Chrimble - and the latter part of 2014!

Well once again it seems that time has positively zoomed by leaving me looking a little like a cack writer of blogs! K  I am somewhat ashamed that I haven't got round to posting since August, and I'm afraid I don't even have any kind of decent excuse.  So - enough of the self-flagellation.  What has been afoot?
I did some temping in the local city council offices, in the planning department.  I printed stuff out, I scanned stuff in.  Rather more scanning than printing and it had to be said - it was pretty dull.  It paid however, and that was the main thing.  Much nicer environment to work in than my last place too, which was nice. J Sadly it was just a 3 month contract so I'm now looking for something else after New Year.

Myself and a friend discovered a new cute micropub called the Pig & Pickle Taphouse, that opened this year in Exeter in an old post office.  This is the third pub owned by the proprietor of the original Fat Pig and Rusty Bike.  They have a microbrewery in the cellar of the Fat Pig (in the 2014 CAMRA Good Beer Guide no less) and you can now get their ales in any of their three pubs.  The Pig & Pickle is delightfully quirky, small and very friendly.  They also offer a whole plethora of different pickles, as the name suggests, that you can pick from to make up a platter to have with your pint.
The Doctor chap I was seeing is no more.  Wasn't for me as a long term thing so best to call it a day sooner rather than later.
I've also been cooking, baking, making some chrimbo bits and trying to sort out the vast amount of stuff I seem to own that is taking over the house!  I may have said it before but 2015 really needs to be the year of the life laundry I think.
For the Christmas period I've been back in Dorset with family, and visiting a few familiar haunts.
Studland beach, owned by the National Trust, is somewhere we've been going since I was tiny.  A beautiful long golden beach with protected heathland behind, it's great for a boxing day walk as well as a summer laze.  At the Knoll beach end where we start our walk you can see Old Harry's Rocks in the distance to the west.  Rather tiny in the background of this photo.  J (I know the horizon is wonky - frozen fingers!)

On the way back from Studland we stopped in the small village of Stoborough, just outside Wareham, and had a well deserved pint in The King Arms.  I had a chilli pickled egg too - very nice and suitably warming after our walk.  :-)

Well, this is a quick post just to reassure that I'm still alive out here!  I'm intending to get back to much more regular blogging in the new year, as soon as I get the damn internet in my house sorted out!

I hope you've all had a joyous and peaceful festive season.  All the best for 2015 from me and Zeke cat.  J

The Chap and I go to Dorset :-)

We had a weekend in Dorset a few weekends back.  We went to see the Brownsea Open Air Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  We also got to meet up with my mother and sisters, brother in law, aunt and uncle, 2 cousins and their other halves.  So there was a fair few of us!
After a late Friday night on Brownsea Island enjoying the open air Shakespeare and our 'posh' picnic (de riguer for these things) - although enjoying the mossies somewhat less, we started later than usual for our Saturday morning walk.  We drove west through Corfe Castle and on up along the ridge until we turned off for Worth Matravers.  This is a very pretty little village situated a mile or so from the coastal path and homing my favourite pub, the Square and Compass.  (Of which I have spoken before.)
On the walk we saw lots of insect life on the hills and cliff tops.  This is a Marbled White butterfly - I think a male.

There were lots of these flitting about the thistles growing through the long grasses.  Often in the past I've seen blue butterflies on these cliff tops but not today - perhaps a sad indicator of the changing nature in our countryside?
This is a moth rather than a butterfly but was showing itself off just as enthusiastically, and was just as welcome a sight.  This is the Six Spot Burnet - rather fab don't you think?

Later that day it absolutely threw it down, but thankfully after we'd had the customary pint and pasty at the pub.  :-)  It just wouldn't be the Worth Matravers experience without those!  

If you should find yourself in that region of Dorset do give it a look, it's a beautiful place.

(PS - apologies for the shortness and fairly insipid nature of this post - I still seem to be struggling to have time to write these things up.  We've had the Chap's son staying for the summer and he has somewhat monopolized the pc as his laptop gave up the first week he was down.  He has now returned home so hopefully autumn should prove bounteous in posts as well as produce though!)

