West Magazine, June 11 2016 by DCMedia

11.06.16

Sock-free gift solutions

PLUS: + A CORNISH HARBOUR BREAK

WIN: + LUNCH OUT

WITH DAD

Let’s hear it for the boys Homegrown ideas to make Father’s Day special Tour a cider farm · Enjoy world-class cricket · Open water swims Cover.indd 1

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Ads.indd 3

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‘We make the gin and vodka with spuds grown on our farm and mineral water from our land’ Steve Dustow on life in a Cornish distillery, p16

MY WESTCOUNTRY Where to go, what to do

28 42

MALE GROOMING Beauty gifts he’ll (secretly) love

WEEKENDS AWAY Marvellous mini-breaks to enjoy

[contents[ Inside this week... 6

THE WISHLIST Our pick of the best gifts for your father

JUST BETWEEN US... Sh! We have the latest gossip!

DAYS OUT WITH DAD Father’s Day fun across the South West

TOMBOY FASHION Boyfriend dressing made simple

LIFE IN HIGH SPIRITS Westcountry distilling grows up

ROOM TO BREATHE The Devon barn conversion on a budget

BEARING FRUIT Anne Swithinbank’s apple advice

TOMBOY FASHION Boyfriend dressing made simple

CULTURE VULTURE What’s on and where to go

BOOST YOUR WELLBEING Great ways to feel your best this week

BREWERY COMPETITION Win a day out at St Austell Brewery

WEEKENDS AWAY Great ideas for the perfect mini-break

EARLY TO BED, EARLY TO RISE Phil Goodwin struggles with his body clock

BEARING FRUIT Anne Swithinbank’s apple advice

THE FRILL OF IT

Summer style, sorted

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WE LOVE YOU, DAD...

Father’s Day gifts he will just adore

[ welcome [ Next Sunday is Father’s Day... ow is the time to be showing the dads in our life how much we value and love them. So, with Father’s Day in mind, we have searched out some truly terrific gifts from the South West to showcase in this week’s magazine. We’ve also discovered the best Sunday lunch offers and days out, to make Sunday June 19 truly a day to remember (page 12). If your dad likes a tipple (or if you are a dad who likes a tipple) then do have a look at page 12 today. Catherine Barnes has investigated three of the most interesting distillers of small-batch spirits here in the Westcountry.

[

of the week

[

I was lucky enough to be given a bottle of the Exmoor-made Wicked Wolf gin the other day by my husband. It really is something else - fragrant and fabulous. And, if you are a regular Western Morning News reader, do take an extra-close look at our pictures of the Wicked Wolf team. They are taken by Nancy Hesp, who is none other than the daughter of our renowned staff writer Martin Hesp. I think you’ll agree her new career as a photographer shows a lot of promise. Enough to make a dad rather proud, I’d say. Have a lovely weekend and enjoy this week’s special Father’s Day edition of West magazine.

[

With Father’s Day in mind, we’ve picked gifts from the South West

@MattJLBarber Great to speak to you @WMNWest @TRPlymouth @DowntonAbbey Ed’s note: Read Dawn Ellis’ interview with Downton’s Matt Barber next week!

TO ADVERTISE: Contact Lynne Potter: 01752 293027 or 07834 568283, lynne.potter@dc-media.co.uk

Becky Sheaves, Editor

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

COVER IMAGE: Healey’s Cyder Farm by James Ramm

MEET THE TEAM Becky Sheaves, Editor

Sarah Pitt

Kathryn Clarke-McLeod

Catherine Barnes

Lynne Potter

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If you do one thing this week...

Win

With Father’s Day on the horizon, why not treat your dad with a special present or a meal out at Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter? There are more than a few ideas to tempt him, from posh chocs at Hotel Chocolat to smart new clobber from the likes of Reiss, Next or River Island. Or help him channel his inner Bear Grylls with outdoor gear from Fat Face, Rohan, Debenhams or Two Seasons. If food is more his thing, he might enjoy hamburgers and a beer at Byron, or a meal at Jamie’s Italian, Café Rouge, the Coal Grill & Bar, Giraffe or Nando’s, www.princesshay.co.uk

We have a Princesshay giftcard, worth £50, for a lucky West reader to win, redeemable in all 76 stores and restaurants in the Exeter shopping centre. To be in with a chance, just tell us what the store Hotel Chocolat sells. Email your answer, with your name, address and a phone number, to westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk by June 25. Usual terms apply. West magazine will not share your details. 5

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fave! Beard oil by Devon brand The Bluebeards Revenge £9.99 www.bluebeards-revenge.co.uk

wishlist Father’s Day gift shopping? Look no further...

Nifty Fisherman’s multi tool £14.95 www.annabeljames.co.uk

STREET STYLE STAR JAKE WHEATON Jake Wheaton was spotted out shopping in Plymouth the other day. He says that he “tends to stick to black and grey, with just one main colour”. This yellow coat from Farah adds a relaxed, outdoorsy look. Coat: Farah Hoodie: Saltrock Bag: Herschel Trousers: Topman Shoes: Topman

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

Kingston leather satchel £250 www.thebritishbeltcompany.co.uk

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Wishlist

Tiny feet Personalised baby hand and footprint cufflinks £24.99 www. thekeepsakeshop.co.uk

Your very own Cornish beer £9.99 www. staustellbreweryshop.co.uk

Store we adore... Hardy Cycles

If you ride a bike in Exeter, you’ll probably already know about Hardy Cycles. Run by the knowledgeable Rob Hardy, who offers a first class repair and maintenance service, it has legions of fans. “Proper cool bike shop, top service, friendly and down to earth” says one satisfied customer. You can also buy accessories, including proper bike locks and saddles, when bringing your bike in for expert – and reasonably priced – TLC. Hardy Cycles is at 1 New Bridge Street, Exeter, www.hardycycles.co.uk, 01392 434997

On time Tissot T-Touch Expert Solar watch from £595 at Westcountry jeweller www.michaelspiers. co.uk 7

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talking points Tie dye t-shirt £20 Topman

Gillian Molesworth

Story of my life... Thank you for everything, Dad ow I wish I could hang out with my dear old dad on Father’s Day – alas, he is thousands of miles away. Although I enjoy living abroad, I regret that it costs so much in time and money for a quick visit. If your relatives are nearby, count yourself lucky. I which he would return corrected. wish there were more “popping True. round” possible for us. Manners were another topic of Luckily, I was able to visit him high standards in our household, at his retirement community in and all my siblings remember Connecticut, USA, just recently. his painful elbow flick should we He is 86 and in very good shape – rest our arms on the table during still out and about, driving, playsupper. ing golf, and enjoying an active Though strict, my dad was also social life. All those morning exa generous and an impulsive enercises and wholesome diet have tertainer. He was forever invitpaid off. Nota bene. ing people home from the office, I love my dad very much. One of the golf course, the supermarket my strongest memories from little – and then forgetting to tell my girlhood is of holding his hand, mother until about 5pm, sendwhich was always very big around ing her into a ready-steady-cook mine, strong, warm and dry. I also adventure. He loves a beer and a remember going laugh, and he plays for a sleepover the ukulele, which at a neighbour’s, accounts for my At a sleepover, and waking up in repertoire of show I woke in the the night with a tunes, campfire night with a fever. fever. My dad carsongs and bawdy ried me home in ballads from the My dad carried his arms, bundled 1950s. me home in his in blankets, like a It’s not all about arms, bundled in rescued princess. him though – one I’ve learned a of my father’s most blankets, like a lot of things from endearing characrescued princess my dad. He was teristics is his abila hard worker. ity to be profoundly “Everything in impressed by other its place,” he used to chant, anpeople. He loves hearing what noyingly, as he trooped around younger people are up to, and enthe house picking up stuff and couraging the next generation. putting it where it was supposed When I was little, my dad was to go. Sage advice, now that I have my knight in shining armour – a a household of my own. rather apt description. He’s strong He was also a great stickler for and chivalrous. It would be intercorrect spelling, punctuation, and esting to know if King Arthur’s grammar, and would apply a red men were fond of the occasional pencil to everything I ever gave bad pun – if so, he’d be a dead cert him to read – this included birthfor the Round Table. day cards and thank-you notes, Love you Dad….

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.

LAID BACK

and cool

Exeter-born Chris Martin looked the part when he returned to home turf at the Radio 1 Big Weekend beside the River Exe the other day. Dad-of-two Chris says he let his son Moses design his customised Nike Jordan Spike 40 trainers but you can buy some great designs off the peg too. Chris favours a colourful, casual style, as befitting a modern dad/rock star – why not steal his style with our top picks from the high street? Dad dancing strictly optional...

