West Magazine, February 20 2016

20.02.16

EXCLUSIVE:

Sugar mummy INSIDE: + NICK MORAN + CASTLE ESCAPES

PLUS: + BEAT STRESS,

FIND BALANCE

Devon mum Charleine on The Apprentice

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WIN: + £1260 WOOD BURNING STOVE

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BURNING BRIGHT Choosing your winter warmer

Charleine Wain, on life after TV’s The Apprentice, p16

30 42

FOLK GIRL Chill out with the Americana vibe

GRACIOUS STAY Capture the castle at Pentillie

[contents[ Inside this week...

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WIN A WOODBURNER Enter our fabulous competition

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JUST BETWEEN US...

Sh! We have the latest gossip!

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MAN ABOUT TOWN Movie star Nick Moran is in Exeter

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44

FAVOURITE PLACES Chef Emily Scott shares hers

WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE TV’s Charleine spills the beans

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HEATED DECISIONS Warming your home in style

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ANNE SWITHINBANK The careful art of tending arum lilies

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BEAUTY WITH ABBIE BRAY How to make eyes with mascara

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COLOUR CLASS Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod on clever clashes

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CULTURE VULTURE What’s on and where to go

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BOOST YOUR WELLBEING Great ways to feel your best this week

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BEER ON TOUR Darren Norbury hitches a lift

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DIET DAD Phil Goodwin bites the bullet

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BODY OIL Tim Maddams on rapeseed

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LIFE AFTER TV

Charleine Wain talks to West

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[

[

TAKING STOCK

Actor Nick Moran contemplates Pinter

[ welcome [

People

NATIONAL TRUST FASHION SHOW

A blast of colour a major Every year, the National Trust stages near Exeter. As fashion exhibition at Killerton, has a tradition well as the show itself, the Trust to accompany of creating striking photography magazine and publicise the show. Here, West shoot for goes behind the scenes at the photo opens today the 2016 fashion exhibition, which

Fashion and Textiles students. and The show opens this weekend of the will encompass every shade black rainbow, as well as monochrome is a white. Among the highlights very year, the National and been crimson dress, believed to have Trust stages a major fashin the made for Princess Margaret ion exhibition at Killer“I’ve been in touch with Kenton, near Exeter, based on 1950s. sington Palace to try and authenticate the vast costume collecher dress,” says house the claim that it was tion that has been stored at the it was Shelley. “They are pretty certain Kong since the 1970s. made for her on a trip to Hong items “At Killerton, we have 10,000 is a in 1955. But what we really need we can of clothing, so there is no way wearing it – you never her of picture time. one have them all on show at any colour, what is dis- know! In terms of the Our annual exhibition is all about a shade of red have, in interesting is how regal playing a selection of what we robes.” it is, the dark crimson of royal says an intriguing and creative way,” collection costume The Killerton cuShelley Tobin, the Trust’s costume to 1975 has clothes dating from 1700 of rator. and was originally the collection about “This year, the show is all the rich heiress Paulise de Bush. incolour and how it has influenced “When she died in 1975, she left way we dress over the centuries.” found structions to ‘see the collection To publicise the show, National given to a good home’ and so it was Trust photographer Steve Haywood, Shelley. explains Trust,” the National an enwho lives in Devon, has set up and costume exhion the “An annual fashion ever ticing series of images based bition has been held at Killerton For. The show’s title: Fashion To Dye since.” striking results, showcased here, are a The Fashion To Dye For show opens has reminder of how crucial colour at Killerton, Broadthe cen- today (February 13) been to sartorial trends over October clyst, near Exeter, and runs until show turies. As well as costumes, the www.nationaltrust.org Visit 30. also includes work by Exeter College’s

PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE HAYWOOD

By Becky Sheaves

It may be cold outside, but...

E

s I sit writing this, the sun is out and there’s not a cloud in the sky. It makes a welcome change from the rain and wind we’ve been enduring of late. We hope that this week’s edition of West will be a similiarly welcome boost to the spirits.

If you remember actor Nick Moran from hit film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, you’ll be intrigued to know that he’s currently in Exeter, playing one third of a love triangle in the Harold Pinter play Betrayal at the Northcott Theatre.

Find out what happened when our writer Catherine Barnes caught up with him during a break

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A

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Tweet

of the week

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in rehearsals on page 12. If TV’s more your thing, and you’ve been glued to The Apprentice, you’ll want to read Becky Sheaves’s candid interview with contestant Charleine Wain, who hails from Plymouth. She shares her thoughts on the show, Lord Alan Sugar and all, and opens up about losing a child to cot death, on page 16.

It is a great read. So too, is Phil Goodwin’s column on page 46, in which he reveals five-year-old son James’s inimitable way of hinting that his dad needs to go on a diet. Happy reading, and don’t forget to enter our fabulous competition, opposite, to win Devonmade woodburner worth £1,260. Good luck!

James, five, has his own way of hinting his dad needs to go on a diet

@NTSouthWest

Nipping out early in our PJ’s tomorrow for the @WMNWest magazine & the feature on the stunning costume exhibition @NTKillerton TO ADVERTISE: Contact Lynne Potter: 01752 293027 or 07834 568283, lynne.potter@dc-media.co.uk

[

Sarah Pitt, Acting Editor

COVER IMAGE: John Allen

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

MEET THE TEAM Becky Sheaves, Editor

Sarah Pitt

Kathryn Clarke-McLeod

Catherine Barnes

Lynne Potter

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Francesca cushion, £50 Laura Ashley

Sophie Allport horse purse £7 www. sophieallport.com

wishlist Our top picks of the things you’ll love this week

STREET STYLE STAR

Cute Ceramic elephant brooch £10 handmade in the Tamar Valley by www.stockwellceramics.co.uk

Yvonne Rose We spotted Yvonne on a visit to her daughter, who studies at Exeter University to celebrate Yvonne’s 50th birthday. Her favourite shops are LK Bennett and Hobbs, both to be found in the Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter. We LOVE her cheery red coat!

Pretty Ribbon nude courts £20 Primark

Boots: Next, £50 Jeans: John Lewis, £40 Jumper: Hobbs, £50 Coat. Hobbs, £200

Send your stylish snaps of you or a friend looking fab to westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk 6

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Wishlist

TUNE IN Vintage radio bag £35 Monsoon

Bella Bleu One-of-a-Kind flats £100 designed in Topsham and made in Exeter by www. rarepear.co.uk

Biscuits sticky tape

by Scottish designer Nikki McWilliams £6 a roll www.etsy.com

Dressing

Store we adore...

Sagaform oil and vinegar bottles with oak stoppers £16.95 www.thekitchengiftco. com

Roots & Vines, Tavistock

This foodie corner shop stocks an amazing range of Westcountry beers, wines and spirits, including wine from Camel Valley, Black Cow Vodka from Somerset and ales from Penpoint Brewery. You will also find freshly-made artisan bread, local free range eggs and wonderful local vegetables and cheeses, along with condiments andright now - organic chocolate Easter eggs.

Roots & Vines is at 12 West St, Tavistock PL19 8AD, 01822 616818 or www. rootsandvines.co.uk 7

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talking points Gillian Molesworth

Story of my life...

Haven’t I seen you somewhere before? ou know how companies like Facebook and Tesco and Google “mine” your data to figure out how to most effectively market to you? It starts with your age bracket. A pensioner is unlikely to be interested in nappies nor a teenager in denture paste. But they also track your habits to build up a better “buyer profile” and from this they weird old tip.” Then there’s match you with companies likely an image, either of a woman’s to be selling what you want. waist with tape measurer, or of a It’s creepy sometimes, espebanana turning brown. cially when internet ads pop up I have surmised that the “weird of things that you were looking old tip” has to do with not eating at earlier, like armchairs or toastbrown bananas, which makes ers. There you are, looking up sense, since as they ripen they facts about the leap year or somebecome more sugary. thing, when you get this weird I resent this ad. I don’t rememsense of déjà vu. The toaster you ber looking up ways to make my were considering pops back in belly flatter on the internet, or an ad bar to say researching low GI hello. “That’s foods or anything nice,” you think. like that. Does the “Where have I internet think I’m seen it before?” fat? Or is it just I resent this ad.

