Budleigh Salterton
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Budleigh Salterton is a seaside town on the coast in East Devon, England, Template:Convert south-east of Exeter. It lies within the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,<ref name=AONB>Template:Cite web</ref> and forms much of the electoral ward of Budleigh, whose ward population at the 2021 census was 7,671.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Features
Budleigh Salterton lies at the mouth of the River Otter, where the estuary includes a bed of reeds and a grazing marsh, which form a haven for migratory birds and a Site of Special Scientific Interest for bird watchers. It has a designated area for naturists.<ref name="tele_Brit">Template:Cite web</ref>
The village is crossed by the South West Coast Path, with clifftop routes eastwards to Sidmouth and westwards to Exmouth. The pebble beach and cliffs are part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
Facilities
Fairlynch Museum is housed in a listed, thatched marine cottage orné dating from 1811. It covers the history and geology of the region, and opened in 1967, offering exhibitions and a local archive. It possesses a large collection of period costumes.<ref name=Fairlynch>Template:Cite web</ref> The town has a male-voice choir, which performs for charity.<ref name="budleighmvc.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>
It has a flourishing Classical Music festival in the summer <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a popular Literary festival in the autumn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Transport
Budleigh Salterton lies on the B3178 secondary road; the B3179 ends on the western edge of the town.
There are regular bus links with Exmouth and Sidmouth, with less frequent services to Exeter.
Between 1897 and 1967, Budleigh Salterton was served by a station on the Budleigh Salterton Railway, built and operated by the London & South Western Railway, which ran from Tipton St Johns to Exmouth,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which is now the nearest railway station at 8 km (5 miles). Large sections of the disused Exmouth to Budleigh branch line now serves as a cycle path.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sports
Budleigh Salterton is home to the scenic East Devon Golf Club.<ref name="eastdevongolfclub.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> Its 11-lawn croquet club (offering croquet, bowls and bridge), founded in the late 1860s, is one of the oldest and largest in the country.<ref name="budleighcroquet.org">Template:Cite web</ref> The first team of the Budleigh Salterton Association football Club plays in the South West Peninsula League Division One East and there is a second team, a ladies' team and a youth team.<ref name="bsafc.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> In addition, there is a cricket club, a rifle club, and a games club offering tennis, bowls and other pursuits.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Churches
The Church of England in Budleigh Salterton originally took the form a chapel of ease under the parish of All Saints, East Budleigh. As the population grew, this was replaced in the 1890s by what became the Parish Church of St Peter in 1901. St Peter's Church was built between 1891 and 1893 to a design by George Fellowes-Prynne. It was heavily damaged by enemy aircraft bombing on 17 April 1942, losing a great many of the stained glass windows by Percy Bacon & Brothers,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but reopened in 1953. Today the Raleigh Mission Community at St Peter's, Budleigh Salterton, and All Saints, East Budleigh, are part of a joint mission with St Michael's, Otterton.<ref name="raleighmissioncommunity.org.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>
The Roman Catholic Church is also dedicated to St Peter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Temple Methodist Church was completed in 1904 to replace a smaller chapel dating from 1812, which had been built by the bookseller James Lackington, an associate of John Wesley.<ref name="budleightemplemethodist.org.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> There is a Baptist church in the town, whose congregation dates back to 1843.<ref name="budleighbaptistchurch.org.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>
Notable residents
In birth order:
- James Lackington 1746–1815, founder of Temple Methodist Church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The German-born English painter Hubert von Herkomer died here in 1914.
- Playwright, detective novelist and theatre historian V.C. Clinton-Baddeley was born here in 1900.
- Belinda Lee, actress in British films of the 1950s, was born here in 1935. Her father managed a hotel in the town.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Charles Warrell, creator of the I-Spy series of children's books, lived here from his retirement in 1956 until his death in 1995.<ref name="indobit">Template:Cite news</ref>
- Writer Dame Hilary Mantel (1952–2022), author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, lived here.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>