26.04.15

INSIDE:+ LET’S GO

SURFING

+ HOW TO GO BLONDE

36Feel-good tips for springtimeDON’T MISS:

+ ETHICAL FASHION

+ A CORNISH LOVE NEST

‘She’s ahead of her time’

Carey Mulligan:

on playing Hardy’s Bathsheba in Dorset

Covers_April26.indd 1 22/04/2015 15:16:49

delamorearts1513th annual exhibition of paintings and sculpture

FRESH ART IN A COUNTRY HOUSE SETTING

01–31 MAY 2015 • 10.30AM–4.30PM DAILY • ENTRY £7.50Cornwood • Ivybridge • Devon PL21 9QT

Tel: 01752 837236/01752 837663www.delamore-art.co.uk

©LW

Untitled-4 1 22/04/2015 12:19:46

33

6 THE WISHLISTThe best things to buy right now

8 ‘YES, WE ATE ON OUR LAPS...’Our columnist confesses all

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

12 DRAWN TOGETHERCreative couples get arty

16 FROM HEARTBREAK TO HOPEOne Devon woman’s remarkable journey

22 THE CORNISH LOVE NESTInteriors inspiration on the north coast

26 ANNE SWITHINBANK The best of the spring-� owering climbers

29 BLONDE AMBITION?How to go Kardashian platinum

30 THE ONLY WAY IS ETHICSOur pick of fashion with a conscience

32 HOW TO WEAR ITSummer dresses to   t and � atter

36 THE BOOSTTop tips for maximum wellbeing

39 PLEASE YOUR KNEES Expert advice on tackling arthritis

44 MAN AND BOY Days out, with dinosaurs

contents[ [Inside this week...

‘There are no words to describe the elation of

nally getting to hold and protect my tiny little girl’

Zoe Clark-Coates on her journey to motherhood, p 16

16 GIVING HOPE One woman’s journey from heartbreak to happiness

SECRET WESTCOUNTRYDiscover the best of the west40

9 WHAT MAISIE KNEWSomerset’s Game of Thrones star speaks (very) frankly

42 WEEKENDS AWAYWhere to go, what to do

10 WEST IN PICSOutings on Exmoor, and so much more

FASHIONHow to be an Ethics Girl30

Contents_April26.indd 3 22/04/2015 14:15:33

4

[[ [[welcome[ [

...especially at this time of year. Right now, we’re excited about (in no particular order) wild garlic, our cover star Carey Mulligan’s new Dorset movie and the prospect of fi nally ditching our opaque tights for good. Yes, with summer in the offi ng, there’s a real sense of anticipation in the air.

If you’re planning some spring redecorat-ing, then do turn to page 22 this week. Husband and wife team Chris and Jan Jopling have trans-formed a Cornish farm outbuilding into a really enticing bolthole - with some seriously clever design ideas. Find out just how they did it in our interiors section.

And if feeling good is on your to-do list, then

check out our new Wellbeing section in the magazine today. With everything from advice on creaky knees to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s anti-ageing secrets, there really is something for everyone. We’re also inspired by creative cou-

ples who not only live together but also work together. See page 12 to discover how they do it.

And talking of hus-band and wife teams, I defy anyone not to be moved - and impressed

- by the story of Devon’s Zoe Clark-Coates and her husband Andy on page 16. They’ve over-come losing fi ve longed-for babies to have two beautiful daughters - and to start a charity help-ing others in the same boat. It’s quite a story.

CONTACT: westmag@westernmorningnews.co.ukTel: 01392 442250 Twitter @wmnwest

@windingriver1

Ooh we’ve got a mention as a fave thing to do this

weekend, can’t wait to get canoes out in this glorious

sunshine!

[ [We’ve got Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s

anti-ageing secrets

Becky Sheaves, Editor

MEET THE TEAM

Becky Sheaves, Editor Sarah Pitt Kathryn Clarke-McLeod Catherine Barnes Phil Goodwin

There’s always something to look forward to...

Tweetof the week

[HIDE AND CHICThe French-inspired love nest in north Cornwall

22

Letter_Buyonething_April26.indd 4 22/04/2015 13:21:01

55

We love this fun � amingo jumper in a metallic linen cotton blend, £109, www.

brora.co.uk

If youone thing

buy

this week...

Letter_Buyonething_April26.indd 5 22/04/2015 11:39:16

6

the

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

wishlist

Customers of this Aladdin’s cave of a guitar shop include Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, The Arctic Monkeys and Matt Bellamy from Muse, who � rst had luthier (guitar maker) Hugh Manson make him an electronic guitar here when he was a student at Exeter College. You don’t have to be famous to shop here though, just an enthusiast for guitars. The shop has a huge range of electric, acoustic and bass models, both new and pre-owned, alongside accessories. Mansons Guitar Shop is in McCoys Arcade, Fore Street, Exeter, 01392 496379

adore...Store we

Mansons Guitar Shop, Exeter

QUICK MARCH

Tin sign, £4.95, www.dotcomgi­ shop.com

Crochet nutcracker doll£20, www.justforbaby.co.uk

Wishlist_April26.indd 6 22/04/2015 10:39:31

7

Wishlist

Dexam ceramic Russian dolls measuring cups, set of four, £18.75, kitchenbuddies.co.uk

Stainless steel electric guitar spatula, £4,

www.thegi� oasis.com

Francisca scarf, £99, Beck Sondergaard at Roo’s Beach at Mawgan Porth and Porth Beach, Newquay

and www.roosbeach.co.uk

Flora and fauna tin, £7.99, www.oakroomshop.co.uk

Cake and biscuit tin£6.99, www.mollieandfred.co.uk

Polar bear bookshelves, £139, www.

mirabelledesign.com

WRAPPED UP

So true

Cuddly

Bracelet, £10, White Stu� stores and www.

whitestu� .co.uk

Blue lobster dishcloth, £3, www.berryred.co.uk

Wishlist_April26.indd 7 22/04/2015 10:39:56

8

e’ve just spent a week-end eating supper in the sitting room off our laps, while watching

TV. This is a radical departure from the norm. Usually I am a great subscriber to the “families should sit together at the table and enjoy a proper meal togeth-er” credo. But the whole family has had a crummy week, and was in various states of disre-pair, emotional or physical. So, I whacked up a big spag bol and we ate it Friday and Saturday nights on our laps. It was bliss.

Sunday was spent doing house and garden chores (“isn’t this supposed to be a day of rest?” my daughter asked) and I didn’t get into the kitchen until 7pm, when everyone was starving. Scram-bled eggs on toast. And the TV went on again – I was too weak to resist. Standards were defi nitely slipping.

“Why can’t we do this all the time?” begged the 10 year old.

“Because it’s slovenly,” I said primly. “Supper is supposed to be when we share time together in a civilised fashion. Besides, you spill on the couch.”

Loads of people bang on about the sanctity of the family sup-pertime, and how television is destroying a time honoured tradi-tion, O Tempora, O Mores. But I’m guessing that those people don’t regularly sit down to eat with an under-12. First of all, you have to be on them like a harpy about their table manners: “Please lift your elbows off the table, please don’t talk with your mouth full,

I’m sorry but you really need to uncross your legs and sit up prop-erly, fi nish what’s on your plate.”

Furthermore, presupposing that they can manage the me-chanics of eating without winding you or them up, you have to entice them to talk past “Fine” in answer to “How was your day?”

It is nice to be able to compare notes at mealtime, especially when you’re all going in different

directions. And, occasionally, you have a meaningful, educational, emo-tional or ground-breaking discus-sion at the supper table.

In the workaday grind however, everyone’s just tired and hungry. There’s no point trying to turn a Monday evening into a dinner party,

especially after double science or whatever other heinous events have happened that day.

TV, I’m starting to think, is a welcome distraction from the pa-rental nagging, a social lubricant (at least you can talk about what’s on the screen) and, all in all, much more relaxing for everyone.Yes, I know it’s the easy way out. But I’m defi nitely planning some more meals that can be eaten from a bowl, and don’t stain fabric. Just don’t tell my mother.

Story of my life...

Gillian Molesworth

In which Gillian gives in to TV dinners

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

talking points

W

Looking for a lightweight coat to see you through to the end of spring? Then make like reality TV star turned fashion icon Olivia Palermo in a lace trench. Palermo’s is Burberry, but for a high street alternative, try this pretty ivory belted lace trench coat from Kelly Brook’s collection for SimplyBe, £90 (www.simplybe.co.uk).

stealherstyle

OR MAKE IT YOUR OWN

Get yourcoat!

OPTION BFormalJacquard dress coat M&Co £79

We’d had a crummy week.

So I whacked up a big spag bol and

we ate it on our laps on Friday.

It was bliss

OPTION AFloralCherry blossom chic Kaliko £149

Lace trench £90 Simply Be

Moley_Gossip_April26.indd 8 22/04/2015 10:33:17

9

Justbetween us!Gossip, news, trendsetters and more - you

heard all the latest juicy stu here � rst!

BRAND NEW!

FormalSomerset-born Game of Thrones star MAISIE WILLIAMS, who went to school in Midsomer Norton, complained about how hard it is to be a teenager in a recent magazine interview. The ac-tress, who turned 18 earlier this month said she was sick of being pigeon-holed by adults. She explained: “It’s really degrading, I get a lot of adults who are like, ‘You don’t know s***,’ and it’s like, ‘You don’t know s***. You have no idea what it’s like to be 17 years old’.” West says: We remember! But try getting over the shock of hitting 40.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON says she hates it when her fellow

stars make over-the-top state-ments about being a mum.

The actress, 30, and French hus-band Romain Dauriac became

parents to their � rst child, Rose Dorothy last September.

She says: “I’m such a newbie at this. I always really hate it

when actors or people in the spotlight make giant grandiose statements about parenthood

because it’s so, so personal. I don’t profess to know anything

more about parenting than anybody else.”

She said that the experience had made her feel “very happy”

and that she might choose to work less, explaining: “It might

make me more discerning.”West says: Motherhood? We’re

just improvising too, Scarlett.

MUM’S THEWORD

Teen dreamsDevon’s CAREY MULLIGAN is getting into the Westcountry vibe with her latest role. Carey, 29, recently bought a 350 acre farm at Ide, near Exeter, with her musician husband Marcus Mumford and is now starring in a classic Dorset � lm. She plays Bathsheba Everdene in a new � lm version of Far From The Madding Crowd, based on Thomas Hardy’s classic romantic novel, out on May 1.

In the � lm, Bathsheba chooses between three (rather handsome) men, as well as looking a¤ er a lot of sheep. Carey says: “She’s a great character in any time, I think that’s the thing.“Bathsheba is very modern, she’s very ahead of her time. She’s so three-dimensional and fully-¥ eshed which is why she’s so much fun to play.”

