Bulverton

Bulverton Plantation, as seen from Fire Beacon Hill.
The land of Bulverton can be seen in the top right portion of the picture, taken from Fire Beacon Hill.
Kebles Seat at Bulverton Hill, Sidmouth

Bulverton is a small hamlet on the outskirts of Sidmouth, Devon, England.

Comprising low-density residential housing, areas of farmland and a wooded plantation, the B3176 to Sidmouth connects the area. The area is the location of the Bulverton Late Night Extra, which for one week a year during Sidmouth Folk Week is a large folk music venue held in local pasture fields.

Historically the area was a Sub Manor of Balfour Manor, farmed from two locations Bulverton Farm (now Bulverton House) and Bulverton Well Farm (now Bulverton Well Cottages) these as with many farms are now principally involved in the Self Catering Accommodation Industry with the area now being farmed from nearby Bickwell Valley.

Since 1963 much of the Bulverton area has fallen under the East Devon AONB describing the overall landscape as: The East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) landscape is characterised by intimate wooded combes, vast areas of heathland, fertile river valleys and breathtaking cliffs or hilltops. It includes the East Devon section of the Jurassic Coast - England's first natural World Heritage Site - and is a living, working landscape shaped by many centuries of farming activity.

The former Sidmouth Railway Station is nearby, with the embankment still visible in certain areas - a proposed cycle route involving Sustrans may use part of the embankment in the future to link outlying towns and villages to the seaside resort town of Sidmouth.

The view from Bulverton Hill which is thought to have inspired 19th century poet and hymn writer John Keble to compose some of his best loved work, Keble’s Seat at Bulverton Hill is named after the English churchman and commands a breathtaking panoramic view of the Lower Otter Valley and Dartmoor in the distance. John Keble (1792-1866) was an English churchman and one of the leaders of the influential Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford was named after him, He was a frequent visitor to Sidmouth and folklore suggests that Keble’s favourite spot was at Bulverton Hill where a wooden bench known as Keble’s Seat remains to this day.

In fiction

The Extremes is a BSFA Award winning 1998 science fiction novel by Christopher Priest, partly set in a fictional seaside resort town called Bulverton.

References

    External links

    Coordinates: 50°41′35″N 3°15′00″W / 50.693°N 3.250°W / 50.693; -3.250


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