Seaton is the last little town in East Devon, four miles further east and you’re in Lyme Regis, Dorset. It lies between the red sandstone and the white Jurassic cliffs that this coastline is famous for. An unspoilt place, it is surrounded by miles of saltmarsh and has a population of eight or nine thousand people.
A few years ago that changed. A large supermarket chain bought a holiday village close to the saltmarsh, which had 150 staff and 40,000 visitors a year and promptly made them redundant and closed it down! This was in 2008, three years later the chain opened their store and employed some 250 staff.
Now, as is always the case, the supermarket chain is able to sell food, clothes, electrical goods and pertrol at really low prices, hence the townspeople and others living in surrounding villages go there instead of the town shops. This store is one of ten that the giant has within a twenty two mile radius.
Seaton’s small town centre became a sleepy place with shops, some of which had traded for many years, closing down. It became less appealing to holiday makers who also had one less option of affordable places to stay with the loss of the holiday village.
This is a story that can be told of many towns around the UK. Another, Crediton in mid Devon has seen it’s High street shops close recently, victim of the same large chain, whose profits rise year on year.
The supermarket chain is reported to have contributed to a new visitor center opening in 2015, SeatonJurassic. No doubt this will help to increase visitor numbers, but 2015 is a long time if you run a business that is struggling to survive. The district council has plans to develop the Axe Valley Wetlands nature reserve, hopefully the supermarket will not be too visible from there!At present there is small, part-time visitor centre run by volunteers, this is Seaton fighting back.
I was in Seaton yesterday for an artisan market. Since September the town development team have organised these markets right in the centre meeting park area. They are well advertised and attended, this is Seaton Community fighting back. I was busy on the stand and unable to take many photos, but Santa was there, musicians playing Christmas songs, as well as local children carol singing and the town crier making sure everyone knew about it.
This is a really friendly town with a nice beach, beautiful countryside around and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
This post is my entry for the http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/photo-challenge-community/ and comes with apologies for the quality of the photos.
Category: England
Lazy Poet’s Thursday Haiku: Dartmoor Series
100 Steps for Chittle Chattle in December
Today began with horrid fog so I was happy that the sun came out in time for my lunchtime walk. I decided to go out of the back gate from work, and across the road to where a childrens play area leads to a very peaceful area of houses. I rarely see a soul there, but there are lovely avenues of trees and a couple of very big, old ones that have been kept thank goodness. This time I noticed a gap between two houses that I’d never seen before, so I crossed and went through. It led to a curved footpath with trees either side, so I walked the hundred metres or so until it opened up to a grassy area with more houses across the other side. Then I remembered Chittle Chattle’s hundred steps walks, I haven’t done one for a while, so I turned back the way I came and counted my hundred. This is what my phone and I saw.
Do you have a lunchtime stroll? If you do then next time take your phone out, snap and count as you do, you’ll be surprised what you notice.
Travel Theme: Symbol
I like symbols, trying to work out the meaning of them and learning about the origins. The ones I’ve chosen are English, with one exception, and span early English history through to the 20th century.
The Royal Mail symbol, to be found on bright red post boxes all over the UK. It’s current incarnation has the initials E11R, Elizabeth the Second reigns, but earlier ones have GV1R and even VR can occasionally be found.
Dieu et Mon Droit. God and my right (shall me defend)was the battle cry of Richard the Lionheart. With it’s lion and unicorn, it’s now the royal coat of arms and refers to the divine right of the monarch to govern.
The Tudor Rose is the floral heraldic emblem of England. It was adopted by Henry 7th, it joined the red rose of Lancaster with the white rose of York after the war between the two royal houses.
Lastly, the Green Man, a pagan symbol of fertility that can be found not just in England but also France and across Europe. It’s a pre-Christian symbol that can be found in many churches – this one is from Spreyton in mid Devon – how interesting that a pagan symbol survived in parallel with Christianity. Perhaps they were hedging their bets when it came to mans reliance on nature!