‘Bathsheba is very modern’CAREY MULLIGAN:

Moley_Gossip_April26.indd 9 22/04/2015 10:33:56

10

in picturesHello there: Sidmouth College pupils training for the Exmoor Challenge come face to face with this handsome fellow

Wheely fast: Toby, Kyle and Bradley have fun on the seafront in Weston-Super-Mare

Surf’s up: Lizzie Davies, aged three, goes surfing for the first time at Fistral Beach, Newquay

Rock on: Queen’s Brian May teams up with MP Andrew George in west Cornwall

TOP10_WIP_April26.indd 10 22/04/2015 10:49:15

11

Tweet

talking points

10 former Olympic sports

1 Tug of war 2 Solo synchronised

swimming

3 Lacrosse

4 Swimming obstacle race

5 Golf

6 Live pigeon shooting

7 Rope climbing

8 Cricket

9 Painting

10 Club swinging

Fun & games

The most commonly spotted British birds, according to the RSPB

1 House sparrow 2 Blue tit

3 Starling

4 Blackbird

5 Wood pigeon

6 Cha� nch

7 Gold � nch

8 Great tit

9 Collared dove

10 Robin Superstar: Michael John Kells “Mick” Fleetwood is the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Fleetwood Mac.

Cornwall: Mick’s family was in Redruth because his father was stationed nearby with the RAF. As a child, Mick also lived in Egypt and Norway - his father was a � ghter pilot.

School: In his teens Mick boarded at Kings School, Sherborne in Dorset. He performed poorly in exams, but enjoyed acting during school. At 13, his parents bought him a small drum kit - his dad was a keen drummer.

Risk: His parents allowed Mick to leave school at 15 and live in London. He worked in a shop - Liberty - and tried to break into the music world.

London: In the 1960s Mick teamed up with Peter Green to form a band. Mick has remained the only member to stay with the band through its ever-changing line-up. Fleetwood Mac is named a� er Mick and his co-musician John McVie.

America: The group moved to the United States in 1974, where

Fleetwood invited Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to join. Height: At 6’6”, Mick is an imposing � gure. He has sported a beard and long hair for much of his life.

Success: The band’s album Rumours, was a huge commercial success and topped the Billboard 200 in America for 31 weeks. It won the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In its � rst year, Rumours sold 10 million copies worldwide.

Love life: Mick married Jenny Boyd, sister of Eric Clapton’s wife Pattie Boyd. Later, he had a two-year a� air with fellow band-member Stevie Nicks: “Everybody was angry, because Mick was married to a wonderful girl and had two wonderful children. I was horri� ed. I loved these people. I loved his family. So it couldn’t possibly work out. And it didn’t. It just couldn’t,” said Stevie.

Family: Mick and Jenny Boyd have two children, Lucy and Amy. With his third wife, Lynn, Mick has twin daughters Ruby and Tessa, who were born in 2002. He and Lynn divorced in 2013.

DID YOU KNOW?Mick lived in

Norway as a child and is uent in

Norwegian

This week:

Famous faces who come from the Westcountry

ONE OF US

Mick Fleetwood, drummer of Fleetwood Mac, was born in Redruth on June 24 1947

Mick Fleetwood

The happy list

10 things to make you smile this week1 Cherry blossom who

needs to go to Japan?

2 Muse Teignmouth rockers to play Radio 1 festival

3 Sandals and nail polish!

4 Summer cakes light sponge, with strawberries

5 Male Voice choirs upli� -ing at Hall for Cornwall May 2

6 The Ten Tors 100s of kids striding out May 9-10: proud

7 Hot stu� Chillies Fiesta at RHS Rosemoor, May 8-10

8 Chiefs vs Wasps come on!

9 Cornish earlies the best spuds in the world, bar none

10 Gardening it’s time, just mind your back

Talent

Famous faces discovered on TV talent shows

1 Victoria Wood 2 One Direction

3 Susan Boyle

4 Lenny Henry

5 Jennifer Hudson

6 Paul Hogan

7 Keith Urban

8 Pam Ayres (above)

9 Les Dawson

10 Joe Pasquale

TOP10_WIP_April26.indd 11 22/04/2015 10:49:44

12

Feature_1_Illustrators.indd 12 22/04/2015 11:29:37

13

People

Creativecouples

Drawn together

[[Lynette and JimLynette Jordan, 35 and partner Jim Dare, 44 work together as artists. They live in Brixham with Lynette’s son Kai, 11 and daugh-ter Kaitlin, nine.

“Our dream is eventually to live in a cave house in Spain and eat cheese,” says Lynette Jordan. But for now, she and partner Jim Dare are bliss-fully content doing their thing in south Devon.

If you’re a believer in fate, then you’ll certainly be convinced that it had a hand in bringing this couple together. Working under the banner Flossy and Jim (Flossy’s the name of Lynette’s grandmother, who has bouf-fant red hair), their aim is to create a sunnier world with their upliftingly cheery designs.

The couple make fun logos for busi-nesses, illustrate children’s books by commission and also produce colour-ful gifts, sold online. Particularly pop-ular are their endearingly funny car-toon portraits of real families, which are created to order.

Last month, Flossy and Jim was named Best New Business at the Torbay Herald Express’s business awards. It’s Lynette’s baby, insists Jim, but also a wonderful working partner-ship.

Both moved to Devon in search of a new life following divorces, eight years ago in Lynette’s case, while Jim ar-rived from Bristol four years later.

“Everything was unhappy, I’d lost my house, was in debt and had been made redundant,” says Lynette, who hails from Swindon. “I’d often come here with the children, so after my di-vorce I decided to start a new life and moved west. I had no friends or family here, but loved it and I thought, let’s just go for it. The kids started school and I thought I’d sort myself out and go to university.”

She undertook a design and illustra-tion degree at South Devon College. “I’d always drawn and painted as a kid,” says Lynette, who com-pleted her final year at Plymouth Universi-ty. “It was hard work as a single mum, but worth it.”

Meanwhile, former lorry driver Jim, who had split from his wife, had begun a fresh start with an arts degree, saying: “I’d always wanted to give college a go. I was doing 3D interior design and Lynette was in the room next door to me. Well, that was that. I knew she was the one, as soon as I saw her.”After graduating, Lynette decided to set up in business. “My granddad had been a cartoonist on the Daily Mirror in the 1970s and he impressed on me: do what makes you happy,” she explains.

“When he died, it was a kick up the

bum. But I wanted to have fun with art and not take it too seriously.”

Lynette got help from an organi-sation called Outset, and now she and Jim work in a small and joyfully quirky studio in Brixham.

“My first commission was in May 2013, for a mural by a shop in Brix-ham,” says Lynette. “It was scary, I was terrified of getting it wrong, but the owner said, if you do, we have plenty

of paint, so you can go over and start again.

“Since then, it’s snowballed and we’re now in talks about il-lustrations for books and a cartoon in Amer-ica. It’s a big job, but we can’t say too much about it at this stage”

In the studio, Lynette does the drawings and Jim transfers them onto the computer, tidies them up and col-ours them in.

A popular online gift is their cartoon versions of real-life families (pictured opposite), costing just £15 per person. “We’ll come up with a lot of our ideas when we can’t sleep. We’ll wake up and three or four in the morning and it’s quite fun, just talking randomly,” says Jim. “Then we commute to our little shop very day on the ferry. It’s quite surreal and very beautiful.”

See more at www.flossyandjim.com

Catherine Barnes meets two artistic families here in the westcountry, and finds out what it’s like to work with your other half creating

wonderful children’s artworks

‘We come up with a lot of

our ideas when we can’t sleep. It’s quite fun, talking quite

randomly’ [[Feature_1_Illustrators.indd 13 22/04/2015 11:30:04

14

Lucy and SteveLucy Tapper, 34, and husband Steve Wilson, 40 run From Lucy, based in Tavistock. They live in nearby Milton Abbot, with daughters Daisy, seven and Holly, � ve.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work in, but now we’re at a lovely stage and have a great working day,” says Lucy Tapper, who numbers Holly Willoughby, Fearne Cotton, Emma Willis and Colleen Rooney among the fans of her artwork.

Lucy’s business partner in the business is hus-band Steve, the Tavistock-born former Live & Kicking presenter, who went on to become a fa-miliar face on TV’s This Morning.

Together, they’ve developed a thriving busi-ness based on Lucy’s skill with a paintbrush. Today, her delightful illustrations of woodland creatures and fairy folk sell in their thousands.

Then there’s the children’s b o o k s ; the success of the cou-ple’s fi rst, Hedgehugs, published last year, has led to UK and Ameri-can publishing deals with four more titles in the pipeline. The next, Horace and Hattiepillar, comes out next month. The pair are also currently in talks with an animation company about making a cartoon, based on on their characters.

Now based in a shiny industrial unit on the edge of the market town – “I like to call it the studio,”

laughs Lucy – it’s a world away from how the business all began. The couple were living in Brighton when the credit crunch hit in 2008 and Steve’s job was hit.

“Steve was doing exotic travel reports, but suddenly, the TV companies had no budget and we had a second baby on the way,” Lucy ex-plains.

They relocated home to Devon, staying at fi rst with family, while Steve set up a bike shop with their savings.

“With two babies at home I needed something to keep me sane, so I’d draw at playgroups, at singing groups, everywhere,” says Lucy. “I got some positive feedback from friends, so sent my

fi rst design to the greetings card company Moonpig. To my amazement, they took it on. That gave me the confi dence and from there I never looked back.”

Lucy began to design character alphabets which now form part of their hugely suc-

cessful personalised artwork, sold through the website Not On The High Street and

now just about to launch in Germany. “I went to a local framing shop and or-dered 15 frames,” she says. “They gave

me a very good price, but it was a huge invest-ment for us at the time as we had no money. Now, we sell between 50 and 200 of these a day.” Gradu-ally the business grew out of their house and into a small shop, before relocating to larger premises,

where they now have seven staff.

“I’m now at the stage all I have to do is draw, while Steve does all the things that free me up. The only drawback is there’s only one of me and I do all the drawings, although it’s a fi fty-fi fty working partnership.

“With the books, Steve and I come up with the ideas together and our own kids are great sound-ing boards. We work in a strange way, as most writers don’t usually work with the illustrator, whereas we create sketches at fi rst, a bit like cartoon strip.” Lucy grew up near Tintagel and met Steve on the beach in Polzeath when she was just 20 and studying art at college in Brighton. “It really was love at fi rst sight,” she says. “When you’re 20 you never think you’re going to meet your husband, but we knew we’d get married as soon as we met. And it’s all worked out just fi ne.”Visit www.fromlucy.com

People

‘With two babies at home I needed

something to keep me sane, so I’d draw at playgroups, everywhere’ [[

Lucy and Steve have just had their first book published

Feature_1_Illustrators.indd 14 22/04/2015 11:31:22

15

Feature_1_Illustrators.indd 15 22/04/2015 11:31:41

16

Interview

Zoe Clark-Coates, 40, lives in east Devon with her husband Andy and their two children Esme, six, and Bronte, three. Here, she

describes the harrowing experience of losing   ve babies that has led her to set up a very special charity.

oe says: I lay on the bed for my scan and the sonographer went very quiet. I craned over, desperate to see a heartbeat on the screen. “Is some-thing wrong?” I asked. “Hold on a

minute,” she said. “Can you excuse me, please? I’m just going to speak to the doctor.”

