West Magazine, September 6 2015

06.09.15

‘Never been better’ Fiona Fullerton on family, fame, and friendship

INSIDE: + VINTAGE INSPIRATION PLUS: + BEAUTY GOES

COCONUTS

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Autumn style essentials

WIN: + CRAFT SHOW TICKETS

02/09/2015 14:01:13

THE LIGHTING SPECIALISTS CREATIVE LIGHTING FROM THE WORLD’S FINEST DESIGNERS.

AMOS LIGHTING | FURNITURE DESIGN SERVICE

Exhibiting at the Self-Build and Design Show, Westpoint, 12th/13th September

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‘I come here as often as I can, and I love it. I’m in Salcombe next week, then I’m off to Polzeath’

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COASTAL CHIC Marvellous decor by the sea in Mullion

Why Fiona Fullerton loves the Westcountry, p 16

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KEIRA CONFESSES ‘I’m kinder to my body now’

SECRET PLACES Where to go, what to try

[contents[ Inside this week...

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THE WISHLIST This week’s pick of lovely things to buy

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PLEASE, DON’T CRY! Our new mum columnist battles on

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JUST BETWEEN US...

Sh! We have the latest gossip!

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THE VINTAGE QUEEN A treasure trove in Budleigh Salterton

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AUTUMN BOHO Our pick of the new looks

FULL OF FUN Lots of laughter with Fiona Fullerton

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COASTAL CHIC The waterside home with luxury style

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PERENNIAL CONCERNS

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EAT WELL, NOW Great ways with aubergine

Anne Swithinbank’s garden advice

30

BOHO FOR AUTUMN What to wear this September

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YOUR WEEK AHEAD Cassandra Nye looks into the stars

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BOOST YOUR WELLBEING Great ways to feel your best this week

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NO-COOK COOKIES Ally Mac gets creative in the kitchen

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A WEEKEND AWAY Exploring the best of Bodmin Moor

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NEW IN TOWN Chris McGuire is local - ish...

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HOW TO WEAR IT

The pussy bow gets on trend

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01/09/2015 17:42:53

We meet Bond girl Fiona Fullerton in Devon

[ welcome [ In season right now You’ve got to love September: with peaceful roads, empty beaches and kids back at school, a sense of tranquillity descends as the often-frantic high summer comes to an end. All the more time, then, for savouring the good things we have packed into West magazine this week!

First up, do read Catherine Barnes’ interview with the fabulous Fiona Fullerton - if you have ever wondered how to age in style, then Fiona’s story of going from being a Bond girl to becoming a property magnate, while raising three children along the way, is sure to capture your imagination. She sounds like a lot of fun, too - and, best of all, she loves the South West. Quite right too.

Tweet

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of the week @OneVoiceTeam Little bit of styling going on at today’s @WMNWest shoot in @Princesshay with @stevenhaywood1 #fashion #pr #aw15 Ed’s note: Thank you One Voice.

Great work as always!

Elsewhere in the magazine, we have plenty of autumnal fashion, from cosy jackets (p34) to boho dresses (p30). There’s plenty to eat and drink, too, with Tim Maddams sharing the secret of delicious aubergines (clue: it involves a lot of salt), and Ally Mac making some very cute no-cook biscuits (p39).

You’ll also love our interiors feature on page 22 today, as Sarah Pitt has tracked down some seriously pretty decor in Mullion, west Cornwall. Finally, our garden guru from east Devon, Anne Swithinbank, has wise words on what to plant now, on page 26. Happy reading!

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Fiona Fullerton’s gone from Bond girl to property magnate

MAIN PICTURE: STEVE HAYWOOD

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FULL OF FUN

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[

Becky Sheaves, Editor

COVER IMAGE: Steve Haywood

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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02/09/2015 13:33:36

If you do one thing this week...

Bag your tickets for The Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts Show where the stunning costumes from the recent movie Far From The Madding Crowd will be on display.

Carey Mulligan (who has a farm near Exeter with her musician husband) plays Bathsheba Everdene in the film, and you can see her gorgeous costumes, and many more, at the show.

This event is also a great place to get inspiration for your own craft and sewing projects, with stalls, displays and demonstrations. It’s at Westpoint showground near Exeter, September 24-27. See www.ichfevents.co.uk or call 01425 277988 for tickets.

Win

We have five pairs of day tickets for The Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts Show, worth £20 a pair, to win.

To be in with a chance, email westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk with your name, address and phone number, with ‘Hobbycrafts show’ as the subject, by September 14. Normal terms apply.

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02/09/2015 12:03:13

Beeswax from Dorset features in this lip balm kit £9.99 www. filbertsofdorset. co.uk

the

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

Twinkle Set of four tealight holders in berry colours, £14.95 www. annabeljames. co.uk

STREET STYLE STAR Lauren Browne

Lauren says: “I’ve always shopped in River Island. I am obsessed with Frankie Sandford from The Saturdays at the minute, I just love everything about her. I used to have the same haircut as her and she is roughly the same age as me. I just love how she dresses.”

Burgundy top: River Island £22 Black jeans: New Look £24.99 Shoes: Dune £49 Necklace: Primark £4

SPOTTED BY: ABBIE BRAY AND CONNIE CHAMPAIN

Lauren is a 27-year-old hairdresser from Exeter

Go for gold Cafetiere £35 House of Fraser

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Wishlist

Have the world on your sleeves with these Australian map cufflinks £24.95 www. thekeepsakeshop.co.uk

Edworth the dog doorstop £12 B&Q www.diy.com

TRUE BLUE Geometric teal bowl,£18, House of Fraser

Store we adore Moko, Exeter

This gift shop stocks unusual items from near and far. There’s furniture made from old timbers from Indonesian fishing boats (ethically traded) and some of the wittiest and most original greetings cards we’ve seen in a long while, made just a few miles away at Lympstone. With a slightly ethnic feel, the range is genuinely original. Just the place to find a unique and special gift.

Moko is at 17 Gandy Street, Exeter 01392 278800

Add a touch of opulence with the Bonne Nuit chest of drawers £659 www. newtonsfurniture.co.uk

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talking points Tunic dress £40 River Island

Simply

Fran McElhone

WHITE

Story of my life...

American actress Emily Ratajkowski looked stunning in this long-sleeved tunic dress on the London leg of her promotional tour of new film We Are Your Friends. She stars with Zac Ephron. You too can get cosy this autumn with these chic knits.

Our new mum tries to have a shower was warned. About in fact it was just my overactive never being able toimagination. Then I turn it back drink a cup of tea again on again and get assailed by a while it was actually torrent of cold water. Serves me still hot. But not about the fact right for being an over-neurotic that I would now have to do everymum, perhaps? thing I ever took for granted (like Other times, Woody chills in eating, dressing, or tidying up) in his bouncy chair in the doorway, a rush, with one hand. sometimes asleep, sometimes I am surprised I don’t have awake. Either way, there’s no chronic acid re-flux and am not chilling for me. addicted to Rennies by now, conOnce, I ended up manically sidering how fast I neck down my wiping the steam off the door food these days. every few seconds watching his My hair is often dummy, aka ‘paciunkempt (luckily fier’, gradually fallthe just-got-outing from his lips, in of-bed look is very my head screamAW15) and my ing “noooooo!”.

Woody chills mascara is usuBut a few more in his bouncy ally smudged. seconds passed chair in the As for showerand I indulged in ing, this process a few more warm doorway... is a far cry from droplets when sudbut there’s no the relaxing break denly, my angelic from the world it son gave a piercing chilling for me once was. Instead wail, in baby-speak it too is conducted meaning: “Where’s as if Armageddon my dummy?!!!!”. was upon us.

In baby world Each morning, after Woody’s this is a pretty big drama. So, second breakfast, it’s nap time water still running, hair dripagain, which occasionally means ping, I stepped out and put the I can read a couple more paradummy back in its rightful place, graphs of Saturday’s paper (even and there is peace at last. I steal a if it’s Friday, as it takes me all few more precious moments in week). the shower before calling it quits.

Then, I try to take a shower.

But guess what - just as I think Sometimes, I leave Woody in his my efforts have paid off, and I’m basket, which means every few flailing about trying to reach siseconds muffling the flow of lently for my towel, I catch his water and turning the shower attention – and my cherub wakes off, thinking I heard him, when up. Again.

I

steal her

style

OPTION A Cosy

OR MAKE IT YOUR OWN

Rollneck knitted dress £35 M&Co

OPTION B Chic Teal jersey dress £55 White Stuff

Fran McElhone and her husband Mike live in east Devon with their new son Woody. Next week: Gillian Molesworth on family life in north Cornwall 8

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06.09.15

Just

Mum’s the word New mum Keira Knightley says that becoming a parent has made her appreciate her body much more. The Imitation Game actress gave birth to baby Edie in May and is married to musician James Righton. She says: “As a woman, you hate certain parts of your body. You go through those

periods where you look in the mirror and you think, Oh, if only I had different legs or arms or whatever.

