Mouth of the River Otter, c1880, Budleigh Salterton

Watercolour painting of the mouth of the River Otter, c1880, Budleigh Salterton

The River Otter starts its life in the Blackdown Hills, rising just to the north of the village of Otterford in the county of Somerset. It then flows through East Devon, passing Upottery, Honiton, Ottery St Mary, Tipton St John, Newton Poppleford and Otterton, before entering the English Channel just to the east of Budleigh Salterton. This watercolour, painted by an unknown artist in about 1880, shows the River Otter flowing out into the English Channel between the eastern end of Budleigh Salterton beach and the cliffs of Otterton Point. The mouth of the river is now part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, a coastline under serious threat from erosion. Paintings such as this one can provide an important historic record for the scientists and conservationists studying the erosion of the East Devon coast.

In the early nineteenth century much of the Otter Estuary was drained and reclaimed for agricultural use. Embankments built more than 200 years ago to reclaim land from the Lower Otter estuary at Budleigh Salterton are now failing in the face of rising sea levels and more extreme weather conditions. In view of these developments, the Environment Agency and Clinton Devon Estates came up with a scheme for returning the estuary and flood plain to a more natural condition. Although there was some local opposition, the plan was approved by East Devon District Council in January 2021 and work to restore the estuary will begin later in the year.

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