An open-air swimming pool, zoo and boating lake: How Exmouth's Esplanade used to look

Exmouth boasts two miles of glorious sandy beach that locals and visitors flock to every year.

The face of the Esplanade has changed dramatically over the years, and this time we will take a trip down memory lane to remember those attractions many of us recall from our childhood.

Exmouth Zoo

Exmouth Zoo was originally opened as a branch of Paignton Zoological and Botanical Gardens in 1957.

It was later bought by Kenneth Smith in 1962, who ran it with his wife Trudy and their curator Mrs Judith Bond.

The zoo was located on the edge of the Maer, in what was once the Exmouth Golf Club's clubhouse.

Ken Smith, before coming to Exmouth, was involved with many other zoos including setting up the zoo in Jersey for Gerald Durrell.

He brought a wealth of experience with animals to the town's zoo which proved very popular with children and adults alike.

The zoo eventually closed in 1980. It is now the site of the Amusement Arcade.

In front of the zoo was The Arnold Palmer Obstacle Golf Course which to this day still lives on to provide hours of frustrating fun to those who play it!

Fun park

The boating lake (Bill Sleeman collection)

The 1950s saw a fun park established, which consisted of large children's playground, boating lake, model boating lake and a miniature railway layout.

The children's playground was set up as a giant road layout with stop signs, zebra crossings etc, all of which were used by eager children in pedal cars, bicycles and scooters.

Your historian seems to recall the red (or maybe it was black!) Austin J40 pedal car being very popular.

Either way, it was great fun to ride round this (almost) real-life road layout.

Next to this was the lake which was most famous for its paddle and then swan boats that could be pedalled around the lake as seen in the picture above.

Beside it was the much smaller model boating lake, which your historian once fell into when he was about five because he was over-reaching to get to his small yacht! He remembers his grandmother pulling him out with some relief – but is sure he was not the only one to do this.

The giant local railway layout was a wonderful sight for small children, and probably a few dads as well!

It was housed in a long building adjacent to the play park and boasted several trains all running at once over beautifully laid out scenery.

The play park existed for over 70 years and for several decades was owned by the Wright family.

It only closed because the council decided not to renew the lease and it was and still is a much-missed attraction that generations of children loved.

Now it is a mixture of a childrens play area and a car park.

Open-air saltwater swimming pool

Exmouth's former open-air swimming pool (Exmouth Museum)

The other attraction on the seafront was the open-air saltwater swimming pool.

Its origins date back to 1889, when work started on a pool at the end of Camperdown Terrace.

However, while supervising the works, Thomas Redway of the Redway Brickworks Company died suddenly and what was dubbed the "Saloon Pool" was never finished.

The open-air pool was opened in 1932 on the site at the bottom of Carlton Hill that is now occupied by Ocean.

It originally used water pumped from the sea and was the setting for many swimming galas, water polo etc.

It was the home of The Exmouth Swimming and Life Saving Society who, before the pool opened, had used the docks for their activities.

In the 1970s, the sea water was replaced by fresh water and in 1985 the council gave up running the pool and it passed into private hands before closing permanently.

As ever, more details can be found at Exmouth Museum or please visit the website and help your local museum if you can in this way or you can e-mail Mike at [email protected].

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Ed: This article is from Mike Menhenitt's Walking Through Exmouth History series. Use the links below to read previous articles:

Part One: The beginnings of Exmouth, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age

Part Two: Exmouth in the Iron Age - and the arrival of the Celts

Part Three: Roman coins and Viking raids

Part Four: The impact of the Norman conquest, and how places in Exmouth got their names

Part Five: How Exmouth became a fashionable seaside resort in the 18th century

Part Six: How the docks brought prosperity to Exmouth - and then became the marina

Part Seven: The coming of the railway

Part Eight: Turnpikes, toll houses and inns in Exmouth

Part Nine: Jobs your ancestors had in the town through the ages

Part 10: The town's first museums - and the museum as it is today