You go through pregnancy and labour and then feeding the kid and you go, Wow, my body is totally amazing. I’m never going to not like it again, because it did this.” Wise words.

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

!

NO T SO GLAM Bear Grylls has been at it again. The Chief Scout, who once turned up at a scout jamboree at Pencarrow House in Cornwall to meet the youngsters there, has a new American TV series out. In it, he pushed American actress Michelle Rodriguez to her limit by insisting that she ate mouse stewed in urine in the Arizona desert.

Bear claimed there “wasn’t enough water” to make a decent quantity of soup for their dinner. But even he had to admit the results were disgusting. He confessed: “I’ve finally found the thing that has broken me.” Doesn’t sound like our idea of family viewing… we’ll stick to Bake Off, thanks!

Say cheese!

If you don’t do the ‘Twitter thing’ you’re not alone: Comedian Sandi Toksvig doesn’t either, but says it’s accounted for some very strange moments in her life. The Fifteen to One presenter reveals: “I was on a train and my sister, as I got off, rang me and said I had eaten a cheese sandwich. I said,

‘How the hell did you know that?’

Someone had taken a picture of me eating a cheese sandwich and Tweeted it. What is wrong with the world that people have got the time to do that?

Thank goodness I wasn’t doing anything outrageous.” More’s the pity, say us.

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Acrobatics: The X-treme Brothers show off their skills at the Circus of the Streets on Paignton Green in south Devon

in pictures Bounty: Emma Gunn goes foraging at The Eden Project in Cornwall

Six pack: There are three pairs of twins now at Bishopsteignton pre-school

Quirky: Bride and groom scarecrows at the Chagford Show on Dartmoor

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talking points Starry skies

Whodunnit?

ONE OF US Famous faces with links to the Westcountry

10 constellations visible in September skies:

1 Aquila (the eagle) 2 Capricornus (the goat) 3 Delphinus (the dolphin) 4 Cygnus (the swan) 5 Equuleus (the foal) 6 Indus (the Indian) 7 Microscopium (the microscope)

8 Pavo (the peacock) 9 Vulpecula (the fox) 10 Sagitta (the arrow)

Baring all

Agatha Christie stories set in Devon or Cornwall:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Sleeping Murder The Sittaford Mystery Evil Under the Sun The Big Four Peril at End House And Then There Were None 7 The Blood-Stained Pavement 8 The Mysterious Affair at Styles 9 The ABC Murders 10 Dead Man’s Folly

The happy list

10 things to make you smile this week 1 Lighting the fire it’s get10 male celebs who’ve posed naked for charity:

1 Michael Eavis 2 David Haye 3 Louis Smith 4 Dave Navarro 5 Calum Best 6 Gareth Gates 7 Adam Levine 8 Simon Webbe 9 Rylan Clark 10 Gavin Henson

ting chilly out

2 First day at school - proud!

3 The sea’s still warm time to brave it

4 New fashion in shops now 5 Love ya, tomorra Annie at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal

6 Makers Market Penzance on Saturday

7 Dreams of Manderley Rebecca at Hall for Cornwall

8 Bude Pirate Run next weekend, me hjearties

9 Red hot ripe chillies 10 Bubble baths time for a soak

This week:

Jack Nowell Jack Nowell, 22, grew up in Newlyn, Cornwall and plays for Exeter Chiefs. He is in England’s Rugby World Cup squad

School: Jack went to Mount’s Bay Support: Jack Nowell is an School in Penzance, then went ambassador of the Penlee Lifeboat to Truro College to study Sport Station in west Cornwall. His dad Performance and Mike says he is glad Excellence. “I never his son is not following thought I’d make it as him into the family DID YOU KNOW? a professional rugby fishing business: “I’ve player,” he says. “All seen men lost at sea.

Jack Nowell’s through school I didn’t It’s not for the faintfamily know what I was going hearted”. to do.” have been Family: Jack’s mum fishermen in Early days: He joined Louisa is responsible Cornwall for the Exeter Chiefs’ for starting him out academy system playing rugby: “I hated two centuries, straight from college, it to start with.” Jack and his dad and was promoted to says. “I was about six Mike is a the Chiefs’ first team years old when mum trawlerman. midway through the first took me along to 2012/13 season. rugby training but I wouldn’t play. I’d cling Success: Jack’s on her legs and refuse first full season for Exeter Chiefs to go out. There were a lot of tears and is described as “brilliant” by the tantrums.” club. He won the national LV Cup Breakthrough Player of the Year Inspiration: Jack says: “Dad used award. to bribe me by paying me a quid for every try I scored but he stopped England: England coach Stuart when I scored 12 in one game against Lancaster is a huge Jack Nowell fan, Redruth. He said ‘You can play on saying: “He makes very few errors, your own now, son’.” has a kicking game, an ability to beat defenders and his defence is Siblings: Jack has two younger very, very good. He brings a no-fear brothers, Henry and Frankie, who are mentality.” also talented rugby players.

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01/09/2015 14:01:05

Katy Gooding in her Buidleigh Salterton vintage store

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People

Katy gooding

The vintage queen Tucked away in Budleigh Salterton, Fran McElhone finds a very special shop, and shopkeeper... aty Gooding is a compulsive treasure hunter and a “vintage snob” (said with a giggle). She loves mid-century modernism, art deco and the colours and patterns of the 60s, but hates shabby chic and retro, or what she calls “pretend vintage”.

The upshot is that her shop, What Katy Did, in east Devon’s Budleigh Salterton (you can’t miss it – the colourful wares of bygone days spill out onto the pavement outside) is quite an experience, with customers “amazed” by what they find inside.

Katy opened her eclectic store three-and-a-half years ago. When I visit I find myself completely distracted by the timewarp that is her shop’s interior. My eyes wander, and I’m gawping over her shoulder instead of at her. She totally understands. “I see people’s faces when they walk in and they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness! I don’t know where to look first!’”

With her keen eye for authenticity and originality, and the confidence to set up shop in a recession while fighting the rising tide of internet shopping obsession, Katy’s hard work has begun to pay off. The 41-year-old was one of five finalists in the 2015 UK Vintage Awards for the category of Best Vintage Shop, thanks to stacks of votes from enthusiastic shoppers. What Katy Did was the only shop in the Westcountry to clinch a place in the final.

Katy says she’s shocked at the “incredible” achievement of being in the top five vintage shops in the whole country, even though she knows people love what she’s doing. Indeed, enthusiasts have been known to book visits to east Devon just to see her store. The Brighton and London set keep telling her she’s better than her counterparts in their neck of the woods: “It’s either all

photography: grw photography

K

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People Katy’s shop is packed with treasures from the 20th century

clothes or too pricey,” she says. “There was this girl from Brighton who came in with her mum,” she tells me. “They were staying in Budleigh for a few days. Her mum ended up going swimming in Topsham while she stayed here for three hours,” Katy says bursting into laughter. “She said, ‘Please open a shop in Brighton!’ – I’m obviously up there with the cool crowd!”

Last November Katy also made it into The Sunday Telegraph’s Top 50 Vintage Boutiques list - a sterling effort for someone who does “zero” marketing and has relied solely on word of mouth to spread her cheer.

When I visit, I spot everything from teapots and picnic hampers to flouncy dresses, pointy shoes and Anglepoise lamps. Not to mention Katy’s dog Marvin, who is in most days.

We soon get on to the subject of her favourite items over the years and Katy almost becomes overwhelmed, briefly putting her face in her hands and glancing around. “There’s just been so much,” she says. “I do get absolutely gutted sometimes when things actually sell and I have to part with them. Like this tea cloth,” she continues prodding at the air in its direction.

“I might never see again! And these chairs, they’re so happy!”

Indeed, Katy tells me that another favourite item was a pair of 1920s cinema chairs. In the end, she could only bear to sell one of them, and kept the other: “My mum likes sitting on it”.

“There are certain things I’m passionate about,” she concedes. “I have to be careful not to buy just the things I love, but also consider what

[

customers are after. Sixties florals are really back in but that’s OK, as I love all the bright colours of the 1960s.

“I have an eclectic mix in my own home as I’m not very good at sticking to one era. If I’m honest though, we’re in 21st century and should be making our style our own from the past and the present, not just doing what someone decides is on-trend.”

Re m a rk a b l y, What Katy Did was born out of what could have been a career disaster, she explains. Four years ago, she hurt her back and couldn’t continue life as a special needs teacher. This health issue coincided with her moving in with her partner, who doesn’t share the same enthusiasm for things of old as Katy.

