Exmoor National Park Partnership

You probably know that we’ve always tried to be as green as we can, and we are really proud of the fact that Exmoor House is in the middle of the National Park. 

When Dan James (the Exmoor Sustainable Economy Officer) asked for businesses to be part of a pilot group to help develop a scheme which would recognise those who work to help keep the area special, and who act as ambassadors for Exmoor, we jumped at the opportunity.

After several meetings, much research by Dan, and pilot group members trying out various application formats to see what would work best for all the different types of organisations that might want to join, the new scheme is now up and running. Exmoor House was among the five first businesses to gain an Exmoor National Park Partner certificate, showing that we comply with all the criteria. 

Here is a link to all the details: Park Partners

The video makes an interesting watch and, for businesses thinking about applying, sets out some of the benefits of joining.

Give the car a holiday too!

As part of our efforts to be more green, we've been looking into how people can give the car a rest for a few days while they're on Exmoor. Of course, there are lots of good walks you can do direct from Exmoor House, but if you use public transport you can go a bit further afield. Wheddon Cross has buses calling about six times most days (except Sundays).

Here are some suggestions for car-free itineraries:

Dunster
Bus no 399. There’s plenty to see in Dunster, also several good circular walks from the village. If you're feeling energetic, you could walk all the way back to Wheddon Cross (some of our guests did this a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it)


Dulverton
Bus no 399. There's a choice of circular walks in the Barle Valley and the village itself is worth exploring (interesting Heritage Centre and church, some nice shops, several good pubs and tearooms).

Porlock
Bus no 399 to Minehead then no 39 (or in summer, 300) Porlock and walk back to Wheddon Cross along the Coleridge Way; or walk to Porlock and get the bus back to Wheddon Cross.

West Somerset Railway
Bus no 399 to Minehead, West Somerset Railway to Bishops Lydeard and back (or to any of the other stops en route); bus back to Wheddon Cross from Minehead. There are walks from all the stations along the railway; some circular, some from one station to another.

Lynmouth (April - October)
Bus 399 to Minehead, then the 300 open-top bus to Lynmouth and back to Minehead; bus to Wheddon Cross.

In summer, there is also the Moor Rover bus - especially useful for walkers and cyclists. More about this another time...

Working together for tourism on Exmoor

We were at the Exmoor Tourist Association’s annual general meeting last week, at the Tithe Barn in Dunster. Always good to catch up with others involved in tourism; it’s rare to have an opportunity to network face to face. Many of us accommodation providers seem to have more bookings this year than last so far, which is good news.




Antony Brunt, the ETA chairman, and others of our hard-working officers, do a lot of work in promoting Exmoor (for example by representing the association at the Outdoors Show, BoBI and other travel-related exhibitions). We’re lucky to have an excellent administrator / secretary / membership secretary, Rachel Kelly; and our president, William Theed, is another fine ambassador for the area.



MP Ian Liddell-Grainger was at the meeting to give us a talk before going off to the House of Commons. He’s also very enthusiastic about promoting tourism on Exmoor – though I wasn’t sure about his description ‘like Dartmoor, but with more people’! If we’re to compare the two Moors, then I prefer the definition that has been doing the rounds on twitter: Exmoor is the thinking man’s Dartmoor. Nothing like stirring things up a bit…



Dan James of Exmoor National Park updated us on what’s happening with the park authority and with the Exmoor Tourism Partnership: plenty of positive developments there. I was pleased to note that the National Park has some more new ideas in the pipeline about helping green businesses promote themselves.



A highlight of ETA meetings is always the catering! We had melt-in-the-mouth shortbread biscuits with our coffee before the meeting, and as usual there was a very good, imaginative selection on the lunchtime buffet. (Well, if you’ve been following our blog – indeed if you’ve seen our website – you’ll know that we’re constantly thinking about food, one way or the other).



After lunch Ross Edwards of EDF gave a presentation about the proposed nuclear development, Hinkley Point C. This is something that raises concerns on many levels, and Ross made it clear that, as a PR person, he is not an expert on the safety (or otherwise) aspect of the project. However, he gave us some interesting details about how EDF proposes to minimise adverse effects on the surrounding area during the building work. It’s early days yet, and there’s a lot more to be said on all sides; no doubt the consultation will run and run. I’ll make no further comment for the moment, but you can find the relevant documentation here:



http://hinkleypoint.edfenergyconsultation.info/Preferred_Proposal_Documents/Stage%202%20Update/Stage-2-Update-Consultation-final.pdf

 
If you're involved in tourism on Exmoor and aren't already a member of ETA, I'd urge you to consider joining. There are many benefits, including some good marketing opportunities, and we think the fee is very good value. For more details, visit
 
http://www.exmoor.com/join_eta.htm