Dave
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Post by Dave on Jun 15, 2010 18:41:34 GMT
Devon football ground overlooked by a vineyard?  On the A396 between Tiverton and Exeter is a place known as Bickleigh and it must be one of the most beautiful places in Devon, the question for me has always been just what makes up Bickleigh as on the main road all there is to see are two pubs and one cottage. When you drive on the bridge over the river, that’s if you were lucky to be able to do that at the first attempt as the bridge is only wide enough for traffic one way and its very normal to have to back off the bridge just after you got on it due to traffic coming the other way, there is a turning where another pub can be found and also the Devon Railway Centre. Below is a link to the Railway centre put up by StuartB who took his family there. www.torquayfansforum.com/index.cgi?board=daysout&action=display&thread=2814Come back over the bridge and turn onto the A3072 that would take you to Crediton( the road I do take myself Monday and Friday) then you go over a very small bridge and find another cottage. Go on a few yards and there is a narrow lane on the left that will take you to Bickleigh Castle( well what’s left of it as that man Cromwell even go to destroy this one as well  ) and if you carry on further you will pass a few more cottages. See thread below www.torquayfansforum.com/index.cgi?board=daysout&action=display&thread=2185 If you look from there back over toward the river, high on the hill you can see a church so there must be housing etc nearby, but I expect that may be a village called Butterleigh ( I’m sure Barton will know) so what you see on the main road might well be all there is of Bickleigh which means it does not have a shop, a post office, a village hall, but it does have a bus shelter.  So it makes you wonder why or how it has a football club (and judging by the evidence when I walked around the ground a cricket club as well) where the players come from as surly there can be no player who plays for them who could be described as home grown talent. The ground itself must be the most wonderful place to ever want to play local football or cricket at, in one picture you will see of two very small practice goals, there are a group of those picnic tables with build in benches on each side, right beside these is a gate that goes into the garden and rear entrance of the Trout Inn. My imagination went into overdrive for a second and I saw a cricket team playing in whites and people sat in the afternoon sun by the picnic tables enjoying a refreshing pint. Due to the length of the grass I could not see just where the football pitch would be when it is used during the season, I could also not work out where the goal posts go as there was no tell tale signs anywhere to be seen. When you come in through the main gate you can see the dug outs etc facing you at the back of the field so the pitch must run from the hedge on the left hand side to the back of the Trout Inn. In the middle there is an area that has been cut very short and I’m sure jmgull would be able to confirm it has been cut as cricket will be played on it during the summer. I parked the van in the Trout Inn car park and walked past the pub, it had England flags up and a sign with a temping offer to make you consider going to watch the England games in there. I hope Barton will be able to add some information about the football team to complete the thread. You can also see the vineyard behind the ground in one of the pictures          The clock must not be working as I was here later than the time showing on the clock                |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2010 20:46:03 GMT
Again, Dave, lovely pictures and more evidence of the amazing amount of time and care you devote to this site. Yes, looking back to your thread of a year ago, that road beyond Bickleigh Castle is bloody steep as I discovered - in the opposite direction - just a few Sundays ago. I'd decided to walk from Crediton, via Shobrooke Park and the Raddon Hills, to Thorverton and up the valley to Bickleigh. It was only when I stopped to rest midway through the afternoon that I noticed, to my cost, the contours between Thorverton and Bickleigh. Stangely enough, a couple of days previously, I'd walked from Bradninch to Bickleigh and up the valley to Tiverton. That takes you across the high land (which you can see looking up the estuary from Dawlish Warren) and down into Bickleigh from the east. Then you discover the village of Bickleigh proper which has a church and rather more buildings than the riverside settlement (it's only ten minutes walk up the hill from the Mill; Butterleigh is another two miles further). The SW Peninsula League site tells us that Bickleigh AFC was founded in 1969 and are known as the "Buzzards". The ground has the wonderful name of Happy Meadow. Last year was their first in the SWPL after stepping up from the Devon & Exeter and they finished bottom of Div 1 (East). If you fancy catching a game next season the fixtures are out already, the league secretary taking great pride in being just about the first to get his fixtures published: www.swpleague.co.uk/Div_1_East. Bickleigh's home games start relatively late because of the cricket. |
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Post by stuartB on Jun 15, 2010 21:11:44 GMT
I will have to take the time to explore this area as my family are from around there.