[

‘People are going back to wanting to be individual again and not having a room full of John Lewis’

“My partner’s more of a minimalist, so it was a bit of a shock for him moving in with me,” she giggles. “I’ve had to streamline my obsession at home, which is partly why I opened the shop.”

Above all, Katy loves the stories behind the items she sells, almost as much as she loves seeing the look on people’s faces when they fall for something. “There was a woman who came in and spotted an Art Deco photo frame. Believe it or not, the picture in it was of her great aunt who was a photography studio model in Exmouth in the 1930s and 40s.

“What is incredible is that I had bought the frame over 10 years ago back up in Derby, where I used to live. Then the brother of the old lady came in and we put the photo up to their faces to see if there was a likeness!

“Another customer of mine designs film sets for movies including The King’s Speech. He bought a 1940s desk top radio microphone from me. We have fascinating characters here in Budleigh - you wouldn’t believe some of the stories I hear.”

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A good vintage Westcountry businesses going back to the future

Teas Maid, Devon Emma Elliott of Upton Pyne rents out crockery for parties and weddings Why we love it: Emma has 40 teapots, none of which match

Mimi’s Vintage Diner, St Austell Reclaimed 1949 American diner trailer, parked up and serving food in Cornwall Why we love it: The beautiful diner comes all the way from New Jersey

Katy also recently sold a rather jazzy catsuit and 1930s boating jacket to a local resident who was the first ever buyer for Topshop, back when the store first opened in the 1960s. “I have also sold James Bond film posters and Dior dresses to a local lady who was a model in the 1960s. She knew people like Brigitte Bardot and partied with David Bowie,” she reveals.

The shop is arranged into recognisable zones.

There’s a gallery, complete with old film posters, a kitchen area, a music room, a boudoir and a play room. We’re sat in the lounge on a 1950s G Plan sofa, next to a Fidelity box record player emitting sounds of the 60s.

So why the surge in vintage glee? “People are going back to wanting to be individual again and not having a room full of John Lewis or Ikea, with everyone’s dining room or kitchen looking the same,” muses Katy. “And there’s the nostalgic part of it. People remember their granny’s larder unit - and are ripping out their fitted kitchens for a more individual and adaptable look.”

She adds, “I love vintage because of the good

Social Fabric, Totnes Fabulous craft cafe, wool shop and fabric emporium in the town centre Why we love it: Great courses, from crochet to cushion making and more

design, but also its usefulness – look at this larder unit,” she says gesticulating to our left.

“You could use that in any room in your house. I have CDs and cookery books in mine.”

There are some things Katy won’t, or can’t, let go however: “I’m just worried I’ll never see anything like them again,” she admits. Luckily, she has plenty of gems that she is prepared to part with, to the delight of her many customers.

For more details see www.whatkatydid.biz

The Real McCoy, Exeter The place to go for one-off vintage clothing and repro frocks Why we love it: There’s just so much to choose from, over two floors

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Fiona on one of her many visits to Devon

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Xxxxxx

[

FIONA FULLERTON

Full of fun

[

On one of her regular visits to the Westcountry, the former Bond girl turned property developer Fiona Fullerton, 58, explains why she is at her happiest, right now

By Catherine Barnes

ello,” says the lady in the brown dressing gown, proffering a hand.

“I’m Fionaah.”

Gosh. The former Bond girl appears slightly, um, different since she I saw her on Strictly Come Dancing two years ago. Can a chocolate terry towelling gown really do that? What to say?

A door opens and the actual Fiona quietly pads in, bare-footed, but otherwise fully dressed in black, looking slightly quizzical as pal Cherry erupts into gales of laughter. The minx!

“Hi, I’m Fiona,” she smiles, looking unmistakably Fiona Fullertonish.

The actress, 58, and pals Cherry and Geraldine are making a weekend of it with their very good friends the hoteliers Sonia and Brian Meaden, at their Chagford home. They’ve all been firm friends since they met when Fiona and Sonia’s daughter Deborah Meaden tripped the light fantastic together on Strictly in 2013.

Up close, Fiona looks as familiar as she does on screen, with an attractive softness to her features. She’s wearing Zara - “I’m a high street girl” – and looks amazing, despite cheerfully confessing to a raging hangover from last night’s revels.

H

PORTRAITS: STEVE HAYWOOD

“

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Interview Playing Guinevere opposite Richard Harris as Arthur

As a young actress with Peter Sellers

“We were playing six degrees of separation last night and I LOVE that game,” she says, cosying into the sofa. “I can get to Bill Clinton in two steps [through London theatre impresario Sally Greene]... so you can get to him in three, because you know me, now! Of course, there’s a second version of the game, too...”

Warm and easy in manner, Fiona is a lot of fun.

Think the kind of mum you instantly click with at the school gates. Which, in part, is why she gave up film and the West End stage to become a property developer – and parent.

A famous face since her childhood, she was just 13 when she landed her first film role in Run Wild, Run Free with Oliver! star Mark Lester. Fiona then became a cinema legend in the 1980s, when she starred alongside Roger Moore as Pola Ivanova in classic Bond movie A View to a Kill.

Her stellar acting career was wonderful while it lasted, she says. It came about by accident but ended by design when her daughter Lucy, now 19, was born.

“I had no qualms giving acting up,” she says.

“The children have never known me as an actress. To her friends, I’m just Lucy’s mum. If people come up to me at the supermarket, she just rolls her eyes.”

Having lived in Gloucestershire with second husband Neil Shackell since their children James, 27, and Lucy were small, Fiona, now a successful property developer, often spends time in Devon

and Cornwall. “I come here as much as I can and I love it,” she says. “Lucy and I were in Salcombe the other week – and we have also great friends in Topsham. We’re often down this part of the world and are off to Polzeath on Monday.”

Fiona always wanted to give the children the kind of home she never had. She’s the daughter of an Army father, who followed the call of duty around the world. “I wanted the children to have

‘I come here as much as

I was so grown-up, but I really wasn’t nearly so worldly-wise as Lucy’s generation.”

Lucy’s off to university this autumn and Fiona says she regrets that she herself had no further education, saying: “It makes you feel inferior to everyone else.”

Yet she’s never considered taking on a degree, confessing she’s a “terrible” student. Despite that, she had 10 successful years as a national newspaper property columnist and has written several books, including the touching memoir Dear Fiona: Letters from a Suspected Soviet Spy, the true story of her 22 year correspondence with a prisoner who was wrongly convicted of crimes he did not commit.

After giving up acting, she began to focus on property, letting out houses she’d bought and done up in London and Oxford.

It’s a career that’s also fulfilled a childhood ambition.

“My dad always instilled in me to save for a rainy day and I started investing in property back in the seventies – way before Bond.

Some actors and actresses are not good at saving, let’s put it that way, but I’m an investor, not a spender,” she says. “If things had been different, I would have been an interior designer – I have a strong creative streak and am far more comfortable designing than acting.”

Now she’s turning her hand to writing fiction, too and drawing on chilling personal experiences

I can, and I love it. I was in Salcombe the other week, now I’m off to Polzeath’ the stability that I never had, the complete antithesis of my childhood.”

Born in Nigeria, she attended boarding school in England from the age of nine and was already a successful actress when she left at 16. Three years later, she married glamorous actor Simon MacCorkindale but they divorced in 1981.

“On July 10 this year, Lucy was exactly the same age as I was when I married,” she says. “I thought

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With Roger Moore in the Bond film A View to a Kill

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Interview

In 2013 Fiona dazzled in Strictly, with partner Anton du Beke

in what will be her first novel.

“It’s a contemporary piece about obsession and loosely autobiographical. It has a very messy ending. Ha ha!”

But more seriously, she can’t help but look back on a frightening encounter with a criminal called Rodney Barnes, who came knocking at the door of her former family home in 1996, requesting a photograph.

James was at school, but Fiona had baby Lucy in her arms at the time. She politely sent Barnes on his way with her agent’s contact details. Yet something about him had struck her as odd. Fiona contacted the police, who, after the man’s arrest, revealed he’d been armed and in the midst of a violent rape and robbery rampage. Terrifyingly, she found out that she’d been on a list of celebrities he’d intended to kill.

Following his conviction and committal to Rampton high-security psychiatric hospital in 1997, Barnes wrote to Fiona, telling her: “I came to do you that day.” “I’m lucky to be alive,” she

says, still clearly haunted by the experience. “I had Lucy in my arms and he said that’s why he couldn’t attack me – I was holding my baby.”

Earlier on in her career, she’d received a death threat while she was playing Cinderella at the London Palladium. “When you’re on stage, you’re out of control, as people know exactly where you are,” she says. “It’s a very uncomfortable feeling and another reason I gave up showbusiness.

I’d never wanted to be an actress in the first place – I fell into it as a child. I don’t regret it, though.

