West Magazine June 28

28.06.15

‘I aim to inspire’ Newquay’s Corinne Evans wants to get you surfing

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smart ways to upgrade your life

+ WIN A £175 SURFBOARD

INSIDE: + WILD FOOD

FORAGING

+ SUMMER

SKIN SOS + FINDING LOVE IN FALMOUTH PLUS: + HEALTHY BREAKFAST + TENNIS WHITES

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You could live 10 years longer with healthier gums

Gum disease significantly increases your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke and it's the biggest cause of tooth loss in the over 40’s. Is it time you saw a gum expert?

Dr Ben Pearson

“Many people start to show gum disease in their mid-30s and by the time they get to 45-50 they’re starting to see more of it. It’s probably the most prevalent disease in mankind – it’s utterly huge, and it’s an undertreated aspect of dentistry”

Did you know you could live 10 years longer and keep your teeth for the rest of your life if your gum disease was treated properly?

Gum disease exists in 83% of adults and is harming your health by increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke. It is the main cause of tooth loss in the over 40’s and yet it is entirely treatable.

That’s why the world of dentistry is changing, and Life Dental & Wellbeing in Exeter is leading that change.

Principal Dentist Dr Ben Pearson is passionate about reducing his patients’ risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other common life shortening conditions.

83% of adults have gum disease He has extensive experience in periodontology (the study of gum health) and performs health checks on his patients to show them healthier gums really do mean better general health.

About Dr Ben Pearson Former Royal Naval dentist Dr Ben Pearson is a member of the British Society of Periodontology, the British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine and the British Dental Association.

He is passionate about helping his patients achieve optimal oral and general health.

Why choose Life Dental & Wellbeing? > Open evenings and weekends, with hours to suit you > Affordable treatment and payment plans to spread the cost of your care, with 0% finance for some treatments > All Life Dental & Wellbeing work is guaranteed for five years > See our dietician and wellbeing coach > Health checks for all new patients and free Dental Health Checks for life > All routine and complex dental work is carried out in state of the art surgeries using the very latest dental technologies.

Dr Pearson also provides patients with a dietician and a wellbeing coach to treat other sources of ill health such as poor diet and sleep apnoea.

All patients who join a Life Care Plan receive free Dental Health Checks for the rest of their life and benefit from affordable care with 0% finance available for some treatments. Patients can spread the cost of their care with payment plans and all work is guaranteed for five years.

Life Dental & Wellbeing is open evenings and weekends and invites new patients to enjoy a healthier, longer life.

TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT > Call: 01392 278843 > Email: info@lifedentalandwellbeing.co.uk > Visit: lifedentalandwellbeing.co.uk for further information 31 Queen Street, Exeter EX4 3SR | info@lifedentalandwellbeing.co.uk | 01392 278843 Untitled-6 2

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‘We knew we were going to get married with a few weeks of meeting each other. We had found the one’ Art and romance combine on page 12 today

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MADE WITH LOVE An artistic romance in Falmouth

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GEORDIE, SURE How to speak Cheryl’s language

WHITE HOT Cool fashion for warm days

[contents[ Inside this week...

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THE WISHLIST The loveliest things to buy this week

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NEW BABY, NEW WORLD

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WEST IN PICTURES

Our columnist on a life-changing arrival Wild poppies, fresh coffee and more...

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BORIS ON EXMOOR

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Uncovering Mr Johnson’s rural roots

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MADE WITH LOVE Art and romance meet in Falmouth

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PERFECT POOL The Cornish cottage with so much more

SURFER GIRL The surf goddess seeking to help others

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LUXURY COTTAGE Cool Cornish interiors

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BEAUTY Reviews, treats and more

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WHITE HOT Cool fashion for warm days

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SAVING FACE How to revive sun-baked skin

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DARTMOOR CALLING What to do, where to go

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SEASHORE FORAGING Tim Maddams gathers wild food

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THE BEER EXPERT Darren Norbury sups up

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MAN & BOY Phil Goodwin wants some answers

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HEALTHY BREAKFAST The recipe you can’t resist

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SUMMER LEATHER We play hide and chic

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[

[

POOL LIFE

The Cornish cottage with a luxury setting

[ welcome [ Summer’s here, and so are we!

If you’re in a sunshine mood this weekend, look no further for a real celebration of just how wonderful it is to live in the Westcountry at this time of year.

First up, we’ve got a fascinating interview with Newquay’s Corinne Evans, a young surfer who is busy encouraging women of all ages, shapes and sizes to have a go at riding the waves.

As Corinne, 27, says, everyone can try surfing, and she regularly teaches women from the ages of six to sixty. Find out how she juggles this with her busy life as a surf model on page 16 today. And if you’re tempted to have a go, we’ve got a £175 surfboard to win in today’s magazine - see opposite for details.

[

Tweet

of the week @WMNWest Read the incredible story behind Miss Cornwall’s lovely smile Eds note: Beautiful, and brave!

In other pages this week, our wonderful gardening expert Anne Swithinbank finds much to inspire her at the Eden Project - but outside the biomes. In the gardens lining the slopes of the former claypit, she gets lots of ideas for plants that can survive hot, dry conditions - with the warm weather we’ve had lately, you’ll want to follow her advice.

We’ve also got some terrific foodie inspiration in the pages of West this week. Ally Mac, our health guru, is making bircher muesli with a twist on page 35, while TV’s Tim Maddams goes foraging on the seashore on page 44. We’ve also got a fabulous weekend break offer on page 43 - check it out!

It’s a celebration of how wonderful life is at this time of year

[

Becky Sheaves, Editor

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

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...

The Original Surfboard Company, based in Newquay, sells British-made wooden surfboards. They’re a great way to recapture the glamour and fun of the days when old-school wooden boards were the most stylish accessory on the beach.

Win

We are lucky enough to have the company’s top spec Atlantic Stripe board, worth £175, to give away. For your chance to win, just email us your name, address and phone number, with Atlantic Stripe as the subject, to westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk by July 19 at the latest. Normal terms apply.

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TICK TOCK Stanley alarm clock £22 www.cathkidston.com

Put the kettle on These coffee cups are decorated in prints inspired by Indian blockwork £8.50 each www.berryred.co.uk

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

Store we adore...

Jaz Interiors

This gorgeous shop in Ivybridge stocks French-inspired furniture and bits and pieces, including wooden frames for displaying old photographs and unusual doorknobs to lift the look of a plain chest of drawers. The delightfully-scented Marseille soap comes in many evocative scents, which will whisk you off to a sc-laden Mediterranean garden.

Jaz Interiors is at 16 Fore Street, Ivybridge PL21 9AB, www.jazinteriors.co.uk or call 01752 894012

Tropical toucans fly across this Sugarhill Boutique sundress £49 www.rockmyvintage.co.uk

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Wishlist

Colourful bamboo utensil set £19.99 www.kiwifunk.com

Refresh Cute watering can in raspberry steel, £19.25 www.berryred.co.uk

Beautiful and useful: RHS chrysanthemum kneeler £22.50 www.berryred.co.uk

This Temple necklace is handmade by jeweller Abby Mosseri with Sri Lankan moonstones set in 18 carat gold on a silver chain £1,980 www.abbymosseri.com 7

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talking points Iron-on flowers £3 (below) and £2 (above) www.hobbycraft.co.uk

JUST ADD

Fran McElhone

Story of my life...

A new baby and a whole new world oon-to-be mamas in my belly were, physically, a embark on a helixbreeze compared to all that – I had like journey from the zero morning sickness and was moment they decide still jogging five months in. they want sprogs, don’t they?

And when the day came, he was The physical and the emotional with us within three hours of conthreads are both intertwined tractions starting. Indeed, I made and equally powerful. The more it to hospital with only 20 minutes potent of the two threads will to spare. My antenatal class tutor depend on the individual, but for tells me that we girls from over me, the more strenuous by far was Exmouth way have a reputation the emotional journey. for giving birth in the hospital car My son Woody was born on May park, by the time we’ve raced the 8 this year, a beautiful, slimy little 12 miles to Exeter. bundle weighing 7lbs 1oz. He is The psychological journey, snoring like a baby elephant next however, didn’t run quite as to me as I write smoothly. As my – and somehow husband Mike and I have found the I waited for the time to go shopmagic of concep‘The depths of ping (for nappies tion to happen, the and chocolate depths of sadness despair and since Woody came and despair I felt sadness while along and I became for that year-andI didn’t know a milk churn, it’s a-bit while I didn’t a daily essential) know if I could be a if I could be a and even to write mother were a dark mother were a this column. place to be.

Shopping and For this reason I dark place to be’ writing; two activikept my pregnancy ties I never would on the down-low, have thought posholding back on sible, especially both in the same sharing the best thing that had day, even just a couple of weeks ever happened to me, acutely ago when Woody was brand-new. aware that there may be others I’m getting there. where I had been, and worse.

