16.04.16

+ LIFE AFTER DOWNTON

+ BALLET FITNESS

Frocks, � nery and a bit of a � utter

+ HOW I MADE THE PERFECT MACARON

PLUS:

10feel-good life � xes

INSIDE:

A day atthe races

Cover_April16.indd 1 12/04/2016 14:08:30

Ads.indd 5 11/04/2016 15:42:47

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5 LADIES NIGHTWin tickets to the Exeter races

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

12 SWEET TREATS Marvellous macaroons made in Honiton

16 AFTER DOWNTON ABBEYDevon actor Matthew Goode’s new venture

22 CORNISH AND COOLGorgeous home decor by the water

26 ANNE SWITHINBANKOur garden guru tackles weeds

28 FLAWLESS FINISHAbbie Bray on make-up primers

32 LADIES DAY FASHION What to wear for a day at the races

34 CULTURE VULTUREWhat’s on and where to go

36 BOOST YOUR WELLBEING Smart ways to feel your best this week

42 A WEEKEND IN PADSTOWHave a great getaway in north Cornwall

46 SHOWING OFFPhil Goodwin’s son puts on a performance

contents[ [Inside this week...

34 WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GOThe Westcountry’s � nest days out

22 INTERIOR INSPIRATIONAdorable decor in south Cornwall

EARN YOUR STRIPESEllie Jones picks the cutest looks30

AFTER DOWNTON ABBEYWhat Exeter’s Matthew Goode did next 16

9 MOVE OVER, ANGELINA!Hot news on Daisy Ridley’s latest role

38 I SHOULD COCOIs coconut all it’s cracked up to be?

‘I would love to make a Downton movie - you

get to hang out with Hugh Bonneville and

the rest of them’’

Exeter’s Matthew Goode on life a� er courting

Lady Mary, p16

Contents_April16.indd 3 12/04/2016 11:57:43

Becky Sheaves, Editor Sarah Pitt Kathryn Clarke-McLeod Catherine Barnes Lynne Potter

4

[[ [[welcome[ [

t’s all happening in the Westcountry these days. For a start, we here at the West team are off to Ladies’ Night at Exeter Racecourse this Thursday (April 21)

and would love to see you there. It looks set to be a great evening out and, even better, West readers can win £60 of tickets, see opposite for details. At the Ladies’ Night, West magazine’s resident style guru Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod will be judging the Best Dressed competition. Check out her column on page 32 today for tips on how to dress to im-press. Another fun event on the horizon right now is the

Festival of South West Food and Drink, which takes place in Exeter’s Northernhay Gardens on April 21-23. One exhibitor who will be at the three day foodie extravaganza is Fran Gigg of Honiton,

who makes fabulous French-style macar-ons. Read all about her delicious business on page 12.Another sweet treat for you today is our inter-view with the dapper Downton Abbey star

Matthew Goode, who grew up in the tiny West-country village of Clyst St Mary. Matthew’s now hosting ITV’s The Wine Show and he tells us all about his glittering career, plus acting with Brad Pitt, on page 16 today. Cheers!

[ [Check out her column for tips on how to dress to impress

Becky Sheaves, Editor

There is a lot of fun to be had here right now...

[

SWEET DREAMSMaking macarons in Devon12

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

@ExeterRacesWe are delighted that

@KathrynCMcleod @WMNWest is

ambassador and judge on Ladies’ Night April 21

MEET THE TEAM

Becky Sheaves, Editor Sarah Pitt Kathryn Clarke-McLeod Catherine Barnes Lynne Potter

Tweetof the week

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

I

COVER IMAGE: Steve Haywood

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We have three £40 pairs of Premier tickets to Exeter Ladies Night to give away (each ticket worth £20). To win, send your name and daytime contact details to Ladies Night competition, westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk by 5pm Monday April 18. Winners will be noti� ed asap and can collect their tickets at the gate. Normal terms apply, West will not share your details.

Put on your best frock and head o� to Exeter Racecourse for Ladies Night, which takes place on Thursday April 21. There’s a free bus from the centre of Exeter, should you wish to enjoy a glass of bubbly, and the � rst race is at 4.55pm. It’s a really fun evening and a great excuse to dress up and get together with friends. Visit www.

exeter.thejockeyclub.co.uk for details and to buy tickets in advance.

one thingIf you do

this week...

Win

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the

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

wishlistSTREET

STYLE STAR

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

Natasha Madzingira Natasha Madzingira is studying chemistry at

Plymouth University. When it comes to fashion � air, she

de� nitely has the formula right and she’s not averse to the

occasional experiment either, revealing: “This is only the

second day I have ever worn a headscarf! I usually wear black

clothes, so colour is good.” Our verdict? Style’s clearly a natural science for Natasha -

with � rst-class honours.

Iron rabbit bookends £38 Jaz Interiors in Ivybridge

Teapot £19.99 www.kitchenways.co.uk

Parisian cafe clock £28 Jaz Interiors, Ivybridge www.

jazinteriors.co.uk

Biplane shelf £300 www.whiterabbitengland.com

TEA TIME

HIGH FLYERTick tock

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Look the part for your country stroll with the help of this family-run shop in Tavistock, which stocks Barbour, Dubarry of Ireland, Joules, Hunter, Seasalt and more. They even stock a Barbour jacket for dogs. Also irresistible

are the quirky dog clocks with wagging tails from The Labrador Company. Dartmoor Country Clothes is at 8 Brook Street, Tavistock. See www.dartmoorcountryclothes.co.uk, 01822 819926

STORE WE ADORE:

Wishlist

Dartmoor Country Clothes, Tavistock

adore...Store we

Summer fl oral luggage label £6 Accessorize

Orla Kiely watering can £49.95 www.cuckooland.com

Helena chandelier earrings £8 Accessorize

Cockatoo £30 House of Fraser

Camisole £16 River Island CUTE

Get away

PRETTY

TRUE BLUE

Wishlist_April16.indd 7 11/04/2016 14:33:11

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talking points

Known as “the electric violinist”, Linzi Stop-pard is the Surrey-born musician/model who is married to the son of Tom and Miriam Stoppard. She looked relaxed and pretty at the recent Eddie the Eagle   lm premiere in London in her Azaelea midi dress from Self-Portrait (£240). The same dress in a di� erent colour is available to hire from Chic By Choice, a really good dress hire company. Perfect for a special occasion.

BRODERIE anglaise

OPTION BPretty

Self-Portrait dress £50 to hire www.chic-by-choice.co.uk

OPTION APerfectCamile lace dress £169 www.phase-eight.co.uk

stealherstyle

OR MAKE IT YOUR OWN

can now relax after the great entertaining events of the year: Easter and Sophie’s birthday party.

Phew! I’ve been fi nding birthday parties harder and harder as the kids grow older. It was straight-forward in primary school: you invite everyone, hire the village hall, lay out a buffet, and conduct some games. Then they leave with a piece of cake and a bunch of ridiculous plastic stuff includ-ing fi ve poor-quality crayons. We must have four hundred of those things lying around the house.

But as they get older they don’t want to do organised games like musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey. Or indeed anything that involves a relatively modest sum of money. They want to go shopping in Truro, or to invite all their friends go-karting. Three hundred pounds later…

I see lots of my ancestors shak-ing their heads in disapproval from the fl uffy clouds above. “Ri-diculous, I call it. Why, in my day we were lucky if we got three cents on a birthday party. One year my aunt gave me a rusty nail in a box. I was over the moon.”

“Look at all those snacks she’s putting out. Absurd! In my day, we used to put sawdust in a burlap bag and chew on it. It kept us full until the next meal.”

“Have you added up the money she’s spent on those presents? In my day you could buy a horse for that.”

About seven years ago, I read a

fantastic book called The Birth-day Party. It was written by a Devon mum who was shocked by the expense and parental one-up-manship of birthday parties she experienced. She wanted to talk people down to a sensible level. It had suggestions of food, games, and timings. It was fantastic.

What she absolutely nailed was that fun isn’t really about what you’ve got around you or

where you are. Fun is about people making an effort to be interesting and lively, and joining in with good heart. I remember this from awkward par-ties from my own teenage years. The parties themselves were a dead loss – people stand-ing around trying to look cool, or boasting about how

much poor-quality beer they had quaffed. The fun part was getting ready and actually getting to the party (or leaving it), and other-wise just horsing around with your friends.

So with this in mind, I revived some birthday party basics. I am pretty sure it was a success. Later that day I collapsed into bed having satisfi ed, hopefully, both some young teens and some an-cestors. And not a plastic crayon in sight.

Story of my life...

Gillian Molesworth

Can you be the hostess with the mostest?