I’ve had an amazing career.”

As anticipation builds ahead of the release of latest Bond movie, Spectre, Fiona’s excited about her new role - she will be compering the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Music of Bond show at the Royal Albert Hall next month.

“The whole iconic imagery surrounding the Bond films seems to have grown up around the internet,” she reflects. “Back in the 1980s it was already wonderful but now, it’s like being a

‘I’d never wanted to

be an actress in the first

place – I fell into it’

member of an elite club.” She reveals that her time acting in the film wasn’t glamorous – “that comes when you are promoting it”– but credits her role as Pola Ivanova for her most sparkling appearances in the spotlight to date. Yes, you’ve guessed it, Strictly.

“I owe a great deal to Bond,” she says. “Strictly’s probably the most glamorous show I’ve ever done. Each dance each is very intense – you only have three days to learn them – and I’d get very frustrated, but poor Anton du Beke was very patient with me.” So has she kept it up? “No!” she laughs. “Although I’d like to say I do the salsa every week.”

Dear Fiona: Letters from a Suspected Soviet Spy is published in hardback by Waterside Press, £19.95

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01/09/2015 12:04:12

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interiors

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30

fashion

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02/09/2015 10:20:19

Coastal retreat

Interior designer Anna Hart tells Sarah Pitt how she brought the coast into luxury holiday apartments beside the harbour in Mullion Cove 22

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01/09/2015 12:06:55

Interiors

here’s no better spot to watch a storm blow in from the west than beside the little fishing harbour at Mullion Cove. And when interior designer Anna Hart was asked to renovate and refurbish four apartments overlooking the picturesque harbour on Cornwall’s Lizard peninsula, she took inspiration from the stunning view outside the window.

Today, a shoal of silvery fish crafted from metal feature on a sitting room wall, a reference to the pilchards once landed in this little harbour. And on the sofa in the same room there are linen cushions featuring, variously, an octopus and a ship under full sail.

“The apartments definitely have a nautical feel, I

T

wanted to embrace that, but in a playful way,” says Anna. “In one of the bedrooms, for example, the wallpaper I’ve used features a technical drawing of ships. So there are lots of references to the location, without going down the obvious route of blue and white stripes everywhere.”

The linen octopus and sailing ship cushions were created by Cream Cornwall, a partnership between design duo Rebecca Heane and Allison Hughes in Falmouth. The iridescent fish sculptures – a different configuration in each apartment – are the work of a craftswoman Anna tracked down on the crafting website Etsy.

The sofas and other upholstery, meanwhile, were made by the company run by Anna and her business partner John Miller, MARK (standing for 23

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Interiors

Made and Realised in Kernow). Anna sourced the blankets in the bedrooms from the Atlantic Blanket Company near Wadebridge. Elsewhere, there are baskets of fleece blankets to hand, “because it is not always balmy in Britain”, to take to the beach or curl up in while having a barbecue outside overlooking the harbour.

Anna has made every effort to source handcrafted elements from craftspeople in Cornwall.

“I didn’t want to go down the route of finishing it in too many off-the-shelf products,” she says.

“Having little touches like Cornish blankets and locally-made cushions means that everything looks really thought-out. We could have just chucked in some sofas from just anywhere, but that wasn’t the experience the owners wanted for their guests. They wanted to make ‘We were able it feel a lot more special.” to pick out Her biggest challenge was workthe Cornish ing out how to reconfigure the three floors, already being used as granite for the holiday accommodation, to make worktops, which better use of the space. ting things together and organiswas fantastic’ “The ground floor had a garage ing them. The biggest challenges and a very strange layout, so that were creating a luxurious feel and was completely reconfigured,” making the best use of the space. says Anna. “All the windows have “The owners are very keen for stayed where they are, but we this to be an all year round let, so have put in one porthole window we have tried to create pockets and blocked up a doorway to make better use of the which feel cosy within the open plan aspect.” space.”

Within her budget, Anna splashed out on granite “We had amazing builders who worked like worktops in the kitchens, crafted by local company crazy,” she adds. “They completed the work in eight Duke on the Lizard, which lift the Howdens fitted weeks, which is phenomenally fast. My part of the units to a new level. “I have spent very wisely on the work only took a couple of months in terms of getthings that people will notice and enjoy,” she says.

[[

“We were able to go and pick out the granite, which was fantastic.”

Anna has suceeded in creating a spacious feel in the apartments, named after Cornish literary heroines, including du Maurier’s Rebecca and Demelza from Poldark.

“I really like the bedrooms, because they feel very light and airy and they feel generous,” she says. “I’d be happy sitting in bed drinking a cup of tea looking out of the window. They have a very relaxed vibe about them.”

See www.mullion-cove.co.uk or call 01326 240328, and visit www.annahartdesign.co.uk

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01/09/2015 12:08:00

Shopping

GET THE

LOOK

Add luxury coastal touches with nautical art and cool shades

Colours harbour wallpaper, £10 a roll, B&Q stores and www.diy.com

Colours premium silk emulsion, ciel, 2.5 litres £13.94, B&Q stores and www.diy. com

Octopus cushion, £60, designed and screenprinted by Cream Cornwall in Falmouth, www. cushionsbydesign. co.uk Cornish pilchard bowl, £99.95, made in Launceston by glassmaker Jo Downs, www. iapetus.co.uk

Ship’s helm mirror, £26.95, www. melodymaison.co.uk

Jonah armchair, £399, www.made.com

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01/09/2015 12:08:46

Gardens

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Lasting appeal Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, says the time is right to move perennials to ensure they thrive in years to come ain and moist soil towards the end of August means I’ve already started moving herbaceous perennials around. A large clump of spring flowering epimedium has been forked out and divided into small sections ready for planting into a shady border, between camellias and contorted hazel. Books tell us to carry this job out in October but if conditions are right, I’ll start with spring flowering kinds, move on to summer flowerers like echinacea and astrantia as autumn progresses and leave late bloomers like Michaelmas daisies until spring.

By definition, an herbaceous perennial is a non-woody plant which dies down in autumn and grows again the following spring. Good, reliable ones such as heleniums, phlox, inula and monarda have the potential to last almost indefinitely as long as they are well looked after.

In a mixed border, there might be a few small trees or large shrubs set at sensible spacings so they have room to grow. Between them, gaps are filled by smaller shrubs and then groups and drifts of herbaceous perennials. These are a very moveable feast and do better when lifted, divided and replanted every few A recent trend years. A recent trend has been to mimic wild communities of has been to perennials and grasses in natumimic wild ralistic or prairie plantings, rich in nectar for insects and low perennials in maintenance. Stems are genernaturalistic ally left on for winter outlines or prairie and everything is cut back in late winter or early spring ready plantings for new growth.

The main hindrance to bountiful beds and borders is size. On

R

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[[

moving into a property, you generally find a rectangle of grass with mean strips of border hugging walls and fences. Some of ours were barely 60cm/2ft wide which doesn’t leave much room to play. We’ve been gradually

widening them, sometimes by moving paths, or cutting into lawn so that now most are at least 1.5m/5ft wide and in a few parts up to 3m/10ft.

After thinking about aspect and soil type, in order to choose the right plants for sun, shade, well drained or moist soil, the first step is to stock up. This could be expensive, as to fill an empty

01/09/2015 12:35:09

This week’s gardening tips border so it will look great the following summer would require three-four plants per metre and could run into hundreds of pounds. Most of us, therefore, do it the slow way and buy single specimens over the years, to try them out. Successful ones are then propagated by basal cuttings, the shoots that arise in spring, and by lifting and dividing the clumps after they’ve grown large enough. Cheap routes to plants include stalls at fairs and cadging from neighbours.

Now, we have Sedum ‘Matrona’ all the way through one border and our original plant of Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ will soon be joined by five more struck as cuttings from side shoots.

A very good (unnamed) Michaelmas daisy has been spread about for autumn colour and in a moist, shady spot the creamy flowers of actaea now rise from six plants made from the original one. This is, admittedly, slow gardening but it is satisfying to fill spaces with plants raised our-

selves and in the meantime plugged gaps with cheap, seed-raised annuals.

Favourites include pulmonarias for spring, liquorice scented anise (agastache) for summer colour and the amazing Geranium ‘Azure Rush’ whose flowers keep opening for weeks. This season’s winner has been Lysimachia clethroides.

The tall spikes of long-lasting, starry white flowers often turn up in florists shops but it is equally good in a border from July to September, where spikes tend to arch at about 1m/3ft.

When you decide to deal with a clump of plants, trim it back first, lift it out and then divide by pushing two forks in back to back, to prise the clump apart, or cut through with an old kitchen knife before using your hands to pull sections into manageable pieces. Always condition the soil with well-rotted compost or manure before replanting and afterwards add a few bulbs for spring colour.

