West April 5 2015

05.04.15

THANDIE NEWTON:

Zambia to Penzance The Cornish childhood of a Hollywood queen

Your style updated + BRIGHT BLAZERS + COOL

WHITES & SEVENTIES EYES

DON’T MISS: + POLDARK’S

AIDAN TURNER + THE RAW

FOOD TREND

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‘Be warned. Don’t try juicing spring onions. Just don’t’ Tim Maddams, page 40

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SO PRETTY Pick these floral cases

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BESOTTED Cate Blanchett on adoptting her baby girl

[contents[ Inside this week...

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THE WISHLIST

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GILLIAN MOLESWORTH

Quirky and sweet picks for you Google knows my birthday!

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JUST BETWEEN US...

Sh! We have the latest gossip!

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HAUNTED HOUSE Filming a ghost story

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TOP OF HER GAME Soprano Rebecca Newman on touring with Russell Watson

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INTERIORS A touch of class in a tower with a fascinating history

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ANNE SWITHINBANK

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HAPPY JUGGLER Meet a dad and film-maker

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GOOD STUFF Healthy but delicious recipes

NORTH COAST A weekend in Barnstaple

Easter lilies and other flowers

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BEAUTY Sparkle, colour and scent

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FASHION Wearing wonderful white

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BRIGHT N’ BLAZING Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod opts for colour

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MY SECRET WESTCOUNTRY Neal’s Yard Remedies founder Romy Fraser reveals all

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KNOWING MY ONIONS Tim Maddams experiments

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MAN & BOY Phil hates flying

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ONE OF US

Thandie Newton ‘s Penzance childhood 3

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HELLO, AIDAN!

Sorry ladies, he’s engaged

[ welcome [

REAL LIFE I look like my mum!

Just go without me!

Help!

I’ve got Nothing To Wear! !£&*!

What was I thinking?!

If you’ve ever struggled to find the right outfit for you, then could a personal shopper help?

Catherine Barnes heads for Debenhams, and out of her fashion comfort zone...

PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE HAYWOOD PLYMOUTH

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO: DEBENHAMS

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hen a woman says she has Nothing she To Wear, she means it. Or at least in my does if we take the miscellany of an own wardrobe to form the basis study. (admittedly unscientific) case skirts, You’ll find a selection of slim-into-them down from a forthe designer label piece marked hideous on, but tune to a fiver at TK Maxx (looks vintage jumble and see what I saved!). The bulk is go, match, or suit sale-rail bargains, which don’t back to the any activity apart from time-travel mid 1970s. and absolutely I spend most of my life in jeans to dress the part. adore shopping. Until I have when you’re on a Something hideous happens outfit. A prickly mission to find a special occasion after queuing heat quickly becomes boiling sweat getting tangled up for the changing cubicle and while trying with the security tags and hangers, end of your legs. to tread your trousers off the that gap in Plus, your pants are on view through the changing room curtain. back where A hundred shops later, you arrive and desperate. you started, flushed, stressed I’ll be saving I’m probably not alone in thinking

W

The formal choice My first reaction: Can I accessories abstract print accessories go?

with a hat? Will these weird

leave accessorising to the What I learnt: Loved the dress, but the same label, so colour-coorexperts! Also, the entire outfit’s by random it seems! dinating’s been thought through, however My style rating:



fave!

Happy Easter!

Dress £110 Debut Shoes £42.50 Debut Handbag £32 Debut

only informs me which too, by at a glance. She not money, time and tears of frustration, to be wearing and why, but then spend- size bra I ought I currently buying a bargain sale item, but correctly guesses the exact size that ing three times as much on accessories have on. can drop a sort-of go.

“I always suggest a bra fit. You - a complete So, hello, personal shopping you’re properly fitted,” she I’d always as- dress size when yesterday and first for me. It’s something explains. “A lady came in out it is But with the sumed was not for me, but turns couldn’t do a size 16 dress up. lot of fun. gratis, obligation-free and an awful the zip went up easily.” that’s been of- right bra on, Personal shopping is a service I’m looking for three outfered by department store fits; casual, smart and speDebenhams for decades. Di cial occasion. Di quietly sizes Giles has been steering custhe rest of me up and down, tomers in the right direcdoesn’t ask my size, makes a Di quietly tion at its Plymouth branch mental note, and heads off on for 14 years and is also the sizes me up and a mission to womenswear. expert-on call for stores “Although I will shop for heads off on a throughout the region. an outfit in the size the cusmission to the Her eye is largely credited tomer tells me they are, if for Debenhams Plymouth womenswear they ask me to, I’ll also get clocking up the most perwhat I feel is right for them,” department sonal shopper-recommendshe says. “It just comes natued sales outside of its flagrally. I’m always right – and ship Oxford Street store. they usually love it.”

Quite an achievement.

While Di combs the store on the ground Queen D and her colfor my outfits, I get a makeover earn commisconcession, league ‘Little’ Di Mabin don’t floor. I’ve plumped for the Dior stresses lady behind it, sion on any sales. And the retailer partly due to the fact that the they’re ofShe apthat the service is an ‘experience’ Pippa, wears it extremely well. to match my fering, not the hard sell. measured plies a blended foundation “When’s the last time you were top of a correcting base covert tones skin tone, on and for a bra?” Di side-mouths in and I get to choose shadow, blush when we’re introduced. of colours on A raised lipstick from the rainbow Could I be wearing the wrong size? are far better than Di’s also an display. The results eyebrow conveys the affirmative. myself and I parknitwear I usually achieve for Free base. expert bra-fitter and my chunky the flawless tell a cup-size ticularly love does not deflect her ability to

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Daffodils and primroses are out, the sun is fleetingly warm and here at West we are even thinking about discarding our thick winter boots.

With this in mind, our savvy fashion writer Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod is enthusing about spring fashion (pages 32-33), partnering a gorgeous white dress with bright cardigans and jackets. Bring on the beach weather!

Spring sunshine certainly gets the creative juices flowing, and in this issue we meet two people who have followed their dreams to achieve success. Soprano Rebecca Newman, currently on tour with big name Russell Watson, first realised she had a good voice when she starred in the musical Carou-

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Tweet

of the week @maryoleary07 Great feature by @CBarnesWMN in @WMNWest about personal shopping at Debenhams - used it myself & Di Giles is a genius

sel in her home town of Exmouth as a teenager.

Success has not come overnight for Rebecca, but been much sweeter, she says, for being all her own work (page 16). We also feature Exeter filmmaker Ashley Thorpe who is turning his favourite childhood ghost story, about a haunted house called Borley Rectory, into a film, with a little help from TV actor Reece Shearsmith (see page12). It sounds like clever and spooky - stuff.

If you fancy getting creative closer to home, meanwhile, we’ve got a delicious raw pecan pie recipe from Ally Mac, and there’s still time, says Anne Swithinbank, to plant lily bulbs to flower this summer. I’m off to find my wellies.

Spring sunshine certainly gets the creative juices flowing

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Becky Sheaves, Editor

CONTACT: westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk Tel: 01392 442250 Twitter @wmnwest

COVER IMAGE: Thandie Newton for Olay, SW News Service

MEET THE TEAM Becky Sheaves, Editor

Sarah Pitt

Kathryn Clarke-McLeod

Catherine Barnes

Phil Goodwin

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If you buy one thing this week...

Bathing beauties tea towel, ÂŁ8.50, from Newlyn-based crafters www.poppytreffry. co.uk 5

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Sweet boy Bake Your Own Boyfriend Cookie Cutters, £4.95, www. thegiftoasis.com

Alex Monroe bee pendant, £150, 22ct gold plate on silver from Polka Dot Gallery in Taunton, Exeter and www.polkadotgallery. com

the

wishlist West’s picks for spending your time and money this week

1950s style frilly Betty apron, £20, www.raggedrose.com

Store we adore...

Plymouth, Totnes, Tavistock and Ivybridge

This family business is a proper cookshop with a wonderful selection of everything you could conceivably need for baking, cake decorating and jam making, not to mention just rustling up a casserole or a roast. Cake bakers with a love of embellishing their creations can really let their imagination run wild, with a huge selection of piping bags, cutters, colourings, moulds and sparkles. Check out the butterfly birthday cake candles too.

Lawsons is at 13 Cornwall Street, Plymouth, see www.lawsonshop.co.uk for other branches and online shopping

SWEET DREAMS Cosy up under this rustic vibe Kizzy quilt, £95, www.aspace.co.uk

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Wishlist fave!

Classy coo Tweed-backed Voyage Maison Highland Coo cushion, £49, from Fairway Furniture, Plymstock.

READER OFFER Quote WMN on Sunday for a 10 per cent discount on the Voyage Maison range from Fairway Furniture during April

LICKETY SPOONS Silicone spatulas, £6.49 each, Lawsons in Plymouth, Totnes, Ivybridge and Tavistock

Just so pretty -a set of three vintage rose mini suitcases, £13.94, www.

HIGH STYLE

luckandluck.co.uk

Raffia ghillie heel £18 Primark (in store May 28)

Z for Accessorize Jasmine Floral Short Drop earrings £10 from Accessorize 7

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talking points Gillian Molesworth

Story of my life...

In which Google makes my day oogle made me a cake for my birthday. When I opened the internet, the letters, usually picked out in bright primary colours, were unmistakeably made of cake. Surreptitiously I looked at my colleagues’ screens – theirs had no cake. I hovered the mouse over the cake letters.