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

I

The fun part was getting ready and

actually getting to the party, and

otherwise just horsing around

with your friends

A LEGEND’

Cynthia Rowley dress £60 to hire from www.chic-by-choice.com

MoleyGossip.indd 8 11/04/2016 14:53:55

Actress Daisy Ridley has high hopes of fol-lowing up her Star Wars breakout role with another high-pro� le part.The 23-year-old has reportedly signed up to star in the new Tomb Raider � lm, stepping into Angelina Jolie’s shoes.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Daisy said: “I’m waiting for someone to say, ‘I want you, let’s do it’.”She’s currently � lming the eighth instalment of Star Wars, but has hinted that she’d make sure her diary was open if the iconic role of Lara Cro� became available.She con� rmed there had been “conversations” about the role, but added there wasn’t a script in play yet, nor has she been o� ered the part.

MOVE OVER,

ANGELINA?

9

Justbetween us!Gossip, news, trend setters and more – you

heard all the latest juicy stu here � rst!

09.04.16

Can’t Touch This presenter Zoe Ball has revealed her legendary dad Johnny is writing a new book about maths. If you’re a child of the 1970s you’ll fondly remember Johnny Ball as the presenter of countless children’s programmes, including Think of a Number, in which he made maths and science topics infectiously fun.

Zoe reveals: “My dad is awesome. He has just come back from a skiing holiday and is writing another book about maths. He blows me away with his knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for teaching and learning. He is also a brilliant, and da� , granddad.” Time for him to make a return to our TV screens, say we.

Devon-born rock star Chris Martin has described his relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow as a “very wonderful separation-divorce”, a� er the pair

“consciously uncoupled” last year.In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, he said: “It’s a divorce, but it’s a

weird one.” Since separating from Paltrow, who is the mother of his two chil-dren, Apple, 11, and Moses, nine, Coldplay frontman Chris said that, far from

being at acrimonious, the two remain close and still spend holidays together with the children.“So I was with them, and it was just lovely,” he added, recall-

ing a recent trip away.

HAPPY EVER AFTER?

‘MY DAD’S

A LEGEND’

Could Daisy

Ridley be the

new Lara Cro� ? [[

MoleyGossip.indd 9 11/04/2016 14:55:19

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in pictures

Lots of bottle: Victoria Goldie of the Olde House in Chaple Amble, north Cornwall, is feeding pet lambs

Get set: Kelly Davis has been training hard for tomorrow’s Plymouth Half Marathon

VIP: Princess Anne visited

The China Fleet leisure club at

Saltash

Blooming: Tanya Kiferova

of Fentongollan Daffodils at

the Cornwall Spring Flower

Show

WIP_LISTS_APR16.indd 10 11/04/2016 16:24:53

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Badge holders

talking points

Lost any?

Fly no more

10 kinds of marbles stocked at Bovey Tracey’s House of Marbles:

1 Serpent2 Tiger’s eye 3 Odin4 Dragon y5 Asteroid6 Barrier reef7 Glitterbomb8 Bovey lace9 Blue ume

10 Poison frog

DID YOU KNOW?

This week:

Famous faces with links to the Westcountry

ONE OF US

Rugby player Henry Slade, 23, grew up in Plymouth

Henry Slade

The happy list

10 things to make you smile this week1 Sunshine more please

2 Paddle and Prosecco Ticket to Ride surf school, Newquay

3 Lambs in the � elds

4 Spring owers in Cornish gardens

5 Ladies’ Night Exeter Race-course, April 21

6 Hot chocolate before bed

7 Fancy socks go for colour

8 Shell hunting on the beach

9 Baking scones really easy

10 Queen’s Birthday have a wonderful day, Ma’am

10 butter� ies that are now, sadly, extinct:

1 British large copper

2 Mbashe River bu�

3 Florida Zestos skipper

4 Danish Clouded apollo

5 Morant’s blue

6 British large blue

7 Paradise birdwing

8 Scarce large blue

9 Unsilvered fritillary

10 Silver-studded blue

Celebrities who have a Blue Peter badge

1 Madonna 2 Tony Blair 3 David Beckham (gold)

4 Ewan McGregor5 Morph6 JK Rowling (gold)

7 Catherine Tate8 Uri Geller9 Pele 10 The Queen (gold)

Star: Rugby player Henry Slade plays for the Exeter Chiefs in the English Premiership.

School: Henry attended Plymouth College: “We are absolutely totally thrilled by Henry’s progress,” says the school’s head of rugby Richard Edwards.

Talent: England Academy coach John Fletcher once said of Henry: “The way he plays reminds me of a young Toby Flood or Rory Clegg.”

Family: Henry is the eldest of John and Jayne Slade’s three sons. He comes from farming stock on both sides of his family and his father is a chartered surveyor.

Debut: Henry made his Premiership debut for Exeter Chiefs against London Irish in April 2013. He � rst

played for England in a match against the Barbarians on June 1 2014.

Injury: Henry was tipped to play for England in the recent Six Nations campaign but su� ered a broken leg and ankle ligament damage in a match against Wasps on December 5 2016.

Study: Henry attends the University of Exeter, reading for a BSc in Sports & Exercise Science, as well as playing professional rugby.

Exeter: Henry is part of the “golden generation” of home-grown talent at Exeter Chiefs and grew up playing with Jack Nowell and Luke Cowan-Dickie.

Hero: Henry was inspired by England legend Jonny Wilkinson’s World Cup winning drop kick in 2003, which he witnessed when he was ten years old.

Competition winners:Congratulations to the winners of a set of Sarah & Finn’s relishes:Mrs J Mansell, Woodbury; Rosie Burston, Par.

Henry has diabetes and

o� en relies on Jelly Babies

to get him through a

rugby match

WIP_LISTS_APR16.indd 11 11/04/2016 16:25:47

12

Sweettreats

Fran Gibb

[[There’s quite an art to baking the perfect macaron, as Fran Gibb found

out when she and a friend started a business in Devon, selling the light-as-air French patisserie with gooey fillings. Sarah Pitt takes a bite

hen Fran Gibb and her best friend Andie Stanstel started out trying to bake the perfect macaron, there were a lot of what Fran calls ‘maca-wrongs’ coming out of Fran’s kitch-

en in Honiton, east Devon. “It probably took us two or three years to be

really happy with our baking,” she says. “Macar-ons are beautiful to look at but they are renowned for being very difficult to make.”

Fran and Andie have proved equal to the chal-lenge, though, by dint of much practice. Their business is called Frandie Macaron (named after both of them), which they run with Andie’s chef husband Mark. They now turn out hundreds of perfect confections in flavours like strawberries and cream or salted caramel and chocolate ga-

nache, every week. “We used to have a love-hate relationship with

macarons but now we just love them,” says Fran, who hopes to secure new fans at the Exeter Fes-tival of South West Food and Drink next week-end (Friday-Sun-day, April 22-24).

Fran has a soft spot for the festi-val in the city’s N o r t h e r n h a y Gardens, where she started out tempting custom-ers in the early days of the business.

“When we first started doing the festival, we’d take along ‘maca-wrongs’ too, which we’d

sell really cheaply,” she says. “They were funny shapes or a bit cracked, but they still tasted really delicious. And they were really popular. We still have customers who come up to us and say ‘have

you got any maca-wrongs?’ We have to tell them that we don’t sell wrongs anymore! Our baking has got too good!”

She and Andie had embarked on their mission to master this challenging French patisserie while both work-ing full time. They originally met when Fran worked for Andie and Mark in their Honiton res-

W

[[ ‘We used to have a love-hate relationship with macarons.

Now we just love them’

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People

Fran will be showcasing her wares at the Exeter food festival next week

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Fran’s macarons come in all sorts of flavours and are made in east Devon

FrandieMacaron_April16.indd 14 11/04/2016 14:01:48

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taurant, Dominoes.“We’d get together at weekends and in the eve-

nings in my kitchen,” says Fran. “We were both ready for a new direction in life and Andie had become a bit obsessed with macarons! She could see there was a gap in the market, as no one was selling them down here, so we thought we’d see if we could make them.”

It proved to be quite a mission. “You need plenty of ground almonds, sugar, egg whites and persistence!” says Fran, laughing. Every stage of making the perfect maca-ron requires skill and timing – whisking the (free range) egg whites to just the right stiffness and piping the mixture, called a macaronage, into perfect rounds.

Then there’s the baking, which has to be at an even temperature to ensure a crisp exterior and chewy interior. Over four years of practice in Fran’s kitchen, they have come up with their perfect temperature, a closely guarded secret.

Now, as they prepare to move to their first dedicated production unit near Broadhembury, a few miles from Honiton, they’ll be working out

temperatures and timings anew. The move to their new premises marks an ex-

pansion for the business, which has diversified into a new line of dessert sauces, called Gloop!

“The idea was born from the fillings,” says Fran. “We kept having leftover salted caramel, and it was so delicious that Andie and I would take it home at night. We’d warm it up and eat it on ice cream, or my husband and I would get spoons and just eat it. We decided we just had to jar it up and share it, so Gloop! was born.”

Fran and Andie were de-lighted when their salted cara-mel Gloop! won a gold star in the Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food last year. “Without doubt the salted cara-

mel is our bestseller,” says Fran. “We can never make enough of it.”

She is busy preparing new flavours for people to try at their stand at the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink, next weekend.