Question time with Anne West reader queries answered by Anne Swithinbank

Q

I’ve grown some mini corn for the first time.

So far, the plants are just tall and haven’t flowered yet. I’m not sure what to expect.

Some growers are rather scathing about mini corn but I rather like it, for texture as much as flavour. The ideal cob size will be about 10cm/4in long and after being cleaned as normal, they can be eaten raw, in stir fries or even pickled. You don’t need to worry about pollination, because we don’t want the grains to swell. In fact the male tassels at the top of the plant can be removed to prevent this. Watch for cobs to form, harvest them while they are still tiny with the silks just showing and aim to get at least three per stem to make the project worthwhile. You can grow these at closer densities than normal, with plants 15cm/6in apart in rows 45cm/18in apart.

My rosemary bush is only about five years old and about 1.2m/4ft tall. This summer, half of it has turned yellow, then brown and started to die off but the other half, nearest the path, seems ok at the moment. What has gone wrong?

Q

Rosemary can be prone to honey fungus. Take a look at the affected trunk or stem base, peeling back the bark to see if there is any white fungal growth there, accompanied by a mushroomy smell. But unless you have had honey fungus on other plants, I doubt this is the culprit. An expert in plant problems I once knew would have called it ‘faulty root action’ which is not as evasive as it sounds. Near the path, there is better drainage and the roots may be healthier. In the border, there could have been waterlogging which killed roots and this can be reflected in different sides of the plant. I would take cuttings of the healthy shoots now. Trim back dead parts and leave the rest until spring, before giving the whole plant a prune into young growths only, not into old stems.

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

Anne’s advice for your garden

• Get on with moving herbaceous perennials and clearing and weeding, then digging or mulching veg beds is important especially on heavy clay soils.

There may only be a small window of opportunity this month and next before they become wet and unworkable until spring.

• Prune out fruited stems of hybrid blackberries and

tie in the fresh new ones. Parallel wires attached to posts or held away from fence or wall are the usual methods of support.

• Order or buy new herbaceous peonies to plant out next month.

Move peonies now if necessary.

• Start a new strawberry bed by planting them 40cm/15in apart in rows 74cm/30in apart. On wet, heavy soils, make generous ridges 8cm/3in high.

Sow new lawns onto weed free, prepared soil.

Give poor lawns a rake to remove thatch and moss. Spike to let air into the roots and brush in a top dressing.

Lift potatoes still in the ground, especially if they are likely to be attacked by slugs. Store only the sound ones in a paper sack or cardboard box, cool, dark and safe from rodents.

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01/09/2015 12:35:27

Beauty

Tried

& tested

We present the beauty treats and cheats of the week, picked by West magazine’s Catherine Barnes, with help from daughter Tilly, 18

SCRUB UP From The Body Shop’s new Secrets of the World range, this African Ximenia and salt body scrub promises to leave your skin silky smooth, £15 for 350ml, www. thebodyshop.co.uk

ROSY CHEEKS Keep your complexion rosy with this limited edition Rose Face Mask in pretty packaging designed by artist Jo Ratcliffe, £46, www.fresh.com

REVIVE Get glowing with Daily Reviving Concentrate from esteemed brand Kiehl’s of New York, £36 for 30ml, www.kiehls.co.uk

LAVENDER’S BLUE Go for a squirt of nostalgia with this Yardley’s English lavender Eau de Toilette, £9.99 for 50ml, www.yardleylondon.co.uk

BATHING BELLE Add some old-time glamour to bath-time with Penhaligon’s Artemisia bath oil, £39, www.amara.com

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01/09/2015 15:13:35

the review Going coconuts Coconut has fast become one of the most popular ingredients in beauty, with endorsements from supermodels like Gisele and Miranda Kerr, who swear by their benefits. Lisa Haynes tries and tests some tropical treats The wonder oil Cold pressing is the process used to bottle Liha’s Idan Oil, from £16 (lihabeauty.co.uk). Infused with a tuberose flower, this divine smelling coconut oil is a multi-use potion you can use from top-to-toe.

The jet set scent Feel exotic even in mundane places with The Library of Fragrance’s Fresh Coconut, £15 (thelibraryoffragrance.com).

This cologne has that justpicked-off-the-beach freshness. Just try not to eat it...

Exotic factor

Kiss Kiss With scents of tuberose and jasmine, this lip gloss comes in fun Kellogg’s vintage packaging, £4.95 for two pots, www.prezzybox.com

Transport yourself to the Caribbean and envelop skin with the warm, sweet smell of Lavera’s Exotic Dream Body Lotion, £8.45 (naturisimo.com). Boost the feel-good factor by using the matching Body Wash first, to layer up the coconut and vanilla scent.

Great escape Get your exfoliation fix in the shower, with Treaclemoon’s My Coconut Island Body Scrub, currently reduced to £2.49 from £2.99 (Tesco.com). It even comes complete with inspirational message on the bottle for some bathroom escapism.

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

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Rochelle Humes off the shoulder top £29 www.very.co.uk Longline cardi £65 www.elvi.co.uk

Fringed bag £79 East

Autumn Boho ippy chic has gone all grown up in shades of turning-leaf and autumn fruits. Embrace the change and go from beach babe to beech nuts: the summer may be fading, but fashion’s on fast-forward.

Don’t dig out your winter woollies, yet wear it loose and layered and enjoy the season of September sunshine.

H

Tanzi boot £169 Dune

Gold and silver sun ray pendants £88 each www.in-spaces.com 30

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Silk blouse £79 and skirt £59 Monsoon

Aztec print waterfall knit cardigan £16 George at Asda

Oxendales print tunic £34.99 JD Williams

Navajo wrap cardigan £75 and jeggings £35 Long Tall Sally Arlys maxi £39 by Valley of the Dolls at www.joythestore.com

Silver Karma bangle £65 www.in-spaces.com

Shoulder bag £130 Lands’ End 31

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01/09/2015 12:47:17

Trend Top, River Island, Princesshay, £32 Jeans, Next, Princesshay, £20

HOW TO WEAR IT:

Pussy bows

Boots, River Island, Princesshay, £50 Bag, River Island, Princesshay, £45

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

Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod tries out the latest look for autumn

“

t’s not a plain black outfit, can’t you see the bow? I’m basically French!”

Convincing my other half that I need more items in inky hues is no mean feat. So I’m revelling in the latest AW15 trend to take over the high street rails – the pussy bow.

I am not quite eclectic enough to embrace this trend in a geometric pattern or bold shade however, so I have decided that a) I want one in black and b) I’m not leaving Exeter’s Princesshay until I get it. I spent way too much time on the Vogue website over the weekend and I am now channelling everything mademoiselle. Think unrelentingly stylish, all in black, partial to Gauloises, sunglasses as staples and a red lip. I want to be this woman.

There is also the practical angle that a black blouse won’t show the marks when I drop toothpaste/lunch/ makeup on it for the thousandth Pre Gucci’s time. (Something I bet my muse never has to deal with.)

AW15 show, The joy of this season’s pussy I might have bows is that there is nothing prim about them. Pre Gucthought them ci’s AW15 show, I might have the domain thought them the domain of Miss Moneypenny, worn with a of Miss demure pencil skirt and a tight Moneypenny bun. But my studious perusal of Vogue means I know that the pencil skirt is best kept out of sight for now. The overall look is bohemian, devil-may-care and feminine, with to lie loosely down the front. Wear it with light a hint of Victoriana. If you must wear a skirt, blue jeans, tasselled burgundy boots and a grey make it a pleated midi, and trouser favourites inchunky longline cardigan for an instant nod to clude wide leg. Olivia Palmero is a leader in this the 70s, which are still having a major moment. field - her soft white bow shirt looked outstanding Want something that can take you from the paired with wide camel trousers at a recent fashfarmers’ market to a ladies’ lunch? Then conion event. sider adding a cape to the equation. Houndstooth I can accept that not everyone wants to look works a treat and the ensemble looks devilishly French and forbidding every day. If you’re dipgood with a fedora. There is also the option of ping your toe into the trend (and you’re not a buying a pussy bow top in the boldest print you messy eater) then you can consider white. Look can find. I’m talking bananas and palm trees and for one with ample ties, these look great just left maybe even sequins. Wear it with simple black

I

skinnies and ballet pumps. Donning something that jazzy, that also has a bow, makes you look instantly put together.

“I suppose I could go for something a bit more cheerful,” I say, grabbing the a banana print blouse off a rail. “It’s bold and is sure to get people’s attention, definitely a conversation starter, I’ll wear it to your colleagues’ dinner next week!”

“Just get the black one,” comes the resigned reply. Triomphe!

