An Abnormally Warm and Wet February in the West Country
In a press release last Friday the UK Met Office announced that: England and Wales had their respective warmest Februarys on record according to provisional Met Office statistics in what…
Conservative General Election Campaign Kicks Off
Given the recent nationwide opinion polls I cannot help but think that some Conservative Members of Parliament in South West England must be fearing for their seats: https://twitter.com/ElectsWorld/status/1755968592523247803 Call me…
Chilla Junction Marketing Suite Opens
On my bike ride on Sunday I couldn't help but notice that some additional notices had sprung up in Halwill Junction recently: As I continued past the entrance to the…
Storm Isha Heads for West Devon
This morning dawned cold and clear once again, with another glorious sunrise: However that is soon going to change, since later in the day the Met Office in Exeter announced…
An Unhappy New Year for South West Surfers
What with one thing and another we decided not to go for a New Year's Day surfing session in the North Atlantic. We went for a walk this morning instead,…
The September Heatwave in South West England
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency has issued a yellow Heat-Health Alert for South West England between 2 PM today and 9 PM on Sunday:
According to an associated Met Office press release:
(more…)The Campaign to Save Devon’s Mobile Libraries
I learned about the current campaign to save Devon’s mobile libraries during Sir Geoffrey Cox MP's "village surgery" in the Baxter Hall at Petrockstowe last week. Since then a reader…
West Devon Boatbuilder Sails the Northwest Passage
In 2012 Will Stirling from Buckland Monachorum literally and metaphorically launched his wooden cutter Integrity at the Plymouth Mayflower Marina. According to Classic Boat magazine:
The 62 ft / 18.9 m (LOS) larch on oak, 1880s-inspired, gentleman’s yacht is due to debut at the British Classic Yacht Club regatta in July. Will has spent two years building Integrity which represents a departure from the replica Pilot Cutters that have been the standard wooden replica yachts from various British boatbuilders in recent years.
Our first impressions were a bit: wow! The lines of the 7 berth yacht are very sweet on the eye. She seems destined for the Med regattas or maybe the Caribbean where she would not look out of place among her ‘original’ sisters. Classic yacht broker Barney Sandeman (selling her) agreed that her £300,00 (sic) price tag was probably a bargain, but Stirling’s view is that as a first yacht of her type she acts as a prototype for what he is trying to achieve. He was joined by four boatbuilders who had helped him on the project.
However, according to a more recent article in Classic Boat, written by Will Stirling himself, thoughts of the Caribbean couldn’t have been further from his mind:
(more…)Tamsin Edwards’ Trek for Bowel Cancer UK
Synchronicity strikes in the strangest places. Our regular reader(s) may recall that we visited Castle Drogo on Tuesday? As we were descending the Hunter's Path we passed a lady heading…
Castle Drogo in the Summer Rain
The weather forecast wasn't brilliant today, so by way of a change from the seaside we decided to head inland today, to Castle Drogo above the valley of the River…