Brendon History - Hospitality, Horses & High Seas

This giant oil painting, by the celebrated artist Heywood Hardy R.A, measures 7 by 5 feet and was presented to George Brendon senior in 1904 in recognition of the sport he provided as well as for his general achievement in opening up the district to visitors. George was the local Master of Fox Hounds, paying for the pack, the horses and men out of his own pocket. When he took a shine to a hotel guest such as the noted author Sabine Baring-Gould, George took him out for a day's hunting. Years later Baring-Gould wrote in his autobiography, "You have to go right to the West of England to meet that kind of hospitality."

Pictured here is the wreck of the Capricorno, which occurred in 1900. In the days of sailing ships the coast of North Cornwall was a magnet for wrecks, since it was a lee shore onto which craft were liable to be thrust by the prevailing wind. Between 1869 and 1901 no fewer than 85 vessels were stranded or lost in the neighbourhood of Bude. The town's heroic lifeboatmen put to sea on 31 occasions between 1853 and 1890 and saved 40 lives. The Brendon Arms contains many nautical memorabilia and photographs of lost vessels. Each of the recently refurbished bedrooms is named after a ship which took part in one of these dramas of life or death.