“Happy Birthday Gillian!” said Thursday. Just in case you wanted the little speech bubble. to bring cake or something. PS, I I felt a big smile spread across gave up chocolate for Lent, so a my face. I felt, unmistakeably, desponge would be good.” lighted – little-girl delight, even No, what you need to do is slip it though I knew it was just an algointo conversation subtly. Like, you rithm. My computer wished me a strike up a chat with someone and happy birthday! say: “oh, I’m really looking forNow, I’m all against corporate ward to Thursday, because we’re invasions of your life as much as going out for sushi.” And then the next guy. But I have to admit I hopefully they take the cue and did like the cake. Apart from anysay, “Is it a special occasion?” And thing else, it gave you can say: “Why me an excuse to yes, actually, it’s discreetly inform my birthday! Not my colleagues that that I like to make a ‘I felt little-girl it was my birthbig deal of it.” And day. “Look, guys, if you want you delight, even Google wished me can slip in: “And though it was just a happy birthday!”

I’m really hoping an algorithm.

I said, turning my the kids will make screen, and got a me a sponge cake, My computer chorus of gratifybecause I gave wished me ing “happy birthup chocolate for days” from around Lent.” happy birthday’ the room.

Don’t have this Birthday manconversation with agement is always just anyone though sticky, isn’t it. You don’t want – it has to be with that person, anyone to make a big deal, but usually a woman, who in your equally it feels sort of sad when office or community is the doer no one knows. It’s no good tellof things, and the organiser of ing your colleagues that it’s your other people. Otherwise you’ll get birthday on your actual birthday nowhere. Don’t tell the scruffy – that way they feel mildly guilty disorganised bloke, it won’t even and annoyed that you didn’t tell occur to him that you were hintthem earlier so they could have ing. done something, like get a card.

Then you come in on Thursday But if you do tell them in adand you can mock astonishment vance, it’s equally awkward. “Hey at your nice card or sponge cake. guys, just thought I’d let you know Or in my case, because I forgot to that it’s my birthday coming up on prep everyone, Google cake.

G

Glam and shimmery

SPARKLE WITH STYLE, Miss Selfridge, £120

Actress Suki Waterhouse partnered casual, tousled locks with a full-length shimmery dress for the premiere of the film Insurgent, in which she plays the part of Marlene.

With its daring plunging neckline and full chiffon skirt decorated with embroideredh sprays of foliage, it is a glamourous look that’s also a bit playful.

steal her

style

Suki Waterhouse at the Insurgent premiere.

OPTION A Chic sequins Miss Selfridge shift dress £120

OR MAKE IT YOUR OWN

OPTION B Flapper fun Pretty Eccentric dress £195

Gillian Molesworth is a journalist and mum-of-two who grew up in the USA and moved to north Cornwall when she met her husband 8

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BRAND NEW!

Just

between us SHUCKS... ROSS IS TAKEN He has gained a legion of admiring fans thanks to his role as brooding Cornish hunk Ross Poldark but it seems AIDAN TURNER is well and truly off the market.

According to the Sunday Express, the 31-year-old Irish hunk is engaged, after proposing to his girlfriend Sarah Greene, 29, just after Christmas.

A source told the publication: ‘They are a really close and happy couple,

and marriage is the logical next step for them. Sarah is perfect for him, she’s very protective.” Sarah’s an actress too, most recently seen in TV’s Penny Dreadful.

Apparently, according to the same source: “Both of them don’t really go for the glitzy side of showbusiness; they’re happier spending quiet evenings playing Scrabble.” West says: Aah, sounds lovely - if a bit boring!

I had to fight for my

wings

HELENA BONHAM CARTER has revealed she had to campaign to be given wings to play the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.

The film, directed by KENNETH BRANAGH, is a live action remake of the Disney cartoon, and the Fairy Godmother in the animated version is a little old lady in a cape with a wand but no wings.

Helena revealed that when she came into the project she kicked up a fuss about not having any wings with her costume .

“I said there is no six-year-old girl who is going to believe that I’m a fairy if I don’t have wings,” she said.

“I’ve got lots of opinions, but luckily I’ve got a very good relationship with Ken, so Ken said, ‘You can have a lot of say’.”

West says: Could that be because you and Ken were an item for several years back in the 1990s, Helena?

Gossip, news, trendsetters and more - you

heard all the latest juicy stuff here first!

!

Cate Blanchett:

I’m BESOTTED

with my ADOPTED DAUGHTER CATE BLANCHETT has spoken for the first time about her newly adopted daughter, Edith Vivian Patricia Upton.

The Cinderella star, 45, and her husband of 17 years, Andrew Upton, are already parents to sons Dashiell, 13, Roman, 10, and Ignatius, six. But earlier this month, she confirmed she had adopted a newborn baby girl.

Now Cate has told Sky News in Australia about being mum to a daughter: “Fourth time around, it’s extraordinary. We’re besotted.”

Asked about her decision to adopt, she said: “There’s a lot of children out there who don’t have the good fortune that our biological children do, so it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful to welcome a little girl into our fold.”

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Team: The newly formed Help for Heroes pilot gig crew, all with disabilities, rowed their first race in Saltash

in pictures Terrificaurus: Constantine School pupil Imogen takes part in Science Day

Namaste: Jessica Antonia practises yoga on the beach at Sennen ahead of a Sirens Surf

Mobile mayor: Lord Mayor of Exeter Percy Prowse arrives for a photo-call on his bike Photo: RichardAustin

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talking points No eggs?

Bunnies

ONE OF US

Literature’s best-loved rabbits

1 Rabbit (Winnie the Pooh) 2 The Velveteen Rabbit 3 Peter Rabbit (and his Easter traditions around the world.

1 Residents of Haux, France make a 4,500egg omlette 2 Throwing water and spanking with pussywillow Poland 3 Pot smashing Corfu 4 Egg throwing contests Germany

5 Egg jarping (like conkers) Co Durham 6 Egg knocking Louisiana 7 Påskekrimmen (Easter crime thrillers!) Norway 8 Sculpting lambs from butter Russia 9 Dressing as witches Finland

sisters)

4 Little Grey Rabbit 5 Miffy 6 Brer Rabbit 7 Benjamin Bunny

9 The White Rabbit (Alice in Wonderland) (James Rabbit and the Giggleberries)

The happy list

10 things to make you smile this week 1 Wedding outfits we love donning a hat

2 Spectre The first trailer for the new Bond film is out

3 Gourmet jellybeans Think banana split, pear and marshmallow

3 Silver fox 4 Elfin 5 English spot 6 Belgian hare 7 Argente bleu 8 British Giant 9 Blue of Ham 10 Lionhead

Film actress Thandie Newton, 42, grew up in Penzance.

10 James

So fluffy!

2 Harlequin

Thandie Newton

ship Down)

Mexico

1 Rex

This week:

8 Fiver and Hazel (Water-

10 Burning Judas effigies

10 types of fluffy pet

Famous faces with links to the Westcountry

4 Google calender now for your iPhone

5 Ankle boots especially suede

6 Cartoon Network Giggling is good for you

7 Old photos put them in a frame

8 Mezze platters sharing is caring

9 Spring runs light and warm(ish)

10 Shimmery eyes big this season

School: Thandie attended St Mary’s Catholic school in Penzance. Her family moved to Penzance from Zambia when she was three - her father Nick came from the town.

Children, a book of children’s writing published in aid of the NSPCC. She said the county’s vibrant cultural heritage made it easy for her to “enrich every situation with layers of magic and meaning”.

Mother: Her mother Nyasha is from Fitting in: Thandie DID YOU KNOW? Zambia and Thandie says: “From about the lived in Penzance for age of five, I was aware Thandie six years when she that I didn’t fit. I was is short for was a child. Thandie the black, atheist kid in Thandiwe, has said of life as the the all-white, Catholic only black family in school run by nuns. I which means the town in the 1970s: was an anomaly.”

‘Beloved’ in ‘It was a beautiful Xhosa environment, but Influence: At the age very backward when of 16, Thandie began a it came to racial six-year relationship politics.” An elderly lady screamed with Australian film director John racist abuse at her family from across Duigan, who is 23 years her senior. He the street. ‘She was shouting horrible cast her in his film Flirting. ‘I was not things like, “Get back to the jungle in control of the situation,’ she later where you belong”. admitted.

Role model: Helen Giblett, Thandie’s headteacher at St Mary’s, said: “We are very pleased for Thandie’s success. We constantly encourage the children to aim high and when someone achieves their goal they become a role model for the children.”

Cornish influence: In 2006, Thandie contributed a foreword to We Wish: Hopes and Dreams of Cornwall’s

Roles: A Bafta award came Thandie’s way for her 2004 role as Christine in Crash. She has also starred in Run Fatboy Run, Mission Impossible II, The Pursuit of Happyness and she was in TV drama ER for three years.

Family: Thandie is married to film producer Ol Parker, with whom she has three children called Ripley, Nico and Booker Jombe, who was born in 2014. The family lives in London.

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PHOTOS: STEVE HAYWOOD

People

Filming a ghost

story Catherine Barnes meets a film-maker and dad from Exeter who has resurrected the haunted house which gave him the shivers as a child, with a little help from League of Gentleman star Reece Shearsmith

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Ashley Thorpe with his baby Lily.

hen I meet Exeter film-maker Ashley Thorpe, the children’s TV show Balamory is on, the washing’s midway through a cycle and his year-old daughter Lily is in her highchair, gleefully throwing toast soldiers onto the floor.

“I’m a freelance dad,” he explains cheerfully, as he sweeps up crumbs. “My wife, Sue, does a lot of nightshifts, so we work a tag team operation. With Lily here, I don’t really get to start on Borley till the night.”

Borley is an appropriately nocturnal project to work on in the small hours.

Once he’s put Lily to bed, Ashley, 42, gets busy resurrecting the place once known as

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‘The Most Haunted House In England’. Borley Rectory in Essex was a real building that hit the headlines in the 1920s, as tales of sinister apparitions were reported in the newspapers of the time.