In advertising, most women my I don’t remember this is known age? That’s even as the “sleeper worse – it’s making looking up ways effect”. You them feel paranoid. to make my have seen the Anyway, you belly flatter on image before, but shouldn’t waste you’ve forgotten food. Brown bathe internet the source – it nanas make great might have been smoothies, or can a magazine, be mashed up for billboard, or TV banana muffins. ad. Then you see it again and you Clearly I need to go on the recognise it, as you would a face. offensive for my ad tracker.

This friendly feeling can lead to a I’m going to spend a few days sale. Data proves it.

Googling Germaine Greer, Betty I have had the same ad popping Friedan, “fattism” and weightup in all my browser windows based discrimination. And also literally for years now. I have campaigns such as “Love Food never clicked on it. Had I clicked Hate Waste”. on it, would it stop popping up? I What do we think will come don’t know. up next on my buyer-targeted The ad has appeared in a few advertising slot? Union memberdifferent guises, but essentially ship? Granola? the thrust of it is “cut down on Put that in your algorithm and 1 inch of belly fat by using this smoke it, AdTracker.

Y

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

GLORIOUS

in gold

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Apart from that ring, obviously.

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20.02.16

Just

‘I FEEL BETTER THAN EVER’ Loose Women regular Denise Welch says she’s looking and feeling better than ever since giving up alcohol four years ago. The actress, who’s just penned her first novel, If They Could See Me Now, is also refreshingly candid about her cosmetic surgery, saying: “I had my eyes done but that was a treat to myself for my 50th birthday, against everybody’s advice, and it was the best

thing I ever did, because it made me look better.

“I’ve never really fancied having anything else done. I don’t know if I’d have any more surgery but I might if I felt something was upsetting me. I have no fear of looking older. I like my wrinkles and I feel better mentally and physically at 57 than I’ve felt for years.” West says: Good on you, Denise!

[ [ ‘Kissing Daniel Radcliffe was very uncomfortable’

KATIE’S NEW ROLE

between us Gossip, news, trend setters and more – you heard all the latest juicy stuff here first!

!

CHRIS IS LIKE

MY BROTHER! Gwyneth Paltrow described her Exeter-born ex-husband, Chris Martin as “like my brother” as she revealed their amicable family arrangement recently.

She says that they regularly sleep over at each other’s houses.

The two “consciously uncoupled” in March 2014 but are often pictured together with their two children Apple, 11, and Moses, 9.

Gwyneth said: “We’re still very much a family, even though we don’t have a romantic relationship.”

Actress Katie Leung’s breakthrough role came as Harry Potter’s love interest Cho Chang, but now she has taken the lead in a gripping new TV series, called One Child, which began this week on BBC2.

Katie became an overnight sensation as the girl who kissed Harry Potter 10 years ago, but remembers it as a nerve-wracking experience. She says: “It wasn’t the kiss itself, it was more because it was so hyped up - Daniel’s [Radcliffe’s] first kiss [as Harry Potter]! - and I was like, ‘Oh God, the pressure’. People were watching on the monitors outside and, looking back, it wasn’t a very comfortable experience.” So how many takes did they have to do? “More than usual!” she reveals.

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One, two three: It’s the annual flower count at the National Trust

in pictures Aah: Immy the otter cub is being cared for at the Secret World Animal Rescue Centre in Highbridge, Somerset

Wild: Emily WhitfieldWicks took this picture of high storms at Port Quin, north Cornwall Famous: Dame Esther Rantzen opened the new nursery at Torpoint School

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talking points Fresh

Pretty

ONE OF US Famous faces with links to the Westcountry

Fashion’s top colours for spring 2016, according to Pantone

Herbs to grow at home

1 Basil 2 Chives 3 Coriander 4 Dill 5 Fennel 6 Mint 7 Parsley 8 Sage 9 Tarragon 10 Thyme

1 Buttercup Yellow 2 Red Fiesta 3 Green Flash 4 Iced Coffee Brown 5 Lilac Grey 6 Limpet Shell Blue 7 Echo Peach 8 Rose Quartz 9 Serenity 10 Snorkel Blue

The happy list

In the city

10 things to make you smile this week Top 10 things to see in and around Exeter, for all the family:

1 Seaside living we’ve got it, they’re jealous!

3 Northcott Theatre

2 Dartmouth Comedy Festival 8-12 March 3 Tray bakes so delish 4 Local produce spoilt for

4 Exeter Cathedral

5 Spring flowers buy daf-

1 Powderham Castle 2 Northernhay Gardens

5 Rougemont Castle 6 Exeter Quay 7 Royal Albert Memorial Museum 8 Haldon Forest Park 9 Underground Passages 10 Killerton House

choice in the South West fodils now

6 Mother’s Day March 6 7 Tom Daley in the medals again

8 Lent lunches doing good 9 Recipes try the new book from The Jack in the Green

10 Brittany Ferries bon voyage!

This week:

Emily MacDonagh Junior doctor and wife of singer Peter Andre, grew up near Taunton

Mysterious girl: Emily, who grew up near Taunton in Somerset, is married to singer Peter Andre. They met in 2010 when Peter was performing in the South West.

Chance meeting: Emily’s doctor father Ruaraidh treated Peter while he was touring and fell ill with kidney problems.

Peter gave Emily’s father some tickets to his Plymouth show by way of a thank you, and became a family friend.

Career: Not just a pretty face, Emily studied medicine at the University of Bristol and is now a qualified doctor.

DID YOU KNOW?

There is a 17 year age gap between Emily, 27, and husband Peter Andre

Love: Peter has said of Emily: “I’m absolutely besotted with her. She’s the love of my life.”

Marriage: The couple brought their wedding forward a year (they had originally planned to marry in 2016) due to fears about Peter’s father’s health. The pair wed in July 2015 in the private manor house Mamhead, on the River Exe near Exeter.

Mum: She and Peter had a daughter, Amelia, born in January 2014.

Babies: In December 2015 Emily revealed she was thinking about a second baby: ‘We’ll have to start trying in the next couple of months if we do decide, as we’d want to ensure it’s as close to the end of August as possible.”

Trust: Emily said she was not worried at the so-called “curse of Strictly” when her husband signed up to dance with Janette Manrara on the TV show last year: “Pete is not like that, he is very loyal and I trust him completely.”

By Ellie Jones

Competition winners: A copy of the children’s book Pony Racer, by Lucy Johnson, goes to: Janet Bailey, Gunnislake; Anna Barton, Slapton; Christine Porter, Bradninch; Michael Howard, Newton Abbot and Anita Doonan, Ivybridge

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Interview

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NICK MORAN

[

A very live performance Wander around the streets of Exeter right now and you’re quite likely to run into the film star Nick Moran, who is currently in the city performing in an exciting new production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at the Northcott Theatre. The Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star tells us what drew him to the city

By Catherine Barnes

e’re filming a digital trailer for the play in a bit,” says Nick Moran, laughing at the irony.

“But you can’t get any less digital than theatre.

“I’m a self-confessed digiphobe,” he adds with endearing candour, plonking an object on the coffee table that apparently came out of the ark somewhere between the raven and the dove.

“This is my phone. I’m an analogue warrior.

With this device, I can actually talk to people who are not in the room. It’s like magic.”

And hello to you, too, Mr Moran. Talking a mile a minute, charmingly down-to-earth and laugh-out-loud funny, in real life the actor is a far cry from the villains he’s portrayed on film.

Guy Ritchie’s 1998 movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels propelled Nick to international fame. Incidentally, he and the former Mr Madonna now live next door to each other in London, reveals Nick, and tend to shoot the breeze about about bin days and Neighbourhood Watch.

“W

Younger fans will recognise him as the menacing Scabior in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, while he had to work hard to maintain a straight face as gangster Reg Towler in James Corden and Matthew Baynton’s hilarious BBC comedy, The Wrong Mans.

Corden and Baynton met on the set of Telstar: The Joe Meek story, the rather brilliant 2008 film which Nick co-wrote, directed and even played guitar on. They returned the favour by writing him the part. Interestingly, it’s another rather similar favour that has led Nick to take to the stage at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, which he’s rehearsing when we meet.

The much anticipated play – co-starring actors Simon Merrells and Sarah-Jane Potts – opened on Thursday and runs until March 5.

It marks the directorial debut of Nick’s friend Paul Jepson, who also runs the theatre itself, as its artistic and executive director. They first worked together, Nick explains, when Paul brought Telstar to the stage.

