Clovelly - The Great Debate
When I started this website I made a conscious decision not to voice my opinion too often because, as someone who doesn’t like being told how to think, I don’t suppose anyone else does either, and so for this article I’m going to do what I normally do, and present the facts as I know them and let you, the readers, decide.
People who are familiar with Clovelly will have already guessed what this post is about. The debate in question is whether it’s right to charge people to visit the village. Most people don’t think it is, but then again, I don’t think most people know all the facts either.
Part of the reason that people cry ‘rip off’ or worse is because when people turn up to Clovelly they don’t expect to pay to walk through a village that appears to be just that – an everyday village. The fact that it’s picturesque has nothing to do with it as far as they’re concerned. The problem though, is that it’s not just another everyday village, and I’ll endeavour to explain why.
The thing to remember is that it isn’t just a hotch-potch of buildings owned by various individuals, but an ancient manor that has been owned by just a handful of families since it was registered in the Domesday Book. After the Norman Conquest, owners included William I’s wife Matilda and the Giffard family who acquired it in 1242. In 1370 they sold it to Sir William Cary, whose family held it until the Hamlyn family bought it in 1738, and their descendants have been running it ever since. In other words, it has been in the private hands of just two families for the last 650 years. Today the estate comprises of woodlands, 2,000 acres of farmland and the village itself.
George Cary was the man responsible for turning Clovelly into a fishing village when he built a breakwater and fish cellars towards the end of the 16th century, but the person to thank for how the village looks now is Christine Hamlyn who inherited the estate in 1884 and dedicated her life to renovating and preserving the character of Clovelly and its buildings. The village wasn’t known to the outside world until Charles Kingsley wrote about it in his book Westward Ho! He lived in the village for a while and his cottage is now a museum. Maybe this is where Christine Hamlyn got her enthusiasm from to smarten the place up. Who knows?
One of her descendants, John Rous, runs the Clovelly Estate today and explains that the admission costs are needed to maintain Clovelly’s unique character. The estate has been charging an entry fee to the village since 1924 and most of the money goes on maintenance using traditional materials and skilled labour. They must be doing something right because only 7 out of the village’s 71 buildings are not listed.
Cottages are not for sale, but occasionally they come up for rent – but only to people who are prepared to join in the community spirit. In recent times the demographics have changed in many places where locals can’t afford to live in their own communities any longer, so this is an important consideration by the estate. Many families have been here a long time, and village life seems to be how it should be in many ways.
Living in Clovelly has other practical problems though: The steep cobbled High Street is not accessible to motor vehicles, and for many years donkeys were used to carry baskets of fish, goods – and even people up to the top of the village, but the practice stopped in the 1960s. Today, villagers use sledges instead, and donkeys just give kids rides around their meadow near the Visitor Centre.
For visitors, it means that it’s a long hard slog back uphill unless you’re able to use the Land Rover service that charges a small fee. It officially operates Easter-October between 10 and 4.30, but it might be best to check beforehand if it’s essential.
Now for the information you’ve been waiting for – how much is it to visit? Current prices (April 2023) are Adults £8.75, children between 7 and 16 £5.10, Under 7’s Free, and there are concessions for families. Your ticket also includes parking at the Visitor Centre, a 20 minute AV introductory film, entry to the Kingsley Museum and Fisherman’s Cottage and Clovelly Court Gardens (home of John Rous).
Well there you have it. As John Rous is keen to point out, visitors are often happy enough to pay to go to a National Trust property, but what do you think – would you pay to visit Clovelly? If you really don’t want to, there is a public footpath that allows access to the village for nothing, and plenty of people do, and they call those who do pay, ‘muppets’. Who do you think is right? Answers please on a Clovelly postcard to Easymalc’s Wanderings.
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Originally posted 2023-04-23 11:45:40.
