April 14 Nettlecombe
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How unusual. Overnight it rained quite hard and was cloudy and dull by the time I drew the bedroom curtains for the morning photograph. Breakfast was a trifle disappointing in that there were neither kippers nor smoked haddock on the menu. The poached eggs were excellent, though, and the bacon & sausages well above average. So much for the diet! An overheard conversation suggested that they had a very busy Easter, which is good news for a place as isolated as this. There were 6 of us staying overnight.
After breakfast I braved the lanes again, finding a slightly longer but wider road this time, and drove up to Beaminster, a journey of about 20 minutes. There, I had a wander, bought some flowers and stayed at my Aunt's for lunch.
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Beaminster has a fine church, some interesting streets and a few nice buildings. The pubs look good but, unfortunately, tend to be remarkably dull. Like many places, it is full of traffic, which does its best to destroy the calm at all hours of the day and night.
Crewkerne and Chard were both glove manufacturing towns and have a mix of beautiful old buildings and some less attractive industrial ones. My journey to Crewkerne was much longer than usual as the tunnel which passes through the hill was closed for a week for repairs.
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The traffic in the town was, as ever, chaotic. A huge truck was trying to demolish the historic town hall and there were cars jammed nose to tail up the main street. The museum was closed, the church is magnificent and there are lots of interesting places to look at. I had a wander, looked at the shops and took lots of photos. |
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Chard is a twenty minute drive away. It is built around a single main street which runs up a steep hill and is famous as the birthplace of powered flight.
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John Stringfellow, when not running his nightclub, demonstrated in 1848 that powered flight was possible. Research since I returned to New Zealand showed that he developed a steam driven plane which showed that flight was possible but, because of the low power to weight ratio of the engine, never achieved sustained flight. There is an exhibition of memorabilia in the museum but I didn’t locate that. |
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Once again, there were some splendid old buildings, particularly the Town Hall, with its clock tower; a huge old lace mill, now council offices; and some unusual stone carvings or sculptures sitting on a street corner. I can't say that the place excited me very much but it was probably worth visiting for the town hall, alone.
I meandered down the back lanes to Beaminster, had tea with my Aunt, returned to the pub and prepared for an evening of football on the TV and work on the computer. I was suitably fortified by a dish of scallops followed by fish and chips. The former was very good. The latter, amongst the best of its type I have ever eaten.
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