All too soon the consultant came in, shaking his head. I just knew. I lay there, tears fl ooding out of my eyes.

I wouldn’t wish losing a baby on anyone. And yet 250,000 women miscarry every year in the UK. It’s something so rarely talked about, and yet mis-carriage affects so many families, so many lives.

I’ve lost fi ve babies. I’ve named every one, and grieved for them with all my heart. I’m also bless-ed to have two beautiful daughters, aged six and three. I like to think I’d have been the same mum to them if I hadn’t had so many miscarriages. But the fact is they are unbelievably precious to me. I know how much of a blessing they are, and I treasure them.

My story starts back when I was 21, and mar-ried my husband Andy. We had met while work-

ing for a charity and we became best friends. Friendship soon turned to love and we realised we were soul mates.

At fi rst, having children was the last thing on our minds. We started a company together in PR and event management. Within a few years, we were running events all over the world. Life was very good to us.

Andy and I are the same age, and when we reached our early 30s, many of our friends were starting families. My biological clock started tick-ing with a vengeance and I couldn’t wait to have a baby of my own.

After a while I found I was pregnant, but sadly it ended in a miscarriage. It was painful and trau-matic but I hoped it would be something I would never experience again. We named our lost baby Coby.

Within a couple of months, I was pregnant again. At the fi rst scan, I witnessed the miracle of life, our tiny little baby, wriggling around, with its little heartbeat fl uttering away. Andy and I were over the moon. Soon after, I caught the ‘fl u, and was bedridden for the rest of the week. Then I started to lose blood and went in for another scan. There on the screen I saw our baby for the second time – kicking away, showing no signs of distress or concern…what a relief !

A few days later I felt a sudden rush of blood and I knew, my baby had just died. I lay on the fl oor begging God to save her, but I knew it was in vain. Mother’s instinct? Who knows, but I knew her little heart was no longer beating within her or me. Andy and I rushed to A & E where I was, sadly, met with little concern. I was even asked by one of the staff if it was an IVF baby, as I was “so upset”.

A couple of days later we were fi nally offered an appointment to have a scan. Our fi rst question of course was: “Is the baby ok?” Our sonographer went to get a consultant; he came in shaking his head saying the words that would become very familiar to us: “I’m so sorry.”

Andy and I were shown to a tiny room, where we sobbed, wailed, and clung to each other. We phoned our family, and hearing the words coming out of our own mouths, the reality dawned on us. Our baby had died. We would never hold her hand, or rock her to sleep.

A week to the day after her heartbeat stopped, labor started, and within 24 hours I had delivered my child. We named her Darcy.

I was blessed to have my husband – my hero – by my side, not always knowing what to say but wise enough to know that words often aren’t needed. Just to hold me would often be enough.

Survivingheartbreak

ZOE CLARK-COATES

[[By Becky Sheaves

Z

Feature2_Charity_April26.indd 16 22/04/2015 11:17:11

17

Zoe with husband Andy

po

rt

ra

its:

ju

lia

Bo

gg

io s

tu

dio

s

Feature2_Charity_April26.indd 17 22/04/2015 11:17:34

18

And then there were my parents, who sat with us and filled endless buckets with their own tears, while helping empty ours. But the fear that I would never become a mum was overwhelming.

Months later I lost my third baby, we named her Bailey. Andy and I kept this to ourselves, as we felt our family had gone through enough, but this, in fact, was our third child to grace the heav-enly gates.

Then I got pregnant again. As you can im-agine, I was terrified some-thing would go wrong. But, with fortnightly scans, we were finally handed our beautiful daughter, Esme Emilia, weighing 6lb 15 oz. There are no words to explain the elation of finally getting to hold and protect my tiny little girl.

Andy and I loved being parents so much. Noth-ing had prepared us for the amount of joy a little one can add to your life. So we decided to try for a sibling for Esme. Naively, I believed my dealings with miscarriage and loss were in the past. I was

wrong. I got pregnant, and all the initial scans were perfect. Then on one of our appointments the scan showed Samuel’s heartbeat had simply stopped. Time went in slow motion when we were told, I literally couldn’t speak. I just wasn’t expecting to tumble through that hidden trap door, from mother to miscarriage a fourth time.

I found myself in a hospital bed, filling in pa-perwork, sobbing after two questions were asked

by the nurse; “Would you like a post-mortem, and would you like the remains back?” Can any mother ever be prepared to answer such questions?

Andy and I were blessed to

get pregnant for a sixth time, and after telling the family around the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, I went upstairs to find I had started to bleed. The bleeding continued for days, and when I fi-nally managed to speak to a GP I was told I had definitely miscarried, and there was no need for a scan. That crushing sadness overtook me again. I had to remind myself to breathe, felt that I was

Interview

Andy and Zoe speak from the heart at a

fundraiser

There are no words to explain the elation of finally getting to hold and protect

my tiny little girl[ [Feature2_Charity_April26.indd 18 22/04/2015 11:18:10

Zoe and Andy with longed-for daughters Esme (left) and Bronte

19

free-falling over a cliff. I held on to the knowledge that we were one of the lucky couples who at least had the opportunity to raise one little girl. So we painted a smile on our faces and gave our daughter an amazing Christmas.

However, I carried on feeling very ill, and so went for further scans. To our amazement, there were two little lives on the screen, but one was more developed than the other. We were told to prepare ourselves as we may lose one of them. Tragically, I did indeed go on to lose one of the babies, but the other hung on, we felt blessed to have one baby, but heartbroken for the baby we lost, who we called Isabella.

What followed was a minefield of a pregnan-cy: I had so many complications - but our little warrior braved it all. When Bronte Jemima fi-nally appeared in all her glory in August 2011 she was declared a miracle baby. I don’t think I have stopped smiling since.

I now have two little girls, whom I simply adore. My passion is to now raise my girls to love life and embrace every opportunity life hands to them. I also want to help others who have lost chil-dren. Andy and I were determined that what we had been through should not be in vain. We decided to reach out to other people in the same situation. So in

Feature2_Charity_April26.indd 19 22/04/2015 11:18:48

20

2012 we approached Exeter Cathedral to ask if we could hold a special service for anyone who had been affected by miscarriage, stillbirth or child death in early years. As event organisers, this was something we could do, to help others.

Since then, the Mariposa Trust has snowballed beyond our wildest dreams. This week, Andy and I are invited to 10 Downing Street in recogni-tion of what we have achieved so far. Not only does the Saying Goodbye division organise 25 services a year in the UK, in 2014 we launched our char-ity in America, where a million women lose babies every year.

In addition to the special Saying Goodbye services, we also offer online and telephone support. Now, midwives, GPs and consultants can point fami-lies in our direction. We have a team of over 200 people and our website gets over 650,000 hits a month, which just goes to show the scale of the need out there.

In addition to the Saying Goodbye division the Trust has an additional three divisions. Growing You offers support to those pregnant following loss. Waiting For you walks with people through the process of adoption and Holding Hope helps

Interview

people who are seeking fertility treatment.We’re not good at grief in Britain, and we’re

especially not good at coping with grief over the loss of a child. People are encouraged to keep miscarriage a secret, but that way it is so hard to process grief and move through it.

Often, we help people who lost babies 40 or 50 years ago but are still heartbroken – back then, frequently the baby they had lost would be thrown in a bedpan. They’d be told to go home and try again. It was brutal.

We are often asked why we named the charity The Maripo-sa Trust. Mariposa means but-terfly in Spanish and, to me, the symbolism of a chrysalis trans-forming into something beauti-ful is what we are all about.

It is possible to come through the darkest days, the most pain-

ful experiences, and be happy. I’ve done it, and I want to help people in the same position to do the same.

If you would like to help the Mariposa Trust or if you need emotional support, visit www.mariposa-trust.org and www.sayinggoodbye.org

The support for The Mariposa Trust has been “overwhelming” says Zoe Clark-Coates. It includes:

• Professor Lord Robert Winston is an ambassador for the charity.

• Other ambassadors of the charity in-clude Nigella Lawson, Gabby Logan, Jools Oliver, Mary Nightingale, Julie Etchingham and Caroline Quentin.

• The charity’s website now gets 650,000 hits a month and it now also works right across North America.

• The charity runs 25 Saying Goodbye services in cathedrals across the UK every year, from Edinburgh to Exeter, offering people of all faiths and none the opportunity to say farewell to the children they have lost.

• Other services include support for people trying for a baby after losing a child, and for people pregnant after losing a child.

• Fund-raising events include two Mariposa Balls every year. This year’s events will take place at The Lowry Hotel in Manchester and The Savoy in London.

Support

Our charity has snowballed beyond our

wildest dreams. Our website gets

65,000 hits a month [[

Feature2_Charity_April26.indd 20 22/04/2015 13:46:55

21

fashion30 explore40

beer45 trend32

Untitled-3 21 22/04/2015 11:49:58

22

here’s a bit of a surprise at the top of the steps in this building in north Cornwall. What looks like it might just be a storeroom in fact houses what can only be described as a love

nest. Complete with classic French flourishes, it nestles beneath open beams which date back hundreds of years.

The luxurious space on the smallholding near Bude has been a labour of love for Chris Jopling and his wife Jan, with Chris doing the building work and Jan the interior design.

The décor, says Jan, was very much created with honeymooners in mind. And indeed new-lyweds have featured prominently among their guests since they started renting out The Little Charcuterie through Unique Home Stays last summer.

“It was really fun doing it,” says Jan. “Creat-ing a holiday let is very different from doing your own home. I have never attempted anything really themed before, nor anything French and romantic, but I enjoyed it. And a lot of the people who come and stay write in our guestbook about

Thow beautiful they think the interior is, which is really rewarding.”

Chris and Jan, who have been breathing new life into old buildings all their married life, re-stored their own home on the smallholding at Marhamchurch near the north Cornwall coast – which was derelict when they bought it five years ago – before turning their attention to the outbuildings.

They converted the ground floor of the coach house into a butchery, where Chris makes sau-sages, originally from pigs reared on their own land. Then they went to work on the flat above, which needed complete restoration. Its exposed A-frames – with a wonky charm which indicates their great age – were its most striking feature, and one which the Chris and Jan were deter-mined to preserve.