My now hefty 10-and-a-half But when I fell pregnant, to my pounder is the product of 14 horror, after a brief shift, the demonths of effort to get pregnant, pression returned. How could I including scans, tearful appointfeel so blessed yet so dreadful? I’d ments and, finally, surgery to heard of post-natal depression but remove the endometriosis which only fleetingly of pre-natal. It is was clinging to my insides and far more common than we think, preventing him from coming into but most importantly, it does pass. being. The nine months he was And it certainly has.

S

Fran McElhone and her husband Mike live in east Devon with their new son Woody Next week: Gillian Molesworth on family life in Cornwall

flowers

Michelle Obama looked stunning on her recent London trip to discuss global educational campaign Let Girls Learn. She met David and Samantha Cameron in Downing Street in this gorgeous embroidered Christopher Kane dress. At www.net-a-porter.com there’s a lovely poppy detail skirt by this Brit designer, but it’s £865, so we’ve opted for three less costly First Lady alternatives.

Jessie jacquard dress £59 www. monsoon.co.uk

steal her

style

OR MAKE IT YOUR OWN

OPTION A Smart Jumper dress £39.95 www.joebrowns.co.uk Flattering smartcasual

OPTION A Smocking Tu at Sainsbury’s Embroidered smock dress £18 Summery black

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BRAND NEW!

Just

between us AB FAB GRANDMA Devon’s Jennifer Saunders (she lives near Chagford) is planning a big screen version of her hit comedy Absolutely Fabulous.

A headstrong attitude could be an advantage for teenage hopefuls vying for the role of her granddaughter - the search is on for a talented youngster to play Edina Monsoon’s 13- year old mixed race granddaughter,. Accord-

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

!

ing to the Radio Times, the youngster will have more of an affinity with her outrageous grandmother than her embarrassingly earnest mum Saffy. Jen’s already finished writing the script, revealing she bet comedy partner Dawn French £10,000 to get it done to deadline. Filming’s due to begin in London and the South of France in the autumn. We can’t wait!

LILY: ‘I’M A JEANS GIRL, REALLY’ Her fairytale Cinderella frock is set to go on show at the Port Eliot festival in Cornwall next month, but actress Lily James has confessed she’s keen to play more contemporary roles.

The Cinderella and Downton Abbey star has taken on another period role as Natasha Rostova in War And Peace, filmed for the BBC. But she says: “I’ve done with period for a while, I think. But if the right director comes knocking, you’ll do anything.” She reveals: “I’m saying jeans, no bra, T-shirt and a cigarette (is) much more like me.”

A FUNNY GHOST STORY...

Ghost hunting presenter Yvette Fielding’s ‘fessed up and revealed that one of The Most Haunted team’s most terrifying experiences turned out to be an encounter with… an ironing board which fell on an unsuspecting cameraman in the pitch dark. “He thought it

was a ghost that had leapt out from behind the door,” says Yvette, who once passed out during a nervejangling live broadcast from Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon. “It’s the funniest footage. I actually nearly wet myself on that one, I was laughing so much.”

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High hopes: The new Play Steps at the Eden Project are proving to be lots of fun for the kids

in pictures Yum: There’s a vintage coffee van now at Sutton Harbour in Plymouth

Aaaah: Baby cygnets on Stover Park lake in south Devon

Beautiful: The National Trust’s meadow’s at West Pentire near Newquay

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talking points See me!

Why aye

ONE OF US Famous faces with links to the Westcountry

10 things we all did at school, that would get us fired now:

1 Pulling down co-workers’ trousers

2 Firing elastic bands at colleagues

This week:

1 Ganzy (warm jumper) 2 Bait (food)

3 Playing Kiss Chase

3 Nee bosh (no problem)

4 Heating pens to bend them

4 Clarty (muddy)

5 Drawing on your desk

5 Snout (cigarette)

6 Tattooing your arm with a

6 Dunch (to hit)

compass and pen

7 Heading your work in bubble writing

8 Testing a “shatterproof” ruler till it breaks

9 Throwing bags at a colleague’s head

8 Hadaway (hang on a minute)

9 Hoy (throw) 10 Gadgie (old man)

The happy list

I’ll have...

10 messy/awkward/odd dishes NOT to order on your first date:

1 Spaghetti and meatballs 2 Chicken wings 3 Corn on the cob 4 A big, leafy salad

10 things to make you smile this week 1 Kim Murray’s dresses Wimbledon gorgeousness

2 Fringed kimonos they’re just so cute to wear

3 Poppies in the fields 4 Oscar Young live music The Plough, Torrington July 11

5 Anything you can’t pronounce

5 Josh Widdicombe local

6 Fussy “free-from” food

6 Spray tans they are

7 Garlicky dishes 8 The exact same dish as your date ordered 9 Moules marinieres 10 Lobster or crab in its shell

Boris Johnson, MP, spent part of his childhood at his family’s farm on Exmoor and attended Winsford primary school

7 Scran (food)

10 Dating then dumping, half the office

Boris Johnson

10 words that only make sense to Geordies:

funny guy in Liskeard, Sept 11

Exmoor: “My grandparents Royalty: Boris’ full name is absolutely loved this part of the Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. country and I absolutely love this He discovered on the BBC Show part of the country too. It’s the one Who Do You Think You Are? that he place that I really do truly call home. is related to most of the royalty of All other places have Europe, through an changed but not this ancestor who was the one.” says Boris, 50, of illegitimate daughter DID YOU KNOW? the Exmoor farm West of a German prince.

Nethercote, which Boris is Prime has been in his family Career: Boris worked since the 1950s. as a journalist, then Minister a Tory MP, before David Farming: Boris’ becoming Mayor of Cameron’s grandparents London in 2008. In this eighth cousin swapped a life of year’s general election servants and parties he became an MP for the rural life. Their again and is now one Exmoor farm remains of the contenders to be in the Johnson family to this day. the next leader of the Conservative Party.

Rural: Boris remembers his grandmother cooking in a kitchen Marriage: Boris has been married to which used to be a cow shed: “When Marina Wheeler since 1993 and they the concrete floor needed cleaning, live in London. He initially dismissed Granny would get a handful of wet as a “pyramid of inverted piffle” tea leaves, hurl them into the dusty allegations that he had an affair with corners, and sweep up the gloop with journalist Petronella Wyatt, which a broom.” later proved to be true.

healthier - and quicker, too

7 Green juice good for you 8 Seaweed salt the latest Cornish foodie trend

9 Glasto very fun festival 10 Cider chilled, over ice: nice

Childhood: In the summer of 1969, Boris’ parents moved into a cottage on the family farm. Boris attended Winsford village school in 1970, before the family moved to London.

To this day, he often visits the farm for weekends and holidays.

Family: His siblings are also high achievers – sister Rachel is a writer, brother Jo is an MP and his other brother Leo works in finance. His father Stanley is a writer and his mother Charlotte is an artist.

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People

North 55 Gallery

Art with heart Sarah Pitt hears a love story with a happy ending when she meets artists Inga Irving and Jack Hayes in their Falmouth gallery he walls of the North 55 on Falmouth’s Church Street are decorated with canvases featuring abstract swirls of colour, some suggesting wild storms at sea, others the turquoise placidity of the sea lapping onto the sands of a Cornish beach on a calm sunny day. Blues predominate in many, but there are also bright bursts of colour. And in the middle of all this exuberance, the two artists themselves are here, proudly showing me their work.

It seems appropriate that Jack Hayes and Inga Irving display their paintings together, in the gallery they set up themselves a year ago, because they also paint side by side in their studio at home. Art has, indeed, been the spark between them ever since they met and fell head over heels in love two years ago.

Inga, originally from Northern Ireland, was newly divorced with two little girls, then a toddler and a baby, when she met Jack in Hampshire.

T

They were both lapsed artists, painting a little in he had painted just after they met. Called Beauty their spare time while holding down other jobs to is Truth, it took pride of place in the window pay the bills. of their gallery when they opened a year ago, “I had gradually moved down and was swiftly bought by a local the country from Sunderland, couple. Later, Jack tracked them painting as I went,” says Jack. down and persuaded them to give “I met Inga in Portsmouth and it back, in return for “any painting ‘We knew that we just clicked. We knew inthey wanted” on the walls at North we were going stantly.”

55.

There were no doubts for the “I didn’t have the details of the to get married couple, and Jack moved in with couple who bought the painting, within weeks of Inga and her two girls Cora and Inga did, so I had to lie basically and Indigo, now four and two. tell her they had requested a commeeting each And when Inga and Jack got mission from me,” says Jack. “Once other. We had married earlier this month, I had their address I wrote them a found the one’ in the lush surroundings of letter, explaining what sentimental Lamorran House Gardens at St value the picture had for us and I ofMawes overlooking a turquoise fered them any painting in the galsea of the kind Inga loves to lery in return - they wouldn’t take paint, Cora and Indigo were the flower girls. any money. They are coming soon to choose the Jack’s wedding present to Inga was the canvas one they want. The painting is just such an im-

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Inga and Jack at home in Cornwall with daughters Cora and Indigo 13

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ALL FAMILY PORTRAITS: PIA SCHIELE

People

portant one for us.”

