I was in Burnham-on-Sea, just down the coast from us today, taking part in the first Burnham Book Festival. It is an interesting little town, but we didn’t see much of it today as we were inside the Princess Theatre, talking to people about our books. Here is something I wrote a while ago about visiting teh small town:
We quite often go adventuring on our own doorstep, following signposts to little local villages, going to different parts of towns we know. Some time ago I wrote a series of posts about Burnham-on-Sea, a small seaside town down the coast from us; the town has a town trail with a very helpful and interesting leaflet to follow, and we spent a couple of pleasant days, wandering round following the trail, looking at small things such as steps used to get on a horse, as well as things you might expect such as the church, the station, a tea-room, pubs and hotels.
However… we didn’t venture down the promenade, but went to see an exhibition of paintings in the Princess Theatre, which is interesting in itself. It was built in 1869 by a private company, the Market House and Town Hall Company; in its time, this building has accommodated the Council Chamber, has been the home of a covered market, and at one time housed the town fire station on the ground floor beneath the auditorium. After admiring the paintings, we set off on a little walk.
We followed the path along beside the River Brue, and we didn’t realise but we were walking past somewhere called Apex Park which was where clay was dug at first by hand and then as industrial techniques progressed, by machine. These pits are now lakes, home to wildlife, and interesting for explores! We haven’t explored them yet, that will be another day! There were brickworks making not just bricks but also tiles and pipes. There were four kilns and they could produce 20,000 bricks. We just followed the river path for a short way until ominous black clouds sent us back home.
Lois Elsden 