They’ve struck lucky at food fairs right from the beginning, when Great British Bake Off judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood made a beeline for their stand at Radio 2’s CarFest South

‘Mary Berry came up to our stand, tried out our

macarons and said ‘Good for you, girls!’ It was brilliant’[ [

show back in 2012. “They both had one of our macarons and Mary praised us on what we were doing. She said ‘Good for you, girls!’. It was really brilliant.”

Andie will be appearing with another TV baking star, Bake Off’s 2013 competitor Glenn Cosby, on stage at the Exeter festival. “She will be doing a demo with Glenn in the baking tent,” says Fran. “He and Andie did a demo on stage last year and it was really good. They really bounced off each other. I will be manning our stand. I love talking to people, but I wouldn’t want to be on stage. We will have a good range of flavours for people to try.”

Fran was pregnant with her daughter, now two, when she and Andie started out, so setting up this business has been a juggling act in many ways, but it has worked well for her. “People say don’t go into business with your best friends, but in fact it has made it easier,” she says. “I defi-nitely knew I was making the right decision. I was a visual merchandiser for H&M before and I really enjoyed that job, but it was very corporate. Making macarons is really creative.”

Her favourite part, she says, comes after the baking, which they do every Monday morning. “Once they come out of the oven you need to let them cool. My favourite part is putting them all together and, sometimes, decorating the shells, that is always really good fun. We are coming up with new flavours all the time.”See www.frandiemacaron.co.uk

People

FrandieMacaron_April16.indd 15 11/04/2016 14:03:01

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Having starred in Downton, Matthew is hosting The Wine Show

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The Imitation Game and Downton actor Matthew Goode, who comes from Exeter, is now hosting TV’s The Wine Show. Ella Walker finds out more

A VEry GooDE VInTAGE

atthew Goode is as well spoken and earnest as his Downton Abbey character - Henry Talbot - but far scattier, leaping from chair to chair, hands gesticulating animatedly, a

woollen hat firmly crammed over his dark brown locks.

It turns out that the 38-year-old actor is actu-ally rather goofy, not that his roles have revealed that so far...

Born in Exeter, the youngest in a family of five children, Matthew is best known for his grown-up, serious roles in the likes of Cemetery Junc-tion alongside Ralph Fiennes, A Single Man opposite the Oscar-winning Colin Firth, and ac-claimed drama The Imitation Game, where he got to shout at Benedict Cumberbatch’s frustrat-ing genius, Alan Turing.

Now, however, he’s about to let his inner goof-ball shine, alongside Welsh actor Matthew Rhys (“He’s a really witty animal”), as the pair take up residence at an Italian villa and try their hand at presenting on new ITV series, The Wine Show.

“We’re a couple of idiots effectively, on a jaunt, who hold their hands up and say, ‘We love wine, we’d love to know a little bit more, but allow us to get rid of your fears of this world and let us be a conduit into it for you’, and I think that’s why it works,” the father-of-three explains, “because people can see us raise those questions they didn’t want to ask themselves.”

M

Interview

Mathew_Goode_April16.indd 17 11/04/2016 16:33:10

18

The two Matthews, Rhys and Goode, became friends on the set of the BBC adaptation of Death Comes To Pemberley in 2013, so when Matthew Goode’s brother-in-law, producer Russ Lind-say, proposed the idea of The Wine Show, his thoughts naturally drifted to his friend.

“We were organising my wedding in Russ’ back garden and we were picking the wines we thought people might like, and he seemed to think I had some knowledge about it,” Goode recalls. “I’m not a TV presenter so I said, ‘Ah, that’s quite a scary prospect’, and he said, ‘Well, is there someone you could do it with?’” Matthew Rhys was the obvious choice.

“He’s a super-talented actor, incredibly funny

and I could listen to him doing impressions of Richard Burton [forever]. He’s just very, very lovely, so it was perfect. We didn’t know it was going to work, necessarily, but I thought my best shot would be with someone like that, because we’re like a married couple, in the sense that we fi nish each other’s sentences,” buzzes Matthew.

“I love him! He’s also a very smart man and he’s in the same position, being a lens monkey but not a presenter,” he adds. “We’re taught to ignore the camera, so when you’re looking right down the pipe, it’s terrifying.”

Being wine drinkers, but not wine experts, the duo are joined by bona fi de experts Amelia Singer and Joe Fattorini, the latter of which Matthew affectionately calls “Obi Wine Kenobi”,

‘I would love to make a Downton movie - you get to hang out

with Hugh Bonneville and the rest of them’

Interview

Playing Mr Wickham in Death Comes to Pemberley

As Larry in the 2005 version of My Family and Other Animals

With Scarlett Johansson in the film Match Point

With Matthew Rhys in their new venture, The Wine Show

Mathew_Goode_April16.indd 18 11/04/2016 16:34:42

19

Mathew_Goode_April16.indd 19 11/04/2016 16:35:43

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Interview

but allegedly everyone was very responsible throughout fi lming...

“We didn’t have time to get too squiffy!” cries Matthew, promising their packed schedule made it impossible. “It was good old-fashioned elbow grease!”

Until recently, Matthew was a regular on hit US show The Good Wife and, of course, mar-ried Lady Mary Crawley (played by Michelle Dockery) in the Downton Abbey series fi nale.

Considering the constant ru-mours that the hit period drama is headed for the big screen, would he sign up to appear in ‘Downton the movie’?

“Yeah! I would, because I have children and I don’t want to be in far-fl ung corners of the world. And also, you get to hang out with Hugh Bonneville and the rest of them,” he says. “It’s a great bunch of people, but I suspect they’ll have to do it quickish, otherwise they’ll lose people. Julian [Fellowes] has to write a script, ob-viously, and he’s quite a busy man.”

In May, Matthew will be in TV mini-series Roots, a remake of the 1977 series set in the slave states of America during the 1700s, based on Alex Haley’s book of the same name.

“I got a phone call saying do you want to be in-volved, and I was like, ‘Err, I don’t know’,” the

actor confesses. “I didn’t know! I seem to be the only person who didn’t know the previous Roots.”

After reading up though: “I thought, ‘This is really inter-esting’, and went and did it,” Matthew recalls. “And James Purefoy was already doing it

- I phoned James and was like, ‘Is it going to be good?’, and he said, ‘Of course - it’s got me in it!”

While there was great camaraderie on set - Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Forest Whitaker and Laurence Fishburne also star - the subject matter was challenging, says Matthew.

“It was quite harrowing at times, because we were fi lming on plantations that were real, so any

time you see a big oak tree with Spanish moss on it [which many black people were hanged from], it’s an uncomfortable feeling.”

Next up, he will be playing opposite Brad Pitt. “I know!” he quips excitedly. “In a new fi lm that Robert Zemeckis is doing - with Marion Cotillard as well. I have literally one scene, but it’s a fi ve-page scene, which is very interesting, it should be thrilling. I look forward to meeting him.”

It’s all a long way from the village of Clyst St Mary, where Matthew grew up on the outskirts of Exeter. He certainly is a star of whom the Westcountry can be very proud - so let’s raise a glass to his latest success.Matthew Goode appears in The Wine Show on ITV on Saturdays at 4.55pm

In The Imitation Game with Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch

‘We’re a couple of idiots, e ectively, who

hold their hands up and say: we love wine, we’d love to know a little bit more’

Mathew_Goode_April16.indd 20 11/04/2016 16:36:40

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Interiors

1920s bungalow tucked down beside a Cornish creek is not the most obvious dead-ringer for an Alpine chalet. But when it came to bring-ing some extra comfort to the in-

terior, new owner Martha Burnyeat knew just where to look.

“My father had just sold a chalet in France, near Chamonix in the French Alps, so we had quite a stock of family furniture,” she says. “I used a real mixture of bits and pieces, as I was determined not to buy anything new.”

The hoard from the chalet provided the well-worn brown leather Chesterfield sofas which now grace the living room beside the wood-burn-ing stove. There’s a colourful Aztec patterned rug on the floor and a painting of mountains on the wall.

In one of the bedrooms, meanwhile, there are two cabin beds complete with ingenious under-bed storage, which complement the cheery red and green check curtains. And in the kitchen, a solid wood table is accessorized by stylish bench-es, made by a French boat-builder.

Martha lives just a few doors down from the property, with her husband Jake and their three-year-old daughter, at Roundwood Quay, where copper and tin ore from nearby mines was once loaded on to ships.

The couple happened upon this idyllic spot, close to the National Trust gardens at Trelissick, ten years ago, while searching for a building plot.

At the time Martha was thinking of leaving her job as a commercial surveyor in London and

A

RiverhavenSarah Pitt discovers a renovated 1920s bungalow beside an idyllic Cornish creek with a unique sense of comfort and style

Interiors_April16.indd 23 11/04/2016 16:39:57

24

heading off to live the good life in Cornwall.

“My husband and I were look-ing in the local West Briton newspaper and saw a shed for sale down by the creek. We went to see it on a Monday evening in September at high tide, and it was just so beautiful that we fell in love. At the auction, my hand just popped up and I bought it!”