Pics, seaside and graffiti

Once more there’s been a little while between my last post and this one.  Here in the UK it’s hot hot hot at present.  I'm sure you’ll be well aware of that though so there’s really no point me utilising extraneous words to portray the nastiness of an office that’s 27⁰ at 8.30am and has climbed to 29+⁰ by lunchtime, or the unpleasant feeling when you get up and know your skirt has stuck to the backs of your legs in some sort of nasty take on the embarrassing tucking it into your knickers theme, or the constant watering needed of any plant in a pot or, or or…&c &c.

 In fact I like watering the plants as it enforces a little reflective time and the cool water in the warm evening is very pleasant when accidentally spilt on your feet.  J

Anyway, no particular thing to post but thought I’d share a few pics taken recently of things I found interesting.  Excuse the quality of some; they came from my (very old) 2mp phone.

Shortly after the last post I saw the cygnets out of the water, grazing up on the banks.  Here they are looking lovely.  They’re a fair bit bigger than this now!

Speaking about the plants (I was you know – do try and pay attention…) you can see our flourishing fig here, this was just a 3” high twig when we got this from the Eden project 2 years ago.  Not doing too badly huh?  You can see one of the chillies in the window behind.  We have 3 others in the plastic plant house thing out the back having cheated and got 4 plants from the food fest in April as we (I) were a bit late with the seed planting this year.  All this hot weather is doing them wonders too.

As the Chap has been working continuously it seems like – or all days, every evening and mostly all weekends, my friend took pity on me last Saturday and invited me along to the beach with her, her husband, his sister and her husband and their 2 kids.  We took the train to Teignmouth – a great piece of line that runs right along the sea, then the little ferry boat across the estuary to Shaldon on the opposite side.  I had a lovely paddle – here’s your proof!  This is looking back over to the ‘back beach’ at Teignmouth, with the harbour entrance on the right.  As previously mentioned, apols for the quality but I took this on my phone to send it to the Chap.  Show him what he was missing!  (Was that mean?)

Over the last few months I've noticed a rash of graffiti around that all seems to be done by the same hand.  Now I'm not averse to writings that make you pause for thought or well executed street art but this person is starting to annoy me.  You see their idealistic anarchy 'A' symbols all over the place including where it really does detract from the environs.  And I'm sorry my child, but anarchy would never work as unfortunately someone has to make sure the bins are emptied and the water keeps running &c.  

Anyway - see what you think of this little lot.  I'm not entirely sure what Brian Eno has to do with anything though...  :-)

Offski!

Well I'm despetrately trying to get myself up to date with posts only to find I am out of time.  I'm off for the week next week as we have the Chap's son down, and his brother for a few days so it's all systems go.  Hopefully I'll have a working cooker by then as well - the gas man condemned the old one just before I went away to Dorset last Friday...it's a bit of a saga!

At least the floor's back down now!
Have a good week all and fingers crossed for sun for us - we're spending at least one day fishing on a boat so I'm hoping it's not too rough - unlike the very windy conditions on Chesil Beach last Saturday night.  it seemed like a good idea at the time...

Impromptu weekend away #2 : Salcombe - Chilli Farm - Home (or is it)

We headed to Salcombe and instead of taking the longer way round we took the back road along part of the Avon estuary.  We didn't know it until we got there but for 3/4 mile this road is tidal - how cool is that!  Luckily we got there at low tide so it was passable albeit very narrow sandwiched between the mud and water on one side and a rock cliff on the other.  The sign at the start of the road warns that it's only passable at certain times - we would have got a pic but there was a vehicle following us. 
We wended our way on up the estuary then cut across country to the Kingsbridge Estuary on which Salcombe nestles and tumbles down the steep valley sides to the water below.

This is a pretty little town; although strangely bereft of 'real' shops - ie it's got highly pricey clothes shops aplenty and some nice but also pricy delis but where does one buy one's bog roll and other such essentials I wonder?!  It seems like you have to have a boat to live here as well - certainly if you want to do your recycling!!