Combat pants down from £60 to £30 Quiksilver

steal his

style

OR MAKE IT YOUR OWN

OPTION B T-shirt OPTION A Trainers

Print top £6 Primark

Air Jordan Spike 40 trainers £75 Nike

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11.06.16

OH, MU-UM! Helena Bonham Carter has revealed that her children Billy and Nell “aren’t remotely” interested in her career or stardom. “In fact, they’re embarrassed,” says the actress and star of the BBC’s Love, Nina, which is based on Truro author Nina Stibbe’s brilliant memoir set in 1980s London. Helena, who separated from her long-term partner, the film director Tim Burton, in 2014, adds: “And they’re going to get more and more embarrassed because it’s that age. It’s like: ‘Please keep your head down – Mum, don’t!’ They want me to be as inconspicuous as possible. “But that’s the nature of being a parent - to embarrass your children.” So it’s not just us, then!

Just

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

HEALING FROM HEARTBREAK

HATS (AND PANTS) OFF! Congratulations to one of our favourite childhood heroes – Morph – who has been conferred with an honorary fellowship from Falmouth University by its Chancellor Dawn French. Aardman Animations’ Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who originally created Morph for TV’s Take Hart show, also received honorary fellowships from the university’s School of Film and Television. Tweeting a photo of a delighted-looking Morph in his ceremonial cap, Dawn noted: “He eschewed pants. Excellent.”

Former Blue Peter presenter Anthea Turner says the heartache from her previous two divorces is her inspiration for helping other divorced women. The TV personality separated from Grant Bovey in 2013 and they officially divorced last year. She was also previously married to DJ Peter Powell for eight years before they divorced in 1998. The 55-year-old, who is writing a survival guide about divorce, says: “If the person you trust most in the world lets you down, your whole belief system is undermined... but along with these painful experiences comes a wealth of information, stories, advice and humour and I just want to share them with my fellow female divorcees.” The former Blue Peter presenter has revealed she is dating again after meeting wildlife photographer (and Liz Hurley’s ex) David Yarrow just before Christmas, saying: “It’s early days so I’m not going to jinx anything... We get on great and he always makes me smile.” 9

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The Art of Living

Rangemoors, the South West's range cooker and stove specialists, are delighted to

bring a new experience to home lovers and makers at their new Hearth & Cook showroom in Exeter. Expertly gathered together is a selection of the finest products designed to

transform homes and inspire wonderful culinary creations, including an extensive range of beautifully designed outdoor ovens from renowned Danish stove manufacturer, Morsø. Visit our showrooms - either in Exeter or Winkleigh - where you can experience a huge range of inspiring appliances in action, or browse our websites for more information.

• RANGE COOKERS FROM LA CORNUE AND ESSE • MORSØ STOVES & OUTDOOR LIVING RANGE • ASHGROVE BESPOKE KITCHENS Find us in Oaktree Place, 100 yards behind Carrs Ferrari & Maserati.

Ads.indd 5

Call 01392 797679 www.hearthandcook.com 14 Oaktree Place, Manaton Close, Matford, Exeter, Devon EX2 8WA

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talking points Warranted

Fine vintage

ONE OF US Famous faces with links to the Westcountry

South West firms by Royal Appointment to HM The Queen:

1 Seeds (Suttons, Paignton) 2 Fish (Channel Fisheries,

This week:

Phil Vickery

Brixham)

3 Saddles (Viking Saddlery, Buckfastleigh)

4 Crystalware (Royal Brierley, Torrington)

5 Coach paint (Wilsons, Exmouth)

6 Maps (Latitude Cartography, Newton Abbot)

7 Carpets (Axminster Carpets)

8 Horse forage (Mark Westaway, Paignton)

9 Carriage lamps (Waters

Born in 1926, like The Queen:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Marilyn Monroe Hugh Hefner John Fowles Harper Lee John Coltrane Eric Morecambe Elisabeth ‘Wombles’ Beresford 8 Beryl Cook 9 David Attenborough 10 Joan Sutherland

Lighting, Honiton)

10 Coach wheels (Mike Rowland, Colyton)

The happy list

Exotic

10 things to make you smile this week 10 places where Queen Elizabeth is head of state:

1 Royal Cornwall Show

1 Tuvalu

2 Long evenings outside 3 Fresh veg from the garden 4 Curry Rivel Live family

2 Solomon Islands 3 St Lucia 4 Papua New Guinea 5 New Zealand 6 Canada 7 Belize 8 Australia 9 Grenada 10 Jamaica

catch the final day today

music festival today

5 Shopping for Father’s Day 6 Deckchair snooze on the beach

7 Tea on the lawn 8 Sailing give it a try 9 Strawberries so sweet 10 Pimms delicious with lemonade, ice and mint

TV chef Phil Vickery came to fame at The Castle Hotel, Taunton and is married to Westcountry girl Fern Britton Somerset: Phil Vickery, 55, followed Gary Rhodes as head chef of the Castle Hotel, Taunton, Somerset. While there, he won AA Chef of the Year and a Michelin star every year from 1994–1997.

because he’s a farmer now. So he’s got pigs, his tractor and this, that and the other going on.”

Cornwall: Phil and Fern love family holidays at Mother Ivey’s Bay Holiday DID YOU KNOW? Success: Phil went Park near Padstow One of Phil’s on to appear in Ready in Cornwall. They Steady Cook more have great affection specialisms than 200 times as for the South West, is devising resident chef. He where both their delicious met his wife, the TV careers began. “We presenter Fern Britton, love nothing more gluten-free on set. than escaping for recipes a couple of weeks Work: Phil has written to the north coast 12 cookbooks. He now of Cornwall. The appears on TV’s This scenery is fantastic, Morning: “The one thing I’d change the food is good and our children about myself is… my complete love it there. In fact my stepson inability to relax. I find it quite Harry has just spent the summer off impossible to slob around doing from university selling ice cream on nothing. As a chef, you’re always a Cornish beach and enjoyed it so under pressure, and after service in much he didn’t want to leave.” a restaurant you’re so pumped with adrenaline that it affects your sleep.” Food: Phil and Fern say they are more careful about what they eat Family: Phil is stepfather to Fern’s these days, ever since Fern lost a three children from her first huge amount of weight thanks to a marriage, Grace, Jack and Harry. gastric band: “My greatest weakness He and Fern have a daughter is clotted cream. I’m careful with together, Winnie. The family live in my health and my diet, but clotted Buckinghamshire. Fern says: “Phil cream on a meringue is my idea of has a huge life outside cooking heaven,” Phil admits. 11

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T he R ac eh or

se In n, La un

ce st on

Lun ch at The Gra nd, Tor qua

With love to Dad Treat Dad to a day out to remember on Father’s Day next Sunday. It’s time to show the old man how much you love him - and no, a pair of new socks just won’t do By Catherine Barnes

Pamper

Who says you have to spend the whole of Father’s Day with the kids? Book a babysitter and head for Spa Hideaways for Two at the Harbour hotels at St Ives, Salcombe and Sidmouth. This includes a 55-minute treatment per person (the Salcombe spa even has a double treatment room for two, which you’ll need to request when booking). Choose from a back, face and scalp massage, body wrap, foot and leg pamper or facial, enjoy the spa facilities including indoor swimming and hydrotherapy pools, sauna, crystal steam room and fitness suit. Then enjoy lunch or tea in the hotel restaurant. When: Available seven days a week. Cost: £197.50 for two on Saturdays and Sundays. www.salcombe-harbour-hotel.co.uk

Do lunch

The Grand Hotel in Torquay has a special three-course Father’s Day menu planned, which includes a bespoke Happy Father’s Day beer which dad can drink with his meal or take away and enjoy later. The three-course menu has lots to choose from - we’d plump for the slow roasted

The Ra

cehors

e Inn

beef with Yorkshires, roast potatoes and red wine and horseradish gravy for our main. For pud, there’s Mrs Beeton’s bread and butter pudding with vanilla custard. The Grand’s sister hotels The Grosvenor (also in Torquay), The Falmouth Hotel, The Metropole in Padstow and The Fowey Hotel all have their own Father’s Day menus, each with those special dad beers. There will be singers in full voice at The Falmouth Hotel, too, as part of the town’s Sea Shanty Festival celebrations next weekend. When: Sunday 19 June. Cost: Father’s Day lunch at The Grand Hotel, Torquay, £22.50 per person. www.grandtorquay.co.uk