They have since knocked down the shed and built their home in its place. And when this bungalow, called Ruan Dinas, came up for sale two doors down, they decided to buy that too. Martha’s parents would now have somewhere to stay when they were visiting from their home in Hertfordshire.

“From the outside it looks like a mundane Cornish bungalow but it is light and airy inside,” says Martha. “The family we bought it from did quite a lot of work to it. They opened out the house, so that when you are in the kitchen you can see through to the dining room and lounge, and you can see the river on each side. It works well as a family space.”

And Martha had a head-start on the décor, as the previous owner was an interior designer,

many of whose design fl our-ishes Martha has kept. These include the burgundy and white checked fl oor in the kitchen, matched by dark red metro tiles. The range cooker is from Herit-age of Liskeard, which Martha describes as “a Cornish take on the Aga”. The deep shade works well with the warm wood tones of the table and benches from the Alpine chalet.

The curtain fabrics, mean-while, were inspired by the col-ours of the creek. “When we

fi rst moved here, I thought the colours of the curtains were a bit dour,” says Martha. “Then I spoke to the previous owner, who we are also

friends with, and she said that when she was looking for colours for the soft furnishings, she had to bring in the colours from outside. Nothing else worked. So we’ve continued with them.”

She has, though added slashes of colour, in-cluding a striking bright yellow pendant lamp above the kitchen table, inspired by the gorse growing outside. “It is amazing what a difference that one light fi tting makes,” she says. “It really goes with all the greens.”

Overall, Martha is pleased with the look she has created. “I was worried it would look like a ski chalet but it doesn’t. It looks nice and cosy but also plain and unfussy enough for a holiday let. And it is a lovely place to come in the winter as well as the summer.”Ruan Dinas is available to rent, see www.millyand-martha.com/ruandinas

‘They opened out the house so you can see the river on both sides – it works well as a

family space’ [[

InteriorsRuan Dinas is tucked

away in an idyllic spot by a Cornish creek

There’s no need to buy everything new. Look afresh at inherited pieces and add elements to make them work in their new surroundings

MARTHA’S TOP TIPS:

Interiors_April16.indd 24 12/04/2016 12:51:36

25

GET THELOOK

Pair warm wood with splashes of colour for country chic Missoni Home Sumitri

throw £226 www.amara.com

Glossy yellow pendant light £135

www.rume.co.uk

fave!

Mandala cross bench £355 www.puji.com

Jester chequered cabinet £429 www.aroundthehousefurniture.co.uk

Hydrangea cushion £49 www.in-spaces.

com

Interiors_April16.indd 25 12/04/2016 12:53:23

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Unwantedguests

Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, says now is the time to launch your war on weeds

espect to the weeds. They creep into our gardens unbidden and are often so much more vital and dura-ble than cultivated plants. Acciden-tally rip a penstemon from the soil,

or tread on a toad lily and it might disappear for good but weeds just keep coming. Their ancestors took root where they found optimum soils and climates long ago, established their strongholds and never looked back. Pull one up and there are plenty more waiting to drift or probe their way back in.

In our large rural garden in east Devon, sur-rounded by wild hedges, we have our fair share of weeds which I sort into four categories. First up are the thugs, consisting of brambles, net-tles and ivy. Brambles (Rubus fruticosus) arch their questing stems into gar-dens, root where they hit the ground and literally cartwheel their way in. Give them an open space and fertile ground (as in the Lost Gardens of Heligan) and they’ll literally submerge a plot. Back in the day, most of Britain was covered by wild wood, so bramble growth would have been controlled by avail-able light levels. In the clear-ing caused by a felled tree, they might grow more strongly but their spiny stems would then come in useful to protect de-veloping trees and new coppice shoots from deer.

In the garden, their top growth is easier to clear than roots but you need a stout pair of gloves (I swear by Briers B0212 Gauntlet Pro-tective Gardening Gloves). My husband likes to use glyphosate-based weedkiller on brambles, nettles and docks but I prefer to garden without

chemicals. We recently fought so bitterly over one patch of in-fested ground that to save our marriage, we decided to split it in half. I’m cutting, smothering and grubbing out on my half, while he will cut and then spray

the regrowth on his. The best tool I’ve found for winkling brambles from tight spaces is the rather costly but effective Sneeboer pointed spade. Fork-ing out and drawing the horizontal rhizomes of nettles through soil in spring is rather satisfying.

Next, we have persisters. This group consists

of bindweed, ground elder, couch grass and others whose top growth dies back for winter leaving perennial, pernicious roots (or more strictly, rhizomes) below ground. A mere snip-pet is suffi cient to start an infestation and none must ever be put near a compost heap (municipal heaps reach temperatures suffi cient to kill them). Now is a good time to return to patches of ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria) to dig them out before new growth starts in earnest. Allegedly in-troduced by the Romans, this weed has some re-vealing common names. ‘Housemaid’s knee’ and ‘Devil’s Guts’ are my favourites. Covering or even

26

Gardens

R

A mere snippet is su� cient to start an

infestation and none must ever

be put near a compost heap [[

Gardens_April16.indd 26 11/04/2016 14:50:52

I have cut my hydrangeas right to the ground and been told this was wrong. Have I killed them?

You certainly won’t have killed them but you might have prevented them from flowering this year. Hydrangea paniculata, whose long pani-cles of flowers appear during late summer and autumn, is sometimes cut right down and will flower on the new stems produced during one growing season. Ordinary Hydrangea macro-phylla (mop headed and lacecap hydrangeas) bloom on stems that grew the previous year – in other words, their flower buds were on the stems you have just cut off. By all means thin out up to one third of the stems on an ungainly plant (to improve shape and encourage new growth) but on the remaining stems, do no more than nip off the old flower heads back to the topmost pair of fat buds in spring just before new growth bursts. By the time you read this, your plant will have produced new shoots from the base. Mulch over roots with well rotted compost and these will bloom next year.

27

I have a small basement flat we use mainly at weekends. I’d like to put troughs on the window ledges but plants will have to cope with intermittent watering and I’d rather not

buy plastic ones.

This is tricky because the answer would be suc-culent plants such as sempervivums (house leeks) but the basement might be too gloomy. Try them anyway. I have various mossy saxi-frages growing in a lump of porous tufa rock in a north facing position and they happily go a week or more without water in summer. Tufa is a natural porous limestone rock you can some-times buy second hand, or you can make hyper-tufa. One part coarse sand, one cement and two peat or composted bark are mixed with a little water (using protective gloves) and set in a poly bag. You can find how on the alpine garden so-ciety website (www.alpinegardensociety.net). A trough of well-draining soil with the absorbent rock set in it and colonised by shade tolerant al-pines could work.

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

• Plant summer flowering bulbs. There’s still time to plant Crinum x powellii at the foot of a sunny wall, gladiolus corms and dahlia tubers into the ground. Set Tigridia and Eucomis (pineapple bulbs) in pots, or borders of well-drained soil.

• Plant new clematis, being sure to choose good soil and set the plant a good 5cm/2in deeper than it was in the pot. Then, if stems are damaged, new ones will grow back from below. Prune the top back even if it means removing

flowers. You’ll end up with a much better, branching structure.

• Plant evergreen hedging plants now winter winds are hopefully over. Holly, laurel, thuya and yew make good solid hedges. Plant in well-conditioned soil, in a double, staggered row and keep moist.

• As soon as weed seeds have appeared, the soil is warm enough to sow carrots and parsnip (use fresh seed) and beetroot (remember the ‘seeds’ are clusters of two to three seeds).

Make a sowing of peas direct to the soil. I take out two wide, parallel drills and sow seeds 5cm/2in apart into these. Guard against mice, rolling cats and slugs.

mulching has the effect of bringing roots to the surface, making them easier to take out. Success depends on how often you return to remove the pieces left behind.

Empty patches of soil are open house to annual weeds we’ll call the ‘opportunists’. The likes of speedwell, chickweed and hairy bitter cress are adept at setting seeds while still tiny. Remember: ‘one year’s seed is seven years’ weed’.

Finally, there’s a group I call the prima donnas; odd weeds like pernicious enchanters nightshade with tiny white flowers (Circaea lute-tiana) from the willowherb tribe, tall, soft-leaved, purple-flowered hedge woundwort (Stachys syl-vatica) and worst of all in my garden, creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). The latter arrived wrapped about the bare roots of new gooseberry bushes and never looked back. Wiry roots anchor deeply into soil and long runners speed across pathways to colonise fresh areas.

The rightful definition of a weed is a plant growing in what, for the gardener, is the wrong place. They are unwanted, rampant plants. We can have some revenge by eating them (avoiding those that have been sprayed, or at dog level). Dandelions, wild garlic, ground elder, hairy bitter cress and nettles are well known forag-ing treats. My personal favourite is chickweed, growing in pots under glass. Their tender, forced spring shoots are tasty in salads. And they cer-tainly make good talking points.

