When I was a little girl the area around Exmouth dock was scruffy, full of fishing boats and a bit smelly. You walked across a bridge that always seemed to wobble, and it led to Shelly beach, at the mouth of the estuary. Shelly had a long row of wooden chalets, some little more than beach huts and some were permanent dwellings. I suppose they were a little worn out and shabby but I would have loved to live there, right beside the beach where I could tumble out and paddle whenever I wanted. Then some years ago progress arrived. The chalets were pulled down and I suppose there were less fishing boats than before.The dock became an expensive marina with posh boats, and the chalets were replaced by expensive apartments, I doubt the chalet owners could afford them. Exmouth dock was gentrified.
Shelly beach is now called Cockle Sands, there is still sand when the tide is out, but very few buckets and spades. I’m sure you’ve guessed that I preferred it before Progress came.
Jude at Travel Words has nominated me for the ‘Five Photos, Five Stories’ challenge, and I would like to nominate Cheryl Andrews, a writer and poet who reviews books and takes part in Wordless Wednesday, for my day five.
This would be an easy challenge for you Cheryl, if you feel like taking it up, no worries if you don’t have time.
The challenge is to just “post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge”.
Lucid Gypsy 
A beautiful justified nostalgia in your writing Gilly, and the photo is so colourful and sharp it almost makes you vote for progress! Thanks for the link to Cheryl.
Beautifully written. But what attracts me is that natural click with splashes of true color !!
Oh, progress, don’t you love it 😦
I love the view Gilly ..
This has been a lovely series Gilly. you do so love your home town!
I’m wondering whether you have an old photo from ‘before’? I remember visiting the new Victoria and Albert Waterfront in Cape Town in 2000, the first time since I had left in the ’80s and discovered it was a glorified shopping mall and not the old dock yards where I said goodbye to new friends sailing to Australia in 1974. I felt quite sad.
It’s too bad we can’t preserve the places in our childhood memories forever. It’s so sad to see the gentrification of all the once beautiful places. 🙂
Change and progress are not always for the best. Sigh. Love your photo. Gilly. Why is is money has a big mouth and always gets what it wants? 😥
I understand how you feel, especially as we’ve lost so many lovely buildings in Glasgow, but not having seen the “old” view I rather like the colourful new one! It feels Scandinavian somehow, I wouldn’t have guessed where it actually was.
From your description it is 2 different worlds, from the old Shelly Beach to Cockle Sands. I wonder why they had to change the name…
The same thing happened in Hull. my home town from way back, The fish docks fell into decay after the cod wars decimated the trawling industry. I left in 1961 leaving a booming fish industry, revisited in 1985 to a city on the edge of bankruptcy, then the last visit in 1989/90 it had been reborn into all trendy inner city apartments and marina and a large shopping complex. But the rebirth was certainly needed…
The photo reminds me very much of the regenerated Stockton-on-Tees riverside, though there’s no beach. Progress? Well, possibly 🙂
The first sentence alone makes it sound better than the new.
Gilly – this happens so often and how sad it can be… I like your wiritng style – it flows 🙂
cxxoo