Vintage postcards of Minehead, Somerset

As I wasn't sure where I'd be this weekend, I posted my Easter postcards last week ... so this week I'm going to share a few from somewhere in England where we have just spent a wonderful week in the most glorious weather imaginable. I think I went to Minehead, in Somerset, as a young child, and almost certainly to the Butlin's holiday camp there, but I only have the vaguest of memories of it. Last week, when we took our first trip down to the sea front it was bliss, with blazing sunshine yet hardly anyone around. The sunshine stayed with us all week and more people arrived, but still it did not feel over busy. The view of the quay in the first postcard below hasn't changed much except for a few more houses filling the horizon, but the view of Minehead from North Hill in the second postcard is barely recognisable. The green spaces beyond the beach have nearly all gone and the Butlin's holiday camp is ever present. There is a preserved steam railway in the town which links back almost all the way to the main line at Taunton but I can't quite make it out on the postcard - it was definitely an operational line in 1915 when the postcard was printed. The final postcard is of North Hill itself. When we looked up at this from the beach it looked lovely, and climbing to the top was wonderful, with some incredible houses, some big, others small ... but all beautiful and all brought on thoughts of retirement.

Minehead Quay, c.1911

Minehead from North Hill, c.1915

North Hill Walk, Minehead, c.1934

As always, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site