Inga and Jack made the decision to start a new life in Falmouth with their girls after spending Christmas here with Inga’s brother Oliver, himself an artist, at nearby Illogan, just a few months after they met. Within weeks they had bought a family house, in Redruth, and started looking in earnest for a place to open their gallery.

“My brother already lived here - he did his fine art degree at Falmouth - and so we thought, this is a beautiful place, there’s a really good art scene. Let’s just go and start our own gallery,” says Inga.

“I gave up my job as a teacher to move here, and the steady salary, but we are people who live on a wing and a prayer anyway. There are huge advantages to being self-employed. On a beautiful day, when I have just sold a painting, it is brilliant to be able to just pick up the girls and head for the beach.”

Inga’s mum Ruth has also moved to Cornwall from Northern Ireland and helps look after the girls. Her watercolours are also for sale in the gallery, alongside Jack and Inga’s work. For Inga, art is very definitely something that runs in the family.

“My mum has painted ever since we were little.

She used the money from selling her work to take us on travels all over the world,” says Inga. “I was brought up on my mum’s painting money.”

Both Inga and Jack grew up on the coast – Inga near the spectacular Giant’s Causeway on the wild north coast of Northern Ireland and Jack beside the wide sands of the resort of Roker on

the Sunderland coast. In what Inga and Jack describe as “one of many coincidences”, both places are on the same latitude, 55 degrees north – which gave them the name for their gallery, North 55.

Both Inga, 33, and Jack, 40, create their abstract paintings using oils. Inga’s work is predominantly inspired by the sea, while Jack’s

Inga and Jack’s wedding

often appear to conjure up the mysteries of the heavens.

“A lot of Jack’s work gets picked up by hotels, it is very much to do with the play of light and dark,” says Inga. “We are both passionate about using colour in abstract ways.

“In our gallery, it is wonderful to be able to sell our passion and we have fought hard to keep our prices affordable. It is such a buzz to be able to sell to people who say: ‘I have never bought art before’. Because we don’t have to pay commission to anyone else, we can do this.”

Because of the size of many of their canvases, they work well in large public spaces with a certain glitziness, like hotels. “The Greenbank Hotel in Falmouth has bought one of mine and two of Jack’s,” says Inga. “It is really fantastic to be able

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Breakthrough

Jack and Inga were particularly delighted to sell one of their more “far out” paintings to Glynis Tyrrell, who runs a large accountancy firm in Falmouth. “She came in, stood in front of the painting, and said ‘You know what, I’m going to buy it, if you will deliver it and tell me where to hang it’,” says Inga.

“Since she’s bought it, we have had half the town in here, saying, ‘This is where Glynis bought her painting”.

“I think there is a painting for everyone,” adds Jack. “It is so subjective, abstract art. One person can love something, while someone else doesn’t. We have sometimes had work in the gallery and we think it isn’t our favourite work, but then someone has come in, loved it and bought it. People are so different. That’s the beauty of it, I guess.”

to go in and see our work hanging there.”

They have also had interest from hotels in farflung parts of the world. In September, they are heading for Dubai to an art fair. Their work is also sold online through the prestigious Saatchi website.

Cornwall is home now for keeps, the couple say, and it the place where they want to raise their family; Inga is expecting a new baby at Christmas. “Living here is not about making a fortune, it is about the life we have,” says Inga.

At their family home in Redruth, where Inga and Jack live with their girls, Inga and Jack share many happy hours working alongside each other in their studio. “We learn from each other,” says Jack. “I think we value each other’s input – Inga will gently tell me if something is rubbish!”

Jack proposed to Inga at the official opening of their gallery, in August last year, so entwined is the gallery – and their art – in their love story.

“We knew that we were going to get married within weeks of meeting each other,” he says.

For Inga, newly divorced and with two small girls, casual dating was not an option. “I just wasn’t interested,” she says. When she and Jack met, though, they both realised this was the real thing. “We just knew,” she says. “We both knew we had found the one.”

Visit www.north55falmouth.co.uk, 01326 311118

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Interview

Sea life Corinne Evans from Newquay is on a mission to get women - of all ages, shapes and sizes - into surfing. She tells Becky Sheaves about sharing her passion for life on the ocean wave

here was a time when, to live a life of surfing every day, you’d have to turn your back on career ambitions (and financial security) in pursuit of the perfect wave. You’d work a bit in a shop or bar, travel a bit and surf a lot.

Today, however, things have changed.

Newquay’s Corinne Evans is not only able to surf every day, “which I love”, she tells me, but is carving out an impressive career in the surfing world.

She runs her own women’s-only surfing tour, heads up an all-female annual surf festival and is busy every day - not only surfing but inspiring others to try the sport.

“I’m passionate about surfing,” she explains. “My aim is to encourage others, especially women, to give it a go.”

To this end, Corinne, 27, is on the road for much of the summer, leaving the home she shares with her fiancé Ben Jones to travel all over the South West and Wales, holding special surfing days for women. “I’ve taught girls as young as six, and women of 60 come along,” she says. “The whole idea is to encourage and support females to give surfing a go.

“This used to be a very macho, male-dom-

inated sport. But things really are changing. into dancing. My dream was to be a backing I just want everyone to have the chance to dancer on Top Of The Pops – I was doing eveenjoy surfing as much as I do.” rything from ballet to contemporary dance.”

And because Corinne came late to surfing But when Corinne found herself living herself, she has a special understanding of just yards away from Newquay’s Tolcarne how it feels to be a complete beginner at this Beach, all that changed: “My brother, who is potentially rather frightennow 25, and I would go to ing sport. “I can vividly rethe beach every day after member being nervous and school. He took to surfing finding the waves really straight away and is now ‘I’m passionate scarey,” Corinne says. “So I a professional beach lifeabout surfing. make sure my surf lessons guard. are gentle and very patient.

“For me, actually My aim is to It‘s a lot of fun.” learning to stand up and encourage Corinne’s story starts surf was a more gradual back in Wolverhampton, process. I was cautious others, where she lived with her and really quite afraid especially family until the age of 13. of the big waves. It took women, to give Then her parents took me a long time to start the bold move to relocate paddling out through the it a go’ to Newquay: “We’d come white water at the edge to down on holiday and they ride on the green waves. saw the lifestyle children I needed lessons and a lot had here, always on the of encouragement, but I beach and with so much got there in the end.” freedom. They wanted that for me and my Indeed, at secondary school (Newquay brother Arron, so we moved to Cornwall.

Treviglas) Corinne was able to do a Leisure “I had always been a very active child, but and Tourism course that had been specially when I lived in the Midlands I was really tailored to the surfing industry: “We studied

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business, marketing and social media, all working in the shop – I wanted to be in the the practical and economic sides of surfing. water!”

It was a fantastic course and really helped Corinne’s healthy appearance and undeme to get where I am today.” niable prettiness led her to be spotted as a After school, Corinne surf model, and soon she was worked in a surf shop in able to give up the shop job Newquay, saving up to travel and become a freelance model. overseas to surf hotspots “People do talk a lot about the ‘I’m the such as Barbados, Indonefact that girls in bikinis are complete sia and Australia during the not the best image for surfing quiet winter season. “While today,” she says. “But the fact opposite of a I was overseas, I was surfing is, being a surf model is a celskinny catwalk three times a day and really ebration of being an athlete, model – I’m gained in confidence,” she looking healthy and being in strong’ remembers. “I always had great shape. I’m the complete strong legs and a good core opposite of a skinny, unhealthy muscles from all the danccatwalk model – I’m strong, I ing I did when I was a kid. exercise and I love my sport.

But now I got stronger and much more con- And that is something to celebrate. I like to fident in the water. I’ll never be an adrena- think I’m a very positive role model for girls line junkie or competitive – for me surfing and young women.” is about having fun. But when I came home, Indeed, soon afterwards in 2010 Corinne I found it really difficult to settle back into started to run women-only surfing work-

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Interview

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Interview

shops. Today, her diary is packed with dates present, and then proposed to me on top of on her Surf Tour, which moves from beach a mountain,” says Corinne. “It was totally to beach around the shores of the South unexpected and I was so surprised, but absoWest and Wales from June to October. “It’s lutely delighted. We’re so looking forward to a lovely thing to be doing, really upbeat and getting married and starting a family before positive for all the women who come along too long.” and have a go,” she says. “I charge £50 for All in all, says Corinne, her parents’ decithe day, and as well as surf lessons, we also sion to move to Cornwall was “the best thing use special environmentally-friendly nail ever”. “My brother now has a great career as varnish to have manicures, and everyone a lifeguard, and my mum too has become ingoes away with a goodie bag volved in the surf industry. She of surf products.” She is also is an artist and she now paints leading a women-only surf the designs on surfboards.” tour to The Maldives in SepSadly, in 2011 Corinne’s ‘I get in the water tember: “which should be father died suddenly: “I don’t and still feel that fabulous,” she says. like to talk about it too much soulfulness, that And her personal life is on publically,” she says. “It was a the up too. Two years ago, very sad time for all of us. connection with Corinne started living with “But there is no doubt that nature and the fellow surfer, Ben Jones. the decision he and my mum ocean’ Ben is a brand manager for took to move us down here Newquay’s Toy Factory Surfwas life-changing in a wonderboards. “Ben’s from Somerset ful way. I can’t see myself ever and, like me, he came to surfleaving Cornwall. There is so ing a bit late in life, compared to the New- much going on and surfing here is so vibrant quay locals who are all surfing from the age and exciting right now. of two,” she says. “Perhaps that’s why we’re “But no matter how businesslike or proboth so keen now. Ben really encourages me fessional I am around my surfing career, I to get out there. Even if it’s raining or cold, still get in the water and feel that soulfulness, he will be calling me up from work, saying that connection with nature and the ocean.

