Category: Projects

Woodside Bridge

After a relatively slow start to fundraising in 2018, in 2019 we saw an uplift in the effort, resulting in sufficient funds having been raised to replace the iconic Woodside Bridge in the Watersmeet Valley.

Our thanks go to the members of the subcommittee who, working in partnership with the Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) and the National Trust (NT), have ensured work will start on the replacement bridge in late April 2020.

Between ENPA and LCDT, over £73,000 has been raised and a special opening ceremony at a date to be arranged will be a fitting tribute to all our efforts.

At the same time, efforts have been made to improve access from the bridge to Middleham Gardens.

Woodside Bridge is weathering beautifully into the surrounding area.

Middleham Gardens

Regeneration of the gardens became a very successful project and after much work and fundraising.

The garden now provides the community, both resident and visiting, with a lovely memorial garden on the edge of the East Lyn. The Lyn Art and Craft Society’s very generous donation of £1,000 per year towards the maintenance of the gardens has enabled the Trust to keep them up to a good standard however it is not quite enough to cover all expenses and the Trust must look for other funding possibilities.

Coleridge Way Extension

The LCDT led the effort to extend the Coleridge Way from Porlock to Lynmouth.

It has been a very exciting time for Lynmouth and the footpaths that converge there. Four major routes all have had some form of improvements: the Coleridge Way has been extended; the Two Moors Way celebrated its 40th anniversary; the South West Coast Path has been part of an international tourism project.

As if this was not enough there was much celebration when the Walking Man was unveiled by John Craven of Countryfile and became part of the television Spring Diaries.

Coleridge Way Extension

Walkers are Welcome

We enrolled Lynton and Lynmouth in the national Walkers are Welcome scheme

As part of our commitment to promoting walking in Lynton & Lynmouth, we established the Walkers are Welcome website for the community and its visitors. Our membership has been the inspiration behind several projects aimed at increasing the use of our fine local network of footpaths.

We have since relaunched the WAW website to take advantage of recent developments in website design to offer both visitors and local people a comprehensive selection of local walks to choose from.

The Walker

Richard Graham was commissioned to produce a sculpture symbolising walkers using the Coleridge way.

Its purpose is to promote Lynmouth’s role as Exmoor’s premier walking centre – passers-by are encouraged to be photographed shaking his hand.

“The Walker” has been installed where the Coleridge Way, Two Moors Way, South West Coast Path and Tarka Trail meet opposite the Pavilion on Lynmouth Waterfront. It was unveiled in May 2017 by John Craven of the BBC’s Countryfile. The statue stands on Lynmouth Esplanade and has become an iconic fixture, photographed by many.

Signage thanking the sponsors and partners in this project is fixed to the Esplanade wall. The walking man will spend his summers welcoming walkers and celebrating that Lynmouth is indeed an important centre for visitors to Exmoor. He will spend his winters just inside the doorway of the ENP Centre away from the gales and high tides which could damage him.

Devon Air Ambulance Night Landing Site

This project was instigated by Trevor Ley and has turned out to be the most satisfying and successful project.

It is of course so important to us all that, whether through illness or accident when we need transporting quickly to a hospital this service is available to us. We are well aware that we live in an isolated community and that transport by road may, in many emergency cases, not be fast enough and the DAA then steps in to ensure we get the help needed. Toby Russell of DAA surveyed both Lynmouth Manor and Holman Park.

Unfortunately, Lynmouth Manor was not suitable but Holman Park is ideal and thanks to some very generous funding the lights are now in place and the DAA can land after dark. There is a contingency fund held by the Trust to ensure the lights are maintained and serviced as required. Contributors and partners in this project are acknowledged on signage at the park.

Lynton Market Hall

We have been managing the Market Hall since 1999. At first, half was used by the Public Library and half by the Pathfinder Centre, a computer training facility.

By 2014 the Pathfinder Centre had worked itself out of a job – Lynton in Devon topped the list of small coastal communities with the highest proportions of home-workers and, in contrast with other seaside towns, enjoyed some of the highest employment rates in the country, boosted by the increasing ability of people to work from home.

To provide the flexibility for the building to cope with this and future changes, we created 3 self-contained areas in the Hall that can be assigned to new uses as needs change.

Currently, these spaces are occupied by the Library, a Fitness Gym and an Office.