Fantastic pub grub

Dad needn’t dress in black tie for dinner but he will enjoy restaurant-quality food in relaxed gastropub The Racehorse Inn at North Hill, Launceston. Mains on head chef Phil Bradshaw’s dinner menu range in price from £9.99 for a home-made burger and fries, to £19.75 for rump of Cornish lamb with rosemary polenta. The pub serves four Cornish guest real ales, three premium lagers and two ciders on draft and also has a great wine list. Stay the night in a comfortable double room (£74) or, if you live nearby, Dad may appreciate being signed up for The Racehorse’s Wine & Dine Club. It costs £10 a month, with special deals for members including a lift on its courtesy bus from home and back, when you

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Father’s Day

Healey’s Cyder Farm 13

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Somerset is set to take on Pakistan at

Good Folks Barber

home in Taunton book dinner at the restaurant. When: Year round. Cost: From £10.95 for a mixed sharing platter for two at lunch. www.racehorseinn.co.uk

A close shave

Treat him to a proper traditional shave - the pamper treatment for men who don’t do pampering. Barber Kev Milo opened his contemporary-classic barber shop, Good Folks, on Tregenna Hill, St Ives in 2010. He specialises in old-style facial grooming with hot towels and cut throat razor. This unhurried method helps eliminate ingrowing hairs, opening up the pores and softening the beard and takes around 40 minutes. For dads who love their facial fuzz, Kev also provides an expert beard trimming and haircutting service at his laid-back and friendly walk-in shop. When: Mondays to Saturdays. Cost: £18.50. www.goodfolksbarbershop.co.uk

Classic cars

There will be a host of vintage vehicles to see at the Fathers’ Classic Car Day at Morwellham Village near Tavistock in west Devon next Sunday. Last year more than 250 car clubs and owners from across the Westcountry parked up and showcased their motors. If you own a classic car over 25 years old yourself, turn up between 10am and 11.30pm and you can become part of the fiesta yourself, with the driver and one passenger getting in free. For everyone else, the car show is part of the standard admission price to Morwellham, where you can also look around the old shops, cottages and school of this living museum and make a delicious lolly in a chocolate-making workshop. The village’s Ship Inn serves food all day and you can book a 40-minute train ride through Morewellham’s old copper mine. When: Sunday 19 June. Cost: £32.95 for a standard family ticket. Additional charges apply for train ride: £4.50 adults,

£3.50 children. www.morwellham-quay.co.uk

Fiesta time

Make a weekend of it at Kingkerswell’s lovely little Summer Moon beer and music festival next weekend, which begins with a Night at the Proms concert on Thursday, led by the Torbay Symphony Orchestra. The main beer, cider food and wine event begins on Friday evening and continues until Sunday and you’ll need to buy tokens for your bevvies. There will also be a disco plus music from a host of bands picked to ensure there will be something to get everyone up and dancing at some point over the weekend. There is a Family Fun day on the Sunday, with activities to try including slack lining, traditional sideshows and animal handling. There’s no camping on site but details of where you can stay nearby are on the website. When: Thursday June 16 to Sunday June 19. Cost: Prices vary from £4 per person for the family fun day (under 12s go free) to £30 for an all-day Saturday family festival ticket www.summermoonfestival.co.uk

Take a brewery tour

Find out how dad’s favourite bevvy is made

on a brewery tour. Cornwall’s 160 year old St Austell Brewery now holds them at its visitor centre Monday to Saturday and you can sample its wares at its Hicks Bar, which is on site, too. Penryn’s Rebel Brewing Co holds a tasting tour on Saturday afternoons, while Healey’s Cyder Farm at Penhallow near Truro is open seven days a week. The Cyder Farm has a visitor centre, restaurant and farm animals to see, plus a range of tours you can take around the orchard and press, from a go-your-own-way trail to a guided tour by tractor, all with a refreshing pint at the end. When: Healey’s is open seven days a week. Cost: It’s free to visit Healey’s press house, bottlery and jam kitchen. See individual websites for prices and details of each brewery’s tours. www.thecornishcyderfarm.co.uk www.staustellbrewery.co.uk www.rebelbrewing.co.uk

Paddle your own canoe

Paddle down the beautiful River Dart with Winding River Canoe. Nick Taylor leads scheduled adventures up and down the estuary, with diary dates including weekend camping trips and a bushcraft journey, during which you’ll forage for wild vegetables and shellfish and cook over a lunchtime campfire (lit without

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Father’s Day

Open water swimming

Canoe the River Dart

using matches - don’t worry, you’ll be taught the skills!) You can also book your own family or group sessions at a time to suit you, from just a few hours to a luxury picnic trip or a weekend safari. When: Private trips when you want, subject to availability, see website for events calendar. Cost: Prices vary, but from £40 per adult (£20 child) for a day-long canoe adventure. www.windingrivercanoe.co.uk

Cricket

Somerset are playing Hampshire at home at the County Ground in Taunton on Father’s Day, but the bad news is the match has already sold out. The good news? Excitingly, there are still tickets to see Somerset take on Pakistan in a three-day International match, which begins on July 3, so you could see some world-class cricket right here in the South West. The cricket ground is right in the heart of the town centre, so if you want to leave Dad to it, it’s a lovely walk along

the riverside to some super shops and cafes. When: July 3 to July 5. Cost: Entry tickets from £3 to £20 per day. A Three Day Match Pass is £35 (£10 for under 19s). www.somersetcountycc.co.uk

Game for anything?

George Pascoe and James Martin’s Philleigh Way cookery school on the Roseland Peninsula near Truro offers students a real taste of Cornwall. Its calendar is packed with really interesting ways with food, from prepping and cooking game, to a snout-to-tail Pig in a Day course, where you will learn pork butchery, sausage making and curing. If Dad likes fishing, he can learn to smoke his catch - and which woods to use. Or how about the art of Argentinian barbecuing, including Asador Criolla, where huge cuts of meat are slowly seared over charcoal? When: Dates throughout 2016. The next, Cornwall in a Year, takes place Saturday 18 June. Cost: From £50 to £160. www.philleighway.co.uk

Adrenalin rush Morwellham Quay

Best experienced before a big lunch on Father’s Day, zorbing involves getting inside a giant inflatable beachball and… whooooah! You can try two kinds of zorbing at the Cornwall Zorbing Park in Newquay. There’s harness zorbing - you get strapped in and launched down a 250 metre slope and also hydro zorbing where Dad, a loved one and two buckets of water will be sent tumbling down a slope. Is he game enough to try it? When: Seven days a week and you can also buy gift vouchers. Cost: From £30 per person for two runs, or £89 for a family of four. www.cornwallzorbingpark.co.uk

Make waves

There’s going to be a special Swim With Your Dad family event at the National Trust’s Trelissick at Feock near Truro on Father’s Day. It’s part of a midsummer swim being held in aid of Cornwall Hospice Care and you can take on either a half or one-mile course, to support the charity. All levels and abilities are welcome, aged from eight years old to 80+ and you’ll get a swimming cap and event memento when you register. When: Sunday 19 June. Cost: £15 adults, £8 under 16s. www.everydayhero.co.uk/event/SwimTrelissick2016 15

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People

WESTCOUNTRY DISTILLERIES

Life in high spirits Throughout the South West, some remarkable family businesses are creating some very special beverages. Catherine Barnes finds out more

Cornish vodka Steve Dustow, 33, was inspired to create a Cornish vodka from King Edwards grown on his family potato farm near Fowey. He works with brother Chris, 31, dad Mike, 65 and grandfather Clive, 84. Their vodka, Aval Dor, is Cornish for ‘earth apple’ or potato. They also make Stafford’s Gin, named for their great-greatgrandfather Stafford Dustow, who took on the family farm back in 1904.

in it, with lots of flavour and vanilla notes. I have a ten year plan and the aim is eventually to do the whole production process on the farm. We’re in the process of raising funding but it’s a real challenge. There’s so much legal paperwork involved in making spirits. At the moment, we send our spuds and huge 1,000 litre drums of our mineral water to be transformed into wine. This then gets distilled into vodka. We took our first vodka to the chef Nathan Outlaw and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall restaurant. They told us it was bang on the money. We made 120 bottles and they sold within a day. We managed to increase production to 500 bottles at a time and sold a Steve says: Life on our farm here near couple of thousand bottles during our first Fowey is all that my brother and I have ever year. really known. From the ages of nine or ten, Then a wholesaler told us, gin is the in we’d head straight back thing. We make ours using from school and help Dad our potato spirit plus boand Granddad out. tanical flavourings grown We love the farm and we around the farm, including ‘We make the love our heritage. Chris rosemary and bay from my gin and vodka and I have six kids between gran Pauline’s herb garden us, all aged under five years and elderflowers from our with spuds old, and we want something hedgerows. I like a citrussy grown on our to hand on to them. As you flavour, but not the acidity farm and minread in the news, farmers of lemons, so we use lemon can get a hammering, just balm, which is perfect. eral water from trying to keep going. At the moment, 80 per our land’ Our potato vodka was cent of what we make goes my brainchild and our into local restaurants, first bottles were ready in shops and wholesalers. December 2014. We’re the People here care about how first Cornish vodka to be their food is produced and produced from scratch, with spuds grown whether it’s honest and traceable. We’re geton our farm and mineral water tapped from ting a lot of interest in London, though, and an aquifer on our land. It’s made on a small that’s where the demand is growing. scale that really retains the heart of what’s www.aval-dor.co.uk