Nick believes that Betrayal - the theatre’s first home-grown new production for six years - marks the beginning of an exciting new era for theatre in Exeter and the wider Westcountry. “We’re all doing this for our love of Paul,”

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photography: Steve Haywood

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Interview

Nick and Sarah-Jane Potts in rehearsal at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre

he says. “He’s taken over this theatre and we’re the vanguard – and we’re really enjoying it.

“Paul’s got a very interesting ethos – what we’re doing is event theatre. This is Pinter’s most palatable play. It’s not odd or weird, it’s simple and domestic, with three very bankable proper actors, as people, say, ‘off the telly’.” Sarah-Jane Potts has been in both Casualty and Waterloo Road, while Simon Merrells is best known for the US television series Spartacus.

“But if you don’t catch a bus and drive a few miles down the motorway to the Northcott, you’ll miss it. It won’t be touring – you have to come and see it. And isn’t that great?

Theatre’s an event: you need to get on the bus, find somewhere to park, walk up that hill to see it.

“I think there’ll be more to come. There’ll be names you’ll have heard of,” he teases. “But I won’t spoil the surprise about anyone else Paul is trying to hoodwink into coming.”

Nick is also hoping that his friends Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders, who have a house in Chagford, will be in the audience. “I went to see [Ade] when he was in Neville’s Island and I’m hoping they’ll come and see it,” he says.

This is Nick’s first time on stage in Exeter but he seems genuinely interested in our part of the world. Slightly further afield, Nick did once take to the stage at the Bristol Old Vic, shortly

[

after Lock, Stock. “When I was at the height of my pomp,” he laughs, “I did Look Back in Anger.

I was being offered film parts in the US and I said, no, I’m going to do theatre. I had American agents asking - what are you doing?”

Nick also spent some down-time in our part of the world last year when his parents-in-law were house-hunting for a holiday cottage. They found their dream cottage near Ilfracombe. He tied the knot with dentist Dr Jasmin Duran last autumn, although that’s not the story you may read online.

“Don’t trust the internet!” scoffs our analogue warrior.

“According to that, I was married to [actress] Sienna Guillory. Really?

When? Was it fun? No, I was engaged to her for a bit, but I married Jasmin in September and she’s my first and only wife. Barring a bereavement, I hope that will always be the case.”

Betrayal is a play that’s all about marriage, inspired by playwright Harold Pinter’s own sevenyear affair with journalist and broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell in the 1960s. Nick plays Jerry, the man who falls in love with his best friend Robert’s wife, Emma.

“It’s a beautifully balanced three-hander,” he says. “There are no main roles in it and you’re never sure whose story it is.”

Of course, when Pinter wrote the play, there

[

‘Theatre is an event. You need to get on the bus, walk up that hill to the Northcott Theatre or you’ll miss it’

Nick was thrust to fame in film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels were no itemised phone bills, no mobiles or social networks through which so many of us (apart from Nick, obviously) now broadcast our lives. But he believes it’s still relevant and entirely possible for people to relate to the secrets and lies around which the plot is centred.

“I don’t want to cast aspersions on your readers,” he laughs. “But I really think there are people able to have extra-marital affairs and get away with it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Digital technology you can’t get away from, but it’s like hiding in plain sight.”

The cast hit the ground running when they began rehearsing the play at the Northcott, which is located on the University of Exeter’s Streatham campus. They had just three weeks to rehearse the play. Pinter’s characters are very middle-class and Nick, who has a natural east London twang, will be “poshing up” his accent,

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Nick married his wife, dentist Dr Jasmin Duran last year

he says. During his career, which began with bit parts in The Bill on Casualty, he has played roles in all sorts of regional accents and has perfected the nuances of many places on the map in the US, too.

“People tend to think of you as that thing they’ve seen you in,” he says. “You can be hemmed in by your previous work, but I do get really posh on stage.”

Excitingly, some time during the three-week run, there will also be a sneak preview reading of a play he’s written, based around Elizabeth I’s astrologer, the occult philosopher Dr John Dee. Nick’s a veritable polymath; for as well as stage and screen roles, he has a host of award-winning directing, producing and musical credits to

his name as well as script writing. Now, he has gone one step further and this play is written in 17th century iambic pentameter and also draws on Enochian language, which is said to be the tongue of (fallen) angels.

“It’s a difficult piece, written as it is. I could have knocked it out in an afternoon but because it’s in iambic pentameter it’s taken me a year.”

The actor, who has a film role that is on the cards when he finishes his Northcott run, hopes that his own play will also be staged at the Exeter theatre later this year, or in 2017. “I love the idea that it really is Satanic,” he adds with a gleam of mischief. “I’d love it if there were some placards and protests out there.”

So who would he cast? “God rest his soul, I

Nick Moran, right, with the cast and director of the new Exeter show

really wanted Alan Rickman to come down for it,” says Nick. He worked on Harry Potter with the star, who sadly died last month. “We’d sit around on set, chewing the cud.”

He’d also love to get Sir Ian McKellen to come down and tread the boards, he adds, having recently worked with him on stage. And it’s not beyond the realms of possibility: “Actors like doing theatre,” he explains. “And actors like working with Paul.”

Well worth walking up that hill for, that’s certain. Lucky Northcott – and, lucky us.

See Betrayal at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre from now until March 5, see www.exeternorthcott.co.uk/calendar/betrayal Box office: 01392 726363 15

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People

ALL FOR LOVE The Apprentice star opens up about the tragedy that inspired her to work so hard for her family

By Becky Sheaves

n 2007, Charleine Wain became a mum for the first time, to much-loved twins Ethan and Caylan. After a complicated pregnancy, the boys arrived two months prematurely and Caylan needed emergency heart surgery.

Heartbreakingly, when he was just 15 weeks old, he lost his fight to live.

Ever since, Charleine has been driven to give meaning to her son’s short life and her tragic loss. “He is the reason why I am so dedicated and passionate. I just want to see something good coming from something so bad.”

We are sitting in her hairdressing salon in Plymouth – of which, more later – when she looks me straight in the eye and imparts her hard-won wisdom: “You can lose someone so precious, just overnight. You never know when it could happen.”

As a result of such a shocking loss, Charleine could not be more determined to make the most of life and all its opportunities. “Today, I want my children to know they can do whatever they want. I doubted myself when I was younger, I would never

I

Charleine pictured at work in her Plymouth hair and beauty salon

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MAIN PICTURE: JOHN ALLEN

My baby is the reason why I am so dedicated. I just want to see something good coming from something so bad have thought get this far - but here I am.”

Indeed, few who saw her honest, hardworking, enthusiastic performance on BBC1's The Apprentice recently would begrudge her the success which, she hopes, is now just around the corner.

“I didn’t win The Apprentice but I did well to come in the final five,” she says.

“Since the show was on TV, I have been approached by all sorts of potential investors.”

Now mum to Ethan, aged eight and Maia, six, she and her husband Scott live in Plympton, on the leafy outskirts of Plymouth.

Scott is in the Navy, which is where the couple met. Charleine joined up as a teenager and worked her way up to becoming a Physical Training Instructor.

And old habits die hard – to this day Charleine works out ferociously. She is currently training for the London Marathon, raising money for a children’s cancer charity - even though Caylan did not have cancer. "I just want to support the work they do, " she says simply.

Children's health is a cause dear to her and Scott’s hearts. “We visit the hospital.

We don’t shut it out, don’t hide what happened. Caylan was real, it happened,” she explains. Often, too, when they do arrive at Derriford Hospital, they are bearing large cheques. Indeed, the couple have fundraised more or less continuously, ever since Caylan died.

And Charleine says that, if she had not

Charleine today with stepson Matthew, son Ethan and daughter Maia

Tragically, Charleine's baby Caylan died at the age of just 15 weeks

lost her son, she would never have started up her own business in the first place. “I lost him in October 2007, then went to night college in January 2008. Hairdressing was the first course I saw – simple as that. I wanted to be around people who didn’t know me and didn’t ask how I was.

“My other son needed me, I needed to pull myself together. I was on maternity leave with Ethan and it was a hard place. But I just knew I had got to pull myself through it. I had an amazing husband and I knew I had to survive this.”

Happily, Charleine turned out to have a real flair for hairdressing. With the energy and drive that impressed on The Appren-

tice, she continued to work in the Navy for a year while also running her salon, called Maiya’s – named after her daughter but spelled differently.

