THE end of a ten-year nightmare of living in a home which is shaken by the force of every high tide and watching the building inching to within ten feet of the cliff edge, could finally be in sight for Blue Anchor Hotel owner Cara Strom.

Last week’s announcement of a proposed £4 million plan to fund a coastal defence scheme which will save the B3191 road at Blue Anchor from erosion and protect the crumbling land in front of the iconic 16th century hotel, means that Cara can once more dare to think about the future.

When the hotel was finally closed to the public just two years ago after a spell of violent weather swept away three yards of garden in two weeks, Cara feared she might have lost the race against time to save her home and business.

Now, as Somerset West and Taunton Council prepares to begin £385,000 of emergency work involving placing 1,800 tons of rock armour along the base of the cliff in front of the hotel, Cara said: “We have dreamed that one day this would happen and now it finally has.

“We are a long way off making definite plans for the future involving anything like reopening the hotel but there is now a definite chance of some long-term future for the place and the relief that will bring is enormous.”

It is hoped the major part of the £4 million scheme, a collaboration of the district and county councils and the Environment Agency, will begin by the middle of next year. The first emergency work started in June when £60,000 was spent repairing the wall in front of the hotel with concrete and rock armour.

“The sight of work actually being done after years of getting nowhere with national and local authorities has changed everything for us. Hopefully it’s the start of a new beginning.”

One of Cara’s blackest days came in March, 2018, when a massive landslip washed away several yards of garden and opened up cracks which spread to within a few feet of the hotel.

And by September that year, the future of the building was so uncertain that Cara made the heart-breaking decision to close the hotel to the public.

For the full report see today’s Free Press.