“Historically, this was the coach house to the farm and, having traced the history, we knew it was built about 1860,” says Chris. “I’m confident, though, that the exposed roof timbers came out of another building before that; you can see by looking at them that they were much older. Jan

Sarah Pitt talks to a couple who have transformed an attic above a historic coach house into a romantic French-themed love nest

Simply chic

Interiors_April26.indd 22 22/04/2015 10:40:50

Interiors

When space is limited, think of smart solutions, such as cutting down a pine table to create a breakfast bar

STYLE TIP:

23

end. I think we have done very well to get in as much as we have.”

To create her décor, Jan drew on a variety of sources. The romantic wooden carved double bed looks like it might have been an antiques shop fi nd. In fact, though, it came from John Lewis. The graceful cream carved wooden furniture in the sitting room, meanwhile, came from Nicola Cornell, an online company which specialises in the romantic French look which Jan was aiming for - the granite sink also came from Nicola Cor-nell.

A striking feature of the bedroom is the wall-paper on the far wall, which contributes to the boudoir feel of the fl at. Featuring urns and clas-sical fi gures in burnished gold on a turquoise background, it is a design from upmarket Ameri-can wallpaper company Thibaut.

“We have quite a lot of people on honeymoon, so I wanted the décor to be romantic, and that wallpaper was stunning,” says Jan. “It was very very expensive but as I only needed two rolls I thought it was worth it.”

said ‘You have to keep those’. We cleaned them up, and went from there.”

First Chris sorted out the structural issues, in-cluding a new roof, built over the beams (which are no longer load-bearing), and a new door to give access to a private garden. This, complete with a swinging day-bed, is a suntrap on sunny days.

They then turned their attention to the interi-or. Chris created a half wall to divide off the bed-room, and framed a doorway into it with curved timbers.

Chris and Jan have needed to think laterally to make clever use of the limited space here. There was not room for a big kitchen table, for instance, but Jan cut an L-shaped chunk out an old pine table, with three legs attached, which she fi tted around the showcase granite sink, creating a breakfast bar with a suitably rustic vibe.

“The biggest challenge was trying to fi t every-thing that two people would need into the space,” says Jan. “It is not a huge, but Chris divided it very cleverly, with the bedroom section at the

The decoupage tiles, above, are

made in Cornwall, while a pine table

has been turned into a breakfast

bar, right

Interiors_April26.indd 23 22/04/2015 10:41:20

24

Luxury wallpaper can be very expensive. Use it sparingly on just one wall, and just a couple of rolls can create a huge impact for the whole of your room

STYLE TIP:

Jan did the wallpapering herself, quite a feat on such a tall surface. “I perched on a ladder,” she says. She also made the curtains herself. “I chose a curtain fabric which is a toile [a very fi ne almost transparent fabric] in a very subtle pale colour, and I lined it with an old striped fabric.”

Another unusual discovery, fi tting perfectly with the French vintage theme, are the tiles made by Anne-Marie Quester and Alison Jen-nings of Shabby Cow, based in west Cornwall. Their design fuses vintage images onto limestone tiles using a decoupage technique. Placed around the splashback above the granite sink, they give a fl avour of Parisian cafe style.

Jan has also added decorative touches with ce-ramics, which she sources from antiques shops and fairs. “I have been collecting pottery since I was 16,” she says. “I am always buying unusual jugs and plates, I think I have a bit of a jug fetish actually! They are all bits and pieces I’ve picked up in antiques shops – if there is something pretty then I’ll buy it.”

The canopy with satin fabric above the bed was another inspired romantic touch in the bedroom.

Interiors

“I went to a junk shop and bought the circular hoop which the curtains hang on for £20. If I see something I like I’ll buy it, and then I’ll hang onto it and fi nd a use for it.”

And this charming little bolthole shows just how useful her fi nds have been.

The Little Charcuterie at Marhamchurch near Bude is available to rent for short breaks through www.uniquehomestays.com or 01637 881183

Interiors_April26.indd 24 22/04/2015 10:41:53

25

Shopping

LOOKTry these picks for a French-themed romantic style

GET THE

Cushion, £20, www.aspace.co.uk

Whistler handmade wallpaper, £20 a roll, Lyme Regis-based www.

dunfordwood.co.uk

Double bed, £1,060, www.sweetpeaandwillow.com

Dark grey woodland lampshade, £35, www.in-spaces.com

Delft animal tiles, £16 each,www.reptiletiles.co.uk

Scandi kitchen chair, £120, www.lukuhome.com

Wild meadow dandelion wallpaper, £78 for aten metre roll, www.in-spaces.com

Interiors_April26.indd 25 22/04/2015 13:29:54

26

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Going upthe wall

Going up

Gardens

Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, picks the best spring-� owering climbers

have a friend who used to invest in expensive handbags, which she’d bring out one by one in order to describe their provenance, key features and value, in loving detail.

It was all a bit lost on me but apparently other handbag afi cionados would register their respect with a discreet nod as they passed by.

We subliminally clock what we’re interested in, whether it’s buildings, fashion, cars, dogs, yachts, tents (ever witnessed tent envy?) or in my case, plants. This week, I was wowed by a lovely Clematis armandii in full bloom, its fragrant fl owers making a creamy waterfall against leath-ery, evergreen foliage.

Climbing plants are a key feature of town gardens, where there are many walls, fences and garages to cover and less room for trees. In more rural gardens like mine, bounded by hedges, we fi nd ourselves constructing pergolas, arches and obelisks or eyeing up large shrubs to act as hosts. True climbers are fascinating because they all support themselves differently. The large, vigorous Clematis armandii clings with twining leaf stalks and likes a sheltered position where wind and frost won’t affect its evergreen foliage. A light annual trim after fl owering keeps plants under control and stops a tangled mass from forming and, fortunately, they respond well to a more radical haircut if need be, returning to full glory two or three years later.

Other spring-fl owering clematis include dainty, deciduous C.alpina and C.macropetala plus their cultivars. These tend to open nodding fl owers during April and are generally well-mannered. C.montana is larger, reaching up to 12m/40ft unchecked and handy for smothering unsightly buildings. By May, they’ll be smothered in white,

pink or almost red fl owers usually accompanied by delicious wafts of vanilla. All of these spring fl owering kinds are best pruned immediately after fl owering if their size needs curbing.

The chocolate vine Akebia quinata is a great favourite in my garden because its sweet spicy fragrance takes over from winter fl owering shrubs. We’ve planted it to grow through a large Viburnum farreri and, although it is often recommended for shade, I think the perfume is

strongest when the fl owers are in sunshine. Again, any pruning should take place immediately after fl owering but I have had to cut out large portions when thinning the viburnum in winter and there has still been masses of fl owering wood left. Ours is the paler ‘White Chocolate’ cultivar and I love the way larger female fl owers mingle with the smaller male ones on the same shoots.

Roses are generally thought of as summer fl owering, from June onwards but classy

I

Gardening_Apr26.indd 26 22/04/2015 11:21:41

Lilies I grew in pots last year were left outdoors for winter and are now sprouting again. Is there anything I should be doing to ensure another good display of flowers?

Nutrients in the compost will have been used up and once the bulbs have sprouted new shoots and roots, they’ll be relying mainly on stored energy to thrive. Without extra nourishment, they’ll be smaller all round and even punier the year after. There are several options. At the very least, leave them in the same pot but add a controlled release fertilizer to the compost in the top. Or you could add a general purpose liquid feed every two weeks. A better option would be to pot the bulbs on to a larger sized pot with fresh compost around the roots. Alternatively, remove the bulbs from the pots and either plant them as one or gently separate them and space them out in borders of good soil. Wherever they go, watch out for red lily beetles and their dark, gooey larvae.

27

Our pittosporum has grown too large, can we clip it like a box or hedging plant?

Pittosporum tenuifolium is a relatively quick growing, slightly tender evergreen from New Zealand much used throughout the South West as a windproof coastal plant. We have three here in my garden, providing valuable shelter on the windward side of other plants. Yes, you can grow them as hedges or trim them into neat pudding basin shapes by clipping now in April. If you want a tightly clipped look, repeat in June.

Q

Question time with AnneWest reader queries answered by Anne Swithinbank

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

This week’s gardening tipsAnne’s advice for your garden

Q

• Use edible herb flowers to scatter over salads and pasta dishes. Our rosemary is flowering now and the pretty individual flowers have the same flavour as leaves though milder and sweeter. Later, use sage.

• Give crops a boost by spraying them with a liquid seaweed feed. This acts like a general tonic and is especially

effective for plants like overwintered onions and peas.

• All potted plants will be making strong growth and unless they are newly potted, will benefit from a general purpose liquid fertilizer usually at fortnightly intervals. At feeding time, roots should neither be bone dry or soggy but moist and on the way to drying out.

Sowtender crops like French beans, sweet corn, pumpkins and other squash, cucumbers and tomatoes. Most people start them indoors in modules and pots these days but all bar greenhouse cucumbers and tomatoes will germinate outdoors in the ground when soil is warm enough. Protect from slugs.

Hoebare soil between crops when it is dry, even if you can’t see any weeds. This is the best and easiest way to stop them from growing. In borders, tickle surface soil between plants using a border fork unless you are expecting plants like hellebores to self seed.

Banksian roses open their flowers as early as April. Vigorous and semi-evergreen, these are large ramblers usually trained against sheltering house walls. The commonest is probably double yellow Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’, though single yellow R.b. ‘Lutescens’ is more fragrant and double white R.b.var.banksiae has been described as redolent of violets. Careful pruning and training is needed, as flowers form on two or three year old stems, so thoughtful thinning is the way forward. I always think it is best to make (or have made) your own trellis-work in scale with the wall, to make training and tying easier.

Some so-called climbers are just leggy shrubs happy to be trained in one plane. The Japanese quinces (chaenomeles) are good examples

and make great spring flowering wall or fence shrubs especially on shadier east or west facing aspects, where their ability to bloom consistently compensates for lack of fragrance (though their fruits are highly aromatic). Choose cultivars with white, pink or red flowers to stand out against their background colour.

By late spring, wisteria, the queen of climbers, is draped with racemes of sweetly scented pea-like blooms. In the wild, these vigorous twining climbers hoist themselves up trees but in captivity, have to make do with cottage walls and pergolas. Although they are described as liking a sunny aspect, they will also do well against cooler, shadier places. With some of these climbers, your spring garden will come to life.

Gardening_Apr26.indd 27 22/04/2015 11:22:43

28

Beauty

Tried& testedTried

London-based luxe brand 001 Skincare combines cutting-edge bio-technology with natural and organic ingredients to create products designed to return skin to a state of natural equilibrium. It’s just launched at www.fortnumandmason.com, with prices in the Classic care range starting at £18 for its Pure Lavender Hydrolat Toner.

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

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer uses this cleansing balm in her beauty routine. She says: “I rub it all over my face, then use a � annel to wipe o� the makeup.”