In person, Charleine is strikingly pretty and beautifully dressed in a peach dress, with impeccable hair and make-up.

When we meet in her pretty hair salon, complete with chandeliers and ornate mirrors, she comes across as friendly, enthusiastic and very down-to-earth. It is little surprise that she did so well on the show – surviving task after task.

“It was a fantastic experience to get to the interview stage and present my business plan. The advice I got was invaluable,” she says.

She was pipped at the post by fellow young entrepreneur Joseph Valente, who won Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment. She has since reined in her over-ambitious plans of moving to London. Instead she is expanding the size of her current salon and 17

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People

Charleine (above) with her parents when she was a youngster in the Navy. Below, in her Plymouth hair salon

I always do the school run in the morning and the kids come to the salon after school. We're very familyfriendly soon to be taking over a second one on the outskirts of Plymouth. “It’s all really exciting. I can’t wait.”

And London’s loss is, surely, Plymouth’s gain. These days, she juggles work with being a hard-working mum to Ethan and Maia. “I always do the school run in the mornings, and then the kids can come into the salon with me after school. I have lots of mums here working. We’re a very familyfriendly business.”

Which brings us to how this busy mum managed when filming The Apprentice.

Does the show really, I ask, insist that contestants live together in one house for the whole process? Didn’t she miss her family?

“It was really tough. Of course, you never know if you are going for one week, or the whole process. In the end, I was there from April last year to June. And when you sign up for it, you have to agree that you will only have one ten-minute phone call home a week.

“The only leeway I had was that I insisted my ten-minute call was FaceTime. I needed actually to see the kids' faces and see for myself that they were all right.”

She was sworn to secrecy by the show’s producers. “I couldn’t tell the kids where I was, as they were so small, there was such a strong risk of them telling people. Scott and I just said to them that I had gone home to Wales to see my mum and dad.

“Mind you, I think everyone at the school gate was convinced Scott and I had split up when he kept saying every week: ‘Yes, Charleine’s still away at her parents’ house.’

They thought I had ditched him. He was inundated with offers of childcare and cook-

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Charleine pictured in her official portrait for The Apprentice

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People

The lowdown

Charleine's views on:

Lord Sugar: I was petrified of Lord Sugar every time in the board room. I have never stuttered in my life but I’d be in the board room stuttering because of the pressure.

Charleine and Scott regularly raise money for children's charities

ing!”

Her account of what it was like to compete in The Apprentice is fascinating. More than 60,000 people applied for the 2015 show and 4,000 were picked to go to mass auditions in Birmingham and London. Charleine was given a minute to pitch her business plan: “They were literally telling people to leave after a minute of talking, but somehow I got through to the next stage.”

Life during the filming process seems extraordinary, too. Charleine tells me that the contestants do, genuinely, have just 20 minutes to be up and ready: “Vana and I got on really well. She and I used to lay out all our clothes the night before and do our hair before we went to bed. Then we would rush to get ready – she’d have the top of the mirror, I’d have the bottom. We knew it was important to be well-turned-out at all times.

“They used to wake us up really early, so they could get that shot of us in bed looking all sleepy.

But on one task, I overheard the production team saying it was a 4am start. They were really cross when I sprang out of bed with full wedding hair!

But life in the house itself was far from easy.

“Luckily I had a great bedroom, sharing with Vana and Ruth. The other girls were all in to-

gether and it was a pigsty, with lots of late nights.

“In fact, we only ever had a cleaner once a week, if that.” Her fellow Plymothian contestant, Brett Butler-Smythe, was also ex-Navy and their training showed: “Brett and I were the only ones to do any cleaning. The house was honestly disgusting at times.”

As for the tasks themselves, Charleine says she, too, found herself shouting at the TV at times. “The thing is, we weren’t allowed to use the internet, we couldn’t phone up anyone who wasn’t on a dedicated list of numbers. If I was watching, I’d be saying: ‘Why don’t you just order it from Argos?’ But they make it difficult for you – that’s the bit you don’t see.”

Even so, Charleine proved herself week after week. She survived right to the last-but-one episode, and left with Lord Sugar’s good wishes ringing in her ears. “I have had a lot of offers, both of investment and other TV opportunities. But I just want to do what’s best now for the salon, the business and my family,” she says simply. And I am quite sure that she will.

Charleine is running The London Marathon for Children with Cancer UK. To donate, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CharleineWain

Since The Apprentice, Charleine is expanding her Plymouth business

Richard: In all honesty, I loved Richard. He’s a great guy and he has a fantastic business.

I need people like him in my life to compete with – he spurred me on. But after each task, we were friends again.

Joseph: Everyone in the house said that myself and Joseph would be in the final. But I knew it would me OR Joseph.

We had both achieved similar things and were at a similar stage with our business. In my heart I knew it was going to be Joseph to win because he had this amazing connection with Lord Sugar.

Selina: It would have been a lot easier to do the process without her. Every reality show needs an idiot and she was ours, but I don’t think the producers realised how poisonous she would be. It was very frustrating when the show was aired and she was selling stories that just weren’t true. I stay well away from her.

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heart and hearth

Burning bright Practicality and efficiency may come first, but heating your home can be a question of style too. Fire up your imagination with Gabrielle Fagan’s hot solutions inter’s baffling dips and dives – ranging from mild to Arctic – and more predicted cold spells ahead, mean it’s important to have effective, versatile heating at home.

While turning up the thermostat on chilly nights is fine, it’s worth looking at other solutions too, in order to maximise warmth, minimise heat-loss (which could be needlessly firing up those energy bills, too) and raise the style stakes as well.

Turn up the heat by following advice on heating solutions from If you don’t have the experts, which are practical, a chimney, your economic, functional and stylish.

A real fire always adds a special hopes of enjoyambience to a room, and serves as ing the crackle a focal point around which everyone can gather. In reality, though, of burning wood a real open fire often isn’t the most needn’t go up in efficient solution because it only smoke warms up the immediate space, with as much as 80% lost up the chimney.

If you don’t have a chimThe psychological and aesthetic ney, your hopes of enjoying benefits can still be worth the inthe crackle of burning wood vestment, though. There’s nothneedn’t go up in smoke, being more cheering on a miserable winter’s day cause with new ethanol fires, you can have all the than a good open fire. AndnChesney’s, a leading beauty, warmth and comfort of a real flame, but supplier of luxury fireplaces and stoves, have a without the need for a chimney or flue. They’re traditional and contemporary range. odour-free and ecologically friendly too, as the

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material’s extracted from plants. They are also relatively economical. Homebase’s ethanol fires include a modern-looking Eton Bio Ethanol Fireplace for only £169.

Gas coal fires, often indistinguishable from the real thing, throw out a surprising amount of heat in my experience, and B&Q’s impressive selection includes a Focal Point Lulworth Manual

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Interiors

Go for sleek style with the Ethanol Fire EFB 1200 from £9,474 from chesneys.co.uk

Control Inset Fire, with a pebble fuel bed, £154.

If you’re all electric, Dimplex’s selection features a Whitmore Opti-myst Inset Fire, with flame and smoke effect, from around £549.99.

Or, why not go for a stove? Once only found in country cottages, woodburners are hugely fashionable these days, sought after for both their look – many are design statements in themselves

– and their eco-friendly credentials.

“Stoves are designed to burn wood, coal or smokeless fuel. As well as heating rooms, some also heat water and a limited number of radiators. All stoves use heat more efficiently and can be lit and produce heat in minutes,” says Nick Sloane, managing director at stove specialists, Jotul UK.

“A stove prevents heat loss up the chimney, even when not lit, and one burning only wood operates at around 80% efficiency, compared to around 15% for an open fire. Burning wood is classed as carbon neutral and burns more cleanly than coal or smokeless fuel. Many models are now approved for burning wood in smoke control areas.”

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Interiors

Morso solid fuel stove, from £1,183 www.morso.co.uk

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Modern stoves, with as much glass as possible for viewing flames, are the hottest choice.

Jotul’s handsome Scan 68 wood Modern stoves, burning stove series, from £1,900, comes with or without side winwith as much dows. glass as possible Danish-designed Morso cast for viewing the iron stoves include an eye-catching S160-32 three-sided stove, flames, are the from £5,050, which would be a hottest choice dramatic room-divider in an open plan area, while a Morso 1418, from £1,183, would suit a more period room.