We had a little wander about before turning our minds to where we would rest our heads that night.  Having checked out how much a room in one of the hotels would cost us [£180!!  For 1 night!!] we fetched up outside the council/tourist office [closed] and perused the list of B&B's and pubs they had attached to the board outside - trying to spot the roads on the map also handily affixed to said board.  After a handful of 'no vacancies' we were pointed in the direction of Pengwern; usefully just up the road from our location.  We ended up in their self contained appartment for the night - fantastic view and with the addition of a few essentials for brekkie from the Spar hidden in the depths of the residential area [apparently the only 'real' shop in Salcombe] a snug little place to stay for the night and at £50 for the both of us a fair bit more reasonable than the hotels on the front.  After a quick change we set forth for the evening in search of a couple of fine pints and some supper.

We'd earlier checked out the various menus of places to eat in town and had also picked up a leaflet in the apartment for the new Oyster Shack in Salcombe which had decided us on our eaterie for the night so we decided to try a couple of pints in the local pubs first.

The Kings Arms was the first to be graced by our presence; seemed quite locally but friendly enough.  We didn't stay over long here though as there were no free seats to sit outside admiring the view which is of course what we wanted to do on a warm summers evening away.

A little further up the road is the entrance down some steps to the Ferry Inn - built into the nigh on sheer cliff sides it has a fab view through the windows over the river and once you've purchased your pint you can exit and go down another flight of stairs to the large outdoor seating area immediately adjacent to the water.  There was another bar down here as well.  It's a bit of a hidden gem I'd say with a rather nice sounding specials board and good smelling food.  We had a drink here; were inspected by the pint police (cheeky!) and then thought we'd best move on for dinner.

Well - we traipsed up and down the road (not long) that the Oyster Shack* was supposedly on twice and saw not a hide nor hair of it.  It was all boat sheds, boat shops and one distinctly cheesy looking bar that boasted it was open until midnight and did burgers or something equally unappealing.  Damn.  Back to the centre of town and into our second choice [I think it was 'The Galley'] - a nice but pricey looking menu having caught our [my] eye earlier.  They'd stopped serving - we checked the time - just gone 10pm!  Eek - we hadn't realised it had got so late at all.  They told us to try over the road at the kiddy friendly place I really hadn't wanted to go to [Captain Flints] and told us they thought that or the burger / late opening bar place we'd just turned our noses up at were probably our best bet at that time of night.  Oh well we thought, at least we'd eat and they did some ok sounding pasta dishes even though it was still fairly busy with small people at that time of night.  But no - they didn't want our custom either when we ventured in the door although I can't say I was that saddened - it was more that we were both rather hungry by this point. 

We wandered back along the main road not seeing any positive or open type signs anywhere until I thought I'd try the little bistro up a side alley we'd spotted earlier.  Boatswains [no website of their own - missing a trick there guys!] had some people in still - with a menu with things like wings and potato skins [:-(] etc on but a great looking specials board when we'd checked it out earlier.  I popped in and enquired if they were still serving?  After checking how many we were the very friendly lady said she'd check with the kitchen and returned shortly with the very gladly received news that as they had a table in that had only just started eating it was fine.  She led us upstairs to our own corner table in a window, flanked by a funky metal oil burner and several candles and even brought another couple when she saw it was a litle dark.  The whole place is done out in a tasteful contempory fashion with out being pretentious and the service was super friendly and attentive without making you feel pressured or under the spotlight.  The lady that originally led us in was American - those wings and potato skins were making more sense!  The specials board looked fab and we both chose starters from  it - I had scallops baked in their shells in a parsley and garlic butter and the Chap had grilled squid in some sort of chilli basting.  [I can't remember the exact terminology used.]  Wow - this was seafood of the highest and freshest calibre.  My scallops were to die for - they were sweet and creamy and the flavours were well balanced and complementary.  Chap's squid was equally lovely - and it was a whole one!  I'm afraid there's no pics though because sometimes [just sometimes mind] you have to put the camera away and concentrate on living the moment instead. 
For main I was going to choose a cod dish in a sauce I liked the sound of - it's rare for me to choose something like cod otherwise; but they'd run out of it.  However, the friendly American lady told us of a dish 'off-menu' that she had which was a monkfish tail that'd be big enough for both of us and came in a similar sauce with a bed of spinach as the cod had done.  Well - we were sold both loving monkfish and yes - it was absolutely fab too.  Really really special and the best meal I've had out for some time.  You could taste the freshness of the fish in all the varieties we had; something that's emminently important and can make such a difference to the taste.  That the place was so friendly and welcoming even at that time of night just made it.  [BTW there is no material advantage to me in writing this glowing review in case you were wondering - they're not in the least aware of it and we paid our bill in full already!  This is my honest opinion - as is everything else found here.] 
Having polished off every little scrap of monkfish, spinach, new potatos and sweet potato chips (yummy btw) we decided we really could fit a pudding in - very rare for us as we're both way more savoury people but it was that sort of night.  Incidentally they were more than happy to offer us dessert even though it must have been gone 11pm by then.  I chose the honeycomb ice-cream - creamy and rich with chunks of honeycomb in - very good indeed.  Chap had the baked vanilla cheesecake - also good and very rich.  We eventually left and waddled back up the hill to our appartment for a sound nights rest.  :-D

