Category Archives: Events

Events, Heritage, Past times

Exmoor Awareness to explore Moorland Heritage and Second World War connections

The final Exmoor Awareness session of the year is being held on Tuesday 26 March from 10am to 4pm in Minehead offering a fascinating insight into Exmoor’s moorland heritage and connections with the Second World War .

Exmoor Awareness provides tourism providers with the opportunity to gain a greater insight in to the special qualities of the National Park, with expert speakers and guides. The morning session will be held at Minehead Methodist Church Hall with presentations from the National Park Authority’s Conservation Manager Rob Wilson-North and Shirley Blaycock (Historic Environment Conservation Officer), along with Faye Balmond (Moorland Heritage Officer for the Exmoor Landscape Partnership Project) and Dr Lee Bray (Historic Environment Officer for the Exmoor Mires project). There will be a round-up of different moorland heritage projects currently being undertaken, information about the new Dig Porlock venture and a presentations on Exmoor’s use by the military during the Second World War.

Following a local produce buffet, the afternoon will consist of a field trip taking in key sites on North Hill with an opportunity to look around a Second World War radar station and other sites connected with the conflict.

“The history and heritage of our moorlands is fascinating” said Dan James, Sustainable Economy Officer for Exmoor National Park Authority. “Every year visitors come to enjoy the breathtaking views that the moorlands of Exmoor provide and this session will allow tourism providers to learn a huge amount of extra information about the heritage of the area to pass on to guests.”

The session costs just £15 including refreshments and lunch in addition to the presentations and field trip. Advanced booking is essential by phoning Dan James on 01398 322234 or downloading a booking from here: http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/communities/tourism-trade/Events-and-training.

Events, News, Tourism

West Somerset Railway Lynton and Lynmouth Explorer

Following the retirement of Martyn Babb from operating Blue Motors of Exmoor the West Somerset Railway has been looking at a new package to offer passengers a chance to see some more of Exmoor in combination with a steam train trip. They have come up with the following:

Passengers will travel on the ‘Lynton and Lynmouth Explorer’  – the 10.25 steam train from Bishops Lydeard to Dunster station where they will be met by a Ridlers coach to take them over Exmoor to the twin villages for a lunchtime visit of around two hours. The coach will leave again at 2.30pm and is due to arrive at Minehead at 3.30pm, giving some time for a leg stretch or a visit to the station shop. The steam train home departs at 4.05 pm and is back at Bishops Lydeard at 5.22pm.

The dates of operation will be 24 May, 14 and 28 June, 12 and 26 July and 13 and 27 September. Costs are £21.00 for adults, £19.00 for seniors, £10.00 for children aged 5 to 15 and £50.00 for a family of two adults and up to four children.

Active Exmoor, Environment, Events

Somerset Woodland Association New Date for Willett Walk

DATE: Friday 8 March 2013
LOCATION: Willett Hill
TIME: 9am-1pm

This is the new date for the event which Somerset Woodland Association had to postpone due to the snow a few weeks ago. If you wanted to go but could not make the date in January, hopefully you will be able to make the revised date.

This will be an interesting and informative walk; talk to experts in the field about current and topical aspects of Ash Dieback. The walk will focus on how to identify diseases such as Chalara fraxinea and Phytophthora ramorum, discussing the impact on native woodlands, an owners responsibility and management issues.

The event, which is open to all,  is free for members and £10 for non-members. Lunch costs £3 per person if requested.

Please book in advance by emailing woodlands@fwagsw.org.uk; directions will be sent on confirmation.

Active Exmoor, Charities, Events, News

Sports Celebrity Dinner raises over £1500 for new Minehead Cricket Pavilion

Rugby World Cup winner Mark Regan, MBE, and Somerset Cricketer Arul Suppiah were the special guests at the recent Sports Celebrity Fundraising Dinner which was held at The Culbone  in association with Minehead Cricket Club. The sporting stars helped to raise over £1500 which will go towards the building of Minehead Cricket Club’s new pavilion, due for completion this summer.

It was a full house at the restaurant where Head Chef Jack Scarterfield and his team produced a delicious 3-course meal including Ruby Red Devon Beef Steak and Pork Belly with celeriac mash and purple sprouting broccoli. The Culbone has recently won awards for its great menus and has been praised for its commitment to local produce and suppliers, as well as its warm and friendly service.

Managing Director, and keen cricket fan, Mark Sanders was delighted with how the evening went. “After all the snow we were dreading having to cancel the evening, but the roads opened just in time and everyone made it up here for one of the best nights we’ve ever had. It was really successful and we would love this to become an annual event.”