And stoves are not the only way to bring style into your room. Radiators ceased to be ‘wallflowers’ long ago, when designers – especially in Europe – transformed them into works of art.

“We know these days that people view radiators as far more than just a heat source, and they’re looking for high quality, individual products, which are efficient but also in harmony with the design of the home,” says Nick Duggan, managing director at The Radiator Centre.

“One of our most popular models is The Big One, renowned for its high heat output and strong powerful design. For colour and impact, the funky Mod-u radiator is an outright winner.”

The Big One, made in Italy and renowned for its high heat output, from £785-£2,123, is one of The Radiator Centre’s bestsellers, while for those who like funky colour, the square Mod-u radiator, from £1,500, is hard to beat. This company also has a selection of radiators made from Another way to keep yourself cosy this glass to which any design, image or photo can winter is wrap your windows up warm. Accordbe applied, starting from £695. ing to experts, around a third of a home’s total Vasco’s is another company which is proving heat-loss escapes through windows and doors radiators rock, and its Carre Half-Round radia– so double glazing is a sound investment, or tor, with curved towel rail, from £1,392, is draconsider draught-proofing or try heavy drapes matic in carmine red. or shutters.

Mod-u radiator from £476 www. theradiatorcentre.com

Scan 68 woodburning stove £1,900 jotuluk.com

Duette blinds claim to help lower heating bills by up to 25% by preventing heat-loss, with their insulating honeycomb design.

Shutters are another way to keep warmth in I have these and they are effective - and there are some brilliant ranges around at competitive prices.

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15/02/2016 16:09:06

Gardens

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Lily love Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, shares hard-won experience of persuading arum lilies to flower n any given week, to be the plant’s way of correcting there is always one the water and mineral levels inside plant in the Swithintheir leaves. bank household that Some lucky readers might sucshines out. As the Daphne odora ceed in growing massive specimens has been blooming for weeks now of arum lilies, producing enviand the witch hazel fading, this able quantities of summer flowers. week’s prize goes to a potted speci- I’ve seen them in warm, sheltered men of Zantedeschia aethiopica places like a courtyard in Seaton, blooming in our sitting room. This on the lane leading down to Polkis the arum or calla lily prized for erris in Cornwall and in the white the large, brilborders at the Eden liant white spathe Project. But try as that surrounds we might (and we Zantedeschias the central spadix did, year after year, are from South on which small, in pots, planted insignificant flowout, protected from Africa and ers open. This winter frost by upmine cling grew outdoors turned buckets, stubbornly to all summer, was left, lifted) my late moved into the mother and I never their Southern frost free porch in managed to flower Hemisphere autumn and came them well outside. into the house I guess our gardens habits only as the flower were just a bit too spike rose. Every cold and the plants time I come down knocked back most the stairs, my eye is drawn to the winters to a point from which they elegance of bright green, heart- couldn’t recover sufficiently to shaped leaves, each of which bears bloom. a drop of glistening water at its tip.

Zantedeschias are originally This secretion of water droplets is from South Africa and mine cling a phenomenon known as guttation stubbornly to their Southern Hemand only certain members of the isphere habits. I can make them plant kingdom do it, notably the flower during winter and spring by arum tribe, grasses and alchemilla potting them, letting them estab(Ladies mantle). These beads of lish outdoors during summer and moisture are produced from pores then bringing them under cover as known as hydrathodes and appear the weather grows cold. They need

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This week’s gardening tips Anne’s advice for your garden to be kept bright, cool and airy until the flower spikes emerge and then I display them on a stand in a cool, bright corner of the living room. These plants are poisonous, so take care if toddlers, puppies or kittens are at large. This regime is similar to how we used to grow them for glasshouse display at RHS Wisley. Arum lilies will grow in water as marginal plants too, standing up to 30cm/12in deep.

The only place we have succeeded in establishing a clump is down in what we call The Wilderness at the bottom of our plot. The only plus point here is shelter and warmth, as otherwise the soil is heavy clay, waterlogged for most of the year and shaded by trees. The variety ‘Pink Marshmallow’ clings on here and manages to flower well once every three or four years. In between, I suspect conditions are either too wet,

cold or both and the larger tubers rot away leaving a wait while the smaller ones regrow.

Other calla lilies such as Arum elliottiana and numerous hybrids generally smaller and with a lively palette of flower colours (maroon, dark purple, yellow, pink, mango) follow a different regime. These will have died back in the autumn and their tubers rested dry and frost free in their pots until now. If you have some, this (or next month) is the time to gently extract them from their pots, note the tiny sprouting shoots in the slight hollow in the top of the tuber and repot into well-draining compost (add a little grit to your usual mix). Water in well, then let the surface dry out before waterings while they gradually sprout in a bright, frost free place. I prefer to start them fresh every year, as this gets rid of old compost full of last year’s dead roots.

Question time with Anne West reader queries answered by Anne Swithinbank

Q

We have a mature strelitzia in a large pot in our conservatory. It is thriving but outgrowing its pot. Can it be divided into two pots?

Eventually, strelitzias or bird of paradise become clumps, so look to check that the plant has two more sections. I’d wait until about April, then take it out of the pot. This might not be easy but take your time to ease roots way from the sides and try laying the plant down and knocking the pot backwards to loosen it away. There will be a mass of fleshy roots and you might well need an old, long kitchen knife to cut between the sections. I’ve used a lawn half moon edging iron in the past. Don’t worry, they are very tough and quickly recover. Clean away dead or damaged roots, then pot the sections into 50:50 John Innes no 2 and soilless potting compost.

Q

I would like to establish some bluebells in a wooded part of my garden. I can get some from a friend’s garden, but when would be the best time?

I suspect the very best time would be, as for snowdrops, towards the end of summer and beginning of autumn just as they wake up and start back into growth again. You have to be very organised to remember where they are, as there will be no sign of them above ground. The second best time is just as the flowers start to fade, in other words lifting and moving them ‘in the green’. They are probably far deeper in the soil than you imagine, so dig down and replant in small clumps. Our lovely native bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta is at risk of being changed by hybridising with the larger-flowered Spanish bluebell. Sometimes the hybrids are hard to distinguish but a true bluebell has flowers on one side of the stem and the pollen is creamy white, while that of the Spanish sort is blue.

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

• Sow globe artichokes. The seeds are large and easy to handle.

Space them out over the surface of seed compost in a pot, cover with compost to their own depth and place in a warm propagating case or on a windowsill.

Transplant silvery seedlings one per 9cm pot. They look great in flower borders as well as veg plots.

• Order new pelargoniums to arrive later as plug

plants. There are many sorts, from double hybrids, to scented leaved and species, to coloured leaves and miniatures.

Whether they’re for bedding, windowsills, greenhouse or tubs, all are lovely.

• Sow an alpine strawberry variety such as ‘Mignonette’. The plants will yield small but delicious aromatic fruits ready to sprinkle on yoghurt or cereal.

Feed blueberry plants with a fertilizer for acid loving plants and mulch the surface with ericaceous compost or composted bark.

Prune away any old, unproductive stems to encourage new ones.

Garden looking dull?

Go shopping for a few spring flowering plants, maybe pulmonaria, Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’, primula and bulbs with a fern or evergreen to set them off and set them up in a container.

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Beauty Full volume Benefit Bad Gal Mascara (Boots £17.50) I have been using this for the past eight weeks and I love it. It gives my lashes volume and it doesn’t dry out.

[[ It is all about the brush with mascara, and working with the lashes you’ve got

Divide and rule The Body Shop Divide and Multiply £11 The wand on this mascara is great for fine lashes, giving length and volume, and separating lashes.

Abbie’s

Underneath Benefit They’re Real Tinted Primer (Boots £18.50) This can be worn alone for a natural look or underneath your favourite mascara for that wow factor.

Beauty box Expert advice from beauty guru Abbie Bray of Newton Abbot

Thrifty find MUA Eye define and Volume (Superdrug £4) I was surprised at how good this was and it is great value for money. It did dry up quickly, but for that price I didn’t mind.

As women, we all want to know which mascara is going to be the best for our lashes. We have all been there, browsing at a beauty counter with too many to choose from, bombarded by different brands claiming to give that false lash effect. In my experience, though, it is all about the brush with mascaras and working with the lashes you have got. Don’t try to make them something they are not; too much mascara is not a good look.