‘The surf’s great, come on down’. He is defi- That is what surfing has always been about, nitely a good influence.” and for me it always will be.”

The pair will be getting married next May, For details of Corinne’s forthcoming surf workin Cornwall. “Ben took me on a snowboardshops and her all-female surf festival, visit ing holiday this New Year, as a Christmas www.corinneevans.com

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Lifestyle looks In 2013 the call came from global surf brand Animal, asking Corinne to be a lifestyle ambassador for their surf fashion range. “It sounds too good to be true but I really do have to go there twice a year and pick out my whole new wardrobe,” she says. “I attend events to represent Animal, always wearing their clothes. I do fashion shoots with them throughout the year.

“I had to sign a contract specifying that I would behave in accordance with their brand ethos – no smoking, and that sort of thing. But they have really clean-living family values, which are totally in tune with how I live my life anyway.”

Corinne is also sponsored by Fourth Boards, and is on her “tenth or maybe eleventh” surf board from them.

“I know it sounds really lucky – but every so often I like to try another one, something slightly different.

I mostly ride a board around 5 foot 6 to 5 foot 8, and slightly wider than usual, which I find helps me to get onto the waves better.”

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fashion

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24/06/2015 13:23:59

Scandi style Sarah Pitt discovers a cottage with Scandinavian touches overlooking the sea at Rock his beautiful Cornish cottage has weathered the storms coming in off the sea for two centuries. With stunning views across the Camel estuary towards Padstow, its interior now reflects that sense of history, with slate, exposed timbers and rough plasterwork walls.

Newly renovated, the result is a light and airy interior, with slate passages, limed oak floors and high ceilings. Owner Liz Roberts has furnished the cottage thoughtfully, with a mixture of Scandinavian and British antiques to create an unfussy, rustic space. Liz lives in the farmhouse nearby and she and her husband have significantly enlarged the original two-up two-down cottage, being careful to ensure that the ‘joins’ don’t show.

“My husband and I bought the property in 2000, and the cottage had been extended, but in a way we didn’t particularly like. So we took down the extension and rebuilt it, making use of reclaimed slate and timber,” she says. “When we added the extension, we kept it open right though, up two steps into the original living room so that you have this flow of space and light.

“The bedrooms have got high ceilings, which makes them feel bigger, and when we did the plastering in the extension we rounded all the corners, because we didn’t want it to look too new.”

They made changes in the original cottage, too.

“We replaced all the Victorian doors which we didn’t like with wooden doors with latches. We took the ceilings out in the bedroom to expose the rafters, so although it is a cottage it is not poky.”

Liz was inspired by the Swedish 19th century paitings of Carl Larsson, she says, and worked with an

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Interiors Slate floors and stripped beams give this cottage a dash of Nordic style

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Interiors This newlyrenovated Cornish cottage is now complete with glamorous oval swimming pool

interior designer on the project.

“I’m a bit of a collector,” she says. “It is something I love doing. Because we bought the house in 2000 – and we didn’t do up the interior until 2008/2009 – I have had time to collect items. When you are buying old things, you can’t buy to order.

You might come back with a chair instead of a chest of drawers, but if you see something you love, then you just have to buy it.”

One such find is the substantial stack of tiny drawers, believed to be a 19th century apothecary’s chest, which Liz bought from an antiques

fair in London a few years ago. Then there’s the oil painting of the unknown Georgian gentleman which hangs on the study wall. “I liked the colour of it and the decorative detail on his waistcoat,” she says.

Another find is the seahorse lamp, a striking feature on the windowsill in the sitting room.

“I have never seen anything like it before,” Liz says. “It was too good not to buy, a bit of seaside kitsch.”

The Scandinavian look can be seen in the antique grandfather clock in the dining room, the solid circular table and the old-fashioned dresser, and in many of the light fittings, such as the enamel pendant lights on either side of the double bed in one bedroom. One of the twin rooms, meanwhile, has an ornately decorated Danish antique chest.

This room has another striking feature in its two end-to-end beds – which could accommodate teenagers or children for a sleepover, and doubles up as a sofa during the day. They are topped with vintage Welsh blankets, a nod to Liz’s own childhood on the Gower peninsula.

The interior throughout the house gives a few subtle nods to its seaside setting in the choice of decorative touches like the fish woodcut by one of Liz’s favourite artists, Julian Meredith, which

hangs above the roll-top bath in one of the bathrooms. “His work is fantastic, really beautiful to live with.”

While many of the Scandinavian flourishes in the interior come courtesy of antiques shops, Liz is also a big fan of IKEA, which provided the sisal rugs for the bedrooms. “They were £99 each but look a lot more expensive,” she says. Her look for the interior of the house continues to evolve, she says, although all the building work – including the stunning oval swimming pool – is complete.

“Some people like everything to come out of a box but I think the cottage has a nicer feel this way - and I enjoy doing it.”

Rent Treverra Cottage: www.perfectstays.co.uk

STYLE TIP: For a Scandinavian look, pick up vin-

tage items when you see them, and pair them with practical pieces from places like IKEA 24

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Interiors

GET THE

LOOK

Add some Scandinavian style to your home with these best buys

Dome pendant lamp £380, www.in-spaces.com

Wooden fish dishes £18, The Contemporary Home, www.tch.net

Slate round mirror £100, www.arthouse.com

Lidcombe bedside table £488,www. sweetpeaandwillow.com

Grandmother clock £229.95, www. melodymaison.co.uk

Rustic wooden trinket box edged with gold leaf £12, The Contemporary Home, www.tch.net

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Gardens

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Heaven on earth Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, pays a visit to The Eden Project his time last year, one of my first determined to limit myself for once and give it a pieces for West magazine was based go at home. on a visit to The Eden Project, Next, there was a bank of English lavender where I’d given a talk as part (L.angustifolia) illustrating the commercial use of their Green Fingers Festival. of plants, in this case to produce aromatic oil.

Having recently returned from this year’s event, Gaps between the soft, mounded bushes revealed I’m thinking we must be celebrating some kind soil that looked more like Cornish grit, which of anniversary, and indeed The Western Mornproved to be typical for the pit slopes. Originally, ing News on Sunday turned one on June 22. My 83,000 tons of soil was made for Eden from green recent talk was entitled ‘Grow Something Difwaste and grit, with worms added to create strucferent’ and afterwards I was lucky enough to be ture between soil particles. On the slopes, this given a tour of the 30 acres of pit has worn thin, while on level planting – the outdoor biome if beds, where mulches have stayed you like, in the company of Lead put, there is more depth and Outdoor Horticulturist Julie better moisture retention. Julie Kendall. and her team of nine gardeners Originally, During the last fifteen years, have to choose their plantings 83,000 tons of these landscaped areas have accordingly. Lavender loves poor grown and matured. Most ordisoils and good drainage and so soil was made nary gardens have features such thrives on the slopes. for Eden from as walls and dividing hedges to Drought tolerant plants often green waste and stop the eye but inside Eden’s have silvery, hairy leaves, to reold clay pit, there is plenty of flect light and protect the leaf grit, with added perspective. When we start garsurfaces from moisture loss. worms dening, there’s a tendency to There is a lovely ‘Silver Stairbuy or cadge single plants of case’ where Artemisia, Stachys different types which makes for byzantina (lamb’s ears), santolibitty, chaotic plantings. Time na (cotton lavender) and brachywears on, we multiply the survivors and borders glottis (which used to be senecio) shimmer in the benefit from larger groups and repetition, which sunshine. This is backed by a saltbush (atriplex) become easier on the eye. Here on the slopes, rephedge and rising up through all the plants are etition is given free rein to great effect. white-flowered ornamental onions, their spheriAs Julie and I set off on our tour, we passed cal heads of white starry flowers held aloft on a bed of just Anthriscus ‘Raven’s Wing’ (darksturdy stalks. I must remember this combination leaved cow parsley) towering over a mass of next time I’m asked to recommend plants for a sedum. This calm restraint is rarely seen in dry, sunny bank! smaller gardens and you’d have to plan someWe passed terraces of barley and hemp and thing else to rise up later in the summer but I am then came across an intriguing section of plant-

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This week’s gardening tips Anne’s advice for your garden

ing reflecting the American prairie, ‘probably around Chicago’ thought Julie. On my visit, wild white indigo (baptisia alba), white-flowered camassia (quamash) and blue-flowered tradescantias stood out but plenty more plants were sidling up to bloom later. Back at home, I looked up the native flora and was amazed to see how many of our common garden plants (Echinacea, coreopsis and liatris for example) come from this region and from shadier parts oak-leaved hydrangea (H.quercifolia), blood root and trilliums.