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

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02/09/2015 12:01:16

NEXT pussy bow blouse £28 NEW LOOK crepe blouse £17.99

GET THE

look MISS SELFRIDGE black floral blouse £35

NEXT patterned blouse £30

TOPSHOP shiny shirt £60

MISS SELFRIDGE cream lace ribbon neck tie dress £45

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02/09/2015 12:14:03

Fashion

The edit Your straight line to style: This week, new season autumnal outfits, all in faux fabrics

£59 Dorothy Perkins

+

£49 M&Co

+

£28 Primark

+

£28 Dorothy Perkins

+

£19.99 New Look

£38 JD williams

£24.99 Ravel

£18 BHS

£15 Dune

+

+

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Stars

Your stars

by Cassandra Nye This week’s sign:

Happy birthday to...

To the world, Virgos present a calm and collected exterior but on the inside they are always trying to improve everything, analysing and thinking. Virgos can tire themselves out without even moving! Virgos have a constant drive to improve and perfect, this can lead to extreme pickiness and finickiness. But they are pure, their motives are honest, never malicious and they want to accomplish great things.

Pippa Middleton born September 6 1983 The nation’s most famous maid of honour was in our part of the world just weeks ago at a society wedding in Thurlestone. Sporty Pippa’s an ambassador for a number of charities, including the British Heart Foundation, and took part in its fund-raising 54-mile London to Brighton bike ride in June. She’s dating stockbroker Nico Jackson but, despite speculation over a possible engagement, there’s no ring yet. Virgos celebrating on September 6 are said to have a love-hate relationship with routine, so perhaps Pippa was born to live a jet-set lifestyle.

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) A crazy kind of romanticism grips you this week. Your gestures can be bold and even overpowering. What has brought about this sudden rush to the head? An inspiring event or person is certainly to blame. The question is, have they done you a favour? Take the chance at the weekend to be with someone special.

LIBRA (September 24 - October 23) Brimming with ideas and confidence?

That certainly seems like you this week, Libra. Someone who inspires and makes you see the lighter side of life is a tonic. Now that a big negative influence has gone, life takes on a brighter hue. Be prepared to have some fun and leap out of that social rut.

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22) No one can break your heart if you do not give it, but you could break your own by not accepting the love offered.

Time to be honest with yourself, Scorpio. The future can be so different from the past. Brief sparks in time can be captured if you are quick enough.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21) You may hop from foot to foot and become frustrated with others. It won’t help. What will help is telling them the right way to go about things. Will they listen?

Most likely. The chances are they are as confused as you are by the situation.

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20) Brace yourself for a confession. This may not be eagerly awaited, but could be very amusing. However, choose your response very carefully. Much may depend on your words being the right ones. Love can be a minefield at times, can’t it?

AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) The promise of a treat has you licking your lips. You are so good at being good, Aquarius, but don’t deny yourself a little fun. Children have the right idea. Your bright and charming character needs to shine through a bit more.

PISCES (February 20 - March 20) You have a sneaking suspicion that someone is not telling you everything.

They are, but the feeling can persist. Rather than ask if someone else is being honest, first ask if you are being honest with yourself. Who knows, the answer could clear your head.

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) A romantic meeting midweek can mean a fresh start. A New Moon at the weekend appears to confirm this exciting meeting of minds. You are inspired to make some changes to your appearance, perhaps adding more colour and glamour. Although work may be taking a back seat, the chance to add to your knowledge comes along. Changes to your lifestyle and diet will boost energy levels.

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) A meeting early in the week confirms something you have known for a long time. Will you make the changes that are necessary? Be brave. As long as you are practical in your approach, expect success. Someone you admire may seem unresponsive at the

moment. It is all a matter of timing. Right now they have something pressing on their mind.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) Love and luck seem to be coming your way this week. Indeed, the New Moon at the weekend seems especially good for you. In the meantime, aim to be at your best.

Certainly don’t let standards slip midweek, when there is an important meeting. There is inspiration around every corner although it seems that someone is being inspired by your recent activities.

CANCER (June 22 - July 22) There is sometimes a long road between meeting someone and getting to really know them. With one particular relationship you have only just begun this journey. What is at the end of the road for this liaison? Do your best and, if that does not seem enough, this person is not for you.

LEO (July 23 - August 23) Some realities can throw our lives into disarray. A current recurring dream is firing your imagination in strange ways. Is a revised version possible? You are writing your own life story, Leo. Bar someone leaping in and tearing up the pages, it should go smoothly. You are on the way to getting that rise or promotion you want. What will bring you the most success, do you think?

Knowledge or charm?

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01/09/2015 16:39:04

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

Figs

are ripe now and boast an impressive nutritional profile, including vitamins A, B1, B2 calcium and iron

YOU GLOW

GIRL

Get ready to Glow in the Park at Boconnoc Country Estate near Lostwithiel on October 17. The 5k night time fun run is open to anyone over the age of eight, and you can walk, dance or run your way through its Glow zones wearing high-viz clothing, head torches, glow sticks and anything else that shows up in the dark. The course has guide lighting and marshals to help you steer the right course. It will raise money for charities - Marie Curie and Unseen. Entry from £18.50, see www.glowinthepark.co.uk

LIGHT UP New research suggests that some types of artificial lighting could have an impact on our health, causing headaches and eyestrain.

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) Trust says poor lighting can also disrupt the circadian rhythm, upsetting body functions such as alertness, co-ordination, blood pressure, and cardiovascular efficiency.

As the days get shorter, BRE is urging employers to consider more natural forms of lighting in the workplace.

TAKING IT

steady ‘Saving up’ your daily alcohol intake for a night out could pose a big risk, and health chiefs are concerned that many of us are doing just this. They recommend the equivalent of a 175ml glass of wine in a 24 hour period limit – any more poses the risk of problems including cancer, heart disease and reduced fertility.

Emily Robinson, deputy chief executive of Alcohol Concern says: “People often see the guidelines as an allowance as to what they can drink in a week. But the point is, it doesn’t take much alcohol all at once to lead to a risk of developing health problems.”

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IGGY: ‘YES, I’VE HAD SURGERY’ It’s rare for a celebrity to owe their perfect looks to anything but nature, but singer Iggy Azalea has busted the taboo. Opening up about having a nose job, she says people should never be “ashamed” of using plastic surgery if that’s what they want to do. According to whatclinic.com, breast implants, liposuction and nose jobs are currently the most popular surgical procedures in the UK. Iggy, who’s also had her breasts enhanced, says: “I don’t think you should be ashamed if you made a change to yourself, which is why I’ve spoken about the changes I’ve made.”

Atchoo!

Ever get that sinking feeling when someone starts a sniffle? According to Potter’s Herbal, 34% of us think suffers should carry on at work regardless but more than half reckon that the best place for a head cold is at home. While some sympathetic souls say this will help colleagues get better soon, more of us say it’s to avoid being infected. What do you think?

NOT ALL FATTY ACIDS are the same. Omega 3, found in fish oil, can reduce inflammation. But Omega 6, found in vegetable oils, may actually increase it and cause skin conditions such as psoriasis to flare up. To help keep the symptoms under control, nutritionist Dr Marilyn Glenville advises replacing vegetable oil-based spreads with alternatives such as olive oil, coconut oil, butter or ghee. You should also aim to eat oily fish such as sardines, salmon or mackerel at least three times a week, or try an Omega-3 fish oil supplement such as Natural Health Practice Omega 3 Support in your diet.

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

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

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Wellbeing

I’ve made a real effort to stick to the kind of diet that helped me shed pounds in my 20s. I’m being so good! So why haven’t I lost any weight? I’m 45 - is it an age thing?

HG, Falmouth

Q

Mid life midriffs Help! How can I stay trim and keep the pounds off as the years advance?

Weight loss expert Dr Sally Norton says: For the vast majority of us, losing weight is a real uphill battle. While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, there are a number of reasons why your weight loss attempts may not be working.

While we think of protein as something that will Firstly, you may not be getting enough sleep. bulk us up, research shows that increasing our Sleep can have a bigger effect on your weight intake, plus exercise, can help tone our muscles, than you might think. Studies leading to a more svelte frame. suggest that when we have a We usually want results fast, so bad night’s sleep it decreases often try a quick fix diet in the the body’s hormone that hopes of losing weight as quickly Stress hormones regulates appetite – leaving our as possible. But we only end up hunger levels at an all-time failing at the diet and putting encourage high. Then we reach for highback all (if not more) of the weight gain calorie/high-fat foods, in an weight we lost. Sounds familiar? attempt to boost our dwindled It’s a vicious cycle and only leads around our energy levels. Make a good to you feeling depressed and diswaist, which is night’s sleep a priority and your appointed every time you fail. very bad for our weight loss could be boosted as But it’s not your fault. Real, a result. long-lasting weight loss doesn’t health Remember, we naturally lose happen overnight and instead, muscle mass as we get older. it takes time, hard work and Combine this with a naturally a change in your habits and slowing metabolism, and it mentality. So, remember, it’s a makes it much harder for us to lose weight. marathon, not a sprint. And relax – we reach for Increasing our protein intake and amount of fatty and sugary foods when we are under stress exercise we do could help us to drop the pounds. because they trigger those pleasure zones in the

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brain and make us feel better. What’s more, cortisol (one of our “stress hormones”) encourages weight gain around our waist, which is very bad for our health.