The next morning I woke early and took a couple of pics of the view from the window at about 5am.  Sadly Chap had parked pretty much bang slap in front of it (!) but you can see how stunning it is overlooking the estuary.
Once we'd actually got up properly, had a leisurely breakfast and paid our bill to the nice people that run the place we took the van down into the town and found a car park so we could have more of a potter about while stuff was open this time.  As it was Fathers' day [yes - this second part of the post has been rather a long time coming!] Chap was thrilled to be allowed to have a wander in a fishing tackle shop.  :-D  In return I was allowed to have a peruse round Gallery 5; a gallery run by a collective of locally based artists I think.  A mixed offering with some painted driftwood pieces in amongst various different painting styles from the different artists.  We had a proper look round the town checking out some of the expensive yet stylish shops - I was especially taken

by these silver plated mussel pickers for eating your moules with - I generally use the empty shells of one.  Something for the chrimble list maybe?  They were in a fab kitchenware shop that was however quite hideously overpriced.  I saw a wood and glass cheeseboard I rather liked - £80odd without the knives!!  They were a further £60odd I think!!  Sheesh.  It being a shop full of lovely lovely kitchen things though there were many items I coveted but as they were well out of what I'm prepared to pay Chap was safe from me managing to clutter up the kitchen any further.
We had a poke about the local wine shop and picked up a bottle of Rosehip Cordial whilst there - which I can now later confirm as refreshing and 'virtuous' feeling [but in a good way] when drunk with sparkling water.

I spotted these and liked the fact that Salcombe has pretty kerbs - my town doesn't manage anything quite this spiffing.  I thought they were pretty cool but then I'm like that.  :-)
We popped into the local Salcombe Dairy's outlet place and had [another] ice-cream.  Chap went for Rum and Raisin with Navy Rum soaked raisins and I had Stem Ginger with real ginger pieces in.  Ooh yum - really peppy and gingery whilst creamy at the same time.  I much preferred it to the Rum and Raisin though that's not a flavour I'd go for anyway - Chap assured me it was delicious!
We decided we'd done Salcombe for the time being and would set a leisurely course home taking in the South Devon Chilli Farm and a spot of lunch en route.  In fact that is where I will leave you as I feel this post is in danger of getting far too long for it's own good and aside from threatening the very fabric of space time with it's sprawling gargantuanness I'm plenty sure you've had enough by now.  [I know I have.]  Stay tuned for the thrilling part 3 - Impromptu weekend - the return!  [That reminds me - the last Harry Potter film is released here today - end of an era or a chance to return to the magic of the printed word?  Whilst firmly being in the 'the book is always better' camp I must admit to a guilty liking of the HP films.  If you go see it let me know if it's any good.]
*The mystery of the missing Oyster Shack - quick google search upon returning home reveals it closed around easter to be replaced with the bar we saw.  Damn.

A tussle - and a summer weekend

Still tussling with the 2nd part of our impromptu weekend post - not sure what's happening there but I will get it to work!!