This function was the first of Arul Suppiah’s benefit year and he opened the after dinner entertainment with a varied and wide-ranging question and answer session. Locally, Arul Suppiah will also be playing in a summer benefit match along with Marcus Trescothick on Friday 9 August at Minehead Cricket Club – with a pre-match buffet to be served in the new pavilion. Rugby international Mark Regan, MBE, gave a hilarious speech on his famous rugby career covering his time as a member of the side that won the Rugby World Cup in 2003, and as a British Lion.

The main sponsors of the evening were Jewson Builders Merchants of Minehead who are also the suppliers of the building materials for the new cricket pavilion. Extra funds were raised by a raffle and auction from which proceeds were shared between the Benefit Fund, Arul’s chosen charities Children’s Hospice South West & the PCA Benevolent Fund, and Minehead Cricket Club’s new pavilion fund.

Creative Exmoor, Events, Tourism

Simonsbath Festival 2013 – even bigger and better

The programme for Simonsbath Festival 2013 is confirmed, the website is live and tickets at affordable prices are already on sale – and some events are free.

The festival will take place from 4 May to 22 June in the beautiful heart of Exmoor with May Day and Midsummer’s Day celebrations of traditional music and songs from Exmoor, and a variety of events in between, including world music concerts to celebrate music from other cultures.

Events at the newly-restored church of St Luke’s include a performance by the internationally acclaimed concert pianist Helen Yorke, an evening of opera from students of the Italian academy founded by Sir Georg Solti, an all-female trumpet quartet and African, Indian and Spanish Flamenco concerts.

Exmoor resident Sir Andrew Burns will reflect on his 45-year career in the Diplomatic Service and his current role as UK Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues. There will be a presentation about farming life in the area from the 1920s to 1970s with archive film and traditional music and song. Celebrated musician Geoff Nichols will present an evening of words and music featuring poems by Thomas Hardy, while photographer and film maker Chris Chapman will give a talk and preview of his new film Hope Bourne – a celebration of Exmoor.

The Exmoor Forest Inn will host an art exhibition throughout the festival as well as a jazz concert and a poetry afternoon, and Simonsbath’s historic Sawmill will host a fascinating series of talks and walks uncovering the local history. And there are lots more events, including recreational activities for all the family, so there is something to suit everyone’s taste.

Full details of the programme and how to buy tickets are available on the website. You can also find the festival on Facebook and follow events on Twitter. For more information or if you would like to receive a printed programme when it is published, please contact Victoria Thomas on 01643 831343 or email simonsbathfestival@mail.com

With support from Exmoor Moorland Landscape Partnership/Heart of Exmoor and ARTlife in partnership with West Somerset Council.

Creative Exmoor, Events, Tourism

Simonsbath Festival Website now live!

The website for Simonsbath Festival 2013 is now LIVE!

The organisers are happy to announce a line-up of top performers and speakers, with more events and more variety. Simonsbath Festival 2013 brings you an exciting variety of music, fascinating talks, bracing outdoor activities and fabulous food. Please visit the website and let them know what you think: http://simonsbathfestival.co.uk

You can follow them on Twitter and find their page on Facebook.

Events

Exhibition: Royal Celebrations past and present

Coronation celebrations, West Exe, 1911.
Coronation celebrations, West Exe, 1911.

Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life has opened its new temporary exhibition ‘Royal Celebrations past and present’ at the museum on Thursday 6 December.

The exhibition is filled with photographs of local celebrations for Coronations and Jubilees, from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 to the 2012 Jubilee. Earlier this year the museum asked local communities to take photos of their Jubilee celebrations and send in copies. We were delighted to get such a positive response, and have photos from Bickleigh, Black Dog, Coleford, Thorverton and Morchard Bishop on display.

The exhibition will run from 6-22 December.

Entry to this exhibition will cost £1 for adults and accompanying children are free.

About Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life

The museum is open February to Christmas and provides extensive permanent displays on the history of Mid Devon, as well as running a lively temporary exhibition programme consisting of displays put on by the museum as well as those featuring local artists and groups. The museum’s Education Department is used by schools from all over Devon and beyond. The museum is family friendly and runs holiday activities.

Opening Hours:

February to Christmas

Monday to Friday 10:30-4:30

Saturdays 10:00-1:00

Open Bank Holidays.

Tel: 01884 256295

Events, Farm & equine

Pony drift reminiscences

Amanda Barton or westcountrywildlife.com shares her personal take on the Exmoor Pony drift 2011 as we arrive at drift weekend 2012.

This is the calm before the storm. As I stand on a quiet hillside in the heart of Exmoor, watching the cobwebs glistening in the early morning dew, its impossible to imagine how different things will be at the end of the day. Then, it begins – a soft hum in the distance that builds slowly, until over the top of the hill comes a stream of 4×4’s and horseboxes, rudely awakening the sleepy moorland.