[[

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Exmoor gin

PHOTOS: NANCY HESP

Julie Heap, 47, and husband Pat Patel, 46, met at art college in Falmouth in their teens. They live in Brendon on the north Devon coast, with their lurchers Carver, Doone and Loki. They launched their handcrafted Exmoor gin, Wicked Wolf, last September. Julie says: My husband Pat and I met as students in the late eighties, at what was then the Falmouth College of Art. Once we finished college we did the London thing and I began working in the city in branding, while Pat worked as a designer for a big agency. Eleven years ago we bought the chapel in Brendon, Exmoor, where we now live and spent four and a half years commuting to and fro. Then one New Year, as we headed back to London, we asked, why are we driving back? The magic, if there’d ever been any, was gone. So Pat set up his own design agency here, while I tried working away, but I missed our dogs too much (and Pat, too!). We both decided we needed to do something else. We’re very partial to a gin and tonic. In every pub where there’s a different gin, I have to try it. We even belonged to a gin club, where they send you tasters to try every month. Distilling on a small scale in private stills had been outlawed since Victorian times but the law was relaxed in 2009. Our gin is distilled in a copper still and we blend, filter, bottle and label it by hand in 25-litre batches. We initially aimed to make 35 litres a week but we’re now making 200, as it’s really taken off. The local support has been wonderful. I set off in my car full of bottles to do what I call my Moor Tour of local customers on Thursdays. But a lot of big city bars really like what we are doing, too. I think our taste buds are getting better as a nation. We infuse and distil eleven botanicals including juniper, kaffir lime, hibiscus and grains of paradise, before blending them to make our Wicked Wolf gin. Drinking it is a whole flavour journey. There’s the coriander and citrus, then there’s a peppery bit in the middle and it softens off at the end with hibiscus. Pat and I have been married for 20 years and working so closely together took a bit of getting used to, but we are really good at it now. And we still both love a gin in the evening – Pat drinks it neat, while I’m a Fever Tree tonic girl. www.wickedwolfgin.com

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People Samphire spirits Rubina Tyler Street, 49 and husband William, 51, live in Mullion, Cornwall and launched the Curio Spirits company in 2014. They make Rock Samphire Gin and cocoa nib and cardamon vodkas and have new tipples in the pipeline.

flavour of more delicate ingredients like cucumber and angelica. We wanted to use something growing locally and had considered gorse but rock samphire lends itself to gin very well. It’s such a delicious sea plant. The quality of ingredients is very important to us – William’s dad was a tea planter in Assam, India, and has a very keen nose, so we discuss our ideas as a family. Rubina says: I never used to like gin, but then I For us, there has to be an integrity about our realised it was the tonic making the gin bitter products, which comes from the heart of what that turned me off. I came down to live in Corn- we are trying to do and not just a bit of Mills and wall from West Yorkshire six Boon written on the label. years ago and was working as With our process, we buy in a business adviser when I met high quality ethanol – a spirit ‘It really is a my husband William. He’d made from grain – and then bit like potionformerly been in the building rectify the spirit, adding our trade, but had switched career blend of botanicals. It really is making. You to work as a photographer’s asa bit like potion-making, you have to add the sistant and we married three have to add the ingredients in years ago. order and certain things have ingredients in We did some research about to go in first. We leave them to order and certain distilling and both thought, steep for around 15 hours and things have to go wouldn’t it be wonderful if we then it’s ready to distil, which could do this? So we trained concentrates the plant oils. in first’ with a distiller and did yet Then we let it settle for about a more research. It’s not a matter week before bottling. of throwing a few ingredients Locally, we’re sold in stores together and hoping it works including Gillian’s Larder in okay – it’s chemistry. Helston and this year we’re also focusing on getAfter we got our licences, we started off with ting our drinks into London. As a job, I love it, a small still in our kitchen and later took over especially the research into the botanicals. It’s William’s father’s mowing barn. Normal disbeen amazing, although we still have a long way tilleries work at high temperatures but we have to go. We’re already working on our next prodsomething called a rotary evaporator which ucts and they are going to be fabulous. works at lower temperatures and preserves the www.curiospiritscompany.co.uk

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07/06/2016 13:41:33

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Room to relax Jojo Szota and Nick Horton have created a beautiful home in south Devon with auction room finds and a lot of ingenuity, They let Sarah Pitt in on a few secrets hen Jojo Szota and her partner Nick were looking for their ideal country house, they knew one thing. It had to have plenty of space. “We are both long divorced, from other people, and we have got seven grown up children between us. They’ve all got partners – so there are a lot of kids at Christmas!” says Jojo. “We also needed enough space for a very large study each, because we both work from home. And we wanted to be as near as possible to Dartmouth.” Nick and Jojo were each selling a house to buy a home together, so they had a reasonable budget. And they found somewhere crying out for some TLC near idyllic Blackpool Sands, not too far Inside, they have transformed the space, which from Dartmouth in south Devon where they had overlooks a courtyard on three sides, with help both lived for many years. Broome Court, a barn from interior designer Chloe Nash, who is based conversion set around a courtyard, had plenty of in Dartmouth. space, although it was in need of some work. “She’s young and talented and we wanted to “The house had been on the market forever,” get young and talented people involved, to bring says Jojo. “Nobody wanted to buy it because it a buzz to everything,” says Jojo. was in a shocking state. The previous owner They worked together on the stunning had divided it into three holiday lets and a main Summer Room which, as the name suggests, is house but then discovered that there was a cova wonderful place to relax on summer evenings. enant on it which meant they “It looks out over the garden,” couldn’t be rented out for holisays Jojo. “We don’t have a TV in days after all. I think that is what there because the outlook is so The Summer put buyers off, because it was dibeautiful. We just sit there and vided up, with horrible kitchens look at the view.” Room has a and bathrooms. It really was in a This room has a quirky elquirky elegance, sad state.” egance, with reclaimed scaffoldwith reclaimed The location, though, couldn’t ing boards found on eBay used be better. “It is literally two minas cladding on the walls. An old scaffolding utes’ drive from Sainsbury’s but tool bench, used for years by a boards found tucked down a lane, and just two local craftsman, makes an unumiles from Blackpool Sands and sual table, finished with a coat on eBay used as a mile from the River Dart,” says of wax. cladding Jojo. “The added bonus was that Jojo found the deep blue the house had really stunning glass table lamps which perch views across lovely wooded valupon it in the discount store leys.” TK Maxx. At this time of year, Jojo and Nick’s first inspired blue hydrangeas picked from move was getting Dartmouth garden designer the garden, look lovely in a vase which chimes Duncan Nuttall to landscape the gardens, with with the colour of the sofa, a grey which has a naturalistic borders which seem to merge away touch of mauve in it. A painting by artist Tom into the fields beyond. “That was Duncan’s idea, Rickman, of the lofty skies above the Rame Peand it really works, the garden just seems to disninsula in south east Cornwall where he paints, appear off into the countryside,” says Jojo brings another intense blue into the scheme. The

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Interiors

The Summer Room

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Interiors

walls have been painted in a shade somewhere between blue and grey, while Jojo has revamped the beams with a few clever tricks. “They were actually nasty modern ones, so we got the builders to nick all the sides of the beams and make them look old, then I painted them with chalk paint,” she says. Being on a budget has concentrated her mind, she says, forcing her to think creatively. “Because of the size of the house we did need to be clever about it,” she said. “We were able to buy the house because Nick and I pooled our resources but we are not wealthy people. “Everything had to be done quite carefully, which always makes for an interesting project. Luckily, I’m very very good at finding things for very little money!” She was helped in this quest by the monthly sales at the Rendells auction rooms at Ashburton. “I’m a great fan of the auction rooms,” she says. “I go there a lot. All the rugs for the bedrooms came from there.” Each of the bedrooms has a different style. One twin bedroom was given a Scandinavian makeover with creams and yellows. However, it was originally nick-named Derriford, after the hospital in Plymouth, because of its starkly clinical appearance. Jojo believes the original barns were first converted into a house in the 1970s. “The farmer next door remembers chasing pigs out of what is now our kitchen 40 years ago,” she says. With six bedrooms and six bathrooms, three reception