In the meantime a little update on my last weekend which seemed quite quintessentially English summer to me.  I mentioned I would be in Dorset for at least the Saturday.  So - I caught the train on Saturday morning to Axminster and changed here to one of the Jurassic Coast buses - these take the long way round along the coast visiting all the little coastal villages and towns en route so they're not the quickest way to travel but I've never been on one before and it was a very pretty and relaxed way to see the countryside from the top deck of the bus.  We wended our way up and down valleys towards then away from the sea and passed through Uplyme, Lyme Regis (road full of people dancing with big colourful umbrellas - it was the Jazz Festival so we sat gridlocked there for a while) followed by Charmouth, Morecombelake, Chideock, Bridport (main road closed for an antiques fair), Winterbourne Abbas, Martinstown (great plant stall outside someone's house) and finally into Dorchester through Poundsbury at the top end.  Now these names are a litany from my childhood - guaranteed to spark all sorts of nostalgic and coming home type feelings so to be swaying along in the sunshine surrounded by the green of the beautiful countryside and the sparkling of the sea - well - it was truly great.  Plus of course you get to be extra nosy from the top deck of a bus.  I saw some great gardens and then in the window of a bungalow a toy bear the size of a, say, 10-12 year old child sat in an armchair gazing out.  Their lawn was massive and all grass - it was crying out for veg or even vines given the site but instead was this big featureless turf. Anyway - if people would rather spend hours mowing and scarifying etc than tend their own fresh veg that's their affair.  In Lyme Regis I spotted a shop that seemed to specialise just in roast meat sandwiches - mentioned this to the Chap and he seemed quite taken by the idea of a visit!

Anyway - having met with the folks in Dorch' we made our way to the New Inn at West Knighton.  It's a pretty place; surprisingly large but I think must have been a coach house originally going by this arch type bit into the yard. 

The food was lovely, generously portioned and good value for money.  I had the linguine which was on the specials board as coming with Chorizo, Crayfish tails and Chilli and asked if I could have it without the Chorizo.  This was no problem for them and they made up the difference with extra crayfish (or I assume so - there was certainly loads in there) and peppers and mushrooms.  It was tasty and filling and a testament to the friendly nature of this place.

Having supped and eaten our fill here we pootled back to Dorch and had a quick gander at big sis's allotment plot, stopped into the town centre so I could buy some Dorset Blue Vinney cheese at The Fridge deli then I clambered back aboard the bus for the journey home.

I managed to get one of the seats at the front on the way back - the windscreen was the site of a thousand insectile deaths but afforded a wonderful view.  It's warmer though as you're missing out on the cooling breeze further back from the open side light windows.  I got these views coming into Lyme Regis.  There were masses of holidaymakers at the stops here - I had no idea people still travelled this way so much.

There is one reason I gave up on bus and coach travel years back - the punctuality or lack thereof.  Now we were 20 minutes late into Dorch' due to various festivals and fairs as mentioned.  I was very much hoping this wouldn't occur on the return journey as I had 13 minutes time between the bus getting in and the train supposedly departing...  You've guessed it - we pulled up at Axminster station 2 minutes after my train was due to leave - with an hour before the next one was due.  Well -  bless the spirit of British Rail that still lives on in my train's 8 minute delay meaning I caught it and was soon headed back home to the Chap.

He met me off the train and off we went to a friends BBQ where I could sit down and relax; first having been presented with a glass of Pimms.  How British-summer is that?!

On the sunday we took a little wander down to the quay to see some of the dragon boat racing - this time I took a hat as I was a little pink from the day before in the sun!  We had a can or 2, dangled our feet over the water before heading back for an after-bbq bbq in the arvo to use up the leftovers from the day before.  Time spent well with good friends and family in the sun.  A thoroughly lovely weekend.     :-D

Impromptu weekend away #1 : Bigbury - Burgh Island - Salcombe

After a bit of a rubbish Friday the Chap came up with the spiffing idea of going away on the Saturday for an unplanned impulsive weekend break. *applause*  :-D
He suggested Cornwall and I came up with Burgh Island by Bigbury-on-Sea - which I in fact thought was in Cornwall a fair way down but turns out to be in South Devon not that far from Plymouth.  I had heard of the place from a time a fair few years back when my parents had visited.  It's a tidal island with a (very) exclusive 30's art deco hotel on it and a pub.  It is 'the pub on the island' - which is a bit of a family tale for me but more of that later.

Burgh is on a truly stunning stretch of coastline and has 2 wide sandy beaches facing it on either side of the low headland that rises to Bigbury-on-Sea - a hamlet of what seems to be almost entirely holiday homes built into the hill opposite.  It was very windy here and the beaches were popular with wind surfers and kite surfers whilst we were there.

