of three cottages. Two are situated on the left side with the third on the right.

The roof on the right hand cottage is half-hipped with crested ridge tiles.

The left hand section containing the other two cottages has a catslide roof in the central front with fishscale tiles. A catslide roof is one that swoops down lower than the rest, the English name for it amusingly descriptive of a long sloping roof that cats can't cling to...something I only recently discovered.

Another slightly different view of the left side cottages, above, showing the catslide roof, and the others that were taken in 2017 below.

I'd mainly taken photos of the third, right hand cottage, seen above and below...

...with a little sneak look over a gate into the courtyard.

There we go, the first of several new places visited. I've still yet to finish the film I used for the second visit to Seaways. Hopefully, I'll have some more days out soon to get that finished and part two published. Meanwhile, here's the first of the new ones. Sorry it took until mid February to post anything up but I haven't been too well. Feeling much better now, though. Let's hope it continues, lol. 

Cheers, Eileen. :) 

 

 

Seaways, Seaton, Devon - Part One

 

At the end of the previous article I said that I'd have a look to see if I have any more Urbex (Urban Explores of derelict and abandoned buildings) articles to include. I don't, unfortunately, but I do have this odd one that I came across whilst on a walk a few years ago. On investigation it turned out to be just an empty house; probably inbetween being sold and the new owners moving in. However, it did give me the opportunity to have a good look at it. :)

I wasn't able to discover anything about it, not even on estate agents websites, so I'll just have to do my usual ramble about the architecture and what I found. It did turn out to be really nice though, and if I had the money and wanted to buy a house this would definitely be in the running.

Shrouded by lovely tall trees, the path from the gate led into a delightful 'secret garden'.

The house itself turned out to be quite unusual with two extended gable sections at each corner of the south-facing front, rather than at each end. It's possibly an Arts and Crafts design from the 1930s, as opposed to the earlier movement in the 1890s.

The frontage is in keeping with that date, with its deep, low porch and wide door with windows to each side. It looks fabulous with the shrubs and creepers surrounding the porch and the spring flowers in the garden.

And that's all I can say about it. I haven't been back to have another look, even though it's not too far from my home. It's on a ridge of hills which used to be covered in trees, the ones of this house having been cleared away a short while after my visit...and gradually more trees along the ridge have been chopped down. It's heart-breaking to see, especially when we need trees and gardens more than ever for the amount of wildlife they support and the disappearance of many of our woods and forests. If I went back and saw an effing gravel garden I'd be extremely angry, lol.

Anyway, here are two more photos of the little garden lawn containing old garden furniture.

EDIT: I had another concerted search for further information today - the first day of the year 2023 - and came across a photo pretty similar to this one of mine, below.

It was taken from an article dated 18/2/22 in a local newspaper about a proposal for houses to be built on a site next door to Townsend Medical Centre - the building already on the site being dilapidated and earmarked for demolition. I remember seeing the article at the time but it didn't click that it's the same property as Seaways. I'd thought that Seaways was a lot further up, which it actually is because a google aerial view included in the article showed a much larger tract of land uncovered by the felling of the trees. 

I've included a google view below, where the shape of the house can be seen in the top left hand corner of the bare piece of land on the left. The building on the right of that is the medical centre.

So, no gravel garden then, lol. It's unfortunate that the news is much worse. I don't have time today but I will have a walk up there as soon as the weather's not so wet and possibly take more photos, which I'll add to this article. The house is still there as I can see it from my kitchen window. It'll be sad to see it go.

Happy new year everyone. :)

Another EDIT: I did go and have a look, on the 2nd of January, and there was a lot more to see now that the trees have gone. No access onto the site, due to Herras fencing, but I did take a fair few photos from the periphery. As a film photographer I'll need to finish the current film and get it processed before I can scan and add them. However, I might do a Part Two as there's more info to add too. Yay! ;)

 

 

The Town Mill, Colyton, Devon

I came across this totally by accident when I went over to Colyton to take photos of the church in February 2009.The town of Colyton itself developed from an ancient village around 700AD, and eventually became known as 'the most rebellious town in Devon'  after the townsfolk joined the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685. Just wandering around the town gives a real sense of its history, with an original Saxon layout and many buildings of Mediaeval and Tudor origin. Even the humble fish and chip shop has gorgeous carved stone hood moulds with flowers for corbels and old wall lamps flanking the door!

I wasn't able to discover much about this mill but sources state that there was a corn mill and a sawmill in the town. On my former website article I'd guessed that this was the corn mill, as it's not far from the original bakery, and the other Mill has all the wheels and winches to drive the machinery more applicable to sawing. I've since recently seen reference to it being a grain mill, so that sounds right. 

Left empty for around 12 yrs at that time, I enjoyed taking photos of the somewhat derelict mill, although only of the exterior as I couldn't get into the site. I did manage to take some photos of the yard through the sides of the gate though.

I really like the front of the building with its flint rubble side containing the offices next to the white rendered building. The flint rubble section is the oldest part of the mill.

Some lovely details include the pattern-carved door with its brass plate bearing the inscription Town Mill. There are plans to save and use this unique door but that's as far as I know at the moment.

And another door leading into the courtyard...not quite so welcoming as the office one! ;)

A fabulous section, below, where the building joins with the wall surrounding the yard, showing the end of a beam with the brick and flint rubble.

Interestingly, I found some more information in 2021 and saw that the site was bought by Axminster Property, almost 30 years since it was left empty. It's now being developed into a small business area. There are 11 commercial units and the main building is currently being converted into smaller units for offices. Some businesses are now operating with more planning to move into the remaining spaces. A great idea and one which will help the town, business and work prospects to flourish in these uncertain times.

There doesn't appear to be any updates since the last information was available, so I don't know what's happened since then.

And to finish off with, here are some photos of the mill leat; the first one is looking back and the following three leading up to the Town Mill, where the waterwheel was once situated.

And there we go! I used a different film than usual for these as a friend had given me a batch of old Kodak stock that he no longer used. Kodak films tend to have a magenta cast anyway but this was also exaggerated by being a bit out of date, making them appear quite pastelly blue and pink. I rather like the subtle effect though, so it wasn't a problem, and money was tight at the time so I was grateful for it, lol.

I was looking to see if I had any more Urbex explores of derelict and abandoned buildings when I remembered this one. I think that's the last one but I'll go through my photos and documents when I've got a minute just to check. Plenty more of the historical places, interesting buildings and natural landscapes, but I've rewritten and posted up the bulk of those that were on my website now. I've started getting out and about again too so they'll be some more new stuff to publish. Cheers m'dears. :)