Bigger brushes are great for those lucky enough to have full, long lashes as the brush covers the lash in one sweep without that clogging effect. If you have got fine lashes, though, avoid mascaras with big brushes as they hold on to a lot of product which can clump the lashes. Go for a slimmer wand. And, whatever lashes you have, start with a lash primer.

These really are great maximising the benefits of your mascara.

Wonder stuff Clarins Wonder Perfect Mascara (Debenhams £21.50) This is great for lengthening the lashes.

My mum loves it as she has fine lashes and it worked well in giving them a lift.

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Cardigan £99, T-shirt £39, jeans £79, sandals £129 Mint Velvet

Folk flair hen it comes to ringing the sartorial changes, there’s nothing like having a theme to build your new look around. The fashion on these pages all has an old-time Americana vibe, a great look to welcome spring.

There are Aztec prints aplenty, but also demure dresses, checked shirts, leather handbags and shearling texture in both jackets and boots linings. Boots are sufficiently sturdy to cope with rough terrain, but feminine enough to partner a dress and fishnets for an outing to the bar. Denim is a big part of the look too. We love this bird print blouse with denim skirt from La Redoute.

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Dress £26, sandals £45, duffle bag £25 Simply Be

Aztec print coat down to £39.50 from £79, dress down to £19.50 from £39 Joy

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Fashion

Jacket £38 Little Mistress

Blanket coat £89 Monsoon

Skirt £24.99 H&M

Saddle bag £25 Accessorize

B lo u se £3 9

L a Red o u te

Duffle bag £38 Simply Be

Shirt £49 La Redoute

Check Shirt £30 Next

Knitted cuff boots £29.99 New Look 31

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Trend

HOW TO WEAR IT:

Colour clash MAIN PHOTO HAIR: LILY AT SAKS, EXETER MAKE-UP: CLARINS, DEBENHAMS (BOTH PRINCESSHAY) PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE HAYWOOD ASSISTED BY ELLIE JONES & SOPHIE WHITING

Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod discovers brighter days lie ahead olour is the new black, and just in time for the first hint of spring.

As I write this the sun is pouring in through our big office windows.

It’s delightful but ever so deceiving as the minute I set my foot out the door to get a lunchtime baguette the tip of my nose nearly fell off. It’s about time I got an assistant. I’d especially love a quirky one, like Bubble from AbFab. Until then, I’m left to fend for myself.

It’s a slightly tricky time of year, but this trend is perfect for navigating it. The brightening days mean I feel a bit more reluctant to dip into my trusty pile of blacks and grey layers. Flowers are starting to bloom, which means I want a chance to blossom too.

Colour clashing is this season’s colour blocking. Long story short, think bright and bold.

Don’t panic, this doesn’t mean you have to gallop straight out of your comfort zone and into fuchsia trousers, a zesty yellow It’s one part billowy blouse and lime green (faux) polar fedora. We want to be more coquette than clown, so here’s how. bear, one part Upgrade your denim. This is a Jackson Pollock great opportunity to go for a pair of jeans that are a wonderful and one part indigo hue. Just this one simple Edina from Ab trick could put you firmly on Fab the path to being a colour clash champion. What was a simple jeans and bright blouse combo will suddenly take on a whole new dimension. Worried that the brighter denim won’t have the same longevity? Fear not, a simple You don’t need to turn your back on patterns packet of dye can transform them into a deeper either. An emerald green cropped coat and royal inky hue should you decide you prefer a more purple harem pants can be brought together with classic approach in a few months’ time. a Liberty print blouse that has flecks of them A good way to avoid looking like you have gone both. colour-blind is to take care over your silhouette. I A good gateway ensemble is to find a truly trilove the idea of a well-cut fuchsia pencil shirt with umphant bottom half, a midi skirt with psychedela fun grape blazer. When your clothes are well ic swirls, say, or a pair of sapphire blue trousers, cut, it leaves little doubt that you have dressed deand wear them with a crisp white blouse and a liberately and can give you the much needed constatement necklace in another shade. You’ll feel fidence boost to try even brighter colours. more like yourself when you leave the house, and

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Shoes, River Island, Princesshay, £55 Bag, River Island, Princesshay, £20 Jeans, River Island, Princesshay, £40 Top, River Island, Princesshay, £32 Coat, Karen Millen, Princesshay, £399

the compliments which I pretty much guarantee will come your way will act as incentive to take the look a step further next time.

While out browsing at lunch I cracked the problem of warmth plus wow factor. This Karen Millen coat is one part polar bear (faux, naturally), one part Jackson Pollock, and another part Edina from Ab Fab. I’m a step closer to the dream, and I couldn’t be happier, sweeties!

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

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Ribbed jumper £95 KAREN MILLEN

Blue bomber £24.99 NEW LOOK

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Yellow sleeveless longline jacket £52 RIVER ISLAND

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16/02/2016 13:10:13

Triple thrill Up-and-coming choreographer Richard Chappell will bring a triple bill of adrenalinfuelled dance to the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth on Tuesday, February 23. The performance, which starts at 7.30pm features three pieces, including new work Burnt Norton, which journeys through poet T.S. Eliot’s poem of the same title, with music composed by Samuel Hall. There’s also IRIS, a dark torch-lit piece inspired by London’s club culture, pictured, and The Vast Rocks, which sees dancers tumble about on stage amid the hay. The last piece is inspired by Dartmoor – Richard grew up in Paignton, and started his dance career in Plymouth. Young dancers from the venue’s Company b Dance have worked with Richard to provide the curtain-raiser to the evening.

Tickets £8 (£5 concessions) from www.barbicantheatre.co.uk or 01752 267131.

culture vulture Our guide to what’s on in the South West by woman-in-theknow Sarah Pitt

A voyage in song

Don’t -miss Dahl Witches absolutely detest children. They find them revolting and are planning to wipe them out like weasels! They want to squish them and squiggle them and make them disappear. But one brave young boy and his grandmother have a plan to get

rid of the witches for good… if they can avoid being turned into mice.

Roald Dahl’s scariest children’s book, The Witches, will be at the Hall for Cornwall next week, adapted for the stage in the year which marks 100 years since his birth. The entertaining hit with the

critics, adapted by David Wood and directed by Nikolai Foster, is for all aged seven and upwards.

The Witches is at 2pm and 7pm from Tuesday to Saturday, February 23-27. See www. hallforcornwall.co.uk or call 01872 262466.

A new work for choir and orchestra inspired by a book of Saxon poetry will be heard for the first time at Exeter Cathedral in March. The Seafarer by Andrew Millington will be performed by the Exeter Philharmonic Choir and a full orchestra in a sea-themed concert on March 12. Andrew was Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral from 1999 to 2015 and has been leading the choir since 2003. While researching texts to use for his composition, he remembered the Exeter Book, a Saxon text kept in the Cathedral library which includes a piece called The Seafarer.

The music it inspired is part of a programme which also includes Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony.

The concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets, £22-£12 from Exeter Visitor Information box office on 01392 665885 or on the door on the night. See www.exephil.org.uk

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Wellbeing

the boost

Life just got better. We’ve handpicked the latest wellness trends, best-body secrets and expert advice to help you be your best self, everyday

Don’t stress the stress It’s not the severity of stress we endure that harms us, says Dr Jenny Brockis in new book, Future Brain (Wiley, £14.95). Rather it’s the worrying about the toll of stress on our health that can cause the biggest impact, “It’s not the stress itself that is the issue, but how you view or share it with others,” she says. “Putting our feelings into words helps to dissipate some of the emotional intensity we experience. ‘Reframing’ can also help us move away from negative appraisal of a situation.”

PUT YOUR PINNY ON How adorable does two-time World Champion boxer Amir Khan look in this apron designed by Orla Kiely?

Find them (£12.99) at TK Maxx in aid of Sport Relief, which takes place between March 18 and 20. There are lots of fun active challenges taking place across the region (find one near you at www.sportrelief.com). But whatever your ability, as Amir proves, anyone can don a pinny to champion this brilliant cause.

Petal perfect Rose & Co counts Kate Winslet and Paris Hilton among the celebrity fans of its fragrant Petal Salve (£3.99, www.graftonsbeauty.co.uk). Use it as a lip gloss, lipstick primer, cheekbone enhancer, and even cuticle balm.