There will be lots of symbols over at Ailsa’s place, check them out http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/12/06/travel-theme-symbol/#comments
and click on my photos to see a bigger view!
Wordless Wednesday
Weekly Writing Challenge: Snapshot
Today Erica at the Daily Post said,
At a concert. Snap. At a restaurant. Snap. Watching the sun set. Snap. These days, everything feels like a Kodak moment. What happens when you stop taking pictures, and use words to capture a moment instead?
This is what happened when I didn’t snap today.
Snapped Flags
A windblown flash of colour caught my eyes. He turned, dropped a stub of fire to the ground and rubbed the heel of a Nike trainer into it, pressing the pavement like a dog leaving its scent until it was extinguished. The colour flashed again. He swept aside green fabric with a white cross emblazoned on it, the flag of Devon, revealing scruffy denim with frayed edges.
Intrigued, I looked up; two people were ahead of him as he waited to get on the bus. I stopped, fumbled for my phone camera but changed my mind, what if he saw me . . . Instead I acted as if I might just get on the bus. He was wearing a letterbox red gilet, somewhat effeminate, over a bold shirt with a large black and white check pattern, below a crown of orang-utan hair.
As he moved up the queue I took my eyes off his hair, and his garments became clearer in the light of the bus. He bent to pick up a bag, stooping from the waist down, releasing more fabric, dipping onto the damp path at the front. It looked like he had a dozen or more oblongs of bright silk attached to his middle. How? Tied to a belt? Made into a silk version of a grass skirt?
No-one else seemed to notice him; if they did they weren’t acknowledging him in any way. I was blocking the way and had to move aside and I nearly missed his ascent of the steps. Before the bus protected him, a final small gust of breeze caught him, bright as a Morris Dancer on amphetamines, blowing first a Union Jack, next, a red flag with a star and a crescent moon, I hunted back through my memory Turkey, yes that was it, Turkey. Stripes of black, red and yellow, another blue with a small Union Jack in its corner, and a Star Spangled Banner, bold as it should be. The door closed behind him, narrowly missing blue with yellow stars in a circle, familiar of course, the EU flag.
It is a public building, but not in the centre of town, and there were no events taking place, no festival, although he wouldn’t have looked out of place at Glastonbury. Perhaps I’m just dull; I wonder how I would look in a flag skirt. Maybe if I were younger I could get away with it. I didn’t even get to see his face, but I could tell that he was middle aged and happy in his own skin. I suppressed a laugh, people never stop surprising me.
Does this seem real? well it is, I actually did see this today. What have you seen today that made you smile? You all know how hard it is for me to not take photos, how about you? If you care to share go to . . .
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/weekly-writing-challenge-snapshots/
Weekly Photo Challenge: Let there be light
I’m sticking with images after a five day haiku marathon, so here is a little light.
If you can throw some light join in here, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/photo-challenge-lights/
Weekly Writing Challenge: Haiku Catchoo Friday
And day five, I’ve made it to the end of the challenge. To be honest I’ve really enjoyed it and I think I’m getting addicted! Here is my last attempt.
Future Swathe
Surrounded by vine
seat bound and tightly entwined
overwhelming growth
You can do all five days in one if you want! http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/challenge-haiku/
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Theme: Fragant
One of the joys of the autumn is to find fragrance in a garden. I’ve known this wonderful tree for a long time, but it still catches me by surprise, and I smell it before I remember and find it. 
It has dainty leaves that are a very pretty shape, and fresh shade of green in spring and summer, but then once they start to fall the divine aroma bursts out. It’s a Katsura tree, Cercidiphyllum Japonica, commonly known as a toffee apple tree. And that’s exactly what it smells like, especially if you walk on the leaves or crush them in your hands. Heavenly!
There will be another Katsura photo tomorrow for my Daily Post haiku challenge, but meanwhile this is my Ailsa’s Travel Theme, http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/11/22/travel-theme-fragrant/
Lucid Gypsy 