Look out for a limited edition super-size pots of this

anti-ageing balm by Elemis next month, £55 at www.elemis.com

Star appeal

TO THE RESCUE

Bare Minerals has just launched this intensely moisturising Complexion Rescue tinted moisturiser: daywear for skin that will also help improve its tone. £26 at www.bareMinerals.co.uk

Finding balance

Make yourself beautiful with Next’s Get The Look Bundle, £20, for eyeliner, lippie and chubby.

...and no need to ask the price, at

Poundland!

PRETTY KIT

EYES RIGHT

All that glitters...

Beauty_April 26.indd 28 22/04/2015 10:54:35

29

the review

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

hen Kim Kardashian un-veiled her dramatic new do at Paris Fashion Weekre-cently, brunettes the world over wondered: just how did

she get her dark locks so light?And with Lily Allen and Carol Vorder-

man also taking the peroxide plunge, salons have seen a spike in calls from would-be blondes.

“We’ve already had so many calls from people who are desperate to copy Kim’s look, particularly darker brunettes who are looking for a complete colour over-haul, rather than people who just want to go a few shades lighter,” says Marc Trinder, art team director at Charles Worthington Salons. “Kim seems to have inspired a newfound colour confi dence in many women.”

But despite regular root touch-ups (all cap-tured on Instagram, of course), Kim reverted back to her usual ebony shade within three weeks.

Does that mean such high-maintenance hair is unsustainable, even for a millionaire who has her own ‘glam squad’ on hand?

“The lightening process from very dark to very light blonde is heavy and strenu-ous on the hair,” warns Claire Bonney, senior technician at Radio Hair Salon. “It involves bleaching the hair, pushing it as light as it will go, possibly a double ap-plication, and of course, a much-needed toner to knock out any brassy tones.”

So is Kim’s black-to-blonde bleach job achievable with an off-the-shelf dye?

“I would not recommend this as DIY, I

have seen too many disasters,” says Tracy Hayes, global head of technical training for Fudge Professional. “Always have this process done professionally, to keep your hair in the best possible shape.”

If you have warm brown or ginger hair, you should avoid the peroxide too - unless you want to end up with orange locks.

“The red pigment is really hard to lift,” says Nice’n Easy UK colour advisor Jonathan Long

If your natural hair hue is too dark for at-home application, there’s still a lot to consider before you book in for your big blonde makeover. “This is a huge job and

will need the eye and atten-tion of a colour specialist. Getting an even result on previously coloured hair can be diffi cult, depending on the history of the hair,” says Claire Bonney.

It’s not cheap, either.“I would say between

£200 and £300 for the ini-tial application, and £120 and £170 for the root ap-plication, depending on the salon - some high-end salons will be more ex-pensive than this,” Tracy

Hayes estimates. And you’re looking at touch-ups every six to eight weeks.

Looking after your locks post-peroxide is even more important when it’s a pro job. “The process is chemically drying on the hair, so using professional products at home is imperative, as you must feed the hair the protein and moisture it needs.”

With that level of upkeep, no wonder Kim didn’t keep her new colour for long.

But that’s not to say you can’t realise your own blonde ambition, Hayes says, “as long as you are prepared to spend the time and money to keep it looking good.”

W

Going BlondeKatie Wright � nds out exactly how Kim Kardashian went platinum

‘We’ve had so many calls from people who are

desperate to copy Kim’s look,

particularly darker

brunettes’ [[Top secret

We’ve eyed up these metallic pencils by Essence and think they’re fab. Just £1.99 each at Wilko

We already love Time Bomb’s moisturiser and a little goes a long

way with its Youth Juice Secret Oil, which mimics the natural sebum

lost as your skins grows older. £38 at www.timebombco.com

EYES RIGHT

Beauty_April 26.indd 29 22/04/2015 10:55:16

30

These days, ethical fashion has a whole new look

ot so long ago, the prospect of seeking out clothes that were both attractive and eth-ically produced was enough to make anyone’s heart sink.

But things have changed, and today it is possible to fi nd fabrics that have low en-vironmental impact, as well as designers who treat (and pay) their suppliers fairly.

A major player in the ethical arena is People Tree - we love their dresses and new range of jewellery. You can also fi nd inspiring designs from places as varied as H&M and The Sock Shop. So now we can all be Ethics Girls...

Goodstu�

N

Eco-fabric ki-mono £39.99

H&M

Recycled map shopper £2.95

www.dotcomgi� shop.com

Fashion_April26.indd 30 22/04/2015 10:37:43

31

Wellwood eco-friendly

sunglasses £79 and watch £95

Fair trade brass enamel ring £8

People Tree

Glenmuir eco-friendly

bamboo socks £8 for three, Sock

Shop

Paloma ethical cotton dress

£110 People Tree

Joanna Cave Reya ethical gold earrings £51 www.econe.co.uk

Orla Kiely eco-cotton

top £80People Tree

Takara zero-waste dress

£360Beautiful Soul

Fashion

Ethical cotton skirt £36 People

Tree

Chika zero-waste shirt dress £360

www.beautifulsoul.co.uk

Olivia eco-dress £85

People Tree

Fashion_April26.indd 31 22/04/2015 10:38:20

his time of year is all about the dress. If you’re anything like me, you’re digging out your favourite shift every morning and waltzing purposefully out the door, only to

scurry back in with every hair on your arms standing up in cold protest. It’s all so confusing. The sun is shining and it looks warm, tropical even. But there is still an unwelcome edge to the air and the breeze is positively arctic at mo-ments. The solution, the sleeved dress!

The selections on offer are a veritable smor-gasbord of strong patterns, bold colours and intricate details guaranteed to bring your Insta-gram feed alive.

Witches of East End star, Jenna Dewan-Tatum showed up on the fashion radar recently wearing a gorgeous boho white incarna-tion of the trend by Tularosa, complete with a stylish Janessa Leone fedora and cross body Tory Burch Bag. The look is feminine, fl irty, comfortable and if it comes with the added bonus of catching the eye of men like Channing Tatum (her husband, star of The Vow and Dear John) then I’m sure you don’t need any more convincing.

Shopping for these is an op-portunity to step a little bit out of your comfort zone. These frocks are especially at home at a wedding, where the sleeves will be your armour against cocktail hour chills while the hemline means you can express yourself at will on the dance fl oor. Choose a bold pattern to make a state-ment that doubles as a great conversation starter.

This pink beauty is from LK Bennett, and al-though I won’t get away with calling it a bargain, it certainly earns its price tag. It’s a box ticker, and sets the bar for all future dress purchases. Here’s why.

The hemline is in the perfect place. For a slim-ming effect the line should fall across the narrow-

er part of your legs. Were this dress any shorter it would cut me across my quad muscle, and years of sprint-ing at a regional level means that the effect is a tad more intimidating than

I would like. More Venus Williams than Victoria Beckham.

There is the tiniest of nip in at the waistline, and then three tiers of the softest imaginable fabric fl ow softly outwards. This dress is my new best friend. The nip tells the world I have a waist, while the cascades mean that I can scoff crab cakes and goat’s cheese puffs to my hearts content with no mood-ruining visible bulge.

Even the length of the sleeves is spot on. Sleeves that aren’t quite full length can be tricky, too short and they catch the dreaded bingos. Past the elbow

is tricky too. No sleeve that ends mid forearm is a friend of mine. At the risk of painting myself in a rather Schwarzenegger light once again, years of surfi ng mean that my forearms are slightly more sinewy than slender, and I have caught more than one eyebrow raise when I extend my arm in a toast wearing a less forgiving dress.

The spot the sleeve stops when held alongside your body is key too. This becomes a focal point, so make sure it is level with an inwards curve rather than an outwards one.

Now you know the rules, happy shopping. I love this dress so much I might buy a second one. Race you there! And if there’s only one left we can arm wrestle for it. Somehow I fancy my chances.All fashion in these pictures is from Princesshay Shopping Centre, Exeter, www.princesshay.com

32

Trend

The sleeves will be your armour against cocktail

hour chills while the hemline

means you can express yourself

at will on the dance � oor

HOW TO WEAR IT:

T

MA

IN P

HO

TO

HA

IR: A

DA

M A

T S

AK

S, E

XE

TE

R M

AK

EU

P: C

LA

RIN

S, D

EB

EN

HA

MS

(BO

TH

PR

INC

ES

SH

AY

) PH

OT

OG

RA

PH

Y: S

TE

VE

HA

YW

OO

DST

ILL

-LIF

E P

HO

TO

GR

AP

HS

: PR

SH

OT

S

Spring dresses

Dress, LK Bennett, Princesshay, £265

Bag, LK Bennett, Princesshay, £195

Shoes, LK Bennett, Princesshay, £195

Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod addresses the dress

TrendColumnSleevedDressesApril26.indd 32 22/04/2015 13:24:12

33

GET THE

lookLet’s talk shoes: The strappy dreams

I am wearing in this shoot are the holy grail. Nude/light colour heels

will make your legs look like they go on for country miles. Also, these

straps fall in the perfect place, quite low down on the foot. Anything that cuts you accross the ankle is a bit of a no no, unless you have the ankles

of Kate Moss. In which case, go to town.

EAST Fantasia kaftan £129

NEW LOOK Printed off-the-

shoulder smock dress £19.99

DEBENHAMS Dress by Betty

Jackson Black £49

HOBBS Lily of the valley dress £139

EAST Terracotta trim tunic £199

EAST Floral maxi shirt dress £119

TrendColumnSleevedDressesApril26.indd 33 22/04/2015 13:24:36

34

Wellbeing

get involved: Visit www.sofadodger.co.uk and key in your postcode to find a class or club near you. Or add your own to the growing database, for free.

gaelic FootballSam Taylor:

Mum of three Sam Taylor from Bodmin is the Sofa Dodger, trying out keep-fit activities that make exercise fun. This week... she tried Gaelic football in Plymouth

essica Ennis Hill has a support en-tourage, including psychologists, nutritionists and coaches. I have a rabble of tequila wielding drunk-ards in my fitness

camp. “Come over and have one Margarita” read the last minute email that went round my friends on Friday evening. Surely one wouldn’t hurt….?So I made my way to Plymouth Parnells Gaelic Football Club the next day reconsidering my friendship choices and chew-ing frantically on gum, which I hoped would conceal the fumes. I met up with the lads and we made our way onto a muddy field.I wasn’t sure what Gaelic foot-ball was about but I was told the night before it was “just like Aussie Rules”. This wasn’t help-ful information. The team enlightened me,

though. You have to score points and ball kicked over the bar’s worth one. Under the bar and past the goalkeep-er, is a goal, worth three points.