The Pony round up starts here. Its a major event in the Exmoor Calendar and one that I’m privileged to share in this year. The sudden scurry of activity is like watching an ants nest that’s been poked with a stick and it soon becomes obvious that there are many sightseers present too. Rex Milton dons his red boiler suit which will make keeping track of him easier than I had expected. The horses are unloaded and the ladies head off over Withypool Common like a small group of cowboys. Strangely enough, the lads have decided not to flaunt there equestrian skills and settled for scramblers. Rex has commandeered the only quad bike, but then it does match the colour of his boiler suit. As they head off the crowds begin to dissipate, some heading for the customary river crossing and others to the finishing points, or the roads along the way – keen to watch the action.

Today, the ponies are in an even less co-operative mood than usual. Just as they get them all together, a small group breaks away and heads back the way they came, forcing the ladies to start all over again. The lads don’t appear to be getting off lightly though. The ponies have decided to invent a brand new river crossing with a scrambler in hot pursuit, but the water is far too deep and the bike is swept out from under its rider. The poor boy disappears beneath the surface before rising up like the loch ness monster – in a colourful frame of mind. His clothes maybe dampened, but not his spirit as he rescues his bike and returns to the fray.

As I head off to the temporary holding pens, I find myself praying that the second leg of their journey will be a little less eventful.

Eventually, the ponies can be seen heading up the road, but no sooner do they see the start of the natural funnel like hedge formation, then they break away again, resulting in some truly remarkable horsemanship. Then they begin thundering down towards me with the sound building quickly and dramatically. As they swoop past my vantage point I can feel the ground shaking beneath me. If I hadn’t been perched on the back of the truck, I think my heart would have been pounding too.

Now comes the arduous task of identifying the ponies and which mares have foals in tow. A crush has been set up into which the ponies can be moved one or two at a time. One surprise is the identification of a mare that hasn’t been seen for a couple of years – I wonder where she’s been hiding. The double bonus being that she has a foal with her. Robin Milton is in charge of spraying the foals with a temporary mark, although Rex thinks his numbers need a little downsizing. It’s no easy task to separate the mares from the foals and takes some nifty footwork. The foals are moved up into a waiting trailer and the mares are released through the side gate.

The mares seem more puzzled then distressed by the separation, reassuring one another with nuzzles and grunts. The foals are less impressed and take to stamping in their trailer and it’s this that moves the mothers to investigate the trailer which they had previously ignored. I leave my vantage point and position myself closer to the action. The foolhardiness of this manoeuvre is quickly evident when one of the ponies exits the wrong way and I find myself positioned between them and freedom. I slowly move round to keep the camera between myself and the mare, hardly daring to draw breath as she passes within touching distance and away.

With 6 foals safely installed in the trailer and the rest of the ponies free to go, its time for me to head home, leaving the moor to return to its peaceful if somewhat depleted state of beauty.

(This is my story based on my experience on 15/10/11 by Amanda Barton – westcountrywildlife.com)

Events, Exmoor community, General

Carhampton Apple Day

Carhampton’s 21st Apple Day will be celebrated on Saturday 20 October, 2012, at the Community Orchard, on Main Road, and round the corner at the Village Hall, in the High Street. Many varieties of apple will be on sale, together with apple juice, cakes, chutney and other apple-related products. There will be a raffle, apple-peeling and other competitions. Open times at the Village Hall are likely to be 10:30am until 3:30pm, and from 11am till 3pm at the Community Orchard.

 

Coast, Events, General

Captain of the West returns to Baggy Point

On Sunday 28 October, Mark Harandon, otherwise known as ‘The Captain of the West’ is returning to North Devon to take visitors on an adventure walk around National Trust’s Baggy Point.

Mark, who is currently appearing at the Minnack Theatre in Cornwall, is a well known story teller who travels the South West and beyond with his work and has performed at numerous National Trust properties. He is always a resounding success on the Trust’s Smugglers and Wreckers adventure walk which takes place on Morte Point during August.

Visitor Services Manager Hannah Jefferson comments: ‘We always get the most amazing feedback from our smugglers and wreckers walk, with people coming back each year to enjoy it again and again, so we’re really pleased to be able to bring a new adventure walk to Baggy Point for October half term. Mark is a captivating story teller, who gets people of all ages wrapped up in the atmosphere and excitement of a place.’

National Trust Ranger Jonathan Fairhurst comments; ‘We’ve been working with Mark to help develop the adventure walk and it’s been fantastic to see how he has really taken in the coastal and farmland setting with its local stories and weaved them into a great family adventure. Even if you think you know Baggy Point really well, Mark’s story telling makes you really consider it in a different light – it’s going to be great fun seeing families enjoy this unique experience.’