Gardens_April16.indd 27 11/04/2016 14:51:46

28

Beauty

Expert advice from beauty guru Abbie Bray of Newton Abbot

Beauty box

Abbie’s

A quick survey of my friends tells me you’re likely to be one of two types of people: either you rely on a layer of primer under your foundation or you’ve never tried one. Personally, I’m a believer. If you have oily skin, a make-up primer containing fine silky

powders will help to mattify your complexion. If you have combination or dry skin the correctly-matched primer can really help, too. Primers aren’t used much on the catwalk or on shoots, because the foundation doesn’t stay on the skin for too long. But red carpet celebrities rely on them. Blurring primers make skin look smoother and silkier, pores smaller and lines and wrinkles softer - all things the cameras love. In real life, a light layer of primer under your foundation will help it stay put all day. Truly.

Beauty

‘Primers make skin look

smoother and silkier, pores

smaller and lines and wrinkles so� er. Truly.’ [[

GlowLancome La Base Pro Hydra Glow

Illuminating Primer (Debenhams, £28.50)

If you want radiant and glowing skin, then this primer

could be perfect for you.

RescueBene� t Porefessional Matte Rescue

(Boots, £21.50)I love this light-weight gel, it absorbs excess oil and minimises the look of

pores too.

SensitiveMary Kay Foundation Primer (£14)

This primer is oil free and is great for sensitive skin, plus it has an SPF 15.

BalmClarins Beauty Flash

Balm (House of Fraser £30)

This classic product is great for tired skin and it brightens and

tightens the contours of the face.

FlawlessThe Body Shop All-In-One Instablur primer

£14This primer is great

for hiding blemishes, giving a � awless

� nish.

fave!

Beauty_April16.indd 28 12/04/2016 11:52:41

GA

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XH

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A major exhibition featuring artists living and working here in Devon.

Monday 4th - Saturday 23rd April

Call us on 01548 853 848 or email info@maynegallery.co.uk if you would like more information about any of the artists featured and other forthcoming events we have planned.

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30

Earnyour stripes

his spring the catwalks are bursting at the seams with one key trend: stripes. Vertical, horizontal, big, bold and subtle – they are everywhere. Want to dive into the trend headfirst? Go for a vertical-ly striped jumpsuit, or a wide-leg trouser which

promises to suit and flatter any shape or size. Prefer to just dip your toe in to the stripe trend? We suggest you ease yourself in with a shopping tote or the fail-safe clas-sic: the horizontally-striped tee.Our mantra when wearing stripes is mod-eration – never mix this trend. Vertical stripes are great for lengthening petite legs and horzontal stripes work best worn on top. Check out our pick of the best on the high street

T

V by Very dress £55 www.very.co.uk

Shopper £17.99 www.deich-mann.com

Ada jacket £120 www.peopletree.co.uk

Ghillie lace-up ballerinas £17.99 www.deichmann.

com

by: ellie jones

Fashion_April16.indd 30 12/04/2016 12:55:35

31

Fashion

Stripe Ribbons £4 each www.tch.net

Toucan Stripe tee £30 www.peopletree.co.uk

Balloon midi skirt £24.99

New Look

Louche luxe Kienna skirt £65

www.joythestore.com

Drawna Rocks dress £59.95 www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk

Fashion_April16.indd 31 11/04/2016 14:06:38

love the races, but I don’t have any-thing to weeeaaarr’ is the wail that greets me every time I tell some-one that it is almost time for Exeter Racecourse’s Ladies Night event.

Don’t panic. Yes, it is a socially signifi cant event that carries serious fashion wallop but this is no reason to lose your nut and kick the contents of your wardrobe about the room.

Just like the event itself, if you follow a few simple rules you are guaranteed a good time. Here are my top tips for winning form.

Stay in your comfort zone. If you are feeling any sort of anxiety around the pressure of dressing to impress I recommend sticking with what you know. For a lot of us this means the classic LBD. We all have one in our closet that has served us well time and again and this outing needn’t prove an exception. Black is perennially popular for a reason, two actually. It is slimming and dirt-proof. As much as I love a diaphanous white frock a la Daisy Ridley, a night on the grassy sidelines might render the hemline a Jackson Pollockesque splatter fest when your favourite thunders past. Not a good look.

If your current black number is looking more charcoal than ink these days, then this is a good excuse to reinvest in a newer model. When you do so, do it without a smidge of guilt. Black dresses are a sure thing.

So, that’s your base layer sorted. Now to get it racecourse-ready. This is where you can get adventurous. I hit the jackpot in Karen Millen. This orange suede jacket drew me in like it had a gravity fi eld of its own. Sunset tones are big news for SS16 and this beauty will look just as home with jeans and a cream cami as it does over my black frock. Another bonus is that it keeps me toasty warm. I’m not blessed with the Grand National mentality, ie a bottle of Prosecco is

not enough to keep me warm. I am a wimp, and sleeves are essential

(although I never say no to a glass of the good stuff as a proverbial scarf.)

Don’t stop at the coat. This is a real opportunity to have fun with your bag and shoe combo. Frontrunners for me include metallics (rose gold and copper have real wow factor) and another pre-event favourite is colour blocking. These playful heels and matching clutch from Karen Millen are thoroughbreds - hard-working, majestic and sure to garner plenty of admiring glances.

A lot of people get caught up in the idea of a hat. Fret not. Hats aren’t essential to evening events,

although they are still seriously fun to wear. There are other ways to make a statement. I am a big fan of braiding. Pop over to your salon and ask your stylist to plait your hair into a style fi t for a Game of Thrones’ Khaleesi. Dramatic eyeshadow is another winner, the brighter the better.

I have one last rule that is designed to make the process even more fun. If you manage to get any part of your outfi t on sale, you can bet the difference. How’s that for a carrot?I will be judging Best Dressed at Exeter Racecourse Ladies Night on April 21, see you there! All fashion in these pictures is from Princesshay Shopping Centre, Exeter, www.princesshay.co.uk

32

Trend

It’s almost time for Ladies Night at Exeter Racecourse, but what to wear?

HOW TO WEAR IT:

I

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Dress, Karen Millen, Princesshay, £199

Suede jacket, Karen Millen, Princesshay, £499

Shoes, Karen Millen, Princesshay, £150

Clutch bag, Karen Millen, Princesshay, £110

I hit the jackpot in Karen Millen.

This sunset orange suede

jacket drew me in like it had a gravity � eld of

its own

O� to the races

Have you got a fashion question or a trend you’d like to see

tackled? @KathrynCMcleod

‘

Trend_Raceday_April16.indd 32 12/04/2016 14:01:45

33

GET THE

look

Principles by BDL black pattern jacket

£55 DEBENHAMS

Andara poncho £169 HOBBS

Jacket £45 RIVER ISLAND

Ting sandals £149 HOBBS

Mono box clutch £24 NEXT

Espadrilles £35 DEBENHAMS

Clutch £25 RIVER ISLAND

Salvador coat £229 HOBBS

Strappy heels £65 TOPSHOP

fave!

Trend_Raceday_April16.indd 33 12/04/2016 10:49:29

34

culturevulture

Our guide to what’s on in the South West by woman-in-the-

know Sarah Pitt

Visitors to the beautiful seaside garden which clings to the cli� -face at St Michael’s Mount are invited to enter a photographic competition. Post your pictures on social media with the hashtag #seagarden for a chance to see your photograph exhibited in the Mount’s inaugural Summer House Exhibition during July and August. The competition, now open, runs until July 1. There’s also a St Michael’s Mount plant hamper to win worth £50. See www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk for details and garden opening times.

Island garden focus

Evocative madrigals from Shakespeare’s time will be sung by the East Cornwall Bach Choir in Liskeard on April 23, marking the date the playwright died exactly 400 years ago (also his birthday). The programme, conducted by Chris Howarth, includes 20th century composer Vaughan Williams’ enchanting Serenade to Music, from the Merchant of Venice, with violin and piano accompaniment from Petra Stephenson and Jonathan Delbridge. There will be words, too, with extracts from the bard’s

plays acted by students from Looe Community Academy.Celebrating Shakespeare 400 is at the Public Hall, Liskeard on Saturday, April 23 at 7.30pm. Tickets £12 (£5 students, 12 and under free) from www.ecbc.co.uk

John Pollex decorates his ceram-ics with colourful brushstrokes in his studio on Plymouth’s Barbican, where he has worked since the 1970s. Lecturing and travelling the world some years back, he discov-ered the vibrant work of US ce-ramicists which has in� uenced his work ever since. He’s also inspired by painters such as Sir Howard Hodgkin and Patrick Heron. Using brushes, sponges and spatulas to apply paint, John o� en adds in the brush strokes of Zen Buddhist calligraphy. You can now see his work in a rare solo exhibition in Plymouth. John Pollex’s solo exhibition is at 45 Southside Gallery, Plymouth from April 23-May 31 (www.45southside.co.uk). Admission is free.