Unlike rugby, you can’t carry a Gaelic football for more than four steps before you have to pass the ball, or toe-tap the ball back to yourself (called solo-ing). We started off with some practice drills and I enjoyed booting the ball about. As with most team sports, I also really enjoyed the banter. When I’m Sofa Dodging, most teams start on their best behaviour around me but once everyone relaxes, the jokes start

in earnest. The match play was fast and furious, with fit-ness being a huge requirement, as the play was

relentless. It is an enjoyable spectator sport and I would definitely watch a game. With nearly all male-only teams I have joined, this one was fuelled by competition, which is in turn driven by testosterone. At one point, there were proper handbags going on in the game, which did make me smile a little and wish that I had some pop-corn to hand. I bid them farewell, as I trudged off in search of carbs - and more water.

J

Unlike rugby, you can’t carry

a Gaelic football for more than

four steps before you have to pass

the ball [[

This week:

Sam played with Plymouth Parnells Gaelic Football Club: www.plymouthgaa.org.uk

gaelic Football

GRID_ALLYMAC_APRIL26.indd 34 22/04/2015 10:46:47

35

Ally says: Almond milk is proving increasingly popular, as buyers swap their traditional dairy milk for a healthy alternative.

Ally Mac’s Almond Milkally mac’s

35

Wellbeing

Method:

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

You will need: (this makes two creamy glasses)

1 cup raw organic almonds 1/2 tsp cinnamonSweetener if desired (dates, maple syrup or coconut sugar)2 cups of waterA pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt

Tip the almonds into a bowl and cover them with water. Leave them to soak overnight in your fridge (there’s no need to cover). In the morning, drain the nuts (you will see that they have put on a little weight overnight and puffed up).

Put the almonds into your blender with the cinna-mon, salt and the optional sweetener and the two extra cups of water. Blend for two minutes.

There are two ways to do the next part. Some people use a sieve but I actually just use a cheese-cloth that I place over a large bowl. I pour the almond liquid through it, small amounts at a time ,and use a spoon to push or it through to make sure I’m getting as much liquid as possible. Your almond milk will keep in the fridge for up to three days.

Unlike cow’s milk, almond milk contains zero cholesterol or saturated fats, and if you compare almond milk to soya or rice milk, almond milk has the highest concentration of vitamins and minerals. You can use almond milk as part of your daily diet, and it can be easily made at home. Be wary of the almond milk on sale in supermarkets... if you read the back of the label you will find that a lot of the vi-tamins are synthetic… crazy! All you need to make it at home are raw almonds and water.

This is a very simple recipe that tastes super creamy. I love cinnamon and like things sweet, so I add cinnamon and sometimes a date, too, for that touch of sweetness. I will be selling my own “almond milk kits” on my website soon – at www.al-lyskitchenstories.co.uk – to make it easier for you to make it at home.

GRID_ALLYMAC_APRIL26.indd 35 22/04/2015 10:47:51

36

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

Recent studies suggest that paracetamol won’t help acute pain in your lower back.

But sitting better can help prevent a niggling pain grow worse. Exercises that strengthen

your core and bottom muscles will help support your upper body better and keep-ing your feet � at on the � oor when you’re seated takes the pressure o� your lower

back. If you’re glued to the TV, shi� your po-sition from time to time and take advantage of the ad breaks to get up and move around.

NHS Choices has some exercises you can try out at home: (www.nhs.uk)

At the Sharpham estate in beautiful south Devon, there’s a day-long Introduction to Mindfulness course on Saturday

May 2. Mindfulness is the art of being in the present moment, with acceptance and without judgement. It can

health and wellbeing by helping to reduce stress and anxiety. £68, visit www.sharphamtrust.org for details.

AN INTRODUCTION

TO MINDFULNESS

increased focus

less stress

improved health

Back instyle

Wellbeing_Newdesign.indd 36 22/04/2015 10:59:49

It sounds too good to be true: a superfood that gives you your daily dose of greens in pill form, could slow the ageing process. What’s the secret ingredient? Algae. It’s packed with cell-renewing and immune system boosting amino acids vitamins including B, D and K, that can also give you more energy and im-prove your mental wellbeing. Miranda Kerr

and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley are both said to be fans of this Japanese whole food, called Chlorella. As with all food supplements, it’s wise to check with your GP before taking with other medicines and chlorella may be best avoided if you have an auto-im-mune condition. However clinical trials suggest chlorella, which was � rst researched as a food sup-plement in the 1930s, could have a wealth of potential health bene� ts. Sun Chlore-lla A tablets cost £21.95 for a 20-30 day supply) at health food stores and online at www.bodykind.com.

CHLORELLA:

Does green = gorgeous?

If you fancy discovering (or rediscovering) ballet, then there’s an adult Contemporary/Ballet class (for 18s and over) from 8pm-8.45pm every

Wednesday at Carrick Sports Centre, Truro. Ballet’s great for core strength, muscle development and having fun. It’s £4 a class, visit www.

cornwalldanceschool.co.uk

Tap into the latest health drink: birch water! It’s long been imbibed by people in Scan-

danavian and Eastern European countries to boost energy and cleanse the liver and kidneys. If you don’t fancy tapping your

own tree while the sap’s rising, you can buy it bottled, from Kent-based Treevitalise.

TAP INTO THIS...Barre all...

Rosie: I believe in algae!

37

Wellbeing_Newdesign.indd 37 22/04/2015 11:00:45

Wellbeing

38

Expert Q&A

My GP tells me that I should be considering a knee replacement. I’m nervous! Is this a good idea, and what are the risks? CB

Plymouth –based orthopaedic surgeon John Beardsmore says:The good news is that total knee replacements are a very successful procedure. The National Joint Registry has

found that patient satisfaction with this operation is greater

than 95%. For many people, only knee replacement can give good pain relief and in the UK more than 90,000 patients undergo knee surgery of some kind each year.

The most valuable investigation for osteoar-thritis is an x-ray and at least one of the images must be taken with strict weight bearing on the affected limb. This may show bone touching bone with no remaining cartilage, and I also look out for other signs of osteophytes (extra bone lumps around the joint), geodes (cavities or cysts in the bone) or sclerosis (hardening of arthritic bone).

Knee replacements are also called knee ar-throplasty and are a resurfacing procedure. In

Q

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon John Beardsmore works at the Peninsula NHS Treat-ment Centre in Plymouth. For more details visit www.peninsulatreatmentcentre.nhs.uk or call 01752 506070

osteoarthri-tis, trauma and infl amma-tory arthritis, the smooth, low-friction, cartilage that cushions the joint is lost. In knee replacement surgery, the damaged surfaces are excised (taken off). The thigh bone surface is covered with a smooth metal dome. The shin bone surface is covered with a metal tray into which fi ts a medical-grade plastic spacer that then functions as the smooth bearing surface on which the thigh bone glides. The patella – knee cap - can also be resurfaced.

Knee surgery can take be-tween one and two hours. It is usually carried out with a spinal anaesthetic. Patients can also have a short-lasting intravenous sedative, so they snooze during the procedure, but recovery is enhanced by having avoided a full general an-aesthetic.

The majority of patients are able to return home between two and four days later. You will then need to rest, and you should expect consid-erable fatigue in the fi rst six weeks. Analgesia, icepacks, elevation and a programme of reha-bilitation will all help your recovery. By 10 to 12 weeks most patients are doing well, though knee replacements often improve for up to 18 months after surgery.

With any major surgery it must be remem-bered that there is a small risk of complication and these are always thoroughly discussed be-forehand. After total knee replacement your

knee will always feel a little mechanical and pro-prioception (natural stability) is reduced in some situations but a good functional range of move-ment is the normal outcome. I fi rmly believe that for the vast majority of patients a knee replace-ment is the most effective procedure for provid-ing pain relief for an arthritic knee.

Do you need knee surgery?John Beardsmore’s checklist:

• severe pain or sti ness• chronic knee in� ammation and

swelling• knee deformity and loss of function• pain at rest and pain at night

John says: It is my experience that pain during activity can be managed according to personal tolerance. But pain at rest, and especially at night, causes weariness and rapidly degrades a patient’s wellbeing. A knee replacement will o� en greatly improve your quality of life.

What’s the alternative?Before operating, other measures should always be tried   rst, says John Beardsmore. These include:

• Rest or reduced activity• Pain-relieving medication• Anti-in� ammatory medication (if no

contra-indications)• Physiotherapy and weight loss• Steroid injection can give temporary

relief. • A limited number of people can

bene  t from lesser arthroscopic procedures.

Your health questions answered:

WellBeing_Stars_April26.indd 38 22/04/2015 10:36:31

39

Wellbeing

STARS 26.04.15

Darcey BussellPrima ballerina turned Strictly Come Dancing judge Darcy Bussell turns 45 this Monday, on April 27. Darcey (full name Marnie Mercedes Darcey) became principal ballerina at The Royal Ballet when she was just 20 years old, back in 1989. She is widely acclaimed as one of the all-time great British ballerinas.

After retiring from ballet in 2007, Darcey now wows audiences as a much-loved judge on Strictly Come Dancing. She’s married to Australian business-man Angus Forbes, and they have two daughters called Phoebe and Zoe.

Darcey is a Taurus, and Taureans are known for their determination and loving nature. She’ll never be short of willpower to reach her goals, and she will always dedicate herself fully to all those she holds dear.

ARIES (March 21 - April 20)This week begins a period of light-heartedness and sparkling conver-

sations. Your social life really gets a boost with friends and family wanting to get out and about. Will you be invited? Be sure to let them know that you are available! Sometimes others assume that your diary will be full but we all have slack periods!

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21)In a fairly quiet week there is time to make adjustments to your image

ready for those early summer trips. Bright colours and more flowing clothes give the right message. You may decide to have a weekend party or to visit a friend somewhere exotic. Whatever you are doing, though, don’t rule out romance!

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)Take a bow and accept praise that is coming your way! Have you put in

some hard work on a project? Maybe you have been brightening up the home or garden? Decided to cook more exotic food? Whatever it is, you now realise that it was worth the effort and was appreciated. Fish for compliments if you want to know how someone feels about you.

CANCER (June 22 - July 22)What you see as a largely mundane week could be brightened up no end

by a bit of planning ahead. Love is just around the corner and you need to be prepared for some pretty exciting encoun-ters! Getting together over a shared project brings you closer, and doing a bit of cook-ing together can be real fun.

LEO (July 23 - August 23)You just can’t wait to get the social scene buzzing. Do you have some-

thing special to share? Making an occasion of it pleases both your partner and your friends. Those who are, at the moment, unattached, keep your ears open. More than one exciting thing is happen-ing that you should know about. Do others assume that you are busy?

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23)Looking forward to a break or holi-day plans? A change of venue could

give you even more to get excited about. The chances are that you have been working very hard and that your head is positively buzzing. Take a break for a day and try to go somewhere new. It could be in your own area or part of an organised trip.