STYLE TIP Use old scaffolding boards as wall cladding you can buy them on eBay. Transform modern wooden beams by distressing them first, then using chalk paint, to give a traditional feel rooms and an enormous kitchen - not to mention a library - Jojo has had a lot of space to furnish. She’s found her signature style, though, instinctively pairing what she already had with clever finds. “I can’t think of a piece of furniture anywhere in the house that hasn’t been either been inher-

ited, found on eBay or from an auction,” she says. “It is all about having an eye – and knowing what you are looking for. There’s definitely an element of luck as well!” Stay at Broome Court and more than 100,000 properties worldwide through www. lovehomeswap.com

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06/06/2016 15:52:49 03/06/2016 15:20

Gardens

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Bearing fruit Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, considers a problem of feast and famine in the orchard his year’s cold spring meant that apple blossom was opening almost at the same time as the leaves were bursting. Walking around the trees of our small orchard, the set of fruit is generally poor by comparison to last year’s magnificent crop and I’m afraid they’ve gone into a cycle of ‘biennial Worn out by the bearing’. ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ is particularly prone to this and I’ll abundant crop be surprised if this autumn we of a good year, manage to harvest even one bastrees struggle ketful. By contrast, there were so many fruits last year that most to develop fruit rotted under the tree, where I buds for the left them for the birds, who were next one still eating them in spring. To an extent, they must also feed the tree as they rot down. Biennial bearing occurs when apple and pear trees carry a heavy crop one year and very little the next, repeating a pattern of feast and famine. Worn out by the abundant crop of a good year, the trees struggle to develop fruit buds for the next one. Weather can be a trigger but the problem is cultural as well. Trees suffering from lack of food and water are particularly prone but in our small orchard, I’m sure it has started because we have not found time to thin the branches of the trees in winter. It is said that a pigeon should be able to fly through an apple tree but, with most of ours, it would be more likely to knock itself out cold. It is telling that the one thinned tree (a russet) and the three cordons in the kitchen garden that are routinely summer-pruned bear good crop regularly, year after year. Another problem with apples and pears that have formed full heads of branches and fruit-

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ing spurs is that in feast years, they set too many fruits, which tend to be small and of inferior quality. This is particularly annoying with cookers like Bramley, because peeling a pile of small fruits takes much longer than a few good big ones. This winter, starting as soon as the trees go dormant, I must prune out maybe a quarter of their branches, taking them right back to the centre of the tree or to a good side branch. This must be done carefully, with much standing back so that at the end of the process you might have a pile of firewood but the tree doesn’t look pruned. Don’t take out more than this in one year, or trim just the ends of branches, or you’ll shock the tree and have trouble with a rash of long, vertical water shoots. Should well-pruned trees go into biennial bearing, try correcting the problem by rubbing out some of the rounded fruit buds on the spurs in spring or removing blossom, if trees are not too large. At the same time, clear the grass from beneath so you can put on a fruit tree fertilizer in February and give the tree a general purpose

liquid feed in August. In other words, you are dosing them up in advance of the famine year. During summer droughts, water thoroughly every fortnight. A folding pruning saw is a useful tool for taking out smaller branches, as the neat blade fits into nooks and crannies. This would make a good Father’s Day present for next weekend as long as your Dad can be persuaded to wait until the apples are dormant in winter. Otherwise, think about what kind of gardener he is and maybe go for one of the following: • Gadget man? He needs a Hori Hori, or Japanese digging trowel, originally used for foraging in the mountains. Translates as ‘dig dig’ and resembles a hybrid between trowel and knife. • Layabout? Luxury garden chair and a firepit. • Modernist? Would love some architectural plants such as silvery Astelia (Duchy of Cornwall Nursery, www.duchyofcornwallnursery.co.uk) or a South African reed-like restio from Kelnan Plants (www.kelnan.com 07773 586603). • Useless? Maybe it’s best to offer practical help such as mowing, weeding, clipping and planting.

Question time with Anne West reader queries answered by Anne Swithinbank

For the first couple of years, the flower heads on our Allium ‘Pinball Wizard’ were massive but this year, they are pathetic. How can we restore them to their former purple glory?

These flowering ornamental onions grown from bulbs planted in the autumn are extremely decorative. The foliage begins to grow in spring and is almost on the point of dying back when the buds burst into spheres of starry flowers in shades of purple or white. Seed-heads are attractive too and persist for most of the summer and often into autumn but the leaves die right back. I suspect the soil where yours is planted is short of nutrients. It is too late to feed now, because the plant will have almost gone dormant. As soon as you see growth starting next spring, give the bed a dressing of general purpose fertilizer or give them a liquid feed every two weeks whilst growing. It is possible they were not planted deeply enough (four times the width of the bulb is a guide). If so, lift once they have died right back, divide if there are several bulbs and replant 20cm/8in apart.

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

• Plant purple sprouting broccoli, kales, Brussels sprouts and winter cabbage. They need good soil but a firm bed. I plant them into a drill so that soil will fall in and steady the plants up. Pay attention to generous spacings (usually 45-60cm/18-24in). Do plant a quick catch crop of lettuce between them. Cover with mesh to keep cabbage white

butterflies off. • Sow carrots. These will germinate quickly in warm soil but soak the drill before sowing the seeds. Cover with fleece to keep root fly off. • There’s still time to sow French and runner beans to crop before the weather turns cold in autumn. • Feed tomatoes using a high potash fertilizer every fortnight once their flowers begin to set.

In fields, I have seen a pretty blue flower creating a wonderful mauve blue haze. What is it and can I grow it in my garden?

This would be flax or linseed which, for the farmer, rests the ground in between other crops and also yields oil-rich seeds. Flax fibres are used in textiles to produce linen. This is an ancient cultivated plant used as far back as the Ancient Egyptians who would entomb their mummies in linen. Farmers use Linum usitatissimum but in the garden, the perennial blue flax Linum narbonense is more popular. You can buy seed from Plant World Seeds of Newton Abbot (www.plantworld-seeds.com 01803 872939) to sow next spring in a warm propagating case, or straight to the ground when it has warmed up. Graceful, ethereal plants 30-75cm/24-30in tall, they produce dainty blue flowers. Plants enjoy full sun and good but well-draining soil.

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

Thin established clumps of bamboo to show off their caulms. Feather up their canes by removing side shoots from the bottom. The extent to which you do this depends on whether they are being used as a screen, or if you want to see through them. Use the trimmed long canes to support your climbing beans. 27

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Beauty

[[ Take it from me, these days men secretly do like to be pampered!

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Abbie’s

Paco Rabanne Invictus (The Fragrance Shop £42.50) If you really want to spoil your dad then this aftershave is perfect, it is energising and fresh with a scent of grapefruit and bay leaf.

Beauty box

Sleek appeal Lalique Encre Noire A L’Extreme Eau de Parfum Pour Homme 50ml (£52 QVC) This new woody and unique fragrance makes a great Father’s Day gift, with scents of bergamot and sandalwood.

Expert advice from beauty guru Abbie Bray of Newton Abbot

fave! Upgrade his routine Sisleyum anti-ageing and aftershave cream (£165 House of Fraser) This is a one pot wonder for the man in your life. It does everything from soothing razor burn to hydrating tired skin.

With Father’s Day just around the corner, what better way to spoil your dad than with a beauty treat or two? Let’s face it, the days of getting away with buying your dad a cliché present like a World’s Greatest Dad’ mug are so over. Take it from me, these days men secretly do like to be pampered! There are lots of products on the high street to choose from, from skincare to aftershave. Just have a think before you hit the shops about the sort of thing your dad might like, as men are a bit trickier than women to buy for. If you are in need of a little gift inspiration then look no further as there is something here to suit every budget. My favourite of the bunch is the Paco Rabanne Invictus fragrance, I really like the scent and I think it will make the perfect gift for my dad.