Over the past couple of years, Ashley’s been filming and animating the tale of Borley in a movie project featuring Room With A View star Julian Sands and award-winning comedy actor Reece Shearsmith (currently on TV with his show Inside No 9). He also had support from bestselling authors Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman, plus Siouxsie and the Banshees bassist Steven Severin (who’s behind the soundtrack).

Not to mention hundreds of members of the public who have helped to fund it, scene by scene.

“People come on board and I keep having to pinch myself,” says Ashley, who aims to have the 40-minute film complete by the end of the year.

Borley Rectory fascinated him, as it surely did thousands of other children of the 1970s, when the nights seemed darker and a bumper book of ghost stories could make shadows appear to grow longer on the bedroom wall.

“I remember my Nan getting me books, things like the Pan horror books, while a book I’d borrow from the library was the Usborne Book

[

of Ghosts,” he says.

“I was more keen on monsters and genuinely scared of ghosts - I’d get night terrors. There were bits in the book I’d skip past - Borley Rectory was stuffed with phenomena that frightened me, but I kept coming back to it.”

It was an obsession he had in common with League of Gentlemen star Reece Shearsmith, who when he heard about Ashley’s film project, volunteered his services. “I was just cheeky and had Tweeted him,” says Ashley, who created initial interest in the project and raised his shoestring budget through crowdfunding website, Indiegogo.

“When I said to Reece, you know the state of play, he said, I don’t want any money, I just want to be in it! Once he was on board, it snowballed and then I thought I could be brave and approach other people I like.”

The cast also includes Julian Sands, who narrates the tale. Reece plays Daily Mirror journalist VC Wall, whose 1920s newspaper reports about Borley created a sensation. Television actor Jonathan Rigby plays paranormalist Harry Price who investigated the haunted vicarage peppered with poltergeists, headless coachmen and bricked-up nuns. Price was also a talented magician who’d debunked fraudu-

[

‘Reece said, I don’t want any money I just want to be in it. Once he was on board, it snowballed’

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People Ashley Thorpe with actors Reece Shearsmith (left) and Jonathan Rigby (right) on set

lent mediums in his time but stirred up plenty of scepticism over his own encounters with the spirit world.

“Borley is an illusion and all the ghosts that haunt it are very gothic,” says Ashley. “Many of people that came to the Rectory were quite strange.”

Ashley’s used the money he’s raised - around £13,000 - to pay for studio time, filming his cast in front of a green screen. With the action in the can, he then creates the scenery around them, working on the huge computer in his living room. “I’m slave to what the actors do,” he says.

The real Borley Rectory burned down in 1939, so Ashley’s set is ‘built’ out of photos and animated digitally, he explains. “It’s an incredibly laborious process, but the acting makes it much easier

to create an environment that’s really heightened and stylised, like the early 1930s films were.

It’s supposed to be very gentle and archly oldfashioned. It’s a weird pitch to people, but they’ve been really excited about it.”

In between film-making and parenthood, Ashley also runs his own design agency, gives academic lectures and writes for a New York-based magazine. He also runs the occasional animation workshop for youngsters.

“I think certain things don’t scare children anymore,” he says. “I’ve shown a few clips and Borley seems quite tame. Films don’t do it so much these days, although the computer games they play do; with lots of waiting in the dark and spooky sounds.”

His first short film, The Vampire, featured a fleet-

ing cameo by Derren Brown. He’s also drawn on Devon’s wealth of ghost stories, saying: “I was always very much into the Dartmoor myths and local legends.”

The whole family, including Sue’s sons Josh, 15 and Ethan, 10, have been involved in other projects. Sue, who’s 42, starred in The Scayrecrow: “A little celebration of us getting together,” laughs Ashley, who reconnected with his former childhood sweetheart at a school nativity of all places.

“She’d just split up with her partner and her son was in the play. I’d been abroad and my nephew was in it. My sister nudged me and said, you’ll never guess who’s sitting next to you? It was a fairytale, really. We first met when we were nine.”

Ashley says he’s hopeful there’ll be an Exeter premiere for Borley Rectory, adding: “I’m absolutely proud it’s a Devon production. I want to celebrate the fact that you can do something different and demanding and don’t have to aim small, but reach as far as you like.”

Then, looking pensive, he adds: “Hmm. I think I might have to change Lily’s nappy; her trousers are getting bigger and bigger.

“I’m not really the Prince of Darkness,” he says reassuringly, as he heads off to change her. “I’m the Prince of Pampers.”

Watch the Borley Rectory trailer and find out more at: www.carrionfilms.co.uk.

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Notes

Hitting the high

Sarah Pitt talks to Rebecca Newman, a soprano with the voice of an angel who won her fans busking on the streets, and is now on tour with ‘people’s tenor’ Russell Watson

ebecca Newman left music behind for five years. In the end, though, it found her again. And the soprano with many years of hard work under her belt, busking on the streets and singing at weddings, is now delighted to be ontour with big name in classical crossover music, Russell Watson.

Rebecca, who grew up in Exmouth in east Devon, had her stage debut 20 years ago aged 14 at the Exmouth Pavilion, in the title role of the musical Carousel. Her mum and uncle, in the audience, had no idea she could sing. “I had never sung on a stage before in my life,” she says.

Pictures Mike alsford

R

“When I opened my mouth, my uncle turned to my mum and said ‘you didn’t tell me she could do this’, and she said ‘I didn’t know!’ .”

Encouraged by her stage debut, Rebecca took a job washing dishes in a local pub to pay for singing lessons and garnered her first fans, singing at a wedding in the nearby village of Woodbury.

Her role model as a teenager was Sarah Brightman, then starring in the original production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Phantom of the Opera in the West End. “Sarah was my inspiration because she was singing her soprano numbers, but she wasn’t at all stuffy or intimidating,” she says. “That was really what started

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Interview

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Rebecca won her fans through busking

it.” When it came to contemplating a career in singing, though, Rebecca did not feel she stood a chance, particularly when she looked around at the hopefuls she met at the local stage school.

“There were these beautiful tall willow dancers who had been in show-business all their lives, and there I was 5ft 3 ½, a bit chunky and not a dancer,” she says. “I didn’t think I was good enough.”

So she put her dreams of being as soprano to one side, and worked for a time for an energy company in Exeter and then in London. When the corporate grind began to pall, she took off for York University to study for a degree, in PPE – politics, philosophy and economics – and it was here that she found her singing voice again, singing operatic and classical songs on the city streets.

“I started busking because I desperately needed to make money, but when I discovered the goodwill that came through singing, the amount of people who appreciated the music, I found it really fulfilling,” she says. “People would come up to me with tears in their eyes and say ‘that was really beautiful, my mother loved that song’.

“There is something about hearing classical operatic music live that is completely different

[

from seeing it on TV. I would just appear in the middle of people’s day, on the streets, and their emotional response to the music was much more genuine, because they had had no time to put up any barriers.”

It is ten years almost to the day when she started busking, and her career has grown from there. She travelled to other towns and cities to

‘People would come up with tears in their eyes and say my mother loved that song’ stage impromptu concerts, selling albums she’d produced herself and gradually building up her fanbase.

Donations from fans helped to realise her ambition of recording a live album with an orchestra. Dare to Dream, called after self-penned song which sums up Rebecca’s philosophy, was recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in their home city.

“It was just amazing to hear Dare to Dream for

the first time played by live instruments,” she says. “They started playing the opening chords, and I looked around and thought four weeks ago this song didn’t exist and now I’m standing here performing it with a 32-piece orchestra. For me it was definitely one of the high points of my career. It was just incredible.”

The album – which included a track in which Rebecca is joined by all three members of the classical boy band Blake - was released in September last year, and Rebecca’s fans got behind her again to push it to the number one slot in the Classical Albums Charts. This, too, has opened more doors for Rebecca, leading to several appearances on the BBC TV programme Songs of Praise, one of which has still to be televised.

For Rebecca, the tour is vindication of 10 years of hard work entirely off her own bat. She’s almost the same age as Katherine Jenkins, but clearly feels she has had a harder row to hoe than the Welsh singer with the model looks.

“All of the TV talents shows turned me down, none of them would let me compete, so the only option was to do it the old fashioned way, to go out in front of people and show them what I could do,” she says. “And a small proportion of the 100s

[

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Interview

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Enjoy Rebecca with husband Jay and labrador puppy Sampson and, below, Jay and two of Rebecca’s fans promote her CD

and 100s of people who saw me over the years got behind me and bought the album, which was enough to get it to the top of the classical charts.”

And it was her own persistence, too, that saw her secure the invitation to join Russell Watson

[

have worked.”

Emboldened by his support, and praise for a duet she and Russell sang on stage – “his fans say it is the best they’ve heard him do “ – she is now planning her own tour. She’s not naming any names, but she’s entertaining hopes of a household name joining her on stage.

“I’m working with some big name acts, and we’ve had interest from a number of people,” she says.

“Alfie Boe has got my CD and has tweeted about it. Michael Ball has

[

‘Alfie Boe has my CD and has tweeted about it... even Katherine Jenkins has a copy’

on his current tour, his comeback after being seriously ill with a brain tumour. She’d been offered a guest slot when he sung in York when a slot became available at the last minute.

“From then on, every time he had a tour I got in touch to say I’d really like to do it. This time I asked again and his manager said ‘I really admire your tenacity’ and they invited me to come along on this tour.”

Both singers have a lot in common. Watson, from Salford, earned his musical spurs singing in working men’s clubs, a career path that has earned him the sobriquet the People’s Tenor, chiming with Rebecca’s affectionate nickname on the busking circuit, the People’s Soprano.

