The Resort of Sidmouth

This fifties holiday film captures the mood of the day in beautiful colour.

This holiday film transports you to Sidmouth and the village of Beer with lovely views of Salcombe Hill overlooking Sidmouth. The old capstan at Beer used for hauling boats up the beach is seen in operation. A trip to Clovelly in North Devon takes in Bickleigh Bridge, Dartmoor and the MV Guidesman tanker on the Exeter canal. The beach scenes at the one time Regency and Victorian resort of Sidmouth show how post war domestic tourism was returning to the resorts of old.

In the Georgian Regency era, son of George III and the Prince Regent's brother popularised the resort. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and his new wife and baby, the future Queen Victoria in 1819 stayed at Woolbrook Glen. The esplanade and many Georgian and Victorian buildings survive although erosion and storms threaten the red sandstone cliffs and beach. Sidmouth is the gateway the World Heritage Jurassic Coast. Knowle Cottage was built in 1810 and became one of the most famous houses in Sidmouth. It was already a hotel by 1882 and in 1947 was bought by Southern Railway and returned to use as a hotel having been used by the RAF during the Second World War. It is now Council offices and public gardens.