Exmoor and Somerset are always open for business

There has been much media coverage of the very unfortunate flooding on the Somerset Levels, and you might be forgiven for thinking that the whole county was under water. This, of course, is not the case.

 Without wishing to make light of the very real problems and hardships faced by people who did get flooded out, the Levels form a small proportion of the county of Somerset, and only part of the Levels has suffered from floods (which is something to be thankful for). It has been heartwarming to see how local communities, and the farming community nationwide, pulled together to help.

The latest initiative is headed up by the Porlock Visitor Centre and FLAG (Flooding on the

At Porlock Visitor Centre. Photo by Maureen Harvey

Levels Action Group). Fifty or so tourism businesses on Exmoor – including us at Exmoor House - have got together to offer free two-night breaks (and other goodies such as visits to attractions) to some of the people directly affected by the floods. You can hear more on
Emma Britton’s BBC Somerset show of 26^th March (5 more days from today to listen to it) and watch out for other media reports.

Meanwhile, the other 97% of Somerset remained open for business throughout all the extreme weather. With motorways and other main road networks unaffected, visitors have been able to travel to and around the area as normal. 

But where were the visitors? Normally, Snowdrop Valley, here at Wheddon Cross, is buzzing in February. This year, only a fraction of the people we might expect came to see the snowdrops – which were looking wonderful - very disheartening for the many people in the village who work hard to make the event a success.  

Businesses throughout Somerset and the South West have been spreading the word via social media that it’s business as usuaI. If you take a look at the @SouthWestUK twitter stream or search for the hashtag #openforbusiness then you’ll see what I mean.  

On the plus side, from a tourism point of view, the whole sad affair has at least let people know that Somerset exists – too often the county is unjustly ignored in favour of Devon and Cornwall. Believe me when I say that Somerset has an incredible amount to offer, and that Exmoor is always a wonderful place to visit – come and see for yourself!

Falconry and Farming on Exmoor

On Tuesday this week the Exmoor Owl & Hawk Centre, near the picture-postcard village of Allerford, held an open day. We went along, and really enjoyed looking round.

The Centre has a good collection of owls and other birds of prey, but also alpacas, mini-pigs, ponies and miniature donkeys. There was an owl-flying demonstration and an opportunity for people to take a glove and some bait to try this for themselves (although the owls can be quite choosy about where they want to fly, and whose arm they want to land on!). It was a wonderful sunny day; although Rod Smith of the Centre says that their particular micro-climate means it's often sunny there when the weather is poor elsewhere in the area.

Other activities available include spending half a day or a full day getting to know the birds of prey and owls; also horse riding. There's an interesting display about the history of the farmstead, and about falconry, in the barn. The Centre also has a cafe selling drinks and snacks. A great day out for families.

Wednesday saw us in Porlock for the final Exmoor Awareness session this season (run by Exmoor National Park for tourism-related businesses). It's the first one we've managed to get along to, although every year we look at the programme and think how good all the sessions sound. Luckily they could fit us in at the last minute.

The theme was farming heritage, so there were presentations on how farming on Exmoor developed (I found the archaelogical perspective fascinating); local food production and how farmers are diversifying; a very entertaining personal view from a lady who married into a farming family, and discussion of how things could go in the future. As native townies now living in the country, we learnt a lot.

Unfortunately the planned post-lunch field trip to a local farm had to be cancelled but National Park staff organised a walk through Hawcombe Woods instead; we saw how the landscape has developed its unique characteristics through a combination of natural events and human activities - again very informative, and it was a great day for walking. It was also good to meet and network with other accommodation providers (and possible suppliers too).

We'll certainly try and make a few more of the Exmoor Awareness sessions next year!

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