Budleigh Street

Budleigh Street was named in 1957 after a location in Devon. The seaside resort Budleigh Salterton and the nearby East Budleigh are popular destination for holidays, weekend breaks or just a day trip.

Geologically important are the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds, about 30 metres thick, which are well-exposed in the cliffs west of the town. These quartzite pebbles are overlain with Otter Sandstone, forming the spectacular red cliffs celebrated as part of the Jurassic Coast.

Today it is popular for its 3.2 kilometres of quiet, beautifully clean pebble beach, providing clear water and safe bathing. In an age of supermarket chains, the town boasts a prized selection of shops catering for everyday needs; most shops are still independently owned and managed.

The area is popular for bird-watching. The mouth of the River Otter, cut off from the sea by a shingle bank, provides estuary habitats and small elevated clumps of salt marsh that attract water birds. Best viewing around the estuary is in winter but there are birds to see all year round.

East Budleigh lies in the Otter Valley, about three kilometres north of the seaside resort. A large farmhouse in the village is celebrated as the birth place of Sir Walter Raleigh. Nearby Bicton Park Botanical Gardens claim nearly 300 years of horticultural history. 

The Bicton Woodland Railway train operates on a narrow gauge rail and features Sir Walter Raleigh, the tank engine. This is the easiest way to explore the park.

A connection to New Zealand was reported in 1998, when all 200 members of the Budleigh Salterton Bowling Club learned and performed the haka 'Ka Mate'. "The blazer-clad and usually white-haired men and women crouch and hold out their arms like demented magicians as they go through their routine."

But they say they did not copy the All Blacks; the haka was taught to them by a hockey team from Plymouth University, which also uses it before matches.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.