Towards the rim of the pit, a stand of Puya alpestris and P.chilensis was in full bloom, reaching 2.4m/8ft. These Chilean natives are an amazing sight and can take a decade to flower from seed.

The former has flowers of jewel-like blue-green but Puya chilensis has yellow flowers and is known as the sheep-eating plant. Apparently, the hapless creatures entangle themselves in its spiny leaves, die of starvation, rot down and feed the plants. Now that’s what I call growing something different!

Question time with Anne West reader queries answered by Anne Swithinbank

Q

I’ve been trying to grow oleander outdoors and under glass but it doesn’t bloom like those we see on holiday!

Oleander is poisonous, so make sure no pets or children are going to chew it (and if it blooms, don’t stick the flowers in your cocktail!). To produce flower buds, stems need to mature in plenty of sunlight and air. Here, they don’t always receive enough and plants left outdoors are knocked back by cold winters. Pot your plant on into half and half John Innes no 3 and a soilless compost with a little added grit or sharp sand. Keep it under glass for three weeks, then stand it outdoors and feed fortnightly with a well-balanced liquid fertilizer. Hopefully, it will bloom. Prune after flowering, keep frost free during winter and in spring, pot on, root prune or top dress and stand out in June.

Q

My outdoor grape vine starts off well but eventually becomes a tangle, gets mildew and produces grapes but they tend to rot before we can eat them.

Whether inside or out, these vines need training and stopping to look good, thrive in restricted space and produce edible fruit. The cordon system is a good one. You train one or more main, usually vertical stems and in winter, side shoots are pruned back to short spurs along their length.

In spring, they sprout and are stopped two leaves past the flower clusters. Subsequent shoots are stopped after one leaf. The fruit clusters are thinned to maybe two per lateral. You can still stop lateral growths and thin down the number of bunches now. More light and air and fewer fruits improves the vine all over.

• L ay aside time to gather crops like broad beans, new potatoes, peas and herbs and deliver them to your kitchen.

Present them in a trug as though you were a head gardener, then pretend you are chief cook and enjoy podding and cooking them.

• W hen crops such as early summer cauliflowers have finished, pull up stumps, add a mulch of well-rotted compost to the soil or container and plant in some lettuce or Swiss chard.

• Dead heading is regular task to keep the garden fresh, Roses, sweet peas, lupins and wilder plants like geraniums and tiarella all benefit from a tidy up.

• When a strawberry bed has grown tired, grub up plants when they’ve finished.

Dispose of them away from the garden to prevent recycling diseases. Dig the bed over or top dress for other crops and plan a new strawberry bed on different soil.

Go shopping for plants at shows, fairs or nurseries and challenge yourself by growing something different. I’m planting three named cultivars of delphinium – tricky to grow well.

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

tomatoes with high potash tomato feed every three weeks or so.

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Beauty

Tried

& tested

We present the best beauty cheats and treats, all trialled by West magazine’s Catherine Barnes,with help from daughter Tilly, 18

Eye-eye Paul & Joe’s frosted liquid eyeshadows are shot through with moisturising serum and dry down to a sheeny metallic finish. Nice. £16 each at BeautyBay.com

Soak

Unlock your inner goddess - or treat her to a bath, at least. Ylang-ylang and jasmine add a lingering and heady fragrance to this indulgent elixir. £20 www.quintessentiallyenglish.co.uk

IT’S A STEAL Make a diary date with Elemis: The brand will be offering six of its Botanicals face and body bestsellers for 24 hours on QVC from midnight July 26 - RRP £180, yours for ‘under £55’ (price to be announced live on TV) for one day only, with this pretty tote included.

BRONZE IT Enhance your sunkissed glow - or fake it! Baked Highlighter £6.99 www.newlook.com

SKIN SUPPORT Murad Rapid Collagen Infusion (£65; www. murad.co.uk), is formulated to deliver micronised collagen amino acids where most serums can’t reach. Plus, for every special edition sold, £10 will go to youth charity The Prince’s Trust.

Protect A year-long study suggests that No 7’s Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Serum, £24.95 (www.boots.com) delivers anti-wrinkle results that improve over time, rather than plateauing after six months.

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the review

Sweet stuff Sugar may be enemy number one on the nutrition front but in the beauty world, things are sweeter than ever. Katie Wright picks from this season’s confectionery-inspired cosmetics

Nail it!

Our pretty model’s wearing B. Sweet’s Orangeboom lippy. Check out its other candybright lipsticks (Sherbet Dip and Lollipop), all £7.99 each at www.superdrug.com.

Only Fingers + Toes are a luxury treat for manicure obsessives - prices start at £16 for one and £42 for a trio from its Candyland collection. Or invest in the works for £75 (www. onlyfingersandtoes.com)

Loving These Heart Lacquers

BOUQUET IN A BOTTLE Floral oils including evening primrose starflower and calendula lavender soften skin, while violet, mandarin oil, mint are among the fragrant notes in Kenneth Turner’s Blue Tangerine Hand Lotion (£18) www.kennethturner.com

PRETTY THING

Load your lids with these pretty eyeshadows from Too Faced’s latest palette.

Sugar Pop Collection, £32 at www.debenhams.com.

PATISSERIE POUT

Revlon has whipped up a trio of new ColorBurst lip butters. Try Red Velvet, Brown Sugar and Sugar Plum, £7.99 each (www.boots.com) for vibrant colour in a vanilla-scented balm.

EAU DE-LICIOUS

Rimmel’s drawn been inspired by the iconic Love Heart sweets, right down to the chalky texture of its Sweetie Heart Matte Pastel Nail Colour Collection, £4.49 each (www.rimmellondon.com).

Grab a nail art pen and add some slogans of your own!

It’s a scent that already falls firmly in the ‘gourmand’ category, but the latest edition of Thierry Mugler’s Angel has gone into olfactory overdrive. With notes of caramelized meringue layered over the vanilla and red berry base, Eau Sucree, £45 (www.houseoffraser.co.uk), is the perfume version of a raspberry pavlova.

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

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Wimbledon charms £45 each Links of London

Tennis whites It’s game, set and match when you wear all white ake your inspiration from the tennis court in these summer whites for work and play this summer, as we all go Wimbledon crazy once again.

What could be cuter than these tennis-inspired charms from Links of London. Or why not go for a pretty white dress with white strappy sandals to help you stay cool in the heat?

We’re loving La Redoute’s pretty swing frock, a surefire ace if you ask us.

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M&S Collection watch £29 Marks & Spencer

Sleeveless overlay dress £55 Miss Selfridge

Mason dress £310 www.oxygenboutique.com

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Fashion White swing dress £49 La Redoute

Limited Edition straw visor, £10 Marks & Spencer

Sleeveless blouse, £39 JD Williams

White tote £29 Miss Selfridge

Crepe tennis skirt £32 Simply Be Sunglasses £10 River Island

White sandals £59 Dune

Tennis shoes, £25 River Island 31

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Trend

HOW TO WEAR IT:

MAIN PHOTO HAIR: SAKS, PLYMOUTH MAKEUP: CLARINS, DEBENHAMS PRINCESSHAY PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE HAYWOOD STILL-LIFE PHOTOGRAPHS: PR SHOTS

Summer leather Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod tries the latest in hide and chic e all know the feeling. Day upon day of glorious summer sunshine. You get carefree. You leave the house in sandals and coatless, sunnies even take up a permanent perch on your face. Then, one day, you emerge outside and your mirrored lenses are instantly battered by ruthless raindrops and your floatiest summer dress is soaked in mere seconds. Your plans to sip elderflower in the sunshine are foiled.

Back inside you go. But what to throw on? It is still summer, after all. Does one really need to reach into the back of the cupboard and pull out the trusty black trousers, charcoal jumper and inky leather jacket combo.

Knowing my luck, chances are it will then clear up just in time to ensure I am slowly pressure Have you ever cooked on the train home. Dilemna. Followed swiftly by joy. It owned something would appear I have found a gap so buttery and in my wardrobe that needs filling. meltingly soft you Which equals justified shopping! the unpredictable mercury. Cool, are forced to hold A few years ago I would have light and ventilated means that if headed straight to the coloured the temperature sneaks back into it to your cheek denim section. Remember the red the twenties, all you have to do is and whisper: ‘It’s jeans craze? I loved it. Haven’t whip off your jacket, move from sooo soooft’? worn them in months though. your window seat ( in my case at Some trends aren’t built to last.

