The Erme
a creative inspiration for writers and artists
On its journey from source to sea, the Erme and its tributaries meander, flow and charge through some of south Devon’s finest landscapes including Dartmoor National Park and South Devon National Landscape, before emerging as a tidal estuary that flows into the sea on a stretch of one of South Devon’s most dramatic coastlines and beautiful, unspoiled beaches.
Little surprise then that this natural beauty should be an inspiration for creatives.
Juli Fejer
Juli Fejer is a Suffolk-based painter creating expressive landscapes that are at once familiar and strange. Intense colour, use of verticals and unusual perspectives bring energy and immediacy to her work. She is inspired by her personal experience of the healing power of nature, and the wider relationship between society and the natural environment.
The chronic pain condition fibromyalgia gives Fejer an acute sensitivity to smells, sounds and colours, which allows her to pick up the nuances of her surroundings. Her art practice includes acrylic on canvas, watercolour, and painting on her iPad.
Juli’s variation in style reflects the Erme in its many expressive and ever-changing moods at times bucolic, dramatic and serene.
Wave cut platform 
Near Harford Bridge 
Mothecombe 
Ivybridge 
Ivybridge after Turner
© Juli Fejer, 2024 While the copyright of these artworks remains with Juli, she has kindly licenced a number of images to WATER. These were created while an artist in residence on an Erme tributary. They are licenced to WATER for the benefit of the charity and the enjoyment of all who care for the Erme.
Dr Trevor Day
Dr Trevor Day is a UK writer with more than forty non-fiction books and numerous academic and popular articles to his credit.Originally a marine biologist, Trevor gravitated to writing popular science before becoming an educational researcher and writing development specialist. His books have won various awards.
While a writer in residence on an Erme tributary, Trevor embarked on a journey down the Erme, providing him with the inspiration for a magnificently insightful article on the river, its environment and history. The work has been further supplemented with histories of the Erme’s mills and lime kilns.
Trevor has also written a poem:
The river’s water
The water in your mind flows downstream,
but river water does not obey your rules.
It froths and fizzes in unexpected places,
flows upstream in eddies,
surges from veiled depths.
The trout knows this,
but not you,
not yet.
© Trevor Day, 2024 The copyright of this work remains with Trevor Day.
He has kindly licenced it to WATER for the benefit of the charity and the enjoyment of all who care for the Erme.