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Fashion

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Trend Have you got a fashion question or a trend you’d like to see tackled? @KathrynCMcleod Skirt, River Island, Princesshay, £30 Top, River Island, Princesshay, £14

HOW TO WEAR IT:

MAIN PHOTO HAIR: ADAM AT SAKS, EXETER MAKE-UP: CLARINS, DEBENHAMS (BOTH PRINCESSHAY) PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE HAYWOOD

Bright yellow

Shoes, River Island, Princesshay, £55 Bag, River Island, Princesshay, £20

Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod borrows some sartorial sunshine blame Kirsten Dunst. She was exquisite during her time as a judge at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, especially when wearing a vintage inspired frock the colour of lemon sherbert. She lit up every photocall like a one woman sun and, for me, the desire to shine as brightly as her was overwhelming. The occasion, why no other than my birthday party. I had the misfortune of catching the flu on my actual birthday last week, which meant I had to cancel all revelries, stay in bed and pity myself for two days. I’ve come through the other side now and am, frankly, raring to go to make up for lost time. My consolation late-birthday bash will involve cocktails in the garden followed by a meal with some of my favourite people. If ever there was an event that came with a photocall or two, this is it. I had a hard time choosing Kirsten Dunst actually, as it seems Kirsten’s lit up every yellow is a just the tip of the sartorial sunshine on offer. photocall like a For a long time I toyed with a one woman sun, voluminous maxi skirt from Monsoon, emblazoned with and the desire to petal-shaped graphics (pictured shine as brightly opposite). I ended up walking as her was away as it seemed just a little bit too formal. If you’re going see it. overwhelming to a wedding this year though, There was plenty of length on the I recommend it. Bright, fresh skirt so I was able to get away with and fun while being incredibly rolling out some statement heels a fashion forward, it’s a win. la skyscraper. They’re a lot higher than my usual I ended up unable to tear myself away from this choices, but a birthday comes but once a year. River Island wrap skirt. It sits on the smallest part Here’s the best part, these shoes are comfortable. of the waist which makes its cinching abilities I mean it. The combination of a block heel and borderline miraculous and the fall of the skirt platform in the front means that weight is evenly is luxurious, soft and diaphanous. It is one of balanced out. My strides were long, confident and those rare pieces that is all at once formal, but effortless. They had to be bought. looks remarkably effortless. These are few and Anyone who has ever shopped with me will far between, so I believe in bagging one when you know I have a bit of mantra. It goes like this ‘Now

that would look fabulous paired with a simple white tee/vest’ This was no exception. To quote Leonardo Da Vinci, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, and fashion is no exception to the rule, especially when working with brighter hues. A cute black clutch under my arm and I am good to go. I feel fancy enough to be on the red carpet myself. What would be screening? Well, given that it is a birthday party, probably Boogie Nights, followed by The Hangover. All fashion in these pictures is from Princesshay Shopping Centre, Exeter, www.princesshay.co.uk

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07/06/2016 12:43:29

culture vulture Our guide to what’s on in the South West by woman-in-theknow Sarah Pitt Working together Dramatic woodcuts of churning seas breaking over the rocks off the north Devon coast have gone on display at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen at Bovey Tracey. The Pine Feroda group of five artists (Merlyn Chesterman, Julia Manning, Rod Nelson, Ian Phillips and Judith Westcot) worked together to create one piece, printed on the largest press in the South West. The free exhibition runs daily until Sunday, July 3 at the Guild of Contemporary Craftsmen at Bovey Tracey, with work to buy. There will also be a printmaking workshop with one of the artists, Rod Nelson, at the Phoenix Hall in the town on Saturday, June 25. See www.crafts.org.uk for more details.

King of tragedy We know it’s not quite the ideal Father’s Day night out, but you won’t want to miss seeing Michael Pennington play King Lear in a new touring production at the Hall for Cornwall. The classical actor is reprising his critically-acclaimed role as the ageing tyrant whose decision to divide his kingdom tears his family apart and plunges his country into civil war. He leads a

distinguished cast in Max Webster’s new production of the epic tragedy. Michael, who describes the play as “the greatest of all Shakespeare’s dramas”, will be joined by Catherine Bailey as daughter Goneril and Beth Cooke as Cordelia. King Lear, Hall for Cornwall, Truro from Monday-Saturday June 13-18, tickets £17-£32, www. hallforcornwall.co.uk

Poet Laureate on tour Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy is heading our way. The first date of her Shore to Shore nationwide tour is at the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth. Carol Ann will be joined by poet friends Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker and Jackie Kay, plus Scots composer and instrumentalist John Sampson for the afternoon of words and music on June 19. Organised by Falmouth Bookseller to mark the annual Independent Booksellers’ Week, the event, starting at 3pm, offers the chance to meet Carol Ann, who will be signing books. Tickets £15 from www.princesspavilion.co.uk, 01326 211222. 34

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06/06/2016 15:30:05

STAR RETREAT

Smell just divine Created for Audrey Hepburn in the 1970s, this limited fragranced edition of Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer (£19) has just been launched. The preshampoo conditioner was developed to restore silk to dry, brittle hair which snaps and breaks when stretched. The Elderflower and Rhubarb Elasticizer is inspired by summer gardens, with botanical notes including lemongrass, green tea, gardenia and jasmine. www.philipkingsley.co.uk.

Olympic medallist Victoria Pendleton’s has tried – and vouches for – Mercedes Ngoh Sieff and husband Simon’s five-day Yeotox. It’s based at their luxe north Devon healthy lifestyle retreat, Yeotown. The focus is on nutrition, exercise and mindfulness techniques. You’ll learn how to manage stress and reboot your eating and exercise habits. You’ll feel more energised. Outdoor challenges include coastal hiking, while wind-down treatments include deep tissue massage. Prices start from £1,870 for a full fiveday package. www.yeotown.com

Super fruit Packed with fibre and a natural sweet treat, Sharon fruit (aka persimmons) are also a great source of vitamins and minerals. They include Vitamin E for skin health and Vitamin B6, which regulates hormones and can help alleviate the symptoms of PMS. You can eat them whole, skin and all.

FIND YOUR FIT Are you due a fitness MOT? If you’re aged over 60, you can discover how your fitness and stamina levels compare to your peers at drop in sessions being held between 9.30am and 12.30pm at Dartington Village Hall on Friday. Free to take part in, the tests take 45 minutes and you’ll get personalised workbook of your results, plus details of local fitness classes in the area. Find out more at www.zestphysiotherapyforlife.com

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

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

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Drink

Darren Norbury

talks beer ids, I don’t want to alarm you, but Wheel, TJs Restaurant, The Boathouse, Simply you may find that, over the next Fish and the Breakwater Bistro. three weeks or so, your fathers go It joins a portfolio of Westcountry lagers missing for periods of time. You which includes St Austell’s big-selling Korev will find them, most likely, in a pub (also a very successful export) and Sharp’s Pilshowing big screen football, sner. The latter is crisp and light with their mates, clutching a with herbal notes, while Korev, lager and questioning the parwith Cornish malt, has a slightLager isn’t a entage of a Croatian referee. It’s ly sweeter palate. These craft not that they don’t love you. It’s keg lagers give drinkers a better dirty word, just a biennial summer ritual experience than bland national and just in time hard-wired into their DNA. One lagers and also provide a good for summer day, this may be you. gateway into golden ales. Because pubs where I’ve So instead of resorting to and football watched games in the past drinking cheap cans from the there’s a new have not always had real ale or supermarket at home, get to the craft keg beer, I’ve occasionally pub, soak up the tournament atWestcountry turned to Guinness or lager. mosphere and enjoy fresh beer, off ering Lager isn’t a dirty word here, whether it’s ale or lager. The exit’s a just a name for a particuperience will be so much richer. lar style of beer. And now, just Normal service will be rein time for summer and football, sumed soon, kids, and no doubt here comes Bays Brewery, from during the summer holidays Paignton, with a new craft lager offering, Devon there will be plenty of opportunities to prove that Rock. I love the name and I’m going to look foralthough Dad thinks he knows everything about ward to trying the beer. Crisp and flavoursome, football when he’s watching it on telly, he’s not according to the brewery, this beer is made with quite Christian Ronaldo on the beach or in the local malt and ‘selected’ hops (European variepark… ties, I would suspect). It can be found in south Darren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk Devon venues including Pier Point, The Spinning @beertoday

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Beer of the week If you are going to drink foreign lager (as against lager which sounds foreign but is actually concocted in Northampton) then Pilsner Urquell is one of the finest. Golden, fresh, hoppy yet with a juicy malt balance, it is the original Pilsner, the Daddy. Some UK bars now have it exported in tanks to maintain draught freshness.

A GOOD READ FOR DAD Well-known beer writer Pete Brown has his latest book, The Pub, including profiles of Westcountry houses, published in August. But for an ideal Father’s Day gift, his previous tome Man Walks Into A Pub (Pan Macmillan) offers a humorous insight into the history of social drinking.

Dartmoor medal haul

Dartmoor has won five Taste of the West awards, with gold awards for Jail Ale, Legend and Jail Ale Commemorative, a 9% ABV brew for the brewery’s 21st anniversary. There were silver awards for Dartmoor Best and Dartmoor Gold.