Classical

Sounds of ShakespeareEvocative madrigals

time will be sung by

plays

Sounds of Shakespeare

MA

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E: K

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CV_Stars_April16.indd 34 12/04/2016 12:59:25

35

Enjoy

Your starsby Cassandra Nye

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21)It is a highly creative week for you. The trick is to combine business moves at

the right time fi nancially. Romance is all around you, but are you ready? It is sometimes a good idea to be ‘busy’ and play for time if you are not sure. Don’t think that all decisions (es-pecially personal ones) need to be made alone.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)Spontaneous romantic feelings could see you express more than you intended

this week. Do you really want a current romance to become more serious? At times it feels as though you are being backed into a corner. Be busy. Make plans to travel to avoid premature leaps in the dark.

CANCER (June 22 - July 22)Lighter moments see Venus giving everything a sentimental edge. While

you love romance, choose your words carefully to avoid misunderstanding. A part-ner may want to be spontaneous. Fine, but make sure it isn’t with your money!

LEO (July 23 - August 23)Venus, bringer of peace, wants you to tie up loose ends to bring con-

tentment. Some will decide to take a romance to the next level. Cash flow should

give you the chance to move forward on a pet plan. Does your view of the future differ from that of your partner or family, though? Talk your socks off and try to come to some sort of agreement.

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23)Someone you were not initially at-

tracted to could take on a rosy new glow in your eyes. Why is this? Could it be that their lack of interest has stirred your curiosity? You feel lucky and are the owner of a sharp mind. Use it to get the best out of any situation, busi-ness or personal.

LIBRA (September 24 - October 23)Do you feel you are being given an op-

portunity, or just being put in a stressful situation? Perhaps a little of both? Don’t kid yourself. Push and make that extra effort now to see your dreams come true.

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22)A long conversation at the weekend inspires you to make changes. This

could be to your appearance or your atti-tude towards an old fl ame. Sentiment certainly comes into it. You may be thinking, ‘What if...?’ Spontaneous spending should be avoided this week as you may regret it later.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21)Surprises and spontaneous fun are yours this week. Even so, it sometimes

seems like one step forward, one step back. This is not the time for taking leaps in the dark, especially if they are fi nancial.

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20)Venus, giver of peace and romance, is certainly on your tail this week. Accept

invitations and enjoy being the centre of attention. Things may have been a bit quiet recently and you could do with a bit of sponta-neity. Who did you dream about last night?

AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19)Family and friends keep you moving along happily, even if energy is low.

Talking takes little of this and there is plenty of talking to be done. Chances to discuss things that have been pushed under the carpet arise. Be adult and mature and see that things are not as worrying as they at fi rst appear.

PISCES (February 20 - March 20)Sentimental thoughts of the past come fl ooding back when an email or call comes

out of the blue. It is lovely to remember good times and what it was like to be together. However, take into account why you parted. Closer to home there are things that need to be aired.

Victoria Beckham

This week’s sign: Happy birthday to...Those born under the sign of Aries are independent spirits and born leaders. They love to follow a dream and have the charisma to inspire others and sweep them along with them. They are more than happy to take a gamble on a wild idea which captures their imagination, although if a scheme does not pay o� quickly they are likely to get bored and move on. As friends, they are generous and caring but they do expect to get their own way most of the time.

Born April 17 1974Posh Spice turns 42 tomorrow – and hasn’t she done well? Not only did she achieve global stardom (and a multi-million pound fortune) as one-� � h of the Spice Girls back in her 20s, she then went on to become a genuinely respected fashion designer. Add in an enduring marriage to the gorgeous Mr B, four seemingly angelic children and, all in all, we can’t help but admire Victoria. Being born under the � rst sign of the Zodiac means Victoria is restless and never likes to stand still for too long. We wonder what she’ll get up to next?

ARIES (March 21 - April 20)Long-term plans are going apace and even fi nances are looking up. Do you

remember that long, heated look across the room last week? Well, one of you may decide to make a move this week. Avoid giving in to something at work just because you are feeling tired or unsure. Delay. Whatever you want is not as far away as you think.

CV_Stars_April16.indd 35 11/04/2016 16:28:27

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

WALK THE TALK

If you love brisk walking and a bit of socialising, then do check out the Ramblers Association. Aged in your 20s-30s? Then Devon Bootlegs, based in Exeter, could be for you. Open to

new members aged between 20 and ‘early 40s’, it organises weekly walks up to 11 miles long, with scenic jaunts including

some weekends away. You’ll need to sign up with the Ramblers’ Association to become a fully-� edged member but can try up to

three walks with the group � rst. www.devonbootlegs.org

TheBoost_Wellbeing_April16.indd 36 11/04/2016 14:46:47

37

Yummy

What’s coming up? Tweet us your wellbeing diary dates @WMNWest or email westmag@westernmorningnews.co.uk

Are you � t enough to Beat The Bike on the 5km running trail at Newnham Park in

Plympton? Runners aged 14 and over will set o� � rst next Friday evening (April 22,) then the bike riders will follow the same course later on. Whether you’re aiming to win, or just doing it for fun, you’ll be able to com-

pare your times against the bike riders. The entry fee is £5 on the day. Stay on to watch

mountain bikers tackle on the same circuit, with live music, and there’s even the option

to camp over. www.fullysussed.co.uk

Run vs ride

It looks so graceful but ballet uses muscles that you didn’t even know

you had until you try it! Whatever your age or ability, BalletBeFit is a great way

to limber up at your own pace, using exercises and warm-ups practised by

professionals, even if you’re no Darcey Bussell! Dance teacher Trudi Massey holds weekly classes in Tavistock on Thursday evenings. Find out more at:

www.misstrudi.co.uk

Ballet good

Hungry? In fact you could be dehydrat-ed and confusing the signals, according to Shona Wilkinson, head nutritionist at online health store NutriCentre. She says: “Sometimes we feel like we’re craving something and interpret this as hunger when actually all we need is a glass or two of water.”We also need plenty of water in order for our body’s cells to make use of the nutrients we eat. “A lack of nutri-ent availability causes our body to crave more food,” adds Shona. “ This is another reason to make sure you’re drinking water throughout the day and not just when the craving strikes.”

Drink up!

This fabulous new Lime Blossom & Honey Lip Balm

was the runner-up in Bee Good’s Great British Lip Balm Competition 2015. The zesty

beeswax-rich lip rescue (£4.75) proved so popular with testers, the Bee Good

team decided to launch it in the shops, including Waitrose

stores.

Keep on track with your � tness goals with a little treat for yourself. Spark & Gusto’s subscription boxes contain

10 surprise goodies to inspire you to keep active. Items in-

clude skipping ropes, healthy snacks, magazines and � t-

nesswear like running socks and hats. You can pay per box

or get a discount by signing up for a longer term subscrip-tion (from £28 plus p&p), visit

www.sparkandgusto.com

A BOX OF

DELIGHTS

TheBoost_Wellbeing_April16.indd 37 12/04/2016 13:02:40

Wellbeing

A lot of my friends have really got into using coconut-based products since it was hailed the latest superfood. I tend to think that a

little bit of anything you fancy won’t do any harm, but are there really benefits to swapping my regular ingredients for coconut oil and so on? NM, Padstow

Dietician Sophie Claessens says: There has been a lot of hype re-cently about the fact that the saturated fat found in coconuts

(called medium-chained trig-lycerides) is healthier, but this hasn’t been proven in humans yet, only animals!

Coconut oil, popular for roasting and baking, has a similar nutritional profile to butter in that it has a high saturated fat content. This is currently being discovered to be less harmful to health

Qthan initially thought, particularly the type of saturated fats which are found in coconut oil: lauric acid and myristic acid. Coconut oil also contains some poly- and mono-unsaturated fats which bring additional health benefits. It’s still an energy-dense food, however, so should be used in moderation.

Coconut water is now marketed as a highly hy-drating fluid. It has less sugar than fruit juices

and more minerals such as potassium, sodium, mag-nesium and calcium. These properties are great as a post-workout drink if you’ve only been doing moderate ex-ercise, but there isn’t enough protein or carbohydrate if you’re undergoing vigorous exercise of over an hour. In fact, you can achieve the same nutritional results by eating a balanced diet and having banana and a glass of milk after a workout, which also costs far less!

38

I shouldcoco...Is the recent health fad for all things coconut all it is cracked up to be? Our expert investigates

Of the two types of coconut milk widely avail-able, both have a similar calorie content to soya milk (about half that of semi-skimmed milk) but have a much lower protein content. Ensure that if opting for coconut milk you choose one with added calcium and vitamin D, which cannot be naturally found in this product.

Meanwhile, some studies have found coconut oil supplements have encouraged weight loss. However a tablespoon of coconut oil contains double the calories and saturated fat that you’d find in the same-sized lump of cheese. It is defi-nitely going to increase your calorie intake – so I’d say it’s not worth the risk and it’s more likely to cause weight gain. In short, it’s an unproven fad, as of yet!