my Dad was born at Shobrooke but i have never been there. My grand parents lived in Silverton which was a lovely village before they starting developing it. I spent many summers with them and loved the real country.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2010 21:28:21 GMT
I will have to take the time to explore this area as my family are from around there. my Dad was born at Shobrooke but i have never been there. My grand parents lived in Silverton which was a lovely village before they starting developing it. I spent many summers with them and loved the real country. Tidy cricket ground at Shobrooke Park and the church, in another thread, isn't so far from Silverton and Rewe. I've been spending a lot of time around there recently: walked Stoke Canon - Brampford Speke (tea shop) - Newton St Cyres (pub and football ground) - Waddles Down (marvellous view) - Longdown last week. Tremendous contrast of landscapes within just a few miles. |
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Post by stuartB on Jun 15, 2010 21:45:24 GMT
Walked around Rewe and Stoke Canon but mainly drive through it. Mainly went in the other direction as a kid. My grandad worked at Silverton papermill. Loved playing in the river at Upexe. Bradnich is a lovely village. the variety is enormous in that region and i guess i need to re-trace my roots and take some snaps before Dave does |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Jun 15, 2010 21:52:09 GMT
Thanks Nick I just knew there had to be more to the village than what you see on the main road, I will check it out when I have a bit of time to spare.
Yes the hills are steep around there and I chose such a hot day to walk up them but as you know the views are well worth the effort.
On another note I will at some point drive through Witheridge and see if I can get in and do a photo shoot for the forum.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Nov 16, 2010 16:24:24 GMT
There I was this morning sat in a customer’s car park checking the forum when I read Barton Downs post. In it he said he would be away for two days and would look forward on his return to see the progress on Sam’s programmes. So I though I would give him an extra treat and take a few shots of the Bickleigh FC ground as I had done a shoot for him before of this ground, only it was not in the football season as the shots in my post above shows. Happy in the knowledge the camera phone would get some good shots; I parked in the pub car park and headed for the pitch. The last time I was there I just opened up the gate and went in. This time it was all padlocked up and so the only shots I could take were from outside of the gate. Not to worry as at least my shots show just where the pitch is placed in the field.    |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2010 21:24:55 GMT
There I was this morning sat in a customer’s car park checking the forum when I read Barton Downs post. In it he said he would be away for two days and would look forward on his return to see the progress on Sam’s programmes. Ta for this, Dave. Good Friday is a long way off but Bickleigh are playing Appledore on that day as part of the Groundhop. This means there should be a crowd of 300-400. May be cause for a visit.... |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2011 20:55:31 GMT
I finally took the opportunity this evening to see a game at Bickleigh. As I generally don’t watch this level of football on Saturdays, I was most likely to catch a game there on an autumn or spring evening. With no floodlights on a dull and wet day the referee and players did well to start a couple of minutes early at 6.28pm, take a seven or eight minute half-time and get things concluded before ten past eight. Sadly not the sunlit evening I had in mind for a visit – I managed that last night at Liverton – but a lively encounter nonetheless against Alphington that ended 1-1 with Bickleigh equalising in the last minute. Not the best-quality football but, as you often find at this level, both teams wanted to win even though there was little at stake.
One thing that may surprise people about Peninsula One (East) football is the use of club linesmen. Tonight’s did okay but you do get comical moments such as one loudly expressing his belief that his opposite number was a “****ing t***.” A few tasty tackles aside, the game was played in the right spirit and, although the grass might have been longer than normally required, it’s a tidy little set-up with tea at 30p (on account of them running out of larger cups) and some shelter from the elements. Loos are to be found in the nearby Trout Inn.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 21:04:31 GMT
Time flies. It's now four years since Dave stopped off and took pictures of Bickleigh's ground; three years since I saw a game there myself. Bickleigh didn't linger in the Peninsula League and were soon back in the Devon and Exeter. I was passing through again on Saturday evening. I took some pictures. When I checked them later I discovered that - as is the way of these things - I had taken virtually the same shots as Dave. Several to add, mind. The ground is unchanged - still nicely-maintained and looked after - but the accoutrements of status have fallen by the wayside. The turnstile booth is overgrown; the additional seating (surely purchased from the cricket at Taunton?) of little use. Nothing to fear now from the ground grading committee and their clipboards and tape measures. But there's still a need for refreshment. I certainly can't recall seeing "refills" being available at such reduced cost elsewhere:    |
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