“We have that affinity, neither of us has come along the chorister route, and he has seen how difficult the industry can be since he’s had his brain tumour,” says Rebecca. “Having seen what I do, he has an awful lot of respect for how hard I

Family on tour Rebecca, 34, is joined on tour by her husband Jonathan Fewtrell – known as Jay – who is her road manager and photographer. The couple met on an online dating site, and their first date was one of Rebecca’s concerts in their home city of York. “He sat in the front row so he got to have a reccee before we met!” she says. “Within three months we were engaged.”

The couple recently got a labrador puppy, who has come along for the ride on Rebecca’s current tour with Russell Watson, and is a great hit with local choirs who join them at each venue.

“He’s a bigger star than I am!” says Rebecca. “He’s called Sampson and we picked him out on my husband’s birthday in January. He’s making friends with all the choirs, he’s a proper little Andrex puppy and everyone thinks he’s beautiful.”

commented on it and even Katherine Jenkins has a copy of my album, she tweeted her best wishes.

“It is amazing that all these people I’ve been looking up to all these years now have copies of my CDs. Now that Russell has got behind me, it has given everyone else the signal that I’m here to stay.”

Rebecca Newman is currently appearing with Russell Watson on his Up Close and Personal tour. Tickets have sold out for the only Westcountry show at the Octagon Centre in Yeovil on April 14, but check russellwatson.com for other dates.

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interiors

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eat out

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fashion

beauty 21

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Stylish heights Becky Sheaves discovers a restoration which was a labour of love, the China Tower on the Bicton estate in east Devon f you are looking for a really unusual place to stay, then The China Tower in East Devon is definitely a different sort of holiday home.

You’ll have to be feeling fairly fit, as the tower has 210 stone steps from the kitchen on the ground floor to the lovely sunbathing terrace four storeys up on the roof. But all that climbing is most definitely worth it, and The China Tower was deservedly shortlisted in the Michelmores/Western Morning News 2014 Property Awards in the ‘Heritage Project of the Year’ category.

“The China Tower, also known as the Bicton Belvedere, was built in 1839 by Louisa, Lady Rolle, as a folly, and a surprise birthday present for her husband, Lord Rolle,” explains Leigh Rix, head of property and land for the owners,

I

Clinton Devon Estates. “But since the Second World War it was unused and became increasingly derelict.”

You may think it quite surprising that anyone could build a four-storey, castellated octagonal tower as a surprise present, but the property is a good two miles from the main house of the Rolles at Bicton, tucked away in secluded woodland.

Perhaps another reason for Lord Rolle not noticing the building works is that this was his 89th birthday present.

Lady Rolle was nearly 50 years younger than her husband and had married him when she was 25 and he was 73. It is said that Lord Rolle had to be carried up the winding stairs to the roof terrace in his bath chair – from where he was rewarded with the wonderful view of Bicton House, with the sea beyond.

The tower gained its name from the

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Sitting room splendour

Interiors

Lord Clinton, the owner, with Anna Keay of the Landmark Trust outside The China Tower

Sleep in style

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Interiors Purple gives a regal look.

fact that Lady Rolle displayed her china collection there. Lord and Lady Rolle were passionate gardeners and together they created fine botanical gardens and a famous arboretum at Bicton.

Today, the gardens offer a wonderful day out for anyone staying at the tower.

The restoration was no easy task, as Leigh explains. “The tower had never had water or electricity and the roof was letting in the rain.

The ground floor originally had a range, presumably for servants to prepare refreshments, but otherwise there was just one small fireplace on the third floor. “The challenge was to retain the eccentric features of the tower while making it comfortable for holiday visitors. For example, we needed to fit a modern bathroom into a very small space and find builders willing to work on a four-storey tower with only one narrow stair turret.”

The restoration took a full year and began with the whole tower being scaffolded so that it could be re-rendered. The leaded roof was entirely replaced and details such as new fireplaces, bespoke kitchen and light fittings were all carefully

chosen and designed to match the tower’s unique octagonal room has a window in every possible architectural style. angle, creating views that are completely absorb“We also re-instated the charming carriage ing. And, if the weather is good, then climbing drive through the woods, which had become yet more steps to the roof is a must – the sizeable overgrown with trees,” says leaded courtyard at the top is the Leigh. “The electricity cabling perfect spot to sunbathe, or enjoy a was buried underground so as to gin and tonic, with truly fantastic be out of sight and we also dug views over the sea, Bicton park‘The challenge a bore hole for water, and creland and the woods. was to retain ated a ground-source heating The China Tower stands ready system.” to be enjoyed once more and it the tower’s ecToday, the tower is warm, has,been a huge hit with the Landcentric features cosy and beautifully furnished. mark Trust visitors.

There is a kitchen on the ground “Usually, the Landmark Trust while making it floor, with a small but luxurilikes to own its holiday propercomfortable for ous bathroom in a tiny adjacent ties,” says Leigh. “But I managed visitors’ room. From here, you climb up to persuade them to take the tower a winding stone staircase to the on a special lease instead. This first floor, where there is an ocway, we have an income that can tagonal bedroom. Upstairs again contribute to its upkeep and many is another, even more charming people can enjoy staying here.” bedroom, while on the top floor is a really beauThe cost of the renovation was £300,000. So tiful drawing room decorated in peacock blues even though the tower can command more than and purples, with period furniture. This unique £1,000 for a week’s stay in August, Leigh says the renovation was, “not done with an immediate profit in mind”. Indeed, it is still owned by Lady Rolle’s descendants, the Clinton family, and is a much-loved part of the 25,000 acres of land in Devon that form their estates. “The focus is on respecting the heritage here and taking the long view,” Leigh explains. “Everyone is simply delighted that the tower is, at last, safe and in use.”

[[

STYLE TIP: combine bold colours with tradi-

tional detailing to complement the gracious eccentricity of this unusual building

The China Tower is available to rent for holidays, visit www.landmarktrust.org.uk

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Shopping

GET THE

LOOK

Aristocratic gold and ornate detailing lend a touch of class

Flora table lamp £105, www. sweetpeaandwillow. com

Barneby Gates deer damask fabric in gold £48 a metre

Moorish black and gold pendant £95 www. alexanderandpearl. co.uk

Romeo picture frame £18 www. ayersandgraces.com

Purple Ivy bed £659, www.livingitup.co.uk

Lucy Louis XVI chaise longue from £2,680, www.oficinainglesa. com

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01/04/2015 11:53:46

Gardens

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Easter Flowers Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, on the beauty of lilies

often break into song whilst habit has made them a favourite for pots, to stand gardening, which must be outside or under glass in porches, conservatories disconcerting for the neighbours. or greenhouses. This is exactly how I use Phrases and tunes rise mine, although they overwinter happily subconsciously and are often outdoors in a sheltered area behind the snatches of hymns lodged deep in the brain. greenhouse. I’m sure that in most areas Recently, I’ve been humming “At Easter time of the South West, they would grow the lilies fair and lovely happily in the flowers bloom everywhere ground. Set a At Easter time, at Easter single bulb in time, How glad the World at a pot 17cm/7in The fl owering Easter time.” An old Sunday across the top, time of the School favourite but which or 3 bulbs to a lilies spring to mind? Lilium 25cm/10in pot, using traditional lily is longiflorum is the traditional 50:50 John Innes no 2 high summer... one, beloved of church flower and a soilless compost, with maybe we arrangers but if they want a little added Cornish grit. If those pure white, fragrant you’ve had problems with lily should celebrate trumpet-shaped blooms, they beetle outdoors, plants under Easter by must buy them imported from glass should stay clean. One abroad, as here in the UK the of my old gardening books planting the natural flowering time is high suggests that by potting bulbs instead summer. Maybe we should bulbs in September and celebrate by planting the keeping them under glass, bulbs instead, as there is still blooms can be had by Easter just time to do this. but I haven’t tried this.

These should have been stored in cool Now we’ve been adopted by a cat, I’ll have to conditions, ideally in dry sand or fibre to make sure he doesn’t collect lily pollen on his maintain their plumpness. If you can only find fur, as this (and all plant parts) are poisonous to them suspended in packets, do check to make cats and dogs if accidentally eaten. sure they are not shrivelled. Easter lilies are An alternative Easter lily could be generally considered to be slightly tender and Zantedeschia aethiopica. This arum lily is easy this, plus a useful height to 1m/3ft and dainty to persuade into flower for Easter by lifting and

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potting plants in September. I usually mix half garden compost or well rotted manure with potting compost, as they respond well to a rich, moist soil. Having cleaned a clump of tubers, I set three clusters in 25cm/10in pots and keep them in our frost free porch. You have to watch out for aphids, avoid over watering and when they are in good leaf, begin feeding every three weeks.

The new flowers are green at first but each ‘bud’ unfurls into a pure white spathe surrounding the spadix or stalk of small true flowers. After flowering, plant back in the garden.

Primroses are another Easter favourite welcome in hedge banks and gardens alike and we also have some pretty pink-flowered kinds which could be old Barnhaven hybrids. Don’t forget primrose flowers are edible, so either scatter some on salads or crystallize the flowers and use them to decorate your Simnel Cake.

Whisk an egg white until frothy, paint it on both sides of the petals, coat them in caster sugar and leave on some baking parchment to dry.

I always have trouble believing that the Pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) is native to the uk, where it is restricted to a few areas of undisturbed chalk grassland. Yet it is quite common as a garden plant and for the last month, ours has been pushing up new growths of leaves and buds plush with silky hairs. As I’m sure it would hate our clay soil, our pasque flower lives in a trough of well-drained compost. Look out for the rich purple blooms in the alpine sections of garden centres. These make generous clumps in sunny rock or gravel gardens.