Chandos Deli in Princesshay) to That’s why these days I tend to one of the outside bistro tables, shop with the bigger picture in and you are ready to bask. You mind. These trousers in the palest of taupes are need never skip a beat. sure to earn their keep. The panelling detail gives Speaking of the jacket now draped on the back them a tailored and sophisticated edge while the of the chair, have you ever owned something so beach sand hue keeps the look fresh and season buttery and meltingly soft you are forced to hold appropriate. it to your cheek and whisper ‘It’s soooo soooffft’ The broderie anglaise top is another absolute before proffering it out to your nearest companwin. Think of it as your secret weapon against ion and offering them some cheek time too. I

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Jacket, All Saints, Princesshay, £298 Top, All Saints, Princesshay, £98 Jeans, All Saints, Princesshay, £98 Bag, Next, Princesshay, £32 Shoes, Next, Princesshay, £28 Necklace, Next, Princesshay, £12

hadn’t even left the shop and I had cuddled this beautiful toffee coloured specimen so much that I felt a moral obligation to buy it. I’m principled like that.

Visions of it pared with everything else I own definitely fuelled these principles. Every summer wardrobe needs a splash of leather.

It is a fabric that is even right at home over an evening dress, or your best wedding guest frock.

I’ll be mixing it in with my favourite little white lace dress, denim shorts and a Breton striped tee, or a floral maxi.

Versatile, chic and timeless. So remember whatever the weather, don’t forget your leather!

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

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NEXT fringed jacket £55

NEXT biker jacket £60

GET THE

look HOBBS Elin Sandals £115 HOBBS Brampton satchel £119

NEXT gladiator sandal £65

NEW LOOK wide fit black leather fringed block heel £27.99

MISS SELFRIDGE camel leather mini skirt £75 33

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Shop

The edit Your straight line to style: next stop, the beach

+

£10 The Edinburgh Woollen Mill

+

£30 JOY (www.joythestore.co.uk)

£17.50 White Stuff

+

£20 Paperchase

+

£16 Tu at Sainsbury’s

£49 Accessorize

+

£15 Very

+

£49 La Redoute

£15 Accessorize

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Food

ally mac’s

Cracking Coconuts filled with bircher muesli Ally says: Today’s shop-bought muesli often has added salt and sugar, both of which are unnecessary to provide a great taste. This delicious recipe for bircher muesli – that’s muesli that has been soaked overnight, originally invented by a Swiss doctor for his patients – has no salt or sugar added. The sweetness comes instead from fresh apple and a few spoonfuls of a fabulous dried blueberry powder from Finland, which I really recommend.

Oats, the main ingredient, are packed with flavour and essential nutrients which have been shown to help lower high blood cholesterol. I use whole oats, which are a particularly good source of fibre and essential trace elements. Raw oats also contain phytic acid, an essential nutrient which can be destroyed by the steam process used to create quick oats.

Bircher muesli is soaked overnight to achieve a chewier consistency, which makes this nutrient-dense muesli easier for your body to absorb.

You will need:

Method:

(for two servings) 1 cup almond milk ½ cup gluten free oats ½ tbsp sultanas ½ tbsp goji berries ½ tbsp sunflower seeds 1.2 tbsp pumpkin seeds ½ tbsp chia seeds ½ tsp cinnamon 1 whole green apple, grated 1 tbsp of powdered blueberry from Arctic Power Berries (www.arcticpowerberries.com)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, including the grated apple, and give them a good stir to combine them.

Store the mixture in the fridge overnight to allow the oats, seeds and apple to soak up all the juiciness.

The next morning, the bircher muesli is ready to eat. I like to present mine in two halves of a coconut shell, cracked open.

Crack your coconut – don’t let the water go to waste, I pretend to be in the Caribbean and slurp it up as it is.

Fill both halves of your coconut with the mixture, then it is ready to eat! @AKitchenStories

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 35

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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

GET YOUR OATS A study British Journal of Nutrition has revealed that 80% of us are not eating a healthy level of wholegrains. Weightloss expert Doctor Sally Norton says that demonising carbs could be the reason one in five people ditch the good stuff altogether. Wholegrains contain all three parts of a kernel containing lots of essential nutrients including antioxidants, B vitamins, protein, minerals, healthy fats and fibre. How much should you be eating daily? “The minimum recommendation is 48g,” says Sally. “This equates to around three slices of wholemeal bread, or a bowl of porridge (or wholegrain breakfast cereal) plus a slice of wholemeal toast. Alternatively, add a portion of whole grain rice/pasta/quinoa or other whole grains.”

SHINE LIKE MICHELLE Michelle Keegan has the hair most women want.

A survey’s revealed 27% of us covet the former Corrie actress’s crowning glory. Michelle - who tied the knot with TOWIE’s Mark Wright last month and honeymooned in the Maldives and Dubai - was followed in the hair hero stakes by Twiggy (14%) and Beyonce (12%). Long-haired celebs dominated the list, with Miley Cyrus and her platinum bob winning in the cropped camp, taking 3% of the vote, organised by the health supplement people Viviscal.

GO FOR IT,

girls!

There’s still time to sign up for Barnstaple’s 5k Race for Life, which takes place on July 5. The girls (and boys if aged under 13) event raises money for Cancer Research UK and costs £14.99 (over 16s) to take part. Wear pink and a smile and have fun putting your best foot forward. More details and register at www.raceforlife.cancerresearchuk.org

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WILD WATER Keen outdoor swimmer? The Outdoor Swimming Society has three Westcountry diary dates coming up: first is the 6k Bantham Swoosh next Sunday (July 5) and then there are 10k River Dart swims on September 5 and 6. You need to book in advance to take part – do this and check out other swims in inspirational wild locations at www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com

HOW WOULD YOU WORK IT?

Irritable skin? Drink green tea! Quercetin, naturally found in green tea, red grapes and cranberries, can act as a natural antihistamine. “If your skin condition is caused by an underlying allergy, this could help,” says Simon Bandy of nutritional supplements company, Veganicity.

Would you cheat your way to a toned tum like Chloe Madeley’s? Chloe - who has a family home in Cornwall - put hours in the gym for her fabulous abs. But it would seem increasing numbers of us are tempted to take shortcuts, according to website WhatClinic.com. It’s seen a 264% increase in people enquiring about abdominoplasty and lipoabdominoplasty ops over the past six months. Both involve the removal of excess skin and fat, while the latter also includes liposuction. The procedures cost from £5,000 and £6,000 and can take between three and six months to recover from.

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

@WMNWest or email westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk

Soothing

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SPECIAL OFFER

Wellbeing

West readers can receive 10% off all skincare and treatments at Dr Pradnya Apte’s RevitaliseRejuvenate Clinic in Exeter.

Quote ‘West’ when making an appointment on 01392 426285

Sun-safe skincare Expert advice for treating age spots I have brown spots and patches on my face that seem to get worse in the summertime.

How are they caused and how can I get rid of them to make them look less visible? PK, Newquay

Q

Dr Pradnya Apte says: These brown patches are caused by a variety of reasons that include sun exposure and hormone changes. They can also be hyperpigmentation caused by certain aesthetic treatments such as Intense Pulsed Light (a hair removal treatment) and can particularly affect darker skins. Certain chemical peels can also cause pigmentation post treatment if the skin is not properly prepared prior to having the peel.

The main cause of brown spots or pigmentation, however, is sun exposure. Age spots are caused by an excessive production of melanin. You are likely to develop brown spots or pigmentation in skin that is exposed to UV radiation. They also develop as the skin ages. Areas of your skin exposed to the sun will include the face, back of hands, shoulders and forearms.

A brownish patch that develops on the face after sun exposure is called melasma and it is due to overproduction of melanin. There is also a genetic disposition to this type of skin pigmentation. Known triggers for melasma

include sun exposure and pregnancy (though the melasma can fade after the birth). Hormone treatments such as the contraceptive pill and HRT are also a factor in about 25% of women.

Some medications can cause a phototoxic reaction that triggers melasma. Hypothryoidism can also be a causative factor.

UV exposure deepens the pigmentation because it activates the melanocytes to produce more melanin. It is more common in women than men and its appearance can be quite distressing to the individual. Common areas affected by this condition are forehead, cheeks and the nose.

Treatments are now available for treating pigmentation in the skin. These will include skin lightening agents. Be aware that some contain Hydroquinone, which has to be carefully controlled by a qualified medical aesthetic practitioner There are other skin lightening topical treatments available that do not contain hydroquinone and these are my preferred choice. Kojic Acid as part of a skincare treatment is well known to reduce pigmentation as well. Not all cases of pigmentation can be treated with topical agents so chemical peels, microdermabrasion or microneedling (Dermaroller) may be used for more stubborn cases. Pigmentation can also be treated with laser but this should be approached with caution

Stay skin safe How to prevent age spots forming Avoid sun exposure, especially between the hours 11am-3pm when the sun’s rays are the most intense Wear sunscreen daily. This should be a minimum of SPF 30 Use the right sunscreen. Make sure yours contains both UVA and UVB protection Wearing protective clothing, eg long-sleeved clothes and a hat

in darker skins too, as the pigmentation can be made worse post-treatment. My advice is that any medication to treat pigmentation should be taken under advice in a Medical Aesthetic Clinic as it is a very difficult condition to treat.