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Bounce happy

Wonder potion

Discover your inner cheerleader, keep fit and have fun with pom-poms at Amy Robinson’s Cheerobics sessions for ages 16+ from 6pm on Sundays at the MF Studio in Torquay. The studio also offers Bollywood dance fitness classes and other happy-making ways to keep fit at various times through the week, too. Find out more at www. so-street.co.uk

Vitamin A derivative Retinol is hailed as an anti-ageing skincare miracle – but only if it’s used correctly. With a shelf life of around six months, it’s important to pay attention to the use-by date on your products containing the ingredient, or they really will time out. It’s also important to ensure products contain a protective SPF, as protect your skin, as Retinol makes skin more sensitive to the sun.

SUPPORT WITH STYLE This high-impact sports bra (£69.95) by American brand Le Mystere not only looks good, but has been engineered to give you great support. It’s newly available in the UK in sizes 30 to 40FF, with padded straps and memory foam cups to ensure you work out in comfort with confidence.

Healthy Italia The nation went mad for spiralizer gadgets last year, turning our favourite veg into nutritious and low calorie spaghetti. Now, popular eaterie Bella Italia’s got in on the act and created four tasty menu options containing under 300 calories, substituting pasta with carrot, golden beetroot and courgette spirals topped with tasty sauces.

No need to blow the diet, then!

What’s coming up? Tweet us your wellbeing diary dates

@WMNWest or email westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk 37

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Wellbeing

Work rules Find the balance My partner puts his work before our family life. He works more than ten hours a day, sometimes bringing that work home in the evening, but more often than not just staying late in the office. He’s often not home until gone 9pm, long after I’ve put our two young daughters to bed. I feel like a single parent a lot of the time. When I suggest that he could ease up, he says his job could be at risk if he does. I don’t think this is true. What can I do to persuade him that he’s got the balance wrong?

Q

Tricia Moore says: A relationship is much more than the sum of two people getting along together. Over time it becomes an entity of its own, which grows healthily if it is fed and maintained by both partners. Each may contribute differently, but whether or not they are contributing equally to the relationship is often down to perception of fairness. To get the balance right, couples need to discuss and agree what they expect from each other.

This agreement often happens easily at the beginning of a relationship, but needs to be updated as times and situations change. A growing family and financial pressures are essential times for renegotiation. But this very situation has created a distance between you; there’s little time to talk and you are left feeling like ‘a single parent.’

Generations ago, society’s customs dictated that father went out to work and mother stayed at home. It was rather inflexible and not always very satisfying, but at least everyone knew what was expected of them.

Although customs have changed, biological conditioning has not necessarily changed in the same way, and there are still differences in the way men and women think about their roles in a family. While women typically rate quality time together, men can still feel that their best way of putting the family first is to work harder.

So you are looking for more family time together and your partner is staying later at work; not because he doesn’t care about the family but, in a typically male way, because he does!

Understanding this last point is important

because when you approach the conversation again, a few words of genuine appreciation for his efforts will create the right atmosphere for effective discussion. Then you can express your feelings of sadness and loneliness when you’re on your own for so long. If he’s confident in your support, he may be able to share his feelings about having to miss the important times with your daughters, as well as any fears he may have about job security. These moments of sharing can create trust, emotional intimacy and nourishment for the relationship, so you can discuss how to build in more quality time as a couple and a family and your relationship will be enriched.

Good luck!

Tricia Moore is a counsellor for the national charity Marriage Care based in Plymouth, www.marriagecare.org.uk

Making time to talk: • Choose your time carefully – book it if necessary.

• Create a peaceful and tender atmosphere.

• Avoid anything that sounds like criticism of his long hours – that will shut the conversation down.

• Describe your feelings and what you would like, rather than what you want him to do.

• Invite him to do the same.

• Agree to stick to the decisions you make.

• Have another session like this in a few weeks to see how you’re both feeling.

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16/02/2016 15:07:25

Drink

Beer of the week If you see a beer from Great Heck Brewery, in Yorkshire, as a guest in your local give it a try. I’ve yet to be disappointed by this fine outfit and their Treasure IPA (4.8% ABV) is indeed a jewel in the crown, with delicious citrusy American hops and a lovely dry finish.

HIGH FLYER Great to see that fine Cornish export, Tribute Ale, is now available on overseas British Airways flights. St Austell tied up a deal which will see the beer become part of a ‘best of British’ food and drink package on the airline from next month.

Fruity and warming

I love the way modern brewers think. Totnes Brewing Company, for instance, is warming drinkers at the moment with Ink (5% ABV), a pomegranate porter. I’m planning a Totnes trip and looking forward to trying this.

Darren Norbury

talks beer m standing in the Greyfriar bar in ABV) make sure you do if you see it. These casks Reading drinking a swift half of Viinvariably end up in Cornish pubs such as the brant Forest Pale Ale, hopped with Star in Crowlas, the other Star in Vogue, or the Mosaic, from the New Forest. I’m Front in Falmouth. there just before the Vibrant Forest boys are due Another trip to Reading might be in order as to conduct a tap takeover, but there appear to be several other I’m not staying because this is good pubs to try there. I’ll hitch just one stop in a very long day. a ride on the van, next time it’s It’s not, as I suspect you think, a going, and return home on the Alan Hinde’s pub crawl. No, I’m on the Coasttrain. Not everyone is lucky van rarely al Brewery delivery van and enough to be able to get out to we’re delivering Cornish beer to pubs all over the place like I do, comes back the Thames corridor. but when you can, do try explorempty, with To declare my interest, I have ing a bit, perhaps even just to the casks that an office in Coastal’s associated next town. By bus or train, of Cornwall Specialist Beer bottle course. Driving to a pub is never invariably end shop and do a bit of marketing the best idea. up in Cornish for them. Sometimes, though, The Government appears to be pubs it’s nice to jump on the weekly considering lowering the drinkbrewery dray and see some of driving limit, to just about a the pub landscape outside of the pint of beer. I can see the public South West. health motive here, but this Coastal owner Alan Hinde loads up his van could be the death knell for more village pubs, each week and head off on runs to customers anwhich would be a tragedy. Most people I know ywhere from west London and Yorkshire to the who drive to pubs are pretty sensible. I can’t see North West and West Midlands, where the beers that lowering the drink-drive limit from 80 to are very popular.

50mg is going to change the habits of the idiots His van rarely comes back empty, either. On who continually test their luck. board this time, we had some casks of beer from the White Horse Brewery, in Oxfordshire (if Darren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk you’ve never tried their Village Idiot bitter (4.1% @beertoday

I’

[[

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Eat

Ingredient of the Week

Rapeseed oil with Tim Maddams

hen it comes to oil for cooking there Cold-pressed ‘extra virgin’ rapeseed oil is full are so many choices, so my rule is of flavour. I love it, although for some, it can be a to allow your taste buds to lead the bit of an aquired taste. way, with a few basic rules in mind.

It’s ideal for making the odd salad dressing, Firstly, the purpose: for example, or try rubbing a little on the outside of a steak if you’re deep or shallow frying prior to cooking. As with any oil, some fish fillets at high temperathough, you’ll need a lower-grade ture, you’ll need oil with what rape oil for proper frying. we call a high smoke point. This Oil-based sauces such as mayRapeseed oil means the oil has a high purity onnaise are best made using will make for rating (although a lower nutrient a little extra virgin good stuff, value) and will not smoke like a blended with the more inexan ‘interesting’ demon when you’re cooking. pensive stuff to prevent the flamayo, if you Stick with clear oils such as sunvour becoming overpoweringly don’t keep flower or corn oil for high-temstrong. Rapeseed or hemp oil will perature frying and save the more certainly make for a rather ‘inan eye on the cloudy, flavoursome and nutrient teresting’ mayo if you don’t keep precentages dense varieties such as olive oil an eye on the percentages. for lower temperature cooking Whichever oil you choose is uland dressings. timately up to you but it will have Of all the cooking oils, rapeseed an impact on the flavour, parhas seen the biggest growth in the UK marketticularly in the case of slow-cooked dishes with place in the last decade, although coconut oil (and plenty of oil in them, such as ragu. even cotton oil) are becoming more common, too.

W

[[

Pigeon Pigeons love rapeseed plants and seeds and I love eating pigeons, so the two for me make a happy combination.

Beekeepers hate rapeseed, a member of the brassica (cabbage) family, as as it makes for rubbish honey, but wood pigeons can’t get enough of it.

