Appledore stands
at the junction of sky and sea. Its only connection with land is a
peninsular bounded by salt marshes so unspoilt that they are part of a
world biosphere site - and a rugged coastline beautiful enough to make
you catch your breath.
Even when you stand in the
heart of the village, on the stunning quay or wander the narrow winding
streets lined with quaint colour-washed cottages, everything seems
inspiringly unreal - a place of dreams and imagination. Read our
Appledorian Dictionary
here.
Everywhere there are things to see
and search for - a bronze age barrow, secret cobbled alleys and
nooks that even the locals haven't found, lost wells and the
strange lookout turrets of long-dead captains. Traces of a
forgotten town where people spoke their own language and
worshipped in hidden chapels and dined off shellfish and seaweed
In
Appledore, where time and tide collide, there seems little need for clocks
and yet the village could stand on the brink of extinction. Every year
the tides rise higher and threaten to flood the village.
The churchyard is full of
drowned seafarers and on the Quay fishermen still sell fish that they
risked their lives to catch.
Appledore is a town of a million
stories and most of them have never been told. At night, your
imagination can quickly conjure up images from the past - the sailors
rewarded by Queen Elizabeth I when she made Appledore a free port
returning home from an epic sea battle against the French, smugglers
furtively crossing cobbled courtyards with their booty, press gangs
lying in wait for their next victim outside one of the many village pubs
and Cistercian monks on their way to their monastery at Docton House.
And then there is the mysterious
Appledore white rabbit that no-one can account for ... It has become a
popular part of Appledore folklore especially among the children.
No wonder writers have loved
this place and the village might well be haunted by the ghosts of Henry
Williamson and Jerome K. Jerome and Kingsley and Kipling, who all found
inspiration here.
In the end, though, mere words
will never do justice to a place that can only be lived. To know
Appledore you must seek it and what better time to discover a village of
dreams than a festival dedicated to the power of words and imagination?
Read our Appledorian Dictionary
here.
Useful Websites: If you want to know more
about North Devon here are some excellent websites run by
good friends of the Book Festival