Dr Pradnya Apte offers skin lightening treatments and skincare in her Exeter clinic to reduce pigmentation. All skin consultations are free. Visit www.revitaliserejuvenate.co.uk for more details

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Stars

Your stars

by Cassandra Nye This week’s sign:

Happy birthday to...

Cancers are maternal, domestic and love to nurture. Traditions are upheld with great zest in a Cancer’s household, since these folk prize family history. They’re patriotic, waving the flag whenever possible, as Katherine Jenkins has done for the armed forces.

Katherine Jenkins born June 29, 1980 The nation’s sweetheart Katherine Jenkins celebrates her 35th birthday tomorrow. She has a baby on the way in the autumn with artist husband Andrew Levitas. It’s already been a busy year for the Welsh mezzo-soprano. She’s been touring on the back of her new Home Sweet Home album and was singing with tenor Jose Carreras in concert in Ireland last week.

Femininity and a sweetly-old fashioned way are among the typical traits of the alluring Cancerian woman, who seek loyalty in equal measure as love. Happily her husband Andrew’s a Virgo, known for their caring dependability, as well as a practical nature.

CANCER (June 22 - July 22) As career and work take a back seat this week, your thoughts turn to romance and nest building. A certain amount of flirting comes naturally. This does bring a stronger response from others. Even so, be careful what you wish for in this direction.

Someone may be feeling just as dynamic as you are! A change of pace brings more leisure time.

LEO (July 23 - August 23) Some hiccups with finances are soon overcome by a strong feeling of wellbeing. This has more than a little to do with your romantic inclinations, which are superstrong this week! You see romance everywhere, including where you work.

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) With the planets driving you ahead, there is much that can be done. On the other hand, others may find you over-ambitious and pushy. Well, you can’t hope to please everyone, can you?

LIBRA (September 24 - October 23) A bout of impatience with others could cause you to speak out of turn. This is not like you at all, Libra, and quite shocking to others. Try to have something else to do when this feeling comes. Going and getting on with something different is the best policy.

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22) When someone reveals their feelings it puts you on the back foot. What should your reaction be? Play for time as you figure it all out. Generally you feel at home in your present situation but, as always, you like to see an even flow of possibilities.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21) A real sense of frustration that something is not being done fast enough for you could set in. If you are going to make a complaint, then get it over and done with.

However, choose your words carefully so as not to make a big upset.

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20) Getting yourself out of a rut or awkward situation is easy. Surely there is some business that means you need to make a trip? This can be as short as a day or as long as a week but solves many dilemmas. Bits and pieces of work seem to be making the most money. This is fine.

AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) Someone is out to impress and care for your needs and it really makes you sit up and take notice this week. A one-toone relationship seems right up your street at the moment.

PISCES (February 20 - March 20) The usual tricky people and frustrating moments are scattered through this week.

Look to relax more, get out and about and get stuck into that healthy diet. What you may find boring now gives you results in a few months.

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) Prepare for a mixture of fun and finances this week. Perhaps you will make some cash from a hobby, or it could be that you pick up a money-making idea while taking a break. Someone who made a promise may wish to take it back but find it difficult. Look out for strange behaviour from someone close.

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) The tendency to only believe what is front of you could lead to a missed opportunity this week. Be prepared to use your imagination and accept some ideas, at least initially, on face value. Someone close may be proving a problem when dealing with a move or new approach. First you have to win them over.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) Are you feeling strong and demanding?

This is, indeed, a week to get the ball rolling in the direction of your goals.

Some patience is needed but don’t let others hold you up. Travel shows signs of success and the chance of meeting someone important.

Being a bit ‘pushy’ in general shows that you mean business.

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24/06/2015 12:35:27

Laid-Back Coffee

Isobel’s two dogs

My Secret Westcountry Isabel Ashdown Isabel Ashdown is an awardwinning novelist, teacher and volunteer with Pets as Therapy.

She lives in West Sussex with her carpenter husband Colin and their two children. She and her family are regular visitors to the Westcountry. Her latest novel, Flight, is set on the north Cornwall coast.

My favourite...

Walk: I’ve got two dogs – Charlie the border terrier and Leonard the dachshund – so walking forms an important part of my life. The coastal walk from Treyarnon Bay to Porthcothan is a favourite, with dramatic rocky views out to sea on one side, edging onto gentle farmland on the other. Brightly coloured toadflax and bell heather cling to the grassy banks, and skylarks abound. There is a tremendous sense of calm, even when the sea is at its most turbulent. This is the location that first inspired me to set my new novel Flight on the north coast of Cornwall – it felt like a place a person in turmoil might run to, a place of peace.

Beach: Taking the steep cliff

staircase down at Carnewas and Bedruthan is well worth the effort (me with a Leonard the sausage dog under one arm). The reward is sweeping sandy beaches, cool caves and shimmering rock pools.

It’s a beautiful, unspoiled stretch of beach – but you need to time your visit right to avoid getting cut off by the tide!

Festival: I was recently part of the Fowey Festival of Words and Music. My event took place in a sea view room of the Fowey Hotel – we had a fabulous audience of devoted book lovers and a harbour backdrop to take the breath away.

What a beautiful place Fowey is!

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People

The harbour at St Ives

Activity: I love a day trip to St Ives, parking first at Lelant Saltings and taking the short coastal train into town. The sea views from the train are spectacular, and my family and I usually manage to fit in a visit to Tate St Ives, a wander around the cobbled streets and shops, and perhaps a bite of lunch at one of the many pubs or cafes looking out across the bay.

Tipple: For a delicious coffee you can’t beat the Laid-Back Coffee Co, a lovely family-run business serving hot drinks at Mawgan Porth beach from the back of Bert the Morris Minor.

My husband Colin (a beer connoisseur) also has lots of good things to say about St Austell brewery, his favourite tipple being Proper Job.

Restaurant: I love the Ivy House, a small independent restaurant in Saint Merryn.

When Colin and I first discovered it, the food was divine, and the hosts so warm and welcoming that we booked for a second meal the next night, as we paid for the first.

Way to relax: In my day-to-day life I’m not too good at stopping still and relaxing. When I’m on holiday, however, I’m very good at it. If the sun’s shining, all I want to do is lie on the beach and read – while Colin and the kids surf between the waves, and the dogs snooze nearby in the shade of a rockpool. That’s happiness!

Treat: On holiday at Treyarnon Bay, north Cornwall, we would trek up from the beach for our daily ice cream from Rose’s – a tiny 1973 touring caravan renovated for the purpose.

My 13-year-old was on a mission to try every flavour – he failed, so I’m pleased to say we will have to return.

Memory: Walking down to Treyarnon Bay for the first time, to discover the beach and rock pools bathed in the orange glow of a setting sun – and in that moment realising that Flight would be set there. It was a writer’s gift.

Isabel in north Cornwall Isabel’s Cornishset novel Flight is out now (£7.99 Myriad Editions).

Visit www. isabelash down.com 41

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Enjoy A WEEKEND ON...

Dartmoor artmoor has always been known for its landscape of stunning views, ancient culture and picturesque villages. Whether you’re after camping, climbing or simply leisurely dog walks, the National Park has something to offer for everyone and there are many inspiring places to visit on your stay, as Abbie Bray discovers.

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Stay: After a walk on the moor, the most luxurious place to stay is Bovey Castle (www. boveycastle.com). This iconic and beautiful hotel has wonderful views of the National Park from the 63 individually designed bedrooms in the handsome manor house, and offers good food, lots of on-site activities and a luxury spa.

Eat and drink: There are many quaint village pubs on Dartmoor to choose from.

Award winning local The Bridford Inn serves a combination of homemade classic pub favourites, with 15 real ciders and scrumpies to try. But if you don’t fancy travelling far then at Bovey Castle you are spoilt for choice: the South Terrace is the perfect spot for afternoon tea, so you can enjoy the beautiful views of the entire estate while enjoying homemade scones and cakes. The Great Western restaurant offers fine dining with specialities including Brixham crab, line-caught mackerel and smoked sirloin of Devon red ruby beef.

Do: Aside from the simple pleasures of

a stroll (or hike) across the moor, if you are looking for extra adrenaline and adventure then try your hand at archery and air rifle shooting, both on offer at Bovey Castle. You can learn how to use a recurve bow or have a shot at a range of targets (with safety instructions, of course!). If you would prefer some gentler fun, then with the guidance of Bovey Castle’s mixologists you can learn the art of cocktail making, and create some of the world’s most famous cocktails. Or, of course, you can invent your own.

Enjoy Dartmoor, above, then relax in stately luxury at Bovey Castle. Above right: The Miniature Pony Centre

Treat: Try a luxurious treatment at the Spa at Bovey Castle. The current treatment of the month is a back, neck and shoulder massage using Omega-rich products. The price is £80 for a 50 minute treatment, to book call 0844 474 0080.