This week’s gardening tips Easter in the garden At the top of my list are continuing to plant potatoes, sowing more peas, planting out lettuce and summer cabbage in the kitchen garden. I’ll also be cutting back penstemons, re-cutting generous circles of clear soil around newly planted trees for weeding, feeding and mulching, planting dahlia tubers and gladioli corms. Here are more reminders

Question time with Anne West reader queries answered by Anne Swithinbank

Q

We’ve had a lovely show from our hellebores this year. Is it possible to divide large clumps and when is the best time?

It is possible to divide hellebores but they resent disturbance and sometimes take a while to settle down again. This explains why a lot of gardeners just let them seed around instead.

But at least using division, you will end up with plants identical to the parent. Lenten hellebores (hybrids of H.orientalis) make considerable root growth during autumn and winter, so it is generally held that the end of August and start off September is the best time to lift and divide them. Flower buds will already have formed, so they are likely to bloom the following spring but might then take a year or two off whilst putting down new roots. Water the plant first and carry out the deed on a dull, damp day to avoid stress.

I have a sunny border of soil that dries quickly. What small drought tolerant shrubs can I plant for low maintenance, year-round interest?

Q

I like Lotus hirsutus, also known as hairy canary clover. This little evergreen from Portugal reaches only 60cm/2ft tall and has a silvery look, with clusters of pink-flushed, pea-like flowers from summer to autumn followed by reddish brown seed pods. This must have a well-draining soil as it would hate wet roots in winter. To cover the ground, Lithodora diffusa ‘Heavenly Blue’ is a smart evergreen smothered by masses of blue flowers in spring and summer. Dwarf pines add valuable winter structure, so maybe Pinus sylvestris ‘Beauvronensis’ reaching 1m/3ft.

Send your questions to Anne at westmag@ westernmorningnews.co.uk

•L ift and divide large clumps of herbaceous perennials before they grow too much.

I’m tackling late-flowering, moisture-loving Actaea racemosa to replant a wider group to open their creamy white flowers against Fuchsia magellanica.

• I t may be a bit too late for sowing some bedding plants such as pelargoniums, begonias and petunias but these can be bought cheaply

as small plug plants for potting up and growing on.

•L arge-seeded, quick growing bedding plants are still possible from seed. Try marigolds, cosmos, nasturtiums, lavatera and ipomoea.

•P ot up cuttings rooted last summer in pots under glass. My Lavendars are growing away well and just right to separate and plant one per 9cm/3.5in pot.

Empty compost bins filled last year, using the rich organic matter as a mulch around plants or to dig in to the surface of kitchen garden beds. Sieved compost is great for adding bulk to potting compost and saves money when filling large containers.

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Beauty

Tried

& tested

We present the beauty treats and cheats of the week, all trialled by West magazine’s Catherine Barnes, with help from daughter Tilly, 17.

LATHER UP These gorgeous floral soaps look too pretty to open, but at just £1.95 each you can let rip. Find them at www. acornandwill. co.uk

BRYT Skincare’s paraben-free natural range is packed with essential oils and plant extracts that are skin-gentle. Its day cream (£16) protects with SPF 15. www. myfabulouscollection.com

DAZZLING A teensy bit of sparkle can put a gleam in your eye, especially if you choose a finely-milled powder like this. Barry M Dazzle Dust in 103 Eos, £4.59 from www. superdrug.com

fave!

Many colours This Limited Collection Nikki Strange eyeshadow palette’s packed with wearable shades and is great value at £10. www. marksandspencer.com

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the review Get the look:

Seventies Revival Seventies style is big news in beauty right now. Katie Wright lets us in on the secret of sultry eyes and rock icon glitter

BLUE LOOK Blue liner’s a hot look for spring and it’s all about aqua. Try MAC’s Pro High-def Cyan Chromagraphic Pencil (£14) www. maccosmetics.co.uk

BRIGHT EYES The above look is so beautiful and easy to adapt for real life, by just turning down the intensity on the colours.

Wash Clearwater Pro Longwear Paint Pot (£15.50, MAC, pictured) from the lash line to the crease of the eye and blend out. Apply a black or brown pencil into the lash roots, then add lots of Haute & Naughty Lash Mascara (£19, MAC) to define and open up eyes.

PINK & PRETTY Benecos’ natural lip colour in Pretty Daisy is a subtle, shimmery rosy pink colour. It also has the moisturing effect of a balm. £6.95 from whole food shops and at www. benecos.co.uk

And relax...

Soak it up in Organic Trevarno’s heavenly scented rose geranium bath salts, £12 at www. trevarnoskincare.co.uk

Glitter bomb A Seventies groupie trying to emulate her rock icons,” was the explanation for the glam rock glitter eyes at House of Holland.

Rebecca Butterworth takes us through the look: “Blacktrack Fluidline (£15.50, MAC) was applied as a straight liner all along top and bottom lash lines,

then the rock and roll feel was intensified by lining upper and lower waterlines with Feline Eye Kohl (£14, MAC).

“Glitter needs something to stick to, and Mixing Medium Eyeliner is a great product to do this.

It’s a clear gel that you can use on its own as a crease-free base for glitter

or metallic eyeshadows.

Paint a thin layer onto the eyelid and press PRO Silver Glitter (£17, MAC) on top.

“If glitter isn’t your thing, try recreating this look with a soft silver shadow in place of the glitter.

Silver Ring Eyeshadow (£13, MAC, pictured) is a great alternative.

Want a review? Send your request to westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk 29

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Fashion

White hot White is the colour for keeping cool and looking elegant - now all we need is some sunshine o one could claim that white is the most practical of colours, but there’s something irresistible about wearing it, a bold style statement which only needs a pair of sunglasses and a suntan to accessorize it. Here are our picks for wearing white, from a sleek trouser suit by Kaliko to a cute broiderie anglaise dress from Lands End. The fedora from New Look is extremely stylish, and a snip at just £9.99, while the Phase Eight espadrilles with the tie laces would look great on those blessed with a slim pair of ankles! For a dressy do, meanwhile, try one of these from Kaliko which have demure lady written all over them. Just don’t wear white to a wedding, unless you want to upstage the bride!

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Foli follie bracelet £50

Lands End dress £90

M&Co loafers £25

Kaliko trouser suit £129

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New Look fedora £9.99

Kaliko dress £129

Abbot Lyon watch £125

Phase Eight espadrilles £79

Kaliko dress £149 31

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Trend Shoes, Next, Princesshay, £28 Dress, Next, Princesshay, £34 Jacket, Next, Princesshay, £50

HOW TO WEAR IT:

MAIN PHOTO HAIR: ADAM AT SAKS, EXETER MAKEUP: CLARINS, DEBENHAMS (BOTH PRINCESSHAY) PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE HAYWOOD STILL-LIFE PHOTOGRAPHS: PR SHOTS

Bright blazers

Necklace, Next, Princesshay, £14 Bag, Next, Princesshay, £16

Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod on why brighter is always better he Exeter offices of Devon and Cornwall Media have moved into the city centre. The list of positives about the move are endless, and right at the top of the list is the fact that I now sit within striking distance of Princesshay on a daily basis. This came in handy, as swanning about in the urban metropolis rubbing shoulders with the Southernhay set meant that a wardrobe upgrade was unarguably on the cards.

But what to include? This time of year needs careful navigation. It’s by no means balmy, but I no longer scurry with hunched shoulders and a pinched face between office and car. I’m not entirely ready to get my toes out but nor do I want to spend the day in my over-theknee boots. I want to fit in with the city slickers, but not look like a drone. What a dilemma.

Unless you The answer that emerged after a bit of blog trawling? really are in a The bright blazer. Not only is music video, it a style staple for SS15, but it works just as hard be it day or wear a blouse night, work or play. Also, it will underneath play nicely with everything else you already own. In fact, this them item rivals the leather jacket for versatility.

Blue is big news this season, so I went for this kingfisherbackdrop, really allowing the colhued number from Next. I can’t recommend ours to pop. I was delighted with this shirt dress Next enough for their smart tailored workwear. from Next, which I scooped up at the same time It is sleek, wears well and is expertly made. as my blazer. Talk about a hard worker. This is I like to stand out a little. In fact, I think there just as home in the office as it is slipped on over are days where we should all dress as if we are my bikini after a day on the beach. in our own music video. The song is your choice, Let’s talk about how not to wear these blazbut the outfit has to be the boldest blazer you can ers. Unless you really are in a music video, wear muster. You’ll be in good company as Beyonce, a blouse underneath them. I don’t care if your Rita Ora and Jessica Alba have all been seen bra is encrusted with gemstones and your skin is embracing brights. There are a few ways to inthe colour of maple syrup. Cover up, this isn’t the corporate them into your wardrobe. I like them nineties and you are not a Spice Girl. best with white. Crisp bright white is the perfect I’m also going to warn you off anything that

T

can be considered an actual neon. Bright is fantastic, but fluorescent is more reminiscent of a teenage boy in Miami off to prom.

It would also be remiss of me not to wax lyrical about this envelope clutch. These oversized clutches are the new handbag, and the perfect fit for my new city slicker look. They hint at important documents being stashed inside and are easily tucked under the arm freeing up both hands for the sugaring and stirring of a Costa coffee.

All fashion in these pictures is from Princesshay Shopping Centre, Exeter, www.princesshay.com

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ZARA double fabric blazer £49.99

HOBBS Ezra jacket £179

GET THE

look CREW CLOTHING Ludgrove blazer £185

RIVER ISLAND orange crepe relaxed blazer £60

Style tip

NEW LOOK yellow waterfall blazer £24.99

Don’t limit the brights to the blazer.