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Eat

Ingredient of the Week

Meat

with Tim Maddams ow here’s something we have inhercial day why not make the extra effort and source ited from America that I can safely some top-quality meat from a local farm, or supsay I’m a big fan of. It’s a tradition plied by the expert hands of your local butcher? in our house that I kick back on It’s true you’ll pay a little more than for the Father’s Day, ideally with a beer in equivalent cut from the supermarket, but you hand, while my delightful wife and enthusiastic are not comparing like for like here. After all, children prepare a feast in the you wouldn’t walk into a Ferrari kitchen. This is a real treat for garage and expect to buy a car for me. The joy of the day for me is the same money as at your local that I get to do very little – such Renault dealer, would you? It’s On Father’s Day, a rarity with busy lives and two exactly the same when you buy I can choose little ones in the house look after. meat, and in particular chicken what we have I’m not bothered about gifts: and beef. I think it is important to just spending the day with the consider where your food comes for lunch. I family with little to do is more from, and you’ll be able to tell in usually opt for than enough to make me a very the taste. happy dad. But I do get consulted Buying carefully reared, wellroast beef and on what I’d like for lunch and I hung beef from a farm shop Yorkshire puds usually opt for roast beef and might cost more, but it will be Yorkshire puds. I’m not too fussed well worth it when you sit down with what’s served on the side – to your special lunch. some greens, roots and roasties It’s really all about quality and accompanied by a good homemade gravy will do value, not price. The two things are very differme just fine. ent. So on Dad’s special day, buy him a roastBut I’ll confess that I am very fussy indeed ing joint he’ll really savour. And if he doesn’t? about my beef. Meat’s a Sunday staple that’s Threaten to cancel Father’s Day next year and taken for granted by most of us, but for this spemake him do the cooking instead!

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Hang on in there You’ll often hear the bigger shops harping on about having hung their “prime” beef for 21 days. Quite frankly, though, this is the absolute minimum the meat should be hung to develop flavour and tenderness. Why do well-hung cuts from good butchers cost more? Well, all retailers buy meat by weight and the longer it hangs, the more moisture (and weight) it loses. We’re paying extra for time and effort involved in hanging the meat at the exact temperature and humidity it needs to lose all that moisture and age to perfection. But it is worth it. @TimGreenSauce

Tim Maddams is a Devon chef and author of Game: River Cottage Handbook no. 15 (Bloomsbury £14.99) 39

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06/06/2016 14:05:55

Beer

Top brewery opens wide its doors By Olivier Vergnault

n the face of it, beer making is quite simple. You only need four ingredients to make the stuff. Water. Malt. Hops. Yeast. Each one of them is vitally important. Blend them right and you get beer. That’s basic chemistry. Apply the right ingredients in the right quantity at the right time - with a dash of alchemy - and you get something a lot more special. Rob Orton, brewing team leader at St Austell Brewery and one of a 45-strong brewing team, is my guide for the day as we wander round the 21st century state-of-the-art tech brewery set in grand Victorian buildings of St Austell Brewery

in south Cornwall. I feel privileged to go behind the scenes and see how my favourite pint is made. It’s a privilege we can all now enjoy, as St Austell Brewery is opening its doors to the public for the first time, complete with a smart new visitor centre. For beer and history lovers looking for a day out with a difference, the new tour experience here will take you behind the veil, to explore the malt mills, mash tuns, fermenting vessels and cask racking line and meander past the heritage brewing kit from days gone by. Exeter Chiefs rugby star Jack Nowell will officially open the new visitor centre on July 5 but tours are already up and running. This is a beerlover’s chance to taste, feel and smell the way your favourite tipple is made.

As we move through the interactive displays, I get to push my hands into pods of malt, some which is grown exclusively for St Austell in Cornwall. Rob is keen for me to taste the malt. It crunches under the teeth and tastes like sweet, crunchy biscuits. St Austell uses 4,000 tonnes of malted barley a year. Inside a refrigerated room within the old brewhouse are piles and piles of boxes of hops. There are more than 100 varieties commercially available in the world, with 20 commonly used in beers at St Austell. Most hops come from Oregon and Washington in the United States. St Austell has been buying from the same fields and the same growers for the past 10 years, sending buyers out there and to Slovenia too, to literally have the pick of the

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WIN A BEER TOUR!

[[ ‘At any one time, there are more than 1.8m pints of beer on site here at St Austell Brewery, ready to be bottled or barrelled’

crop. Rob opens a bag inside one of the boxes. The pungent smell hits me straight away. Almost bitter but fruity and zesty also. Now the new interactive brewing tour experience is open, the Brewery makes sure you end up with sticky greenish hands and crunch barley under your teeth. This is where your beer is born. Even the water is important. It comes from a spring a mile away from the brewery known as The Brake and provides the much-needed soft water. Knowing where the barley is grown and where the water flows from is what sets your pint of Tribute apart from your average industrial ale. But make no mistake, St Austell may not be Heineken or Guinness in term of scale, but ten years ago it was making two to three brews a

week and now it makes 20. “We produce enough beer for someone somewhere in the world to drink a pint of our beer every second of every day, 365 days a year,” says Rob Orton. “At any one time, there are more than 1.8m pints of beer on site ready to be bottled or barrelled.” Then onto the best bit – tasting! Not only St Austell’s core brands such as Tribute, Proper Job and Korev but also one-off small batch beers. “This is our research and development facility,” says Rob. “We make German coffee lager, Belgian style beers, Imperial Russian stouts and American pale ales. We experiment, and welcome feedback.” So, with Fathers’ Day coming up: mums and kids - you know what to do! Visit www.staustellbreweryvisitorcentre. co.uk or call 01726 66022

We have a beer tour for two people (worth £12 each) followed by a £30 free lunch for two at St Austell Brewery in the Hicks bar to be won. To enter, send your name, address and full contact details to: St Austell Brewery competition, westmag@ westernmorningnews.co.uk to arrive by Friday June 24. Normal terms apply, West magazine will not share your details. Tickets for the St Austell Brewery tours allow visitors to stay as long as they choose on the day. A visit to the new Brewing Experience is just the start, with the free-to-enter Hicks Bar open from 8.30am for breakfasts until last food orders at 6pm, Monday to Saturday. Just pop in for a pasty and a pint or book for a formal meal or party. Entry to the Brewing Experience costs £12, including a free drink, Children under 14 visit for free, 14-17 year olds £5 For those with an even more unquenchable thirst for knowledge about beer, a special Brewer’s Tour will take place every Friday at 2pm. Available by booking in advance, the Brewer’s Tour will include a technical tour of the company’s state of the art brewing facilities and an invitation to join the company’s staff on their traditional Friday drinks in the Hicks Bar.

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07/06/2016 13:45:01

Enjoy

A WEEKEND IN

FALMOUTH

almouth just keeps on getting more vibrant, with a great mix of interesting shops and eateries and community events including its annual Sea Shanty Festival, which begins on Friday. It’s still a working port and is also a buzzing student town (Dawn French is Falmouth University’s much-loved chancellor), while its four gorgeous beaches and waterfront hotels attract both holidaymakers and day-trippers.

Stay:

The beautiful Falmouth Hotel is a stone’s throw from Castle Beach and also has holiday cottages within its five acre grounds. During the summer holidays, a family of four can enjoy a stay with bed, breakfast and dinner for £189 per room per night. St Michael’s Hotel and Spa has chic rooms and a great restaurant serving seafood. There are a number of home-from-home options in Falmouth on www.airbnb.co.uk, including a garden flat in a spacious Georgian villa, with its own separate entrance. It sleeps four people in two bedrooms for £75 a night. Simon and Vanessa Highcliffe’s contemporary B&B, The Highcliffe, is super-chic, with lots of lovely details to ensure your comfort. Rooms are very reasonably priced, with the single Room 4 great value at just £45-£50 a night.

Eat (and drink): The Eddy family serve their popular home-baked Granny Nunn’s Bread Pudding at De Wynn’s Coffee Shop, while there is live music and regular quizzes at laid-back pub-and-bookshop combo Beerwolf Books. Stylish Cribbs Restaurant serves authentic Caribbean dishes, as well as flavoursome interpretations of British classics, with some fabulous rum-based cocktails on its drinks menu.

[[ The International Sea Shanty Festival, from Friday, features 59 groups singing around the town

Don’t miss: The International Sea Shanty Festival taking place from this Friday until the end of next weekend, featuring 59 groups singing in 23 locations and venues throughout the town. The only ticketed event is the festival’s Gala Concert being held next Saturday evening at the Princess Pavilion, in aid of the RNLI. Tickets for this event cost £10.80 www. falmouthseashanty.co.uk. Shop:

The Bosun’s Locker is the oldest chandlery in the UK. Besides everything you’ll need to keep your yacht in tiptop condition, from paint to navigational aids, it has a great selec-

tion of nautical knits, kits and accessories. We like the timeless striped sweaters by French label Saint James. Love vintage? Visit Just Like This on the High Street for 1950s frocks and a rummage through its shelves and rails of one-off treasures.