Try simply frying a few pigeon breasts in a little rapeseed oil and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice and some wild garlic leaves. Delicious. @TimGreenSauce

Tim Maddams is a Devon chef and author of Game: River Cottage Handbook no. 15 (Bloomsbury £14.99) 41

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15/02/2016 15:18:27

Enjoy A WEEKEND IN THE...

Tamar Valley

Pentillie Castle

nown for its stunning views all year round, the beautiful Tamar Valley has lovely scenery, historic mining treasures and acts as a very pictureseque border between Devon and Cornwall. This World Heritage Site is perfect for nature walks and days out for the whole family.

K

The River Tamar at dawn

Stay: In a luxury four-poster bed at the fairytale Pentillie Castle (www.pentillie.co.uk). Family-run, the castle is set in 200 acres of grounds and offers five-star B&B from £145 per room. You can also try a cream tea (£8.50) or full afternoon tea (£16.50) and the owners can supply picnic hampers and light suppers for guests.

Eat:

Pentillie Castle has won the Breakfast

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The Dewhurst bedroom, Pentillie Castle

Golf at St Mellion

the world’s premier golf centres, with one of its courses designed by none other than Jack Nicklaus. You can stay the night, too, with golf breaks starting from £109. You don’t need to be a member to enjoy a round of golf here, with green fees from £20. Not only does St Mellion offer golf packages, there are spa treatments and state of the art fitness facilities too – perfect for a weekend visit.

Visit: Morwellham

Quay is a charming tourist attraction on the River Tamar. The historic site is an award-winning attraction, part of a World

Award from both the AA and Visit England so you’ll be sure of a good breakfast. For your evening meal, meanwhile, head upriver to Gulworthy, where chef Scott Paton cooks up a storm in the lovely former manor house The Horn of Plenty (www.hornofplenty.co.uk).

Do: Why not visit Cotehele, now owned by The National Trust? There are superb gardens to explore and the Tudor house is certainly one to remember, filled with armour, oak furniture and tapestries. There are miles of wooded paths, a valley garden and two orchards to explore on your walks here. You can also visit the Old Quay, which sits on the River Tamar.

Try: St

Cotehele Mellion International Resort is one of

Food at The Horn of Plenty

Heritage site, featuring an historic port, village, copper mine and railway, four miles west of Tavistock. Discover a lost world with the help of the interactive living history team, including a narrow-gauge mine railway and trips deep underground into Victorian copper mines. On a lighter note, you can try on Victorian costumes and there is a fun Mother’s Day craft fair here on Sunday March 6. Visit www.morwellham-quay. co.uk for details. A family ticket for four is £32.95 if bought online in advance.

Shop: Todd’s in Tavistock offers an enticing variety of gifts and collectables, perfect for a memento to take home with you. While you are in Tavistock, be sure to visit the legendary Country Cheeses shop, stocking an encyclopedic range of Westcountry cheese, visit www.countrycheeses. co.uk

By Sophie Whiting 43

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16/02/2016 13:17:08

Tarquin Leadbetter of Tarquin’s Gin

Seahorse seafood

My Secret Westcountry

My favourite...

Tipple: Tarquin’s gin [distilled in Wadebridge]

Walk: It has to be the view of the Camel Estu-

with Fever-Tree tonic water and lots of lime. We also have a gin, rosemary and orange cocktail at the Inn which is delicious.

ary, looking towards the Doom Bar. If you look at my Instagram account, you’ll spot photographs of the same view in every season.

Emily Scott Chef Emily Scott owns and heads the kitchen at the St Tudy Inn on Bodmin, where she lives with her children, Oscar, Finn and Evie, their black labrador Monty and Inca, the cocker spaniel

Beach: I spend a lot of time at Daymer Bay, and went to Porthilly Cove a lot when I was growing up, a beautiful place.

Festival: Port Eliot Festival is wonderful – I went last summer. Somersault at Castle Hill, north Devon, is one I would love to go to.

Food: For me, it depends on the time of year and what ingredients are about. I’m already looking forward to wild garlic in spring and then the asparagus isn’t far behind. Cornish Sea Salt is also an essential in my kitchen.

Pub: The Gurnard’s Head near Zennor, for the location. It’s a real escape down there.

Restaurant: That’s a difficult one. The Seahorse in Dartmouth is one of my favourites – I admire Mitch Tonks. And I always enjoy the Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow and Fifteen Cornwall.

Way to relax: I like to walk and just be by the sea. I’ve also recently started spending more time in the kitchen garden growing things.

Overnight stay: The Gurnard’s Head. I like their Sunday Sleepover – it feels quite decadent

44

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People The Gurnard’s Head

St Moritz’s Cowshed Spa

Somersault Festival waking up there on a Monday morning when you should be at work!

Shop: Chris Prindl pottery near Lanhydrock I’m always quite happy to be bought something by him! Acorn Antiques in Wadebridge is great for a browse and I get most of my furniture for the Inn from there.

Treat: Going out for supper. Being cooked for is a real treat because I tend to be on the other side. A treatment at the Cowshed Spa at the St Moritz Hotel is another luxury.

‘Secret’ place: Lundy Bay – it’s so secret I always forget the name! I always used to go there for picnics when the children were little.

When I’m not here, I miss…: Living by the sea. www.sttudyinn.com 45

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15/02/2016 16:38:36

My life

man and boy

Belly laughs Phil Goodwin’s son James, five, prompts a weighty issue

I

[

was half a stone heavier than even I thought I was and a full stone over what my brother calls my “five-a-side” football weight.

I sought official advice. According to the NHS online health calculator I am 10kg above my fighting weight. Indeed, the nannying, accusing arrow hovered perilously close to the orange land of the grossly fat: I was nearly part of the feared “obesity epidemic”.

Immediate action was called for. Naturally, being a bloke this meant faddy diets and even WeightWatchers were out of the question. There was only one thing for it: back to the bike, back to the gym and a serious scaling back of intake. It isn’t so hard, really. I just drew up a list of all the stuff I love – you know, like beer, bread, pasta, cakes, croissants and so on, and stopped eating them.

I also completely cut additional sugar out of my diet, just like that.

Once you get used to the idea of never enjoying a meal, cup of tea or coffee again for the rest of your life, it’s more or less fine.

In my slightly hunger-altered state, I began to ponder on the words of the great William Blake, who once wrote that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. Seems like it had taken me to the House of Pain; maybe the Castle of Craving. Anyway, after three weeks trying to burn off the spare tyre, I had sweated off about six pounds. Seems a poor return, given the effort, but this maybe is a factor of age. It must be borne in mind that all has been achieved while constantly cooking meals for, and serving up treats to, young James, who puts away his dinner, dessert, then a brioche roll, followed by fruit, then maybe a bag of cheese crackers. It is hard going but I am determined to carry on.

The drum kit jibe was too much. I just can’t take that kind of stick. Not from the boy. Roll on summer.

‘Big, fat drum kit belly,’ he taunted. A bit harsh, I thought, but realised he had a point

[

main picture: Steve Haywood

have been driven to go on a diet this year after a stinging insult from my young son. Shame, it seems, is a great motivator. This is how it all started. While showering one evening the lad burst into the bathroom and started messing about, decided he was having his daily wash too and stripped down to muscle in. As I stood there enjoying the warm water, he bashed out a beat on my stomach with his fists, playfully, but hard enough.

I didn’t mind the physical attack but I have to admit the vocals to the song were quite painful to hear. “Big, fat drum kit belly,” he taunted, followed by howls of laughter. A bit harsh, I thought, but looking down, I realised he had a point. Where my rippling sixpack ought to have been – a tight, little snare drum, to follow the analogy – I had indeed assembled a full kit: side-by-side bass drums, tom-toms… maybe even a couple of bongos on the side. Something Keith Moon might have carted around in the glory days of The Who. I had a serious case of excess baggage. It seems a winter of inactivity with too much typing and not enough cycling had taken a grim toll. It was obscene. You could almost rest a pint of beer on its top ledge. Something had to be done.

Now, I am not one of those naturally skinny guys who can stand in the pub all day throwing back drinks and polish off a kebab on the way without gaining an ounce in weight. Hollow legs, as they used to say. My default position is in the opposite direction. I like my food, have always been fond of a drink and tend to carry a bit of excess timber. When I dusted down the scales and climbed on, I was shocked to see I 46

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