As a dietician, I would advise that you stick to a monounsaturated fat, such as rapeseed oil, to cook with. This has a high ‘smoke point’ (and therefore produces fewer harmful free radicals) and monounsaturated fat has genuinely been proven to increase your good cholesterol and reduce your bad cholesterol. More health & wellbeing tips and articles from Sophie can be found at www.vavistalife.com

In fact, you can achieve the

same nutritional results by having

banana and a glass of milk after a workout, which also costs far less [[

WellbeingQandA_Apr16.indd 38 11/04/2016 14:09:06

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40

Drink

Darren Norbury

talks beer’ve done it in pubs and you may well have, too. The CAMRA conversa-tion. You know, that one where you survey the myriad British beers before you, on tap and in bottle, the

different styles, from traditional to world brews, and you say to your companion: “Well, surely CAMRA has achieved what it set out to do? Isn’t it time to pack up and call it a day?”

CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) with its 177,300 mem-bers and reputation as the most successful UK pressure group of all time, would beg to differ. It’s started a year-long consulta-tion into a revitalisation of the campaign. This new project is being spearheaded by Michael Hardman MBE, one of the four founders of CAMRA back in 1971, when there was a concern that all cask ale would be lost under a wave of keg Red Barrel and Double Diamond.

It is undeniable that, in recent years, the campaign has a new focus. It is fi ghting to slow the closure rates of pubs, currently 27 a week. But then, why are more brewers starting up if there were no outlets for the beers? Because we

I

Pilton Cider, Shepton Mallet, is throwing a party on April 29 to mark its new season,

with a chance to try the 2015 harvest cider. Tickets are available (priced £5) at

www.piltoncider.com/newseason. There will be music and “dancing is very much

encouraged”.

Benevolent BadgerHall & Woodhouse’s new brewery in Blandford St Mary, Dorset, home of the famous Badger Ales, will be staging its fourth annual charity beer festival on June 18. There will be beers, too, from the likes of Otter, Palmers and Piddle breweries. Last year the event raised more than £7,000. Sounds like fun.

CIDER AND DANCING

Welsh brewery Tiny Rebel took CAMRA’s champion beer of Britain title last year with

Cwtch, an American-style amber ale, but I’ve been warming to their Dirty Stop Out (5% ABV) recently. It’s a smoked oat stout,

starting with co� ee notes before the smoke takes over. And there’s a hint of well-done

bacon in there, I swear!

Beer of the week

have more bars – as against proper pubs – more venues selling decent beer, such as hotels and restaurants, and more bottle shops, as well as export opportunities – British beer is now well-regarded worldwide.

Interestingly, a lot of young people are now drinking decent beer, whether it is cask or keg, and this is where CAMRA fi nds itself with a bit of problem. These youngsters didn’t need much of a campaign to get them trying the good stuff. They’ve grown up with the so-called craft beer revolution.

Headlines, though, like the Daily Telegraph’s probably aren’t proving helpful: “Thanks to the hipsters, has the Cam-paign for Real Ale pulled its last pint?” Many beer drinkers, even CAMRA members themselves, have a love-hate relationship

with the organisation, but to throw away all that campaigning experience is unnecessary. I suspect the result will be a focus on pubs while making sure legislation doesn’t damage the suc-cess of microbrewers. Watch this space…Darren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk

@beertoday

A lot of young people are now drinking decent beer... and they

don’t need much of a campaign to persuade them [[

Tim_Beer_April16.indd 40 11/04/2016 14:35:49

41

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

ou may think it is a little early, and in fairness so did I, but I have just seen a tweet from a fantastic local producer (Bothen Hill Organics) just over the border in Dorset that

they have just cut the fi rst asparagus of the year. It’s these stop press moments that highlight the way that each year is subtly different seasonally. The wild garlic has been about for a few weeks, yet because it’s gone colder again, I hadn’t seriously expected the appearance of the tasty spears just yet. Hooray!

There are so many angles I could take in telling you about asparagus. Should I tell you that eating this member of the fern family makes your wee smelly, unless of course you are one of the 1 in 50 people who has the ability to break down the chemi-cal contained within this vibrant green stem?

Or should I head down the ethical route and talk about the many and compelling reasons not to eat Peruvian asparagus? Land snatching, decimation of fertile land, slave labour and en-

vironmental catastrophe, not to mention that it’s woody, bitter and horrible. That, though, all sounds a little depressing.

Instead, I’ll tell you all about the right reasons to eat locally-grown English asparagus. I love eating asparagus in the same way I love wild

garlic, or partridge. It’s one of those treats that makes the whole seasonal eating thing such a joy.

Asparagus is one of those magical ingredients that indi-cates change is afoot, the season is turning and summer really is about to get underway. Its fresh, unique fl avour and texture is unmistakeable. It’s one of those veggies that even the most blood-thirsty of carnivores will jump at the chance to sink their teeth into. It’s indulgent and luxurious – and all this from a plant.

Incidentally, all you gentlemen out there, I think you will fi nd it’s the act of cook-ing for your loved one rather than the asparagus itself that has the aphrodisiac effect. An effect easily counteracted if you fail to clear up the kitchen properly afterwards!

Y

Ingredient of the Week

Asparaguswith Tim Maddams

Raw early-season spears

are hard to beat, dipped into

a homemade mayonnaise or a

boiled egg [[

Eat

Awesome asparagusThere are three great ways to eat asparagus: raw early-season spears are hard to beat, dipped into a homemade mayonnaise or indeed a runny boiled egg. Lightly boiled (in well-salted water) until just tender, the mid-season stems are perfect with a fresh hollandaise. Then towards the end of the season, they are great roasted and dressed with chilli, garlic and olive oil with maybe an anchovy or two and some fresh mozzarella.

Use up the tough stems in soup, to make the most of this abundant seasonal crop while it’s here. It will be 2017 before you get the chance again.

@TimGreenSauce

Tim_Beer_April16.indd 41 11/04/2016 14:36:39

42

Enjoy

A WEEKEND IN

Agatha Christie country

Agatha Christie stayed and wrote at this fabulous hotel, and set her mysteries here[ [

Burgh Island

Dame Agatha Christie was born in Torquay and later lived at Greenway, a beautiful prop-erty on the River Dart estuary. Now run by the National Trust and still full of her person-al belongings, Greenway itself is well worth a visit. But Agatha Christie’s links with the South West don’t stop there – why not sleuth out a fun weekend tracking down connections to the creator of Poirot and Miss Marple in the Westcountry?

Stay: There are four holiday properties on the Greenway estate, including an apartment in the main house itself which sleeps eight and costs from £549 for three nights. Get here by river boat, vintage bus or steam train just as Hercule Poirot did in Dead Man’s Folly, the last mystery David Suchet fi lmed on location in his iconic role as the detective. More details at: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway

House party: In Peril at End House, Her-cule Poirot and his friend Captain Hastings take a holiday in Looe. In the TV series star-ring David Suchet, the drama was fi lmed in Salcombe, where The Moult doubled as End

House. Perfect for a weekend house party, The Moult sleeps between 12 and 24, with gorgeous gardens and a swimming pool with spectacular sea views. A two-night weekend here in April costs from £4,550, www.bigcottage.com

Murder mystery: Book ahead for the Dart-mouth Steam Railway Company’s annual murder mystery train, setting off from Paignton on Sep-tember 12 and 14. Expect a ghastly murder to occur while you’re enjoying a wonderful dinner. Unravel clues, grill the suspects and see if you can deduct who committed the dastardly deed. Tickets and alibis at the ready, please! www.dart-mouthrailriver.co.uk

Stay: At the Burgh Island Hotel at Bigbury on Sea, south Devon. The Queen of Crime not only stayed and wrote at this fabulous Art Deco hotel, but

was inspired by the island setting to set the scene for her murder mysteries Evil Under The Sun and And Then There Were None. Burgh Island also was a setting for the Miss Marple TV drama, starring the wonderful Joan Hickson. Stay a night in its smallest (yet sumptuous) double from £310. Alternatively, don a suit or diamonds and dine as visiting guests at the hotel’s nightly Black Tie Dinner (£75 per person), www.burghisland.com.

Walk: From Churston Station on the Dartmouth Steam Railway line down to Elberry Cove. Both locations feature in The ABC Murders. In the Poirot thriller, Churston was the place where poor Sir Carmichael Clarke met his doom. Or you

could stroll the Agatha Christie Mile in Torquay, starting off from the beautiful Grand Hotel or stately Impe-rial Hotel which featured in The Body in the Li-

AWeekendIn_Apr16.indd 42 11/04/2016 14:10:57

43

Burgh Island

Greenway

Agatha Christie at home

Greenway ferry

Burgh Island Hotel

brary and the Miss Marple mystery Sleeping Murder. Look out for seven plaques marking places signifi cant to Agatha Christie’s life and works along the way.

Write stu� : Got a whodunnit in you? Why not visit Totleigh Barton near Okehampton. Writing retreats are held throughout the year in this beautiful old house, www.arvon.org. Or put pen to paper at the Moorland Hotel on Haytor where Dame Agatha wrote much of her fi rst novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. If you’re walking on nearby Dartmoor (set-ting for The Sittaford Mystery), the Dandelion Café at the hotel is open to non-residents and serves lunch and local beer, www.moorland-shouse.co.uk.