LIBRA (September 24 - October 23)Plans to travel that were just a vague notion a month ago now

start to take on some form. As you want to stretch yourself and get some new experiences, you could well travel alone. A sense of freedom is very attractive to you at the moment after a restrictive winter. Al-though you love partnerships, this is a time to grow.

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22)There is still a light-hearted and op-timistic attitude to life that makes

you a delight to know. Some financial matters need sorting out but don’t let that get too heavy. This is a fun week when you may try out new experiences and attitudes. A partner or relative may be on course to cramp your style.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - De-cember 21)This is a lovely, romantic time of

year. Be sure to make the most of it by sharing your social plans and getting others together. You have a way of unit-ing people, often from quite different back-grounds. Use this talent to be in places that you love with people that you admire. Ad-ventures are go!

CAPRICORN (December 22 - Janu-ary 20)This is a week of confessions and

propositions. Getting things out in the open and speaking your mind is quite refreshing. Through an older friend or member of the family you can be given the chance to meet someone special. Play it cool until you know their position. An old romance could fizzle out.

AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19)A bumpy start to this week could

see you feeling a little apprehensive. If you take an honest approach, however, it all settles down. Don’t take it for granted that someone can be easily hoodwinked. Keep up a good diet and exercise regime to avoid being beaten by fatigue.

PISCES (February 20 - March 20)Part of your good fortune this week lies in the fact that you are flexible.

Tip-toeing around a relative is prefer-able to getting into an argument about them. Practical solutions can sometimes be hurtful to others. Social life comes in fits and starts and seems to defy your attempts to organise it.

Happy birthday to...

WellBeing_Stars_April26.indd 39 22/04/2015 13:38:46

Festival : I love a good food festival and Dart-mouth’s has to be one of the best. Organisers and local producers and restaurateurs work hard to create a great vibe.

Beach: Bantham beach. I fell in love with it the fi rst time I went for a surf there when I moved to Devon. The views are amazing as well as the waves, it’s a great family beach. On my fi rst visit I saw that there was nowhere to get a good cup of coffee or something to eat - and that’s how The Gastrobus began. I bought the van off Ebay. If I were to second Bantham, I’d have to say Watergate Bay near Newquay.

Activity: I love surfi ng and most outdoor sports; paddle-boarding, mountain biking and walking my little dog, Elmo.

My Secret Westcountry

Claire Bishop Claire Bishop runs Bantham Beach’s gourmet fast-food Gastrobus, which make and sells home-made treats and co� ee by the sea. Claire formerly worked for chef Mitch Tonks and lives in Ivybridge with husband Jim.

Claire Bishop

My favourite...

Walk: The cliff walk from Hope Cove to Bantham. Stunning views and coastline, with a great view of Burgh Island.

The Crabshell Inn

40

MSW_April26.indd 40 22/04/2015 11:25:49

41

People

Food: Fish!!!!! There’s no better place to get fresh fi sh than the Westcountry.

Tipple: Man Beer, as my husband calls it! Tribute or Proper Job. It’s lovely stuff, nice and refreshing too.

Pub: The Crabshell at Kinsgbridge. It’s a vibrant pub that’s always busy and has amazing views down the river. Getting a table here on a summer evening watching the sun go down is just perfect. And their pizzas are excellent.

Restaurant: The Seahorse in Dartmouth owned by Mitch Tonks and Mat Prowse. Old friends of mine, they cook the best fi sh in the world. An amazing experience.

Weekend away: It has to be The Watergate Bay Hotel. It has everything you want: peace and quiet, surf, pool and great food.

Shop: Totnes is my favourite place to shop with unique shops and independent shops. I believe we should support our small retailers. For clothes, I love my friend Janice’s shop in Kingsbridge, Lemon Velvet.

Treat: One of our Bantham Burgers. They seemed to have evolved into a talking point amongst our customers. It’s a rare treat to eat one, though I cook them every day!

Follow Gastrobus Bantham Beach on Facebook and @gastrobusbeach

Lemon Velvet

Claire’s Gastrobus sells good food on Bantham Beach in south Devon

MSW_April26.indd 41 22/04/2015 11:26:15

42

Enjoy

erched in the far north-west corner of Devon is surf haven Braunton, which rather quaintly bills itself, “the larg-est village in the UK”. The village has some interesting shops and places to

explore, and is set in fantastic countryside, with outstanding sandy surf beaches nearby. Now’s the perfect time to visit, before it gets too busy in high summer.

Stay: At the four-star Saunton Sands Hotel, with sea-view rooms, superb restaurant, indoor and outdoor pools and spa. There is a superb offer on for Friday May 8: for one night only you can have dinner, room and full English breakfast for only £80 per person. There are lots more excellent offers in May if you avoid the Bank Holidays. Call 01271 890212 or 892001 or visit www.sauntonsands.co.uk. For somewhere a little more homely, Kingsacre House B & B on the edge of the village is very charming.

Eat: Saunton Sands hotel has a wonderful restaurant with very glamorous atmosphere, fine dining and a great wine list. Try the three-

P

Brauntona wEEkEnd in...

course table d’hote set menu costing £36, with highlights such as hay-smoked Cornish lamb and monkfish with heritage carrots. Alternatively, Braunton village centre has the legendary Squires fish and chip restaurant, hugely popular among locals and visitors alike.

what to do: The Museum of British Surfing is in the heart of Braunton (01271 815155) with fascinating exhibitions on the history of the sport. It currently has a special exhibition celebrating the 125th anniversary of the first ever recorded incident of surfing in the UK. Or why not have a go yourself – if you need advice or kit, try lessons with Surf South West (www.surfsouthwest.com) which offers lessons at Saunton Sands. Also on the energetic side, there is kite surfing on Saunton Sands (www.northdevonkitesurfing.co.uk) and Royland’s Riding Stables in nearby Croyde run beach rides on horseback for all abilities (01271 890898).

walks: Stroll along the beach itself or go inland into the vast Braunton Burrows, stretching three miles alongside the beach and a mile inland. The

Saunton Sands Hotel

Surfing at Saunton Sands

A Weekend In Braunton.indd 42 22/04/2015 10:52:57

43

burrows are a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, an area of international environmental importance, home to rare plant species, including orchids, and with more skylarks per acre than anywhere else in the country. If you’d like to navigate the dunes by yourself, pick up a GPS-controlled Explorer from Saunton Beach Shop.

Shop: If you fall in love with surfi ng on your stay, (or love it already), Tiki surf shop on Caen Street (01271 816070) is one of the largest in Europe with over 300 surfboards in stock, plus surf fashion from Quiksilver, Billabong, Volcom, Rip Curl and more. For women’s fashion, try High Tide in Caen Field Shopping Centre (01271 815110) selling brands such as Lazy Jacks, Amari, Pachamama and Nomads.

Explore: One of the highlights of this area is the Tarka Trail, a traffi c-free track for walkers and cyclists created from the former railway branch line. Otter Cycle Hire in The Old Pottery on Station Road (01271 813339) hires bikes for all the family, as well as tag-alongs, buggies and tandems, and is only 20 yards from the Tarka Trail. Have fun!

4 of the bestPlaces to eat by the sea

1 Hix Oyster and Fish House, Lyme RegisSuperstar hipster chef Mark Hix comes from Dorset, hence this tiny, trendy eaterie perched overlooking the sea in Lyme Regis. It’s no frills – you won’t see a sni� of a table cloth – but superb cooking and the freshest possible seafood. You can now also stay the night in Lyme at the eight-bedroom Hix Townhouse.Dish of the day: Whitsand Bay ling curryPrice: Mains around £15Contact: 01297 446910

1 The Cary Arms, BabbacombeCharming inn on the water in the nicest part of Torquay, now part of a seriously luxurious boutique hotel. Daily changing gastropub menu is impressively local in sourcing and chef Ben Kingdon certainly knows his stu� .Dish of the day: Beer battered Brixham � sh and chips with crushed minted peasPrice: Mains around £15Contact: 01803 327110

1 The View, Whitsand BayPerched high on the cli� op in south east Cornwall, easily reached from Plymouth. Chef Matt Corner cooks a clean, simple but chic menu based on his � ne dining background, using local seafood, game and quality meat.Dish of the day: Local monk� sh, pickled ginger and sesame Price: Mains around £16Contact: 01752 822345

1 The Bay Hotel, PenzanceWith panoramic views of Mounts Bay, this two AA rosette restaurant is part of Hotel Penzance, should you fancy staying the night. Simple lunches are followed by a la carte evenings. Dish of the day: Cornish lobster, grilled or Thermidor Price: Three-course dinner from £34Contact: 01736 366890

Saunton Sands Hotel

The Tarka Trail

Squires fish and chips

Mark Hix

A Weekend In Braunton.indd 43 22/04/2015 10:53:20

Tim Maddams is a Devon chef and writer who o� en appears on the River Cottage TV series

44

o continue on last week’s the cheese theme, I thought I would outline another basic form of cheese, the cheese from which all other cheeses are made. The proc-

ess of separating the curd from the whey is easily carried out but (although it’s child play)do make sure that everything you use is super clean, otherwise you may end up with some un-wanted results.

The simple things in life are often the most satisfying and separating curd from whey to make your own simple curd cheese is no excep-tion. You should end up with a soft, crumbly, slightly moist curd that is suitable for a myriad of different uses, from cheesecake to making mozzarella. Simply follow the process below.

In a very clean pan heat two litres of milk to just above blood temperature – but don’t let it get too hot or (worse) boil it. Dilute a few drops of rennet in a couple of teaspoons of boiled, then cooled, water. Add the rennet to the milk and then leave it alone for a while.

The time it takes to set varies a lot, depend-ent on all the weird and wonderful minutiae of the way the world works, but after a while it will have set or curdled. At this stage it’s more or less a junket. And while we are on the subject, there is nothing at all bad about a well-made junket, a good old traditional Westcountry des-sert if ever there was one.

We want to make a cheese, though, so this mixture needs seasoning with plenty of salt. But I like to use a little less than I might, so I can also crumble some fl aky salt on the top when I serve it.

To extract the curd from the whey, simply break up the junket with a clean spoon and pass the mixture through a muslin-lined sieve. Tie the muslin up and hang it from a cupboard handle (or other handy place) and put a recepta-cle under it to catch the whey.

How long you leave the curd to drain will affect how hard the end product is. I would en-courage you to hang it for just a short time, so that the curds keep moist and crumbly.

Once you are happy that you have the curd to your liking, you can do all sorts of things with it. Pop it in a tub in the fridge and season with chopped herbs and drizzle with good oil. Or place the whole lot into a pan of hot water until it becomes malleable and turns into a basic moz-zarella. Once you have shaped it into balls you can drop it into a cold water brine (table salt dis-solved in cold water) and pop it into the fridge for use within a few days.

You can also enjoy your curd in salads or as part of a mezze. One of my favourite tricks though is simply to use the pure curd on pizzas. It works very well, being both crumbly and melty as the same time, and saves the effort of making the mozzarella.

