Great Western Coffee Shop

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/wwrs_20230326.jpg)

I'm just wondering if the track after the wooden gate in the centre background is in fact an old railway trackbed.

It is indeed.

Stab in the dark.

Somewhere along the S&DJR?

Not on the Somerset and Dorset, and not in Somerset or Dorset either...

The stone of the building might suggest Devon or Bristol

Judging by the power lines, somewhere along the Taunton to Barnstaple line, nearer the Barnstaple end?

Apologies for taking so long to reply - I thought I had, but all was lost in an internet outage.

PhilWakely is getting very warm (though not that line), and bradshaw has named the right county...

That trackbed looks narrow so I'm wondering narrow guage?  Along the route of the Lynton and Barnstaple railway?

Standard Gauge. L&B is warm, but not as warm as PhilWakely.

Exe Valley?

Lodfin LC Keepers House

Between Bampton and Morebath Jn on the former Exe Valley line.

That’s the one!

Just spent a week in Bampton, squelching around in the mud. I’ve always been curious to see the area around Tiverton, Morebath and the Taunton to Barnstaple line, so it was a lucky opportunity when my wife randomly booked us into a holiday cottage there for the week!

Bugger. I went up and down that line, and many others, using various online tools -. maps, StreetView, Wikipedia, disused stations websites - all without success. I looked at plenty of pictures and StreetView imagery of station buildings, stationmasters houses, crossing cottages etc. and bleddy missed this one.

Fiendish sciurus vulgaris.  >:(

I managed a trip on the Exe Valley line in the early 60s. We had been on a day trip to Exmoor and managed to get the parents to drop me off at Bampton for the 14xx to Exeter. Good end to the day.

Obviously I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the imprisoned 14xx No.1442, in Tiverton Gaol Museum...

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/tivvy_bumper.jpg)

Now why didn't you tell me? I could have put the kettle on.

As a wee nipper my Mum's (at that time) partner's parents lived in Tiverton. One of my earliest childhood memories is seeing the Tivvy Bumper 1442 at the side of Blundell's Road as we drove into the town. Mum also has a picture (in one of many boxes in storage) of 4 year old me and my younger brother stood beside 1442. I'll see if I can find it and scan it

I knocked on the door, but there didn't seem to be anyone home:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/tonys_house.jpg)

I'm sure a light rat-a-tat-tat would've sufficed. It would appear you knocked with a wrecking ball.

I can be rather ham-fisted at times.

I really liked the Exe Valley. Not been there before. It struck me that it has a couple of things in common with the Wye Valley: steep wooded banks, a river, and a dismantled railway running up it. As with the Wye Valley, the old railway would make a good alternative to some rather nasty busy roads for those of us who prefer human-powered transport. Maybe in some parallel universe there's a Zed Valley where they've managed this!

Standing on the site of Bampton Station, it struck me how much we've lost. According to Google's ChatGPT-equivalent, Bard, I could have got there from Montpelier in about two-and-a-half hours back in 1922 and the fare would have been 1s 6d. That's not much longer than in takes to drive now, and would have been a much nicer journey!

Sadly, the cutting where Bampton station once stood is now largely filled in. Tiverton Station was mostly demolished, but the site is recognisable in old photographs. The first part of the former line to Tiverton Junction, in reality at Willand, is now a cycle and footpath, and a pleasant stroll. It ends at the canal around Manley Lane, from where your pleasant stroll can continue along the footpath through Halberton and Sampford Peverell, Holcombe Rogus, and to within a hundred metres or so of the Tone (no relation).


I was out the back tidying up, so didn't hear. I've noticed from your picture that there's a windowsill in need of a lick of paint.

Lower Bowbierhill Farm (OS Grid Ref: SS 95855 21505), by the way.

So close to the former railway, and a very nice bit of Devon. Not the farm just now, of course.