M&S have an impressive limited collection gel shine polish in a variety of playful shades. Try shocking pink for just £4.

NEXT shoes £28 and bag £16

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Discover

culture vulture The superb new guide to the arts scene in the South West by our woman-in-the-know, Sarah Pitt BLOOD BROTHERS Hall for Cornwall Pop star turned actor Marti Webb, who readers of a certain vintage will remember as the lead singer in 1980s band Wet Wet Wet, stars as the narrator in Willy Russell’s award-winning musical Blood Brothers over the coming week.

Blood Brothers tells the captivating and moving story of twin boys separated at birth, only to be reunited by a twist of fate and a mother’s haunting secret. The

memorable score includes A Bright New Day, Marilyn Monroe and the emotionally charged hit Tell Me It’s Not True. Maureen Nolan, one of the Nolan Sisters, stars alongside Marti as the twins’ mother Mrs Johnstone. This musical ran for 24 years, for good reason, in the West End. It’s unmissable, just remember to bring your tissues.

Tickets £11.50-£29.50 from www. hallforcornwall.co.uk or 01872 262466.

Re-making the Past The Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey is currently showing work by aritsts inspired by on ancient landscapes and practices from the Neolithic to Bronze ages. Work on display in the free exhibition until May 10 includes Helen Marton’s oven gloves patterned with prints found in ancient Cornish clay, and jewellery designers Gary Wright and Sheila Teague’s gold sycamore staff and aluminium vessels, inspired by the crafts of the Bronze Age. Those inspired by the exhibition might like to don their wellies for a field trip to a Bronze Age archaeological site at Bellever on Dartmoor on Saturday, April 18 in the company of some of the exhibiting artists and an archaeologist. Tickets are £15 (£12 concessions), book on 01626 832223.

NOT FORGETTING THE WHALE

by John Ironmonger (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99 hardback, £6.99 eBook) This warm-hearted, unusual story about the stir created in a small Cornish community when a young man washes up naked on the beach has an otherworldly quality about it.

The inhabitatants of St Piran rise to the occasion and take the lost soul into their midst.

But what the villagers don’t know is that Joe Haak has come to warn of the worldwide collapse of civilisation. Is the end of the world really nigh, though? And what about the whale that lurks in the bay?

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Enjoy

the hotlist

There’s plenty to do right now in the Westcountry, from Easter egg hunts to vintage cycle rides in period costume

fave!

#2

#1 1. Fun With Feathers Falmouth April 7-11

#3

Truro-based milliner Holly Young is holding a retrospective of her first five years in design with an exhibition at Falmouth Poly. It’s open between 10am and 5pm daily and also features work by up-and coming textile design students. Visit www.hollyyoungboutique.com

2. Eggsplore!

National Trust beaches, today and tomorrow1 Cadbury have teamed up once again with the National Trust to offer fun family Easter Egg Trails at coastal locations across the South West. All Eggsplorers will receive a delicious Cadbury chocolate treat at the end of each completed trail. This popular event takes place today at Boscastle, Crantock, Baggy Point and Studland Bay, and also tomorrow at Studland Bay.

For details, visit www.eastereggtrail.com

3. Jolly jaunt

#4

Barnstaple, Saturday April 11 Dig out a vintage outfit and join 100s of cyclists on the amazing Velo Vintage Occasion & Ride, a lovely old-fashioned pedal along the Tarka Trail and chance to make jolly new friends.

The dress code is strictly 1920s to 1950s and the fun begins at 9am. There’ll be tea and cake at journey’s end. It costs 21 Guineas for adults to register (that’s £22.05 in new-fangled money) and £14.70 for children. www.velovintage.co.uk

4.Yuk! Horrible Histories Truro, April 14-18

Two brand new Horrible Histories shows are heading to Hall for Cornwall. Book now to meet the first Olympians amid a host of Groovy Greeks, or find out how the Celts were crunched by the Ruthless Romans in Incredible Invaders. Suitable for ages five and up, tickets cost from £21.50. www.hallforcornwall.co.uk

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MAIN PICTURE: MATT AUSTIN

Romy Fraser

My Secret Westcountry

Romy Fraser

Romy Fraser OBE founded Neal’s Yard Remedies in 1981. After selling the business, she moved to Devon to establish natural living and wellbeing centre Trill Farm in Musbury near Axminster. She lives there with best friend and partner Godfrey Boyle and dog Rosa, with regular visits from her two daughters My favourite: Walk: Stonebarrow Hill to Golden Cap, within the National Trust’s Golden Cap estate on the coast not far from Axminster. The views are inspiring.

Festival: The Green Scythe fair at Thorney Lakes in Muchelney, Somerset in June is a great day out. I love watching the scythe competition.

The talks are good too.

Activity:

Swimming in the pond here at Trill Farm after work. I live in the old farmhouse and found it in 2007, after a long search to find a great setting where I could begin to create the education centre I had long been planning. Our closest beach at Seaton in east Devon is great for swimming, too.

The Green Scythe Fair

Westcountry food : I am experimenting with tapping our birch trees for their sap and it

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People Bluebells

is absolutely wonderful! Like a lighter, woody maple syrup (after a lot of cooking!) Otherwise, erm… pasties?!

Westcountry Tipple: Camel Valley sparkling wine is absolutely wonderful

Pub: The Fountain Head Inn at Branscombe. It’s a great stop after a walk along the coast.

Restaurant:

I love the Riverford Field Kitchen at Buckfastleigh in south Devon – vegetables take pride of place rather than meat, which is much more in line with the way I eat.

Chill out:

The Fountain Head

Going for a long walk with my dog

Rosa.

Weekend away: There is a wonderful working flower farm - Churchtown Farm - on St Martin’s in the Scilly Isles. I had a lovely weekend there last spring.

Shop:

Our own here at Trill Farm, of course!

Treat: This year I am very lucky to be going to a slow food event in Turkey. I love being really connected with the land and producers who create food with real care and attention.

Secret place:

I live in a quiet secluded valley here and the woods are fantastic. I love it when the larch is coming into leaf and further up the hill there is a fabulous glade of bluebells carpeting the forest.

Riverford

Churchtown Farm 37

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01/04/2015 13:22:11

Enjoy Barnstaple square

The Old Vicarage

A WEEKEND IN...

Barnstaple stone’s throw from some of north Devon’s most spectacular surfing beaches, don’t head for the coast before you see what pretty Barnstaple has to offer. There’s far more than a weekend’s worth things to see and do in this historic market town.

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Shop:

The town has its own traditional department store, Banburys and a host of lovely independent shops. Donna Flower Vintage is an amazing place for period clothes and a ‘feel free to rummage’, while Emily’s Pantry nearby is great for preserves and cheeses. Turophiles should hot foot it to the Westcountry Cheese

The Pannier Market

Co, located opposite the town’s Pannier Market which has a cornucopia of stalls to browse.

Sewing Bee queens should head to Malbers which is stuffed to the rafters with gorgeous fabrics and trimmings.

Eat:

Sheppards does great paninis, wraps and salads to eat in or take away and all profits from this cafe go to the North Devon Hospice. Fat Belly Freds specialises in fresh seafood menu.

Try duo of gilt head and black bream served with Parmentier potatoes and Mediterreanean vegetables (£15.95). Lilicos does delicious tapas.

Its yummy £8.95 lunchtime deal includes two items from the menu, bread or salad and a drink.

Stay: The Old Vicarage B&B has rave reviews (you get homemade cake upon arrival!). Close to the heart of the town, owners Sandi and Bryan welcome many weekend shoppers and theatre goers. A night’s stay in one of its four doubles costs from £85 and they also have a single room (£46).

The Barnstaple Hotel’s a 15 walk into the centre of town and has its own brasserie and fitness spa. A double room-only stay costs from £79, with breakfast £12 per person.

Do:

See a play, live comedy or music at the Queens Theatre. Download and follow a heritage trail map from www.barnstapletowncouncil. co.uk. Visit the town museum Monday to Saturday - it’s free! Tour the beautiful gardens at nearby www.castlehilldevon.co.uk, open Sunday to Friday.

Donna Flower Vintage

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01/04/2015 13:45:17

Wellbeing

ally mac’s

Raw Pecan Pie Ally says: You need this pie in your life. A raw pecan pie with layers of raspberry cashew cream frosting and chia cinnamon chocolate, it is super healthy and super tasty at the same time. Don’t be daunted by the layers, it really is nice and simple – the clue is in the raw part of the title

You will need:

Method:

Bottom base: 1/2 cup medjool dates, 1 cup of raw almonds, a sprinkling of Himalayan sea salt

Base: Pulse all the ingredients in your processor to give you a crunchy texture for your base. Press into your pie dish and leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.

First Layer: 1 cup cashews (soaked overnight), a handful of raspberries and a pinch of cinammon Second Layer: 6 tbsp chia seeds (soaked in 3/4 cup of filtered water) 1 tbsp raw cocoa (Ally uses Peruvian) 1/2 cup juicy raisins 1/2 cup medjool dates For the final touch: A handful of pecans A handful of pumpkin seeds A juicy raspberry

and raisins. Dip your finger into taste – it will taste as if a divine entity has landed in your mouth! Spread this choco-layer evenly over your raspberry cashew cream and dress with pecans, pumpkin seeds and, as a final touch, a juicy raspberry!

First Layer: Blend the pre-soaked cashews in your blender and add a handful of raspberries and a pinch of cinnamon. This should create a fluffy thick ‘cheese cake-like’ filling. Spread this over your bottom base and set in the fridge for another hour.