Ingredient of the Week

Curd cheesewith Tim Maddams

Ways with curdToast bread and rub it with garlic, spread as much of your precious curd on as you like and drizzle with a little oil. Chuck a few salad leaves and herbs over the top and away you go.

You can also use it on pasta, with chilli and garlic. Boil the pasta, stir in your curds and season with chilli, garlic and parsley. You can embellish this with all sorts of other seasonal twists, wild garlic would be spot on right now.

If you’ve kept the whey from your curds, use it as the liquid in soda bread or scones. It also makes a nice sorbet, if you are into that sort of thing.

T

@TimGreenSauce

Curd cheese

TIM_BEER_APRIL26.indd 44 22/04/2015 10:50:59

spring water and quenching hop bitterness.Down my way, here in Cornwall, I get

through quite a bit of Penzance Brewing Com-pany’s Potion No 9 (4%) as it’s made in my local brewpub. But I think Tintagel Brewery, with the highest farmhouse in Cornwall and a wind tur-bine providing green energy, gives Potion a run for its money with citrusy, refreshing Castle Gold (4.2%).

In Somerset, I’ve been a fan of Quantock Brew-ery’s beers over the year, with Sunraker (4.2%) probably my quiche accompaniment of choice,

with its clean, grassy notes from the Perle hop. And Exmoor Gold (4.5%) is widely regarded as one of the beers that set the whole modern golden beer era in motion, back in 1986, and still drinks well today, with fl oral, lemon citrus hop fl avours sup-ported well by balancing malt.

What about golden session beers which are a little more, well adventurous? How about Drift-wood Spars Brewery’s new Forest Blond (4.3%) which, unusually for a golden brew, has notes of blackberry. Or, with forthcom-

ing spring festivities in Helston in mind, Spingo Ales’ Flora Daze, notable for being a Blue Anchor beer that is low-ABV and not brown.

I also suspect that no-one has ever drunk Flora Daze alongside a quiche…Darren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk

@beertoday

Drink

n the spring a young man’s – okay, middle-aged man’s – fancy turns lightly to thoughts of… quiche. Quiche is one of those spring bench-marks for me. The days are lighter,

the air warmer, and a good quiche served up with some Cornish Early new potatoes is worth look-ing forward to.

I’m not only an afi cionado of the quiche, but also, if I say so myself, something of a maestro in cooking the things, too. Nothing nicer than a good quiche lorraine, of course, but being mar-ried to one of those vegetarian types I’ve experimented with all sorts of ingredients. As I type I’m toying today with a red pepper and purple sprouting broccoli variant.

Now, what with the eggs, cream and milk in the quiche, something with a nice acidic zestiness is just the ticket in terms of accompaniment. For-tunately, this is the perfect time of year to start getting into light, golden, fruity, refreshing beers. And as luck would have it we have plenty of choice here in the Westcountry.

For instance, Cotleigh Golden Seahawk (4.2% ABV), once known as Cotleigh Eagle, uses Devon malt for a delightful hue, with Challenger, Gold-ings and Styrian hops adding great depth of fl a-vour. Exe Valley Brewery’s seasonal Spring Beer (4.3%) has freshness from the brewery’s own

I

Cans are fast becoming the container of choice for many brewers and among the latest to try them out is Moor Beer Company, recently relocated from Somerset to Bristol. Moor beers are un� ned so will condition naturally in the can.

Pubs of the yearCAMRA has announced its “local pubs of the year” shortlist, which will go forward to challenge for the national title. The winners down here are: The Hole in the Wall, Bodmin; The Bridford Inn, Bridford; The Fortescue, Plymouth; The Red Lion, Exbourne; The Tom Cobley, Spreyton and The Halfway House, Pitney. Best of luck to them all and may the best pub win.

CAN DO

45

Beer of the weekI’ve been helping to set up

a new bar down here in Cornwall. There are nine

beers available on draught, among which is a delightful hoppy Belgian brew. From the Het Anker brewery, in Antwerp, comes Gouden

Carolus Hopsinjoor, an intensely hoppy, herbal,

grassy beer that really wakes the tastebuds up! Pokey, at

8% ABV, it’s also available in bottles.

Exmoor Gold is widely recog-

nised as one of the beers that set the whole mod-ern golden beer

era in motion [[

talks beerDarren Norbury

TIM_BEER_APRIL26.indd 45 22/04/2015 10:51:31

46

man and boy

dinosaurdays out [[

my life

think I may have raised the bar a little too high in terms of week-ends away. One of the perks of being in newspapers is the occa-sional press trip – a posh dinner

and hotel here, a boat trip there, maybe more if you make it your business to work the PR ticket. There is no such thing as a free lunch, of course – a review is expected in return, glow-ing if possible – but you do tend to find yourself lapping it up from time to time. Last weekend we stayed in London, in the swish Crowne Plaza in well-to-do Kensington. But this was about more than just kicking up our heels in swanky SW7. Me and the boy were on a quest to the Holy Grail of dinosaur-ology: The Natu-ral History Museum.

Young James is already a fairly well-travelled youngster for his five years, thanks to having a mum from Russia. He has slept overnight on trains in Russia, in cabins on cross channel ferries and boarded a dozen or so flights. But I don’t think we have ever enjoyed an exclusive lounge stocked with a limitless bar for evening drinks and canapés. What delighted the boy most was a flat stone water feature in the foyer. He dutifully watered his army of plastic di-nosaurs at the fountain, even photographing them in still-life with my mobile phone.

Naturally, this being west London, the hotel attracted visitors from around the world. At the next table in the lounge at breakfast, a couple of long-bearded gentlemen in the tra-ditional Arabic dress were tucking into the croissants and gabbing away in their native tongue. Fascinated by the pair, James leans

over to me and whispers an innocent question in my ear. ‘Are they the Three Wise Men?’ I had to explain that quite possibly they were from the same place as the Three Kings, but best not to ask them where exactly straight off the cuff. We don’t want to look like a gang of hill-billies up for

the weekend after all. So, fed and watered, we hit the tube at

Gloucester Road and head for the city centre and a whistle-stop tour of London’s aquarium. Naturally, he loves it, especially the penguins, but soon we must make for the Mecca of fos-sils, the mother lode of the Mesozoic - or is it Jurassic? I am hazy on the geological periods.

Of course, being up from the sticks and more used to the paleontological delights of Torquay and Lyme Regis, you tend to forget the whole world visits London. So when I ask the guide inside the big hall with the huge looming diplo-docus skeleton how to get to the dinosaurs, he wearily nods me in the direction of a huge crowd and tells me to ‘join the queue’. What he failed to mention is this queue crawls all the way through the exhibits; that you shuffle heel-to-toe all the way.

Nevertheless, it was a massive hit and for this reason alone: at the end of a suspended walkway you descend into the lair of the T-rex, a full-size, robotic replica of the fearsome king of the carnivores, complete with light show and swamp mist. As you can imagine, we stayed there for some time. Then we did the tour two more times. Then we came back on Sunday to say goodbye.

And as we are saying our fond farewells to the lovely staff at the hotel, who made a real fuss of the lad, he tells me he wants to come back soon. To the same hotel. The same hotel with walk-up room rates broadly equivalent to an average week’s wages down here in the West. After all, he tells me, it is the only hotel with a dinosaur fountain. Of course, I tell him. Hopefully. We will see…

As you can imagine, we stayed there for some time. Then we did the dinosaur

tour two more times [ [I

Phil Goodwin and son James, five, go exploring in style

ManandBoy_April26.indd 46 22/04/2015 14:19:02

May11th 5 days Delights of York £49922nd 3 days Chelsea Flower Show £299June1st 5 days The Cumbrian Collection £4498th 6 days Weymouth & Delightful Dorset £54913th 8 days Guernsey – fly from Exeter £69920th 7 days Orkney & Shetland Minicruise £83921st 6 days Eastbourne £529July4th 8 days Isle of Scilly flying from Newquay £9996th 6 days Royal Sandringham & Norfolk Explorer £47912th 10 days Delights of Northern Spain £79918th 7 days Discover Southern Brittany £69920th 5 days Highgrove & Cotswolds £439august4th 6 days Isle of Man £6899th 8 days Jersey – Battle of Flowers £639*12th 7 days Discover Historic Yorkshire £57917th 5 days Isle of Wight £43931st 5 days Scenic Shropshire £439septeMber1st 8 days Loire Valley £6495th 7 days Romantic Northumbria £64917th 5 days London’s Royal Collection £49919th 7 days Limerick, Ireland £59927th 5 days Snowdonia & The Isle of Anglesey £49927th 6 days Guernsey - fly from Exeter £56927th 6 days Jersey in Autumn £439*October12th 5 days Taste of Kent £43919th 5 days Blackpool Illuminations £429

22nd 9 days Edinburgh & Lord of the Glens Luxury Cruisetransiting the Caledonian Canal £1199*

22nd 9 days Bonnie Scotland £699november20th 3 days London Weekend £21923rd 5 days Turkey & Tinsel in Weston-super-Mare £32928th 2 days Bath & Bristol Christmas Markets £119December5th 2 days Exeter Christmas Markets £10923rd 5 days Christmas in the Cotswolds £54923rd 5 days Christmas in Lincoln £579

Terms & Conditions apply – Prices pp & correct at time of print – Subject to Availability - *Prices from

in association with

2015Complete Coach touring

programme

For more information go to www.truronianholidays.co.ukor call into your local branch of Newell’s TRAVEL

www.newellstravel.co.uk

Door to door home pick-upsthroughout Cornwall on tours of 4 days or more

Insurance on all Great Britain Holidays

no single room supplement on most Great Britain HolidaysFreeFree

Call Free On 0800 987 1777

Chelsea Flower show3 days – Friday 22nd May 2015£299pp price includes insurance

prICe InCluDes:• Central pick-up points • 2 nights stay in a 3* Mercure Hotel– Dinner, bed & breakfast• Entrance to Chelsea Flower Show • Visit Henley-on-Thames

lastFeWseats

Delights of york5 days – Monday 11th May 2015£499pp price includes insurance

prICe InCluDes:• Free home pick up • 4 nights stay at the Queens Hotel York– Dinner, bed & breakfast • Guided sightseeing tour of York• Floodlit evening riverboat cruise • Ride on North Yorkshire MoorsRailway •Tour Castle Howard•Visit historic Seaport of Whitby

lastFeWseats

Untitled-4 2 22/04/2015 14:20:17

Celebrate Plymouth Loves Fashion with all the

ingredients for your retail therapy this spring.

PLYMOUTLYMOUTL HFASHIFASHIF NLOVES

22 April - 11 June 2015

drakecircus.com

visitplymouth.co.uk

Untitled-4 3 22/04/2015 14:47:50