Lundy

Gordon Coward went to Lundy to study the hardiness of sheep as a student vet in 1947 and returned to film this travelogue with a Bolex cine camera given to him by his father. His wife Louisa appears in the film. They stayed at Manor Farm Hotel and Coward became resident photographer and vet and studied and filmed the birds and wildlife of the island such as gulls, puffins, cormorants, shags, kittiwakes, peregrine falcons, guillemots, razorbills, herring gulls and grey seals.

Lundy has been inhabited for some 3000 years and the name Lundy is derived from Old Norse meaning Puffin Island. In 1819 Trinity House built a lighthouse and the four keepers swelled the population to ten. William Hudson Heaven owned the island from 1836 to 1917 and is responsible for building St Helen's Church and Millcombe House. The Harman family then owned the island and introduced most of the livestock. Lundy is currently leased to the Landmark Trust. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and was England's first Marine Nature Reserve because of its unique flora and fauna. In the summer a ferry service operates from Bideford and Ilfracombe in North Devon for visitors.