Second Layer: Process your chia mix (you should have a gloopy mix of chia and water), dates, cocoa

Natural food expert Ally Mac lives and cooks in South Devon. Ally specialises in devising good-for-you recipes that are easy to prepare at home. She also sells several of her own delicious healthy products online at www.allyskitchenstories.co.uk 39 35

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01/04/2015 13:45:58

Ingredient of the Week

Spring onions with Tim Maddams

have an Easter confession to make, but it’s not the sort that will require a priest and a curtain. Not, it’s not that bad. But I confess to being a bad cook. And by that I mean I’ve failed to explore the possibilities of the ingredients surrounding me in ways that will make me a better, more thoughtful cook, who wastes nothing, wants for little and makes great cakes.

For years I have wished to be, and strived to become, a cook with a simple and elegant connection to food that requires little effort to produce the most inspiring, simple and truly tasty treats at the drop of a hat. You may say, these people do not exist, but they do. I have worked with maybe three or four of them in my whole career - people that I think really, genuinely, GET the whole food thing in an effortless and almost immortal way (sorry to return to the religious theme, it must be the season...) I won’t name names here, but they know who they are. Or at least they should do.

But, I believe that even mere mortals like me can always strive to be better. It’s OK not to be the most naturally talented at what you do. But it’s certainly not OK to get to a certain point and say, that’s enough, I’ll leave it there. Food and cookery are together a never-ending journey that needs living and breathing every day to make cool stuff happen in the kitchen.

In my endeavour to reach this guru-like state of connectivity, I am currently deliberately cook-

I

ing differently. I am refusing even to contemplate making dishes that I consider to be part of my repertoire, familiar ground as it were.

In a roundabout way that brings me down to business, for I have been tinkering with spring onions for as long as I can remember. They are a great little veg and available all year round, making them a safe bet at the greengrocers but apart from slicing a few for the top of an oriental broth or chucking ‘em in a salad there’s not much you can do with these potent little aliums right? Well, that’s what I thought too until I made them my next ingredient of choice for experimentation.

So what did I discover? Well, roasted with a little olive oil and a few chilli flakes, spring onions are an excellent dressing for pasta, while barbecued they make an excellent warm salad with some goat’s cheese and homemade bread.

I wanted to go further though, and change the way I look at spring onions for ever, so I got bolder in my experiementation. And it turns out that spring onions roasted and pureed make an delicious addition to a blue cheese toastie. They make an excellent soup with celariac too, and I also incorporated them into also some very very tasty pakoras.

So, onwards and upwards I go, with new knowledge to add to my inner culinary self that will change the way I cook forever. But, be warned, don’t try juicing spring onions. Just don’t.

Spring onion surprise The final best discovery of my little spring onion obsession was spring onion pesto. I made it in a blender with a little garlic, some almonds and plenty of oil and good cheddar, having made sure I chopped the onions and greens quite well before adding them to the blender. Initially, it really was way too onion-y. I thought, oh dear. Not good.

But a few hours later and the whole thing had mellowed, become richer, still onion-y but what a transformation. Smeared over hot toast or slathered into cold pork sandwiches it’s a winner - and it keeps brilliantly.

Dressed over pasta it sings a sweet song and as a pizza topping it’s hard to beat. It even makes an acceptable dip for crisps or cracker bread. @TimGreenSauce

Tim Maddams is a Devon chef and writer who often appears on the River Cottage TV series 40

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01/04/2015 13:25:20

Drink Expert Charlie Bamforth says beer needs a good head

Darren Norbury

talks beer ontrary to the picture adorning this he advised me during the talk, making me wish I page, I sport a bit of a beard these hadn’t sat in the front row! Dirty glassware will days. Nothing special, no handlehave the same effect, as can certain foods eaten bar moustache or anything. I think before drinking. it kind of suits me. But never did I Charlie was in Cornwall visiting family, of think it would attract the disdain of one of the whom some were in the audience, and St Austell world’s leading authority on beers. were kind in hosting this event in their visitor Charlie Bamforth has spent 16 years as an Ancentre and giving us a chance to hear such an inheuser-Busch Endowed Professor in the Departformative yet entertaining speaker, dry sense of ment of Food and Science at UC humour permeating the oration.

Davis, University of California.

He has firm views on beer and He is a world renowned expert its production, but is generously on brewing science… and hails inclusive. For instance, on fizzy Among his from Wigan. More importantly yellow lager he had this to say: special subjects for us, he married a Cornish “There are lots of people who like is foam retengirl, Diane, and was at St Austell them. That doesn’t make them Brewery recently to give a talk bad people.” tion in beer - it to local brewers and members of He wants people to enjoy beer should come the Institute of Brewing and Dis– all sorts of beer – and he works tilling, of which he is president. constantly with his tutors and with a good Among his special subjects is students to improve beer produchead, he says foam – or head if you like – retention methods around the world. tion in beer, and I sat through his Interestingly, he used to protalk enthralled that such a seemmote British beers as the style to ingly innocuous subject could be aim for when he first visited the so complex. A good beer should come with a good United States and spoke to brewers there. Now head, he says, and from a northerner this cannot he looks at our beers and thinks: “They could do be understated! Iso alpha acids in hops help to with more hops!” make a good strong head, as do certain elements, A great ambassador for Britain and a great like zinc, common in Bass in recent years. ambassador for beer. But sorry, Charlie – the Fats and detergents, however, will see a head beard’s staying! dissipate, which is where my facial hair, particuDarren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk larly the upper lip hair, comes in. “Get rid of it,” @beertoday

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[[

AWARDS DOUBLE Westcountry brewers took two of the top three prizes in the Society of Independent Brewers’ (SIBA) national beer competition. St Austell Big Job IPA was named champion bottled beer and Wild Beer Company’s Madness IPA took top spot in the keg category.

Beer of the week Sometimes you latch onto a beer at the start of an evening and find that two or three hours later you’re still enjoying it, the conversation is flowing and the bar staff still aren’t bored with your jokes (or are too polite to say so). Atlantic Brewery, of Newquay, has recently bought out Azores (4.2% ABV), which is such a brew.

A delightfully drinkable golden bitter, with deep resinous hop notes and a lovely and very moreish bitter finish. And suitable for vegans, too!

Rabbit, rabbit Hunter’s has brewed an Easter special called Honey Bunny (4.5% ABV). It’s brewed with an addition of Devon honey and, because it’s named after the bunny, has lots of hops, of course! (Sorry…)

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01/04/2015 13:27:31

Lisa Faulkner

Let them eat cake isa Faulkner has a lot to thank Celebrity MasterChef for. Since winning the show in 2010, the former Holby City actress has carved out a successful second career as a TV cook, and released three recipe books.

The BBC One show was also where she met Australian chef John Torode, the firm-but-fair judge who eventually became her boyfriend.

"I took on three jobs at the same time as MasterChef, thinking I would only be in it for a day, and I ended up in it until the end. That was amazing in itself," the 43-year-old says.

"It completely changed my life and I haven't stopped cooking since. It's been amazing, really."

Torode - who she began dating in 2012 - is "lovely, very lovely", according to Lisa, who has an eight-year-old daughter, Billie, from her marriage to actor Chris Coghill.

"Somebody said, 'So what's it like at home when you're both cooking?' It's just like we're both cooking! It's not like he's going, 'Oh, you need to do that', or, 'Hurry Lisa, you've got five minutes!'," she adds with a laugh.

Things have been busy recently, with the release of her third cookbook, Tea & Cake.

"I wanted to do a book that was just about things that I liked, and memories of tea in days

L

We're all busy - but there's always time to sit down for some soul-soothing tea and cake, as Lisa Faulkner tells Jeananne Craig

gone by when I was little - things like sandwiches and cake and tins of biscuits," Lisa explains.

"We run around so much and we are all crazy

busy," she adds. "We can get so caught up in everything that's going on, and sometimes just to stop for five minutes with a cup of tea in a pot and a piece of cake, it's like, 'Do you know what?

Everything's actually all right'."

Lisa has also been collaborating with kitchen appliance makers Hotpoint on a campaign encouraging the nation to cook, which includes sharing recipes for her favourite bakes.

No one should be put off from having a go, she says. "If you've made a cake for somebody you love and there are little dents in it, or the icing falls down the cake, it's how it tastes, who you've made it for and why you've made it [that counts]," she says. "My grandma was properly slapdash, but she was an amazing cook."

Billie, who Faulkner adopted in 2006 when she was 15 months old, is also a keen chef and loves cooking with Lisa.

"I feel so very grateful to have her that I spend as much time as possible with her," says Lisa, who was 16 when her mother Julie died of cancer. "She and I are a right little team."

Lisa turned 43 earlier this year. "It's weird to think that great big number is me," the actress-turned-cook adds. "But when I look back on what I've done, I think, 'God, I've fitted quite a lot in'."

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Food

Lisa and boyfriend, MasterChef's John Torode

CLAFOUTIS LIMOUSIN 400ml milk 150g flour 70g caster sugar Pinch of salt 3 eggs 2 tbsp rum (optional) About 80g butter, for greasing 200g fresh cherries Icing sugar, for dusting 1.

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)/gas mark 4.

2.

Put the milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

3.

4.

Clafoutis Limousin

To make the batter, mix the flour, sugar and salt together well, then beat in the eggs, one by one. With a spatula, incorporate the boiled milk very slowly and gently, turning the mixture rather than beating. Add the rum, if using.

Generously grease a 2cm deep, 25cm diameter baking tin with butter and add the cherries, spreading them evenly. Pour the batter over the top and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with a little icing sugar before serving hot or cold.