Shop: If you love retro looks, take a shopping trip to Vintage and Retro in Cornwall Street, Plymouth. Look out for period frocks and ac-cessories in a mix which also includes brand new cocktail and swing dresses from retro label Hell Bunny. You might also fi nd origi-nal Agatha Christie paperbacks at Black Cat Cooks in St Marychurch, Torquay.

AWeekendIn_Apr16.indd 43 11/04/2016 14:11:56

44

Luke DillonLuke Dillon, 20, is a professional surfer and is the reigning British Men’s Open Surfing Champion, competing internationally against the best surfers in the world. He loves coming home to Cornwall and his hometown of Newquay.

My Favourite:

Walk: At this time of year, walking to Pentire Headland is always on the top of my list. You get a view of Crantock and Fistral beaches on the north coast of Cornwall and it is simply amaz-ing.

Beach: For me, it’s got to be Fistral in New-quay. It is where I first learnt to surf, so it will always be really special to me. Growing up in Newquay it was pretty much on my doorstep and I have probably been there every day I’ve been at home for the past 15 years.

Festival: Boardmasters in Newquay (August 10 -14) is a personal favourite of mine. It combines surfing and music in the sun and on the beach – it’s like the ultimate weekend. This year is par-ticularly exciting as the World Surfing League qualifying series event is back here, which I will be competing in. I’m also really looking forward to seeing the band Chase & Status, I saw them at the Eden Project a few years ago and they were amazing.

44

My Secret Westcountry

MSW_April16.indd 44 11/04/2016 14:13:57

4545

Luke Dillon is sponsored by Korev Cornish Lager from St Austell Brewery. He will be sur� ng this weekend at The Surfaced Pro

competition at Watergate Bay. Visit www.lukedillonsurfer.com

Activity: An obvious answer, I know, but it would have to be surfi ng. It has been my passion all my life, and I have been lucky enough to travel the world, compete internationally and work my way up the ranks. I do also love to play golf when I have some spare time. I often go to Trevose Golf Club near Padstow and also Bowood Park Hotel & Golf Course in Lanteglos.

Food: It’s got to be a traditional Cornish pasty. When I am away surfi ng, especially for long peri-ods of time, I really miss them. My favourite place to get them is from the Crantock Bakery near Newquay. They simply can’t be beaten.

Tipple: I was a massive fan of St Austell Brew-ery’s Korev lager before they offered to sponsor me, so in terms of alcohol they are certainly my favourite. I am also a big tea drinker and I really like Tregothnan Tea from Cornwall, where they grow their own tea plants.

Pub: I love the Central Inn in Newquay town. It is my mates’ favourite pub to watch live sport and chill out together with a pint. They also do a great steak on the stone.

Restaurant: It has to be Hubbox in St Ives. They do a mean burger and fries, plus the view is insane out over the harbour.

People

Sennen Cove

Way to relax: A great way for me to relax, and especially have a bit of a break from surfi ng, is to play golf. It’s such a relaxed sport in compari-son, so I like to do that when I have some spare time.

Weekend away: The perfect weekend away for me would be to take my van down to Sennen Cove in the far west of Cornwall. The views out over the coast are amazing and I really enjoy cooking some food on a barbecue with the beaches in the background. After an evening watching the sun go down, there’s nothing better than spending a night under the stars in the van.

Shop: I like going to the markets on Lemon Quay in Truro. They have great local produce and food. I also really like Finisterre clothing, it’s a great Cornish brand with stores in St Agnes and Falmouth – and the clothes are very surf-inspired! You can shop online at www.fi nisterre.com.

Fistral beach, NewquayHubbox, St Ives

Luke competing

MSW_April16.indd 45 12/04/2016 13:06:39

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46

man and boy

The gift of the gab

my life

s a student I was once admonished during a protest march for not showing enough desire to grab the megaphone and lead the chant. The brother-in-arms accused me

of being a ‘shrinking violet’, an insult which stung at the time.

Now, I knew early on that I was not destined to rouse the crowds from the podium. But somehow the idea I was afraid of projecting myself publicly made me uncomfortable. The truth hurts, they say, so maybe there was more than a grain in there.

Having since worked as a teacher and a jour-nalist – neither of which are jobs for the lily-liv-ered – I feel like I have overcome any of the shy-ness I might have had.

Of the mil-lion things you worry about with your kids, confidence is right up there. A dose of self-belief and bluster can take you a long way. Just look at some of our politicians. But it seems that my fears are un-grounded. I have seen the lad in action at the stage school he attends on a Saturday morning, most recently belting out When You Wish Upon A Star louder than anyone else at the Christ-mas production.

He told me later he had picked out a spot on the wall behind the assembled parents and fo-cussed on it through his rendition: a tip from the mother, I later discovered. Now it seems to be paying off at school, too. At the end of last term, Year 1 was asked to create a project about Africa. James and I had been watching

a documentary about its tiny, often unnoticed, creatures so we focused on that. It ended up as a kind of presentation board, lashed up by yours truly, on which a map along with pictures and factoids about a monitor lizard, a shrew and a dung beetle, of all things, were pasted.

He named it Africa, Beneath Our Feet. I went to the school hall on the day the whole class assem-bled to show off their work. It was a great effort all round and there were all kinds of things on display – instruments, costumes, books of photos and so on. But only one child was on his feet. There he was, like an enthusiastic salesman, pitching his guide to Africa’s forgotten wildlife.

The teacher told me he had delivered a super-con-fident, unscripted show for his classmates and was now happily rattling the thing off as each new parent ap-peared, including me. “Don’t you get tired of saying the same thing?” I asked him. “Oh, I change it around a bit

so as not to get bored,” he said. Not bad if you can improvise a performance at the age of six.

I don’t know how much credit I/we can take for the lad’s rapid socialisation – it takes a village to raise a child and all that – but it is a delight to see him unafraid to take part in the world.

Of course, he gets a little cocky sometimes in public, and I occasionally have to give him the eyes, have a quiet word, when he gets too full of himself. But the other day he cracked an old joke in the playground, the first time I have heard him tell one in public. He casually asked an older kid at queue for the zip wire: “Knock-knock…Who’s there? Boo…Boo-hoo?…Ah don’t cry!” It’s corny, I know, but his friend laughed, genuinely, and my lad’s face lit up.

We lashed up a presentation board with pictures of a

monitor lizard, a shrew and a dung beetle, of all things[ [

A

Phil Goodwin’s son James, six, has a go at public speaking

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

ManandBoy_April16.indd 46 12/04/2016 11:17:06

Adjusting your heating from your phone sounds great – but what’s it really like?

We asked three Westcountry homeowners about their experiences switching from night storage heaters to ELKAtherm® electric radiators with HeatApp controls.

If you’re struggling with night storage heaters –guessing the temperature and trying to make the heat last all day – simply having instant, reliable warmth,whenever you want, must sound wonderful. So being able to adjust that heating using your tablet or mobile phone might seem like science fiction.

Cornwall-based South West Heatinghas already installed ELKAtherm® electric radiators, with HeatApp controls, in hundreds of Westcountry homes. The benefits are obvious:set the temperature and timing in every room, for a warm, cosy home without running up energy bills while you’re out. Pre-warm the house before you get home, and turn the heating up or down without even leaving your sofa. All the warmth you want, and save money at the same time.

But does the system deliver? We asked three South West homeowners to share their experiences.

“It’s a pleasure to be here”Jenny Wakelin from St Ives had struggled with night

storage heating for fifteen years before switching to ELKAtherm® heating in 2013. She is impressed by the performance of the new radiators.

“The night storage heaters were incredibly inefficient – the house was cold,” Jenny recalls. “Now we have a very even ambient temperature throughout the house. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

But what about the iPhone controls – are they easy to use?

“It’s a bit of a no-brainer, really. When my son came to visit I could sit at home and switch on the heating in the morning so the house was nice and warm when they got up – result:‘Thanks mum!’

“It’s been a revelation, really. How it’s transformed this house is amazing.”

“It just works”InTavistock, Louisa Chanter is similarly impressed.

“I like being able to use it from my phone, because I travel quite a lot,” she explains.

“When I’m coming back on the train I can turn the heating

on and make it any temperature I like, so it’s lovely when I

come in. I set the time once on each room and it just works.

It works from my phone and from my iPad; there’s no ugly

panels on the walls.It’s perfect.”

“The house is toasty”

Zoe Abbotts, fromRedruth, says switching to ELKAtherm®

heating has made a real difference – and not just to the

temperature of her home.

She explains: “It’s made my life less stressful. I don’t have

to constantly think about having wood for the fire, or the

storage heaters not working and the house being cold when I

come in from work.

“It’s all there on my app – I can turn the heating on an hour

before I leave work, and the house is toasty.”

You can hear Jenny, Zoe and Louisa’s stories in full, online: just search YouTube for “South West Heating”

If you’d like heating information and advice, call 01209 714600, visit southwestheatingsolutions.co.uk,

or write to us at ‘Freepost SOUTH WEST HEATING SOLUTIONS’

©LW

Ads.indd 4 11/04/2016 15:47:37

Ads.indd 1 11/04/2016 14:19:30