Showing posts with label Totnes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Totnes. Show all posts

Thursday 6 December 2018

Settle For This


This is my 300th post this year but it is really just going to be a list of reasons why I like Settle. I have been once before maybe fifteen years back, so maybe my priorities have changed and maybe Settle has changed. Like Totnes it has no chains, no Greggs, no Fatface, no McDonald's, no Starbucks.

It has a Barclays and HSBC and Skipton Building Society so you can get money. There are also cash points at the Co Op garage and Booths Supermarket.

It has loads of coffee shops and cafes and three excellent pubs, The Royal Oak, The Golden Lion and The Talbot Arms.

It's in the middle of the Leeds to Carlisle railway line and Skipton is quite close by rail, also there's a regular bus between Skipton and Lancaster that runs through Settle.

The people are all really friendly and talk with you.

Mike Harding lives here and he talks with everybody.

There's great countryside views from Castlebergh Crag and along the River Ribble.

I have still not visited all the places in Settle and next time I come I may not use a car, just come by train, it's that easy.

So what piece of music should I share with you today, given that the only musical connection I've mentioned is Mike Harding., though I prefer his long poems like "Napoleon's Retreat From Wigan" and the like, but he does have an extensive catalogue.

But I'd missed the Victoria Hall where they show films and concerts and next week The Albion Christmas Band are playing next Friday but I won't be here, but I will share their take on "Sans Day Carol" with you.




Sunday 4 April 2010

Ghosts Of Exeter St Davids


During our holiday we took a friend's advice to visit Totnes by train , departing from Exeter St Davids. The station , while pleasant enough , seemed to have no stand out features that we could discern , though we did notice three or four crows that wandered around the platforms as though the owned the place.






According to the the station staff , the crows never leave and never fly and are in fact the souls of departed steam engine drivers . Definitely an interesting anecdote about the place!!

Saturday 3 April 2010

Devon - Record Shop Heaven?


Just back from Devon and a most excellent place it is too. Discovered several things , but the most surprising was the number of thriving record shops there were . Everywhere record shops seem to be dying out (check out Graham Jones' Last Shop Standing) , but in Devon they're on the up in a big way. I'm sure I passed obne in Crediton , a small village outside of Exeter , but unsure of that.

In Exeter I found Martian Records which was shut , but it was Good Friday but here's a google link.

Rooster records was well and truly open , and stuffed with vinyly , CDs and a hell of a lot of interesting stuff. The guy there reckoned business had never been so good . I helped by buying a King Crimson CD/DVD set , the reissue of Horslips' Book of Invasions , a couple of cheapies and "My Baby Loves Pop Music" by local band "A Fine Day For Sailing". Not sure if Rooster have a web site but their address is 98 Fore Street , Exeter and phone number is 01392 272009. A joy to visit. This website here is them I reckon.

Totnes was apparently descended on by hippies in the sixties and they stayed. The only concessions to globalisation are a WH Smiths and a Superdrug , as well as a bank or two and Post Office. The main shopping area of Totnes is a single, traffic unfriendly street , Fore Street I think, , it's really best to go on foot. Anyway this street boasts not one but TWO superb record shops!!



The first , a "Simon Cowell" Free zone was staffed by a young lass who'd told us of her pirate themed twenty first party. Unusually the shop contained virtually no compilations bar the odd Trojan Box Set. Their web site doesnt seem to work , but the shop does! Anyway I left with Matching Mole's BBC Sessions and a 2004 CD/DVD of the New York Dolls at the Royal Festival Hall.

Then there was The Drift run by an affable Irish guy who got involved with a film about the Undertones manager and reckons the reason that most record shops are going bust is because they dont talk to customers . Given my experiences in Devon and Newcastle I reckon he has a point. I left with the ew albums by Joanna Newsome and Lightspeed Champion. Their website is here.

As I write this there are NO independent record shops in York.

April 17th is National Record Shop Day.

There's a list of participating shops on the official National Record Store Day site here

If you have a local independent record shop make your presence felt. Go in and buy something!!