I was delighted to see that the much talked about cycle route from Sidford to Sidbury is now in the final stages of getting the go-ahead.

This will be a real asset for the area and particularly for the village of Sidbury. It will not be only cyclists that benefit but also walkers and joggers. It will also mean that the A375 between Sidford and Sidbury will not have pedestrians to such an extent, which can only be a good thing for road safety. Hopefully the planning permission that is required will be just a formality.

A local organisation, which you may not be familiar with, is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2022. The East Devon Luncheon Club meets once a month at The Victoria Hotel and it has had a wealth of interesting speakers over the years. These have included an ex-tiller girl, a former Sidmouth lifeboat crew member, artists, authors, explorers, antiques experts from Antiques Roadshow and diplomats. They always welcome new members so if you are interested please contact their membership secretary Diane Birch on 01395 513285.

I hope you are enjoying the Christmas lights that were switched on last Saturday. This followed the town centre power cut last Friday evening that plunged a lot of the town centre into darkness. This heralds the start of the run up to Christmas.

Next Friday, the 3rd of December, we have the late night shopping event. This is normally very well supported and I see no reason why this year will be any different. In fact I suspect it will be busier than usual with the messages to shop locally and to support the local, independent traders. The message from the Sidmouth Fairtrade Steering Group in last week’s paper emphasised this hoped for trend.

I apologise for the lack of suggested walks recently. This is mainly down to the dry, mild weather which has allowed golf to continue later into the autumn for me this year. I suspect many of you are enjoying the countryside at the moment. Aren’t the autumnal colours wonderful?

Another otter sighting last week with a wonderful video posted on line by local history expert Graham Symington. This one showed the otter successfully fishing close to the mouth of the River Sid.

On the sporting front the drama of the FA Cup was evident as Exeter City now have to replay their match against Bradford City after fielding six substitutes, with the permission of the officials, in the first replay. I was present last Saturday when they continued their unbeaten run with a 2-1 league win against Carlisle United. They were helped when Carlisle’s best player was sent off just before half time for a dangerous tackle. On the rugby front Exeter Chiefs were thumped 45-19 away at Gloucester in the cup whilst Sidmouth drew 21-21 in their fixture at Bridgwater. This Saturday they have a home game against Chew Magna with a 2.30pm kick off.

Finally there are a number of new local property sale completions that have just been listed on the internet.

The highlight is an outstanding residence in Southway that has just sold for £1.275m. The prices of apartments generally continue to lag behind houses and bungalows. One in Cottington Court recently selling for less than it sold for in 2011. However, there are always exceptions. An apartment in Trinity Court, no doubt with sea views, has sold for considerably more than it did in 2014. This could of course be down to improvements.

In the pre 1997 days you didn’t get this information in the public domain but the market is a lot more transparent nowadays. What is for sure is that if you are considering selling get the advice of a local estate agent who will be familiar with past selling prices, conditions of those properties and the current demand from registered buyers.