A recent user of the Archive has shared with us a photo taken by her father in 1949 of the short lived Youth Hostel at Knaplock Farm, near Tarr Steps. Open from 1948 to 1954, Knaplock Farm was run as an independent business by the farmer under the aegis of the Youth Hostel Association. Around seventy young people stayed there each year. Intrepid walkers and cyclists would find a hut for a women’s dormitory, an old lumber room for a common room cum kitchen and a disused old granary for the men. All very spartan, but with access to the glorious Winsford Hill and the Barle River. The Youth Hostel Association was a child of the Great Depression, formed in 1930 to allow young people from the slum filled cities to spend leisure time in fresh air and open countryside, on a scale only previously possible for the wealthy. At its peak in 1950, the YHA had 303 hostels open, including Alcombe (Minehead), Bampton, Exford, Brendon, Parracombe, Simonsbath and Knaplock. Later Lynton was added. The early editions of the Exmoor Review regularly featured articles on the local Youth Hostels, including the opening of the newly converted Exe Mead Hostel at Exford on May 7th 1966. One of four hostels given to the Association to further the aims of the National Parks Act (1949), Exe Mead had facilities to offer pony trekking holidays to fifteen young people each week, with the highlight being a trek to Minehead Hostel over Dunkery Beacon, returning the following day. We would be delighted to hear from any readers who have memories of the Exmoor Youth Hostels, and maybe would like to add their memories to our Archive.
Graeme Horn, Volunteer Archivist