Do: Visit the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and explore its collection of boats and art, books and archives which celebrate the maritime heritage of Cornwall. And don’t miss its Viking Voyagers exhibition, which reveals the story of the seafaring warriors, with rare antiquities on loan from the British Museum, National Museum of Ireland, National Museum of Denmark and Manx National Heritage.

Enjoy: Fun

in the water with Elemental UK based at Swanpool Beach, with activities including windsurfing, sailing and stand up paddleboarding. If you prefer to keep your feet dry, this activity centre also offers archery and rock climbing, with all the equipment you need set up and ready to go, there on the beach.

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06/06/2016 15:59:52

Liz Ed dy, De Wy nn’s

Beerwolf Books

St Michael’s Hotel and Spa

National Maritime Museum

A la n Pa rm en

su n’s Lo ck te r of T he Bo

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07/06/2016 13:48:06

Boardmasters Festival, Newquay

Adam and son Mickey

My Secret Westcountry Adam Spiers Adam Spiers runs Michael Spiers Jewellers, established by his grandfather with stores in Truro, Plymouth, Exeter and Taunton. Alan, Lord Sugar, recently bought a Rolex from him. Born in Looe, Adam lives in Plymouth with his wife Ally and children Tasha, Mickey and Zach.

My favourite… View: We recently stayed at the Torcross Apartments in south Devon and woke up to clear blue skies. The view from Torcross towards Blackpool Sands is simply staggering. I paddle-boarded to the mouth of the Dart (almost!) with my daughter Tasha - absolutely exhausting but so invigorating. Beach: Watergate Bay near Newquay. When the kids were younger we spent most of our summers there. I would bomb down from our home in Plymouth for the weekends and we would spend all day surfing and building sand sculptures… castles, boats, cars, planes - we never knew what they would be, until we were finished! I’m also proud that all my children are great surfers, thanks to the Extreme Academy crew at Watergate Bay. Festival We’ve been going to Boardmasters in Newquay every August since 2005. It has always been a family affair for us and I think last year was the

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People

Rock Salt

Torcross

Newton Faulkner The Extreme Academy

The Hyde Park

Carlyon Bay Hotel

first time I saw the headline acts without one of the my kids on my shoulders. So many memories, but the best has to be Newton Faulkner singing Sponge Bob Square Pants in 2010. I’d had a few beers with him at the Watergate Bay Hotel bar the night before and asked him to sing it for my son Mickey, then five.

Activity: I was brought up in Cornwall, so the coast has played a huge part in my life. I love surfing, and a family day at the beach with friends, a BBQ, and my long board – crafted by the legendary Plympton maker Luke Young – is definitely my favourite way to spend a day. Food: It has to be a just cooked lobster from Plymouth fish market. Served only with a salad, garlic and mayo... perfect! Tipple: Can I choose two? A pint of Betty Stogs, made in Cornwall by Skinner’s Brewery. I’m convinced it’s the Cornish water that is the magic ingredient of this champion beer! And I have also always loved Pernod, so when I

discovered a bottle of Tarquin’s Cornish Pastis at Plymouth’s Flavour Fest a few years ago, I had to try it. It’s become my favourite late afternoon, pre-BBQ tipple.

Pub: The Hyde Park on Mutley Plain in Plymouth is full of character and a lovely traditional city pub. The staff are brilliant, the beer and food are great, and they even have their own micro-brewery – try the Made in Mutley ale, you won’t regret it! Restaurant: I like to shop and eat locally and we are lucky to have an abundance of family owned restaurants in Plymouth where we live, serving the most amazing fresh local food. For the best steak this side of anywhere it has to be the Steak and Omelette Bar and my favourite fish restaurant is Platters. For French food, it has to be Chloe’s. We also love the Rock Salt Café (try their black pudding scotch egg…it’s amazing). For lunch, it’s Positano and for early evening bites, the Barbican Kitchen. I just love my food!

Weekend away: The Carlyon Bay Hotel in Cornwall is my absolute favourite and the ultimate treat for a weekend away. A morning round of golf with my sons, mussels and Muscadet for lunch and then a walk along the coast with Ally. We’ll sometimes have a pre-dinner swim or gym session before going to the hotel restaurant. Evenings are always rounded off with a few drinks, games and a lot of laughter. Perfect!

Shop: Michael Spiers Jewellers of course!

A shameless plug but I’m so proud to be a part of a local family business that has been a mainstay on Devon and Cornwall’s streets since the 1950s.

Secret place: The Dolphin Pub on Plymouth’s Barbican (which was immortalised on canvas by the artist Beryl Cook). A pint of Bass for me a cider for Ally - and cheese and onion crisps. Absolute bliss! www.michaelspiers.co.uk 45

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06/06/2016 13:57:09

My life

man and boy

Early to bed, early to rise Phil Goodwin and James, six, attempt a healthy new regime es, that really is James - and no, he so on, and by eight we are on the way up. After hasn’t grown up overnight. We fia chapter or two of The Lion, the Witch and nally got round to re-shooting our the Wardrobe he puts in another time check. It pictures and voila - he’s gone from is eight-thirty, still a record in the making. The aged four to six. light goes off and eventually he follows. One thing hasn’t changed, however - my Cut to the morning. I awake to the sound of chronic, on-going parental desire for our son stomping feet on the wooden floor, followed by to go to bed of an evening and stay there. To the sound of a toothbrush scratching then some my deep and everlasting shame, bedtime has frankly over-dramatic spitting. I am instantly been a sore point in our family. At the school gripped by the sudden fear that it must be about gate I eavesdrop parents talk9.30am. I check the clock and ing how dear Joe or Jane are find it is actually 7am. in bed by seven or fast asleep “Wow,” I told him. We arrive at by eight. Were they lying? Did “You really did they resort to narcotics of it.” “We need to school a good some sort? How else did they go to school… five minutes manage to get the lovelies up now,” he replies before the gate the wooden hill before Newssternly, before slipnight? bumping down the stairs opens. There And then, lo, a miracle. in that routine only boys of are people I The Archangel Gabriel or the a certain age can manage Great Architect or maybe the without serious pain. have never seen, Blue Fairy intervened, and Ok-ay, I think, sorting out children I have before you could scream get his breakfast (two courses never met in that shower now! the probnow, cereal and bun) and lem was solved. Of course, mine (muesli). He plays a as anyone with an even rubit, draws, watches a bit dimentary understanding of the business of of TV but even so by 8.25am he is chomping wish granting knows, there is always a catch. at the bit. Oh yes. We arrive at school a good five minutes One sunny evening the lad casually asks before the gate opens. There are people me the time. It was exactly 7pm. This, it turns there I have never seen before, children out, was the hour his teacher had told him that I have never met. We have stepped into a children should go to bed. Really? I inquired. strange, new world. We have joined the earlyIt seemed rather early, especially in summer. to-bed-early-to-rise crowd. James is first into Victorian even. class and positively beams with pride. The Furthermore, his best mate also turns in tables have been turned. He chivvies me at then, or so it is alleged. So, for the sake of exnight then gives me the run-around next perimentation if nothing else, I tell him, fine, morning. I should be delighted but I am go to bed. “Oh, but I haven’t done anything fun knackered. “What do you want for Fayet,” he complains. This means he has wasted thers’ Day?” he inquires. “How about a his time watching TV. So he does some drawlie-in?” I suggest. “Why don’t you stay up ing, paints a picture, plays with his Lego and a bit later tonight?” I wish.

NEXT WEEK: Chris McGuire on starting his new life in the South West

main picture: Steve Haywood

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07/06/2016 13:49:49

W here Memories Are Made

Summer Sizzler Offer prices start from £129 per room per night! Enjoy a complimentary jug of Pimms on arrival, 3 course dinner, bed and full Westcountry breakfast. Plus, if you upgrade to an Executive or Superior room, we will upgrade your toiletries to a luxury Elemis Spa gift pack worth £20 The Grand Hotel, Torquay | The Grosvenor Hotel, Torquay | The Falmouth Hotel, Falmouth The Fowey Hotel, Fowey | The Metropole Hotel, Padstow

To book please call 0800 005 2244 & quote WMN106 www.richardsonhotels.co.uk *Booking dates 1st - 30th June for June, July, August & September 2016. Offer is subject to availability, some date restrictions may apply. First night deposit non refundable or transferrable payable at the time of booking. This offer applies to new bookings only. *Price of £129 is based at The Grosvenor Hotel, Torquay. Ads.indd 6

06/06/2016 15:53:57

Ads.indd 9

07/06/2016 11:08:48