We walked over the sand to the island and started realising how exclusive the hotel is.  You can't even get near it through the gates without having prebooked.  We saw several big *landy's crossing the sand presumably ferrying the guests back and forth.  [In past times people like Noel Coward and Mrs Simpson stayed here and the hideously expnsive suites/rooms are named after them.]  A sign said you could wander round the marked paths on the west side of the island but the rest was out of bounds as private property belonging to the hotel.  The island climbs a little to the west and south sides - there's some fab rock formations and plenty of sea birds sheltering in the lee of the rocks.  We were hopeful of seals but no luck.  Although whether we would have spotted them through the watering of our eyes in the fierce wind is another matter!

There's a small ruined building overlooking the south side - presumably a look out post was our best guess.  [According to the Wiki link above it could be the remains of the Chapel - very tiny with too big windows though I'd have said.]  The weather had cleared by then as well as the morning had been distrinctly grey and showery - we were rather lucky!  As you circle round and down you can see the roofs of the hotel over the hill and the coastline opposite the island - a beautiful vista.

There was quite the oldest fuschia bush I've seen as we came down some steps cut into the hillside - I had no idea they got all gnarly like this - looks quite odd to see the flowers sprouting directly from what looks like dead wood!  As we carried on down the hillside we more or less got accosted by a walker coming the opposite way demanding to know if we'd seen the pool?  We must have looked somewhat blank as he then expounded that he meant the seawater pool - in a tone of voice that suggested deep disappointment in us for not knowing instantly what he was referring to.  Anyway it turns out this is a pool for the hotel therefore tucked away on a side you can't see.  We carried on down past the hotel's helipad [!] and tennis court and repaired to the pub - the Pilchard Inn for a pint.  We had the local Pilchard ale - brewed on the mainland though rather than on the island - and sat outside in the sun admiring our surroundings.  It's a fascinating place dating from 1336 with tales of smugglers tunnels and a ghost but is now unfortunately split into the hotel guest's and 'locals' bar and the other smaller bar where the rest of us are allowed.  Fantastic setting though and the beer was nice and the staff friendly and a pint cost no more than it does in my local.  Outside is parked the Sea Tractor - a rather fantastic contraption allowing ingress to and egress from the island when the tide is in.  It had quite the cleanest wheels I've ever seen on anything of this size and looks like great fun.  As the tide was firmly out when we visited though we didn't get to ride it.

We returned to the mainland and thought we'd drive into Bigbury-on-Sea and find somewhere to stay - oh no!!  As previously mentioned the place looks to be pretty much all holiday / second homes with nowhere to go - not even a corresponding local to the one on the island!  Having driven round it twice and come to the conclusion that the only thing to do here was visit the local tiny shop cum post office and we'd done that we returned to the cliff top road overlooking the bays and island [where I took the photo at the top of this post from out the van window - so no complaints that it's a wee bit wonky!] and pootled back along the road.  Quick discussion later and we'd decided our destination would be... Salcombe.  I'm not sure if I'd been there before - if so it was when I was very small so I looked forward; and at the map, as Chap drove us onto the next chapter of the weekend.

*Landy - Landrover.  Big burly 4x4 / off roader / ATV.