EARL GREY TEA LOAF 225g raisins 225g sultanas 125g dried figs, chopped 125g glace cherries, halved 110g chopped dried apricots 1 Earl Grey tea bag 110g light muscovado sugar 110g dark muscovado sugar Juice and zest of an orange Butter, for greasing 110g ground almonds 1 tbsp golden syrup 2 eggs, beaten 450g self-raising flour 1 tsp ground mixed spice 100ml whole milk 1.

Earl Grey Tea Loaf

Combine the fruits in a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Pour 300ml boiling water onto

the tea bag and leave to brew for a minute or so. Discard the tea bag then dissolve the sugars in the hot tea, add the orange juice and zest, and pour over the fruit. Stir to combine, then cover and leave to soak overnight.

2.

The next day, preheat the oven to 150C (300F)/gas mark 2, and grease and line a 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Stir the ground almonds, golden syrup and beaten eggs into the soaked fruit mixture then sift in the flour and mixed spice. Stir to combine, adding the milk if the mixture seems a little stiff, then spoon into the lined tin.

3.

Bake for two to two-and-a-quarter hours, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Cut into thick slices and serve spread with butter.

The above recipes were created by Lisa Faulkner for Hotpoint and are in her new book Tea & Cake by Lisa Faulkner, published in hardback by Simon & Schuster, price ÂŁ20 43

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01/04/2015 14:12:18

Living motors

Comfortable Luxury

Car guru Scott Squires of Plymouth road-tests the new Mercedes C-class

he all new Mercedes C-Class has landed, and it’s here to take the fight to BMW and Audi in the very competitive compact executive sector. Prices start from £27,000, which makes the new C-Class a tad more expensive than the old model and slightly more than its rivals.

But spec-for-spec, it offers a lot more bang for your buck and with weight-saving and wind-tunnel work carried out, the new model is up to 20% more efficient. Mercedes has taken technology and style from its top of the range S-Class, to give the new C-Class levels of refinement and luxury not seen in this sector before.

From the outside, it has the same low-slung sleek look of its much more expensive sister.

You can’t really appreciate how luxurious the sweeping interior is until you sit in the seats. The centre dash cascades from three eyeball air vents down to the centre armrest, sort of cocooning the driver, but you still get a sense of space.

The infotainment system can be controlled either by a rotary dial or a touch sensitive pad, which is very intuitive and looks great on the seven-inch screen perched above the centre console.

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Standard equipment is comprehensive and includes a DAB radio, Bluetooth connectivity, a seven-inch multimedia display, two USB ports, cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring, dualzone climate and a stop-start system.

Rear passengers don’t lose out either as the rear seats are as sumptuous as the front, even if the leg and head room is a little on the tight side if you are above average height. As for luggage space, it has a 480-litre boot – which is the same as its rivals.

The C200 sport is fitted with a 2.0 litre turbo charged petrol engine, producing 184bhp, 0.62 in 7.5 seconds and a top speed of 147 mph. Mercedes claim that the C200 can get a combined cycle of 53.3mpg. I took it for a run to London and back and got an impressive 47.6mpg, while getting just over 600 miles out of a tank, not too far away from the company’s claim, and pretty impressive for a big car with a petrol engine.

Mercedes has decided not to take on the BMW 3 series in the handling stakes, but to concentrate on ride comfort, and boy does it show. Even after four or so hours behind the wheel, you feel like you’ve only been driving a couple, and it takes the driver assist to tell you to take a break by putting a coffee cup up on the dash. That’s the problem with the seats – they are just too comfortable and

you want to stay in them for hours.

Flick the Agility switch to Sport or Sport+ and the car shows its sportiness, the steering weight increases, the suspension is stiffened, the throttle response is more immediate and the seven-speed automatic gearbox holds the gear changes till the red line. In Sport or Sport+, the C-Class will handle what you can throw at it without a fuss.

BMW and Audi had better be looking in their rear view mirrors as the C-Class in approaching fast and on interior quality has taken the lead, while driving dynamics are good, they don’t quite match the BMW 3 series. But do you want a

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01/04/2015 12:26:58

gadget notebook 5 April 2015

TECH TIPS: VERSATILE HANDSETS

The latest mobile technology trend is seeing a shift away from smartphones that can do just about everything. The new focus is on handsets that are best for doing the essentials that you need them for. Here’s our pick.

Brit brand Made in the UK, this handset boasts a dual SIM card capability for roaming freedom, and presents Androidpowered apps on a very decent five inch display. The five megapixel camera is good and it’s a home-grown brand, worth your support.

Trooper2 5.0 - £89.99 from kazam.mobi

Silver surfer This boasts extra-large icons and large, easy-to-read display text , great for older people joining in the digital revolution.

Its music player, calendar, email and internet browser are easy to get to grips with. It also has a very loud volume level and an SOS ringer that can be programmed to call or text up to three numbers with a pre-recorded message.

Amplicomms PowerTel M9000 Amplified Smartphone £129.99 from hearingdirect.com

Budget savvy Hard-wearing Gorilla Glass and a waterresistant splash guard make this phone very durable. The handset runs on Android with access to a million and more apps and a five megapixel camera backing up to a 4GB memory, which is expandable up to 32GB via a MicroSD card.

Motorola Moto E - £59 from tesco.com

car that handles well but leaves you feeling tired after a couple of hours, or do you want a car with a limousine interior that you could drive all day?

At a glance Engine: 2.0-litre, 4cyl turbo-charged petrol Power: 184bhp 0-62mph: 7.5 seconds Top Speed: 147 mph C02: (g/km) 51.4mpg/ 128g/km Price: From £27,000

Colour option Despite only having access to Windows apps, this handset running their 8.1 software is actually is a very decent option. With the extremely intuitive digital assistant Cortana inside, it’s really fun to use.

Nokia Lumia 630 - £99.99 (SIM Free) from carphonewarehouse.com

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01/04/2015 12:27:40

My life

[

man and boy

Flight or fight

[

Phil Goodwin, father of James, four, contemplates air travel re you an optimist or a pessimist?

A glass half-full or half-empty person? It is a tough one to answer.

We would all like to think we are happy-go-lucky and just glad of what we have. If anything – and this may betray my fondness for a drinking session – I am a probably a ‘where-is-the-next-glass’ kind of guy. So, after months of darkness and gloom – much documented in these pages, as a result of my honest approach to a weekly column – the changing of the clocks to British Summer Time is a welcome development. Recent family events have made the year an absolute stinker so far and the arrival of spring is a good omen for the rest of 2015. So much so, that I decided to make a few plans for the coming months and book some holidays: a ferry trip to Spain and the annual pilgrimage to Mother Russia, where the in-laws await, in sunny Sochi.

The Iberian adventure is a doddle to put together but plans to visit the Caucasus region always raise the same old problem: how to get there. And with no direct flights it boils down to a long trip via Moscow or Istanbul, usually at some god-awful time, like 3am. When my wife suggested a Turkish stopover, I raised my eyes at the prospect of another protracted journey.

This was interpreted, incorrectly, as a fresh example of my – to her mind childish – aversion to flying, and provoked an outpouring of statistics to reassure me of the relative safety of air travel.

As a seasoned worrier, I have heard all this many times before and found no solace. I countered that the randomness of the recent Alpine disaster was hardly encouraging. My

A

wife, a fully paid-up glass-full type, sees every crash as a step towards total safety – another lesson learned. Now I consider myself a perfectly normal air traveller. I don’t like it, I have a few drinks, I watch a film, we land and I get on with my life. What can I say - I don’t like speed, I don’t

[

[

It seems that during such crises your true character emerges... whether you’ll fight for survival or simply give up

like height. Go figure. I again refused to go on the course for nervous flyers – yeah right, just what I need: another flight but this time without even going anywhere.

Shortly afterwards, though, I did by accident find myself reading an article full of interviews with air crash survivors. As you do. The story claimed an amazing 56% do survive, though not always without serious injury and disability.

And it was a fascinating insight into the ‘how and why’ of walking away intact - a genuine treasure trove of helpful tips.

It seems during such crises, your true character emerges and you discover whether you are built to fight for survival or simply give up.

Those with the survival instinct, it seems, are shrewd enough to note down mentally a few key positional details before take-off in order to ensure they are ready for the worst. There are other things to be mindful of, even down to the selection of clothing. I would dearly love to share them here, but you never know - we may be on the same plane together one day. You understand.

Anyway, during our conversation, my wife attempted to highlight the irrationality of my ‘slight’ air phobia by suggesting I had never revealed any similar problem when sailing. I had to confess that I have been quietly checking out escape routes from the cabin to the lifeboat station on ships for years. It had just never occurred to me to do the same with planes. It had felt hopeless. But 56%? Now they are odds!

Call me paranoid. You can never be too well organised. Optimism and pessimism be damned.

In the world of the survivors there is only one motto – he who prepares wins!

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01/04/2015 14:21:47

POWDERHAM CASTLE, GARDENS & DEER PARK

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No 1 Brewhouse, Royal William Yard, Stonehouse, Plymouth, PL1 3QQ 01752 252702 *Discount is available on weekdays only, not valid on Saturday or Sundays. Advert must be handed to server to qualify for 20% discount. Offer valid on food only. Not valid in the deli or on drinks. Maximum party of 6. Subject to availability. This offer expires on 30 April 2015

Untitled-2 2

01/04/2015 15:18:45

With spectacular views over Carne beach on the beautiful Roseland Peninsula, the Quarterdeck is open all day for coffee, light lunches, Cornish cream teas and relaxed evening dining.

Fresh, local seafood is a speciality.

Combine your visit with a good coastal walk and enjoy a lovely day out.

Carne Beach, Veryan in Roseland, Nr St Mawes, Cornwall www.quarterdeckrestaurant.co.uk Table Reservations 01872 501111 Untitled-2 3

01/04/2015 14:56:36