Often in mid-life, we’re under more and more stress, struggling to meet deadlines, juggling roles and working longer and longer hours. Try to manage your stress to keep you feeling in control – and less likely to binge on junk foods that will only leave you feeling worse in the long-run Finally, stop thinking about WHAT you eat and instead consider when, where and why you do it. Do you tend to eat well at home, then raid the vending machine at work? Or perhaps you reach for a mid-afternoon sugary treat to give you an energy boost, or comfort-eat when you’re stressed? Figuring out where your problem lies, means you can start working on these issue to create a change in your eating habits, with long-term results.

Dr Sally Norton is an NHS Weight Loss Surgeon and the founder of www.vavista.com – lose weight, live life, diet free!

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01/09/2015 15:03:49

Eat

ally mac’s

Raw oat and cashew thumbprint cookies with a chia-berry jam Ally says: This recipe will blow your mind and your mouth will be crying out for more! It is just yummy and, what is more, it is 100% raw, so super easy to make!

You will need:

Method:

For the cookies: 2/3 cup organic cashews 1/4 cup almonds 3/4 cup gluten free raw oats a handful of medjool dates 2 tbsp coconut oil a pinch of Himalayan salt 1/2 tsp vanilla pod

Blend the cashews, almonds, dates, coconut oil, salt and vanilla into a sticky paste in your blender.

For the jam: 1/2 cup of berries (I used blueberries and raspberries) 1 tbsp chia seeds 3 medjool dates, chopped 1-3 tbsp water (I used three, you can also use coconut water instead)

Roll the mixture into little balls and press a thumbprint into the middle of each cookie (a little dent so you can add your scrummy jam).

@allyskitchenstories

Add oats and pulse the mixture slightly, so that you keep the texture of the oats but the mixture is amalgamated enough to form a thick cookie base.

Meanwhile time to make your jam! Mix your berries, water and dates in your blender to form a nice jammy paste. Then stir in the chia seeds and refrigerate for an hour.

You’re nearly there. Take your golden goodies out the fridge and spoon in your chia jam onto each thumbprint cookie.

That’s it! Now take a mouthful of heavenly cookie with your fresher-than-fresh berry nice jam.

Cool the cookies for a couple of hours in the fridge.

@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 39

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01/09/2015 15:04:11

Eat

Ingredient of the Week

Aubergine with Tim Maddams

s a seasonal eater, I tend to get a cotton wool and a gutful of disappointment. little overexcited by things that You need plenty of good oil – I like to use a good most people consider mundane. virgin (not extra virgin) olive oil. Secondly, your One of my favourites is the aubergine will need salting, however you intend aubergine. I know, I know, everyone to cook them. The thicker you slice aubergines, has had a God-awful experience the more salt and more time this with the black beauties. stage needs, but the golden rule is Undercooked, unsalted and to wait until moisture gathers on in the wrong hands they are each slice then drain them off and You need to frankly revolting. But handled get cooking. work out how in the right way, they can be Imam Bajaldi is a traditional to extract the out of this world. First, select Middle Eastern favourite of mine. your fruits with care. Look for This involves cooking chunks of earthy sweet out-of-the-ordinary examples, aubergine in lots of oil until they flavour without rounder than the traditional are brown and soft, dressing them elongated teardrop, with dark, in a richly spiced tomato ragu ending up with deep purple and smooth (but topped with raisins and dates, cottonwool not necessarily unblemished) served them with wholemeal skin which are firm, not spongy couscous and a little fresh mint and a little heavier than you and garlic yoghurt. Or you could might expect. Once you’ve fry slices of aubergine until they selected a decent aub, you need to figure out are soft and brown and then layer them with how to extract its earthy sweet tomato-pumpkin with cheese, tomatoes and herbs like a lasagne flavour without ending up with a mouthful of al forno and cook in the oven in the same way.

A

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Aubergine puree Cut in half lengthwise and salt your aubergines, brush skins with oil, and place a coating of oil in the bottom of a tray with coriander seeds, cumin, garlic and a whole chilli.

Roast the aubergines cut side down for about 15 mins. Turn the oven off, cover with foil and leave in the oven for 15 mins.

Scoop out the flesh and blend with olive oil, lemon juice and smoked paprika. @TimGreenSauce

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

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01/09/2015 15:06:19

Drink

Beer of the week I’ve always been a fan of Harbour Brewing Co’s IPA but at 5% ABV you can’t really treat it as a session beer (despite what other drinkers tell me).

Far better for my middle-aged alcohol tolerance is their Session IPA, coming in at 4.3%, which was an unannounced guest at the St Ives Festival. Big, big hop aromas of grapefruit and tropical fruit, although the palate was more subdued and balanced than I’d expected.

Perhaps a bit more bittering hop next time? Ideal for late summer sessioning, though.

Back from the dead A barley variety from Victorian times, Chevallier, has been resurrected by maltsters Crisp Malting. Crisp’s own maltster and master brewer (the former Sharp’s head brewer Carl Heron) has used the variety to create a new beer, Govinda, with the Cheshire Brewhouse. More Chevallier, which is incredibly disease resistant, is now due to be sown.

Darren Norbury

talks beer ou’ve got to have a dream, if you keep just to keep up with the demand.” don’t have a dream, how you gonna I was fascinated that there didn’t seem to be have a dream come true? For St much crossover in terms of audience with the Ives’ Marco Amura the answer lies Cornwall CAMRA beer festival held in the same next to the North Atlantic rather venue at the start of summer. It seems the beer than the South Pacific and it’s an ambitious audience is widening in west Cornwall, although dream. But next year his St there were, undoubtedly, quite a Ives Brewery, currently a few holidaymakers too. cuckoo or gypsy (homeless) Standout beers included brewery will finally have its American Pale Ale, from Dark ‘The festival was own base.

Star Brewery in Sussex, smooth a bigger success As I write, Marco is recovering as an APA should be with than we could from his second Summer Beer lovely fruity hops, and Exmoor and Cider Festival, staged Brewery’s Fox, a 4.5% malthave dreamed... in the St Ives Guildhall. The driven bitter with spicy and 2,000 people event was packed for three citrusy hop notes. A festival came over three days with drinkers sampling debut, too, for Penzance Brewing 60 or so beers, mostly from the Co’s smooth, malty, chocolatey days’ Westcountry, as well as several Liberty. ciders, including local tipples By the time of next year’s from David Berwick’s St Ives festival, Marco’s new brewery Cider. in St Ives will be open, housing Marco told me: “The festival was a bigger a ten-barrel brewplant with spectacular views success than we could have dreamed. Over over the port. It will be good to see the St Ives 2,000 people came through the door over beers finally come home. three days. The beer flowed fantastically with almost 30 selling out completely by the close on Darren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk Sunday. We had to re-stock cider twice just to @beertoday

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IN CYDER INFORMATION Healey’s Cyder, which has just launched a new brand, Cornish Cloudy Farmhouse Cider for M&S, is staging its Little Cyder and Music Festival next weekend, September 11-13, at its Penhallow farm home near Newquay. As well as the cider, there’s live music to suit all tastes.

Find out more at cornwallciderfestival.co.uk 41

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01/09/2015 12:22:20

Enjoy

Visit Bodmin Jail, above and below

A WEEKEND 0N...

Bodmin Moor S

teeped in history and with stunning countryside, this wild granite landscape is great for walking and riding, but also home to some terrific pubs and places to stay.

Stay: Hengar Manor has a host of holiday lodges and caravans to book in its grounds as well as apartments in the old house itself and in its old converted coachhouses. A weekend apartment stay in its garden view Butler’s Quarters currently costs £379. Or book a room at the beautiful 15th century St Benet’s Abbey, now a family-run guesthouse, with double rooms from £76 (October to May).

Eat: Pop into the centre of Bodmin to Bosvena, open from 9am to 9pm for breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week (closed Sundays). There’s

a downstairs café and courtyard for lighter bites and a restaurant upstairs, with a private dining area on the second floor. Try vegetarian eggs Benedict with portobello mushrooms (£6) for brunch or Cornish monkfish wrapped in pancetta with saffron mash (£18) as a main, www.bosvena. com.