Visit: The Miniature Pony Centre (www. miniatureponycentre.com) at North Bovey is home to the cutest ponies. There are lots of free daily activities, children’s pony rides and the chance to meet the miniature ponies and their other farmyard friends. Also on the anmial theme, Dartmoor Zoo at Sparkwell (www.dartmoorzoo.org.uk) was the inspiration for Hollywood film We Bought A Zoo starring Matt Damon and has cheetahs, lions, tigers and bears. Well worth a visit.

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West offer West readers can enjoy a two night stay at Bovey Castle from just £250 per person, which includes breakfast and dinner in both the Great Western Restaurant and Smith’s Brasserie. To book this offer call 01647 445007 and quote ‘West Magazine’ – terms and conditions apply.

43

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Ingredient of the Week

Sea purslane with Tim Maddams

f all the seashore plants there is one that is available in such abundance that it is often overlooked. It’s quite a drab-looking plant and has a very short season - now and for the next week or two until it flowers (though the earlier spring growth of new leaves are a little mild they are also very good). Aside from that, it tastes pretty dull. It’s one of those seasonal tastes that is really only worthwhile when at its best.

Beyond those times sea purslane becomes more of a statement on the plate, a little voice saying: ‘Look, see how clever I am, I can find wild plants that are edible!’. When you’re looking for wild food, make sure the keen hunt for knowledge doesn’t overrule the whole point of the exercise: flavour.

Right now, this silver-looking plant with elliptical, succulent leaves works excellently with all sorts of foods. Besides the obvious fish I love it with lamb (and rabbit) where it adds that salt-marshy tang to the rich, earthiness of the meat. I never cook it - though others do. A brief yet thorough wash in clean cold water is usually

O

enough to render it clean and crispy. I then pick the leaves off the woody stems just before placing them on the dish. Stripping them from the stalks earlier seems to lessen the freshness of the leaves. Left on the stalks and placed in an air-tight tub with a little damp kitchen towel in the fridge it will not noticeably change in terms of freshness for several days.

You can find this little wonder in great abundance along estuary edges and salt marshes all around our coastline, both north and south.

Its scientific name is Halimione Portulacoides.

For those of you who are interested, it is often described as being ‘flooded’ at high tide and, while this certainly can be true, I have found this only to be the case on the larger spring tide. Even then, not all of the plant is submerged, making it very easily accessible to the most poorly planned of foraging visits to the coast.

But as I said, it is only good to eat in early summer until the flower heads start to form. As ever, be careful for your own safety as you forage and seek permission from the land owner where necessary.

Sea food specials Although sea purslane has grown in popularity in recent times I think the main reason it’s been a bit of a Cinderella in the foraging world is that its season coincides with the short but explosive season of the marsh samphire (Salacornia), which is so dearly loved by chefs across the land.

If you go out any time in the next few weeks to the salt marshes and estuary sides of our region, you are likely to find both, growing within inches of each other. The samphire is green and vibrant with emeraldlike succulence. Sea purslane is dowdy grey-green and silver.

It’s not hard to see why the one is world-renowned and the other often disregarded.

Incidentally, this all means that one of the best wild food dishes ever is bang in season right now. Try samphire with sea purslane and the wild mushroom known as chicken of the woods. Delicious. @TimGreenSauce

Tim Maddams is a Devon chef and writer who often appears on the River Cottage TV series 44

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Drink

Darren Norbury Beer of the week A new beer came on tap at the Star, Crowlas (declaration of interest: my local), in west Cornwall recently, and it just had to be a new one from the Penzance Brewing Co. Pharmakon is deep golden and this 4.5% brew offers hints of nectarine lemon curd with a bittersweet finish.

Fang revisted I feel a bit red-faced about this one.

I was in St Ives for a snifter or two when someone shoved a taster of Black Flag Fang in my direction. It was glorious, clear and hoppy and a session delight… although last week here I’d mentioned disappointment with the brew. The world is now put to rights… I should never have doubted the Black Flag boys.

talks beer read this week that Morrissey claimed he had died for nine minutes. That’s nothing, as anyone who saw my one and only attempt at stand-up comedy in 1984 would confirm.

I was reminded of my short-lived career treading the boards (I clearly should have been cleaning them) when I decided to upload my first video online recently. It didn’t go well, although it did improve once I’d roped in my teenage son as director. As with anything techie, it always helps to have a teenager to call upon.

Anyway, 25 takes in, I’d finally got it right and developed a new-found respect for those vloggers who do this day in and day out. It’s worth getting on YouTube to look at some when you tire of Hilarious Things Cats Do. The doyen of British beer vlogging is a guy from South Wales called Simon Martin with his Real Ale, Craft Beer channel. In five years he has built an audience of more than 10,000 subscribers with his daily reviews of beers from around the world. When I interviewed him for my website, he explained how it had all started when he wanted to find out more about a bottle of Greene King

I

Hen’s Tooth he had bought from Asda after a hard day’s work as a carpenter. Now he reviews beers from his kitchen and also regularly on location.

Another go-to beer reviewer for me is Rob Derbyshire, who actually lives in Yorkshire (keep up) and vlogs as Hopzine.com (there’s an associated website, too). Rob has one of those astounding palates. Not for him a quick “it’s citrusy and hoppy”. No, he’ll get lemons, but pith rather than juice, perhaps, plus some spice, but specifically cardamom, and herbal notes – that’ll be flat-leaf parsley (not the curly variety).

Is there a Westcountry option, I hear you cry? Look up Mark Elvis Appleford, from Somerset. Many of his reviews are from the sofa or the kitchen, but he does get out on location occasionally with his brother, Neil.

There are beers from all over, but with a definite Westcountry bias.

I’d love to be able to emulate any of these chaps, but I feel I’m on a steep learning curve for a die-hard print journalist. Look for Beer Today on YouTube to check my stilted progress…

Darren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk @beertoday

LONDON BEER CARNIVAL Craft Beer Co, well known in the capital, is organising the new London Beer carnival from October 1-4 and is gradually revealing the beer list. “Fifty of the world’s greatest breweries” have been invited to take part, so no wonder they picked two of our finest from down here, Harbour, in Cornwall, and Wild Beer Co, from Somerset.

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My life

[

man and boy

Held to account

[

Phil Goodwin, father of James, five, is demanding an apology have always felt tremendous sympathy for those grief-stricken relatives who try to use the untimely death of their loved ones for the benefit of mankind. We have all seen and heard them – holding back the tears as they stand on court room steps, perched nervously on TV studio sofas or talking to newspaper reporters – determined that whatever happened to their wife, sister, husband, daughter or mother should never be repeated.

They are often a force for good. Some set up trusts, raising vast amounts of money, others hit the campaign trail and some even change the law. As I may have mentioned in previous columns, I’m a Liverpool FC fan. For the families of the 96 fans of the club who died at Hillsborough, the pursuit of simple truth has dominated the past quarter of a century, time which should have been spent grieving, not lob-

I

bying officialdom for answers. It may be encouraging that the human soul appears so restless in the face of injustice. It is just so sad to see people trying to squeeze some meaning from whatever tragedy has befallen them and their family.

My mother, Nancy, who died in March, could hardly be said to have left this mortal coil much before her time. After all, she was 89 and had been retired for the best part of 25 years. The trips to hospital with the dreaded water infections had become more and more frequent and the hitherto mild symptoms of Parkinson’s disease were worsening, making it harder for her to be understood.

In keeping with her long-expressed wishes, she stayed in the house she loved almost until the end. In the final weeks of her life, she had four visits a day from carers plus a couple each week from a district nurse, who was treating her skin and guarding against pressure sores. I brought her home in the New Year after she was nursed back to health in the hospital over Christmas. It was shocking to be called four weeks later and told she had been rushed back to the hospital and was so seriously ill that I really ought to drive up that day.

But what really knocked me sideways

[

was the reaction of the doctor, who demanded to know who had been looking after her since they last let her go. To be fair, the medical team were right to question how a grade four pressure sore – the worst possible – had developed on her sacrum without anyone noticing. The true seriousness of that would not be apparent until days later when a doctor told me it could never heal and would eventually kill her. But what angered the medics was her condition: she dirt under her fingernails and matted hair.

The ward team raised a safeguarding concern over her care which was investigated by Social Services. I went to two meetings and was told last week that the system had indeed failed her. Mum had reported a pain from the sore to the nurse four days before she fell ill and was taken to hospital but it was never followed up. A handwritten note was left but no further investigation was made. Communication was abysmal, it seems.

Training had been inadequate; the employee had been spoken to, and so on.

I am yet to receive official confirmation of what I have been told face-to-face. The only question they had for me was what outcome I wanted. Which brings us to a place we none of us want to be, the grieving relative struggling to find a positive. I can’t bring her back, obviously, and I don’t want it to happen again, obviously. But what can I hope for? Better training, improved communication? You wonder if it is merely a symptom of the relentless cuts imposed on councils, the crisis in elderly care and the chronic state of the NHS. I have asked for an apology, to start with.

Let’s see how that goes.

I went to two meetings and was told the system had, indeed, failed my Mum

[

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