Oh - for those intrigued by the family tale of 'The Pub on the Island' (anyone intrigued out there?) it stems from a family holiday when I was very small indeed.  I think it may have been somewhere like Solva - certainly right on the coast - and we had a self catering cottage as was normal for our annual hol in Cornwall / Devon / Wales.  I'm guessing the story came about as an inquisitive wee small daddy's girl enquiry as to the whereabouts of her father in the evening.  Certainly what I was told wasn't entirely the truth.  Ma told me that dad had gone off with the earthenware jug (this bit is true) to get some beer to bring back for them.  However - because the pub was on an island (this is the not true bit now) he could only get across when the tide was down that's why he took a while sometimes.  Now, I don't want you to think my dad vanished off each evening of our holiday leaving ma at home with 3 small girls for hours at a stretch but as time seems to expand unrelated to the actual passing of hours and minutes when you're that small I think that the probably couple of pints he had in the local before returning with a jug full of beer to share seemed enough time for the turning of a tide to me aged about 3 or 4.  Anyway - I always believed this and it wasn't until many years later that it happened to come up in idle conversation and I asked as to the exact location of this fabled 'Pub on the Island' - which seemed incredibly romantic and cool to my by then approx 11/12ish year old self.  Well - I was first greeted with somewhat blank looks followed by dawning comprehension on the face of my mother as distant bells got clearer through the mists of time.  'Oh - I made it up' she admitted unbeknownst destroying my entire imaginary vision of the place; a place I'd already firmly set my heart on going to one day.  Dad was completely unaware of the whole story it seemed and after that it became our family tale - a synonym for a place unobtainable and to me, a reminder of a happy childhood holiday scrambling over rocks and falling in the sea and other such things that made up our childhood family holidays.  I was always a little gutted it wasn't real though and thought it would be the best idea for a pub.  Well - many years later and the parents take a wee break in Devon (before I lived here so I guess about 12 years ago now) and they find... [drum roll]... A Pub On An Island!!  You can't imagine how pleased they were to be able to tell me there was one and it's somewhere I've been slowly getting round to going to ever since.  Sadly my father is no longer with us but it was truly lovely to be able to sit outstand the fabled pub and relate the story to my dear Chap.  The sun shone on us and it was a perfect day.  Go there and start your own 'pub on an island' tradition - it's worth it.  :-)

Seaside bimble with a forage thrown in

Well in contrast with the excess of the food festy we took a little bimble along the coast the previous week from Exmouth round to Sandy Bay and picked up some rather more frugal foodie goodies.  The weather was glorious, the sea - er - bracing!  [Mighty nippy.]  All in all it was a thoroughly restorative day for someone cooped up with hurty eyes for too long.  Found various shells, some dog whelks and one full size whelk which we stashed in the cool under a rock and failed to find again on the way back!  [Darn those pesky rocks all looking the same!]  I loved the colour of this little crab shell though.

We had taken along the River Cottage 'Edible Seashore' guide and having carefully perused the pages on mussels decided we'd collect a few of decent size to try.  I must say it's a tiny bit thrilling to be doing so when you consider mussels in a pub or restaurant are perceived more as a luxery item with price tag to match and here we were getting them for nuppence - the best price!  Do be aware though that you will need a 'sacrificial knife' once you get home to deal with them.  No - I don't mean for any dodgy offerings to some formless deity of your choice but a knife you don't mind getting very blunted for the purposes of pulling off the *beards and scraping off any barnacles.  The knife I snapped the tip off of getting into oysters after last years food fest does me nicely!  Having got a plastic bag from the local plastic tat / buckets 'n' spades type shop [we were woefully underprepared apart from the book having both forgotten to pick up anything to put any foraged goodies into] we collected a decent handful of mussels and some Sugar Kelp seaweed.  According to the book of words it's good flash deep fried as a kelp crisp - you can tell the difference from regular kelp (which can also be treated this way) as it has wavy edges and a bumpy look whereas regular kelp is flat.

Now - mussels can contain grit as they're filter feeders.  (This is why it's very important indeed you only get them from clean water areas and at certain times of the year which I'm not going to tell you thereby forcing you to look it up yourself.  I take no responsibility for any wild food misadventures, only for my own!)  Containing grit means you need to 'purge' them - soak them in aerated salt water for several hours with or without oatmeal (apparently it can speed the process) before cooking.  If you're going to cook them in a sauce like a classic moules marinière this is important as grit in the dish is a real killer to the enjoyment of great food.  We however; due to time constraints amongst other factors, opted to cook them in plain water letting any grit fall into the pan then shelled them and used them in a fish pie.  Chap and I did taste one each 'straight' as it were and they were delicious.  Sweetish as really fresh prawns can be, a delight to eat knowing we'd scooped them from the waves mere hours before.  We'll definitely be repeating this experience though we'll have to wait now until after the summer as this is when they spawn so you shouldn't pick them.  Apparently they are biggest in Autumn after their summer feeding and before they lose weight over winter so it'll be a treat I'm looking forward to already.