Just visiting: Get into Poldark mode with a visit to the fascinating (and slightly spine-chilling) Bodmin Jail, open 364 days a year. Discover how life behind bars was for prisoners centuries ago, and their grisly fates. Surprisingly, the jail’s also a hit with couples seeking an alternative wedding venue. And if you’re brave enough to spend the night here, the jail holds regular ghost-hunting events led by psychic medium Mark Rablin which go from late evening until 7am and conclude with a cooked breakfast (the jail has its own restaurant

Lanhydrock

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The Cheesewring on Bodmin Moor

Jamaica Inn

Go for it: Stately Lanhydrock is packed with

Spider sculptures created at St Neot

and boasts the Witness Box Wine Bar). The next ghost walk (£75 per person, book in advance) takes place on September 26. Family day tickets to the museum cost £34 for four, www.bodminjail. org.

Do: Visit Bodmin Nursery if you’re a plant lover, or know someone who is. Besides an amazing selection of garden perennials, it’s the place to stock up your herb beds. There are more than 200 kinds of interesting medicinal and culinary herbs, including unusual types of mints, parsleys, thymes and rosemary. Pick out some tasty salad plants too and don’t miss its farmers’ market on the third Saturday of every month.

history and this is a great time of year to enjoy its grounds and gardens. The National Trust has how-to workshops led by its gardening team on the events calendar this month, with places costing just £5 each. Or hire a bike and explore its cycling trails, suitable for all levels of energy and proficiency. You can also get your Saturday off to a healthy start here, with a run www.parkrun.org.uk. It’s free to sign up and join others for an at-your-own pace 5k. Many runners head for a tasty treat at the Park Café afterwards.

See: The Smugglers Museum is to be found at at Jamaica Inn, the tavern on Bodmin Moor that inspired Daphne du Maurier’s famous novel. A family ticket costs just £9.95. The inn’s dining room offers food until 9pm, including cream teas from 11am to 5pm. If you’d like to stay, book a double room with breakfast for £89. Or if you’d prefer to be up all night, explore ‘never open to the public’ areas on weekend ghost hunts taking place later this month and at Halloween. Visit www.jamaicainn.co.uk for more details.

Wow factor: Father and son metalsmiths Gary and Thomas Thrussell create stunning sculptures on their farm at St Neot on the moor. Their giant iron insects have been on display at the Eden Project this year and as well as undertaking commissions the pair also hold workshops for groups and members of the public by prior arrangement, www.thrussellandthrussell.com 43

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Budleigh Salterton

My Secret Westcountry Melissa Johnson Melissa Johnson is the current Junior South West Chef of the Year. This year’s competition – cofounded by celebrity chef Michael Caines – is hotting up to find her successor. Melissa, aged 16, lives in the east Devon village of West Hill and goes to The King’s School in Ottery St Mary. She works part-time cooking at the Salty Monk, Sidford

My favourite...

Walk: I love the circular woodland walk around Fingle Glen along the River Teign by Castle Drogo. My family and I often take my friend’s dog Lucky, a very energetic collie who loves the exercise and water. It’s perfect for paddling in the river on a hot summer day, but on a bitterly cold winter day, the walk does me good and there’s a pub at the end for a portion of chips or a hot drink.

Venue: Escot House at Ottery St Mary hosts so many events. I particularly love the Beautiful Days festival held in August. It’s somewhere I went a lot growing up, as it’s really good fun for children.

Food: I enjoy sushi and my favourite is prawn nigari. My brother Sam (18) and I often try and make it. Despite tasting delicious, we haven’t yet mastered the technique to make ours look as presentable as the professional ones!

Kitchen cupboard essential: Golden syrup or a good chocolate as I like making and eating desserts. Golden syrup’s key to a classic delicious sticky toffee pudding. No matter how many times I cook it, my family never becomes sick of it!

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People Greendale Farm Shop

Castle Drogo

The River Teign

winning competition dish for Junior Chef of the Year. I cooked poached chicken breast with chicken leg tortellini, served with an onion puree, a creamy white wine sauce, spinach and mushrooms.

Lazy Sunday: During the summer after work, my family and I will often go for a barbecue on Budleigh Salterton beach. My grandad and I share the cooking duty. We cook burgers, sausages, chicken, ribs (Darts Farm in Topsham do a selection pack of these meats for only £10) and halloumi.

Activity: I run a lot. During my GCSEs it was an amazing stress reliever and I’d go on a run before every one of my exams to get my mind cleared and focused. Now that exams are over I jog three or four times a week. I want to become healthy and fit enough to do a charity run in the future.

Grocery store: Greendale Farm Shop near Farringdon which sells local fresh produce. At home, my mum cooks dinner most nights and I learnt from just watching her in the kitchen.

We buy what looks good and of value, then any recipes we have will be based around what’s in the fridge.

Restaurant: The Salty Monk in Sidford. I’ve been working there about a year now and I love it. The owners Andy and Annette Witheridge have been so supportive, allowing me to create my own dishes and serve them on development Mondays. They also give up their time to help the catering department at my school, also allowing the pupils to run an annual dinner from the restaurant which has so far raised £10,000 for local charities. I did work experience there in Year 10 which led on to them offering me a job. They’ve taught me so much about the catering industry.

Cafe: The Rusty Pig in Ottery St Mary. They do a wonderful breakfast and use really good local produce, such as the pancetta that I used in my

Gift shop: Darts Farm sells all kinds of

things such as cakes, toys for all ages and unusual gifts that you wouldn’t normally find on the high street.

Beautiful Days

Treat: I have a trip planned to New York with my auntie and mum later in the year. It is a group birthday celebration and we plan to do a lot of shopping while we are out there as well as hopefully find some new recipes and ideas from some of the restaurants we visit. We’re all very excited!

The Junior South West Chef of the Year competition will culminate in a cook-off between finalists at Ashburton Cookery School on October 10 45

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01/09/2015 12:37:20

My life

NEW IN TOWN

Local life Chris McGuire’s on a quest to become a proper Westcountry boy should have seen it coming. things I’ve grudgingly accepted I’ll never do. Yet “I’ll tell you what!” said my I was determined not to be beaten. friend, Westcountry born and “Is there really nothing I can do?” bred. “You buy the next round He shook his head. and I’ll throw you a party.”

“So I’ll always be a grockle, then?”

He had my attention.

“Oh you’re not a grockle. They leave.”

“A party?”

With this clarification my determination with“To celebrate you officially becoming a ered. That was that. local.”

Yet, at first, I found being a perpetually nonIt seemed like a good local person permanently residdeal. The cost of a couple of ing in the locality a difficult role pints was a small price to to master – let alone pronounce. pay against the expense of a It was like being a nomad, but ‘So I’ll always be party. one who only wandered as far “OK, when are we having as the kitchen and back. When a grockle, then?’ this party?” I asked, on reasked if I was local by tourists in He shook turning from the bar. search of directions, I was never his head.

“February…” he replied. sure how to answer. Usually I’d “2110.” try something along the lines of: ‘Oh, you’re not I regard myself as an opti“That’s an interesting philoa grockle. They mist, but even I could see that sophical and anthropological leave.’ living into my 130s seemed question…” unlikely.

This usually resulted in tour“Wait a minute, I’ll be 131.” ists looking bemused, then wor“Exactly.” ried. After that they’d walk away Then I realised, in his (quickly). You see, I was terrified totally unsubtle way, that of replying “Yes” to the local my friend was letting me know I’d never be question, in case the person asking wasn’t a considered a local. It was a crushing blow. tourist at all. What if they were a real bona fide For a few minutes I drank in silence, taking local, secretly testing me on my response? it all in. It looked like I would have to add “Oh no you’re not,” they might cry. “You only ‘being a local’ to the (ever-growing) list of moved to the Westcountry last year!”

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This, I imagined, would have led to me being put into the stocks for misrepresentation of my ‘local’ status – a bit like impersonating a policeman but far more serious.

I continued in this state for some time, until I chatted to another non-local resident of the locality. He had the perfect solution to my quandary.

“I tell people that I’m local-ish!”

It was the perfect solution. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before! Soon I was meeting scores of other local-ish people. In fact, it seemed to me that there were more local-ish types than actual locals. I can’t describe how much more relaxed describing myself as local-ish made me. I began to spend time at the seafront, wearing my best local-ish expression and hoping tourists would stop and ask for directions.

It has worked so well that I have taken the ‘ish’ suffix to other elements of my life. I can tell you that I now describe myself as slim-ish, financially solvent-ish and keen-ish on healthfoods. But I plan soon to drop the ‘ish’ element when talking about health-foods, as part of my new healthy lifestyle. You see, there are only 95 years until I’m officially considered to be a local and I’m determined for my friend to cough up for the party he promised.

Chris McGuire is a writer who lives in Devon with his partner. Phil Goodwin is away.

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