*I learnt from the book that the 'beards' or 'abyssal threads' are made from iron the mussel extracts from the seawater and used to be woven into cloth called 'mussel silk' which such luminaries as Caeser and Ghengis Khan used to wear!  Cool huh?  [In case you hadn't picked up on it yet I am a lover of the odd random and/or esoteric fact or three.]

Oh and the kelp?  Er...we kinda forgot about it so the taste of Sugar Kelp crisps remains to yet delight our tastebuds, or not as it may be.  (We had to throw the seaweed away.)  We will gather some again another time though.  I know - my bad.  :-(  Even free food wastage annoys me!  :-D

Fishing fail on the North coast

Over the half term Chap's son was with us [I promise I'm catching up!] we went fishing at Ilfracombe in North Devon. You may recall I was a little unsure how I'd take to this but the issue didn't come up. I caught not a thing - absolutely nowt!! We'd arrived early to be there as the tide came in - apparently that's the best time as the fish come in feeding with it. It was an enjoyable few hours standing staring at the sea and coast line in this beautiful part of the world. Chap's son caught a baby ling - whilst I'd nipped off to the lavatories - but they did show me a pic so I'll believe them. As it was a little 'un they returned it back to the sea. Other than that I almost got a crab but he let go as we pulled the end bit of the line [surely there's a technical term for that - hooks &c?] out of the water, waving a cheeky claw at us as he went -whether in thanks for his brekkie or defiance at nearly catching him I'm not sure. [Tackle - it's tackle!!] It was a mostly dry albeit grey morning though and certainly got some healthy sea air roaring into our lungs.

After a fish and chip lunch by the sea [from a place on the Quay road by the harbour - rubbish. Undercooked and soggy and they forgot to give us the curry sauce so we had to go back] we decided to have a drive along the coast. Originally heading for Hartland but we decided to stop at Clovelly [or 'clover-ly' as the Chap insists on pronouncing it - lol.] If you haven't come across Clovelly before it's a little fishing village built pretty much down a cliff face on the North Coast of Devon. It's very steep and cobbled and famous for pictures of donkeys that used to carry people and goods up and down. Now most people seem to have these nifty sledges made from bread delivery trays. There's a hotel right on the front as well as a pub further up the 'hill' [it's a cliff - admit it Clovellyites] and a fair few wee shops selling touristy stuff and some rather good ice-cream. There's a rocky shore past the harbour and a waterfall down the cliff a little way along the beach. If like me, you walk along beaches staring at the floor and have a penchant for stripy pebbles you'll love it here - just remember that you have to carry any 'finds' back up the hill! Unless of course you opt for the cheaty landrover service to take you back to the car parks - there's no visitor parking in Clovelly at all unless you're booked into the hotel. There seems to be a large number of cats in Clovelly as well, not sure wyt that should be. There's also a donkey stables and visitor centre if you end up in the main car park. Oh - in looking up that link I've just found out that Clovelly is privately owned and you're supposed to pay to get into it!! We ended up in a little parking area by the recycling bins and didn't pay as there was no one asking us to as we giant-strode down the steep tarmaced road that comes in to the west side of the village. Oops - sshh!! It's a pretty place but I don't think I'd be happy paying nigh on £7 to get in. Anyway, you pays your money [or not] and you takes your choice. :-)

Shoreline at Shaldon

I'm hoping this post goes smoothly today! I want to share with you a little beach off the back of Shaldon in Devon. Go to the Ness car park, shown here and follow the signs for the tunnel through the cliffs to the beach itself. The Devon red rocks are interspersed with bands of deposits, giving interesting patterns as they various layers wear at different rates. I think the protruding part here looks like a big tongue coming from the cliff!

There are warning notices all over the place as cliff falls are not exactly infrequent so do be careful looking around!

We had a lovely walk along the beach spotting pretty shells and rocks. Chap saw a tiny starfish that was immediately washed away by the next wave but then I spotted it as well on the returning wave. Here it is before we safely returned it to the welcoming embrace of the sea. A baby razor clam shell.
The afternoon ticked away as we dawdled along the coast, scrambling over rocks and picking up varied pieces of wood, rock and an unattached buoy. [I have grand plans for this to do with sea foraging.] As the sun dropped in the sky we left and made our way over to Teignmouth on the other side of the estuary for a welcome pint in the last rays of the day.