Kings Nympton

July 8, 2010
6:00 pm	to	9:00 pm

@ the village hall.

Instow Cricket Club

June 22, 2010
6:00 pm	to	9:00 pm

South Molton Olde English Fayre

June 20, 2010

@ The Pannier Market.

Bideford College Summer Science Day

June 19, 2010

@ Tapely Park, Instow

Goldcoast festival with Aim Higher

June 18, 2010

Croyde surf festival. Workshops and activities all day.

See my previous post. Here are the dates for the vintage mobile cinema that's doing the rounds of North Devon villages

Movies on the move in vintage mobile cinema in Devon

By Laura Joint BBC Devon

The vintage mobile cinema - restored after five years of hard work

Five years ago the Movie Bus was a rusty old heap, rotting away in a field - but just look at it now!

The vintage mobile cinema has been lovingly restored by its Devon owner, Ollie Halls, and has now taken to the roads in north Devon, showing archive films of the area.

It seems the perfect place to sit and watch historic footage.

The archive film project is run with the backing of groups including the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon.

With lottery funding, the Movie Bus has secured the use of films stored by the South West Film and Television Archive.

Eight 20-minute films will be taken on a tour of towns and villages in north Devon during 2010.

Looks fun - great thing to do on the odd rainy afternoon. I'll try to find a schedule for it. With luck it will park just near your North Devon cottage!

Teen pregnancy hotspot town's new logo looks like a human sperm

• 
• 

26/11/2009

A town with a dire teen pregnancy record has rebran-ded itself using a logo that looks like a human sperm.

Designer Tessa Martin came up with the “idiosyncratic swirl” as part of a campaign which cost council taxpayers £5,000.

It is supposed to get people to “take another look and be surprised” by Ilfracombe, Devon.

What can I say?

SO here's the dilemma: you have dear friends you've known since school; you've grown up, married, had kids, and ended up living on opposite sides of the country. Suddenly visits to each others' homes – assuming they aren't the size of your average premiership footballer's – become tricky, if not impossible.

How, then, do you spend quality time together in comfort, without spending a fortune on hotel stays?

One solution is the humble English cottage. There are thousands of them available for hire all over the British Isles, but you need look no further than Devon and Cornwall for some of the finest.

Story of one family's perfect holiday in a not so humble North Devon cottage on a 12th century farm. This one comes complete with children's outdoor play equipment and a hot tub with a stunning view.

Have you ever wondered who once lived in your North Devon cottage? Were they poor but honest god fearing folk or half naked savages prone to every sort of sin and debauchery?
It seems likely the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes but it's interesting to note that the tabloid press has long roots in this country.
Just who did once live in your bijou North Devon cottage?

Combe Cottage is small, low-ceilinged, pastel-painted and cosy. You sit at shiny wooden tables and are served by an attentive Paul Warren. Kate Wortley can be glimpsed conjuring up perfections in the kitchen at the back. However Combe Cottage is not a cottage; it must have been one of the Ilfracombe High Street shops.

It was nice to be back in Ilfracombe. It was choc-a-block with visitors, sunning themselves and walking around the harbour. The gardens were immaculate and the fish shop sold us the freshest of scallops.

But I need to get down to business — this shepherd's pie. It was on the today's specials menu at £6.95. There was cottage pie on the regular menu. That was made with beef mince. And, yes, the shepherd's pie did taste lamby; with, I guess, some tomato and herbs. The potato topping was itself topped by a very agreeably large quantity of melted cheese. The whole effect was quite delicious.

It was lunchtime when I went at which time of day Combe Cottage offers a wide menu — baguettes, all day breakfasts, jacket potatoes as well as larger dishes and roasts. It would have been interesting to go for dinner when the menu gets shorter but more sophisticated and you pay £12.95 for two courses or £15.95 for three. I noticed that the parmesan and thyme tart (a quiche-like thing which my wife had with chips and a salad that she was delighted to discover had watercress in it) turns up as a starter on the evening menu accompanied by red onion jam. Very nice in either style.

The dinner menu sounds totally yummy at Coombe Cottage North Devon. It has to be on my list of must visit eating places. I've been fancying some good quality quiche all day and that parmesan and thyme tart sounds perfect. After all, self-catering cottages give you plenty of excuses for eating out, as well as eating in and in North Devon there's so much to choose from.

British company Severn Link announces the first modern ferry service to connect South Wales and South West England

_______________________

 

Today, ferry operator Severn Link has announced plans to transform the lives of thousands of travellers within South Wales and the South West of England – with the creation of a regular fast, fun and affordable passenger ferry service between Swansea and Ilfracombe, due to commence operation early next year.

 

The Severn Link service will be the very first time a regular modern ferry route has joined the two shores of the Bristol Channel – creating a unique and much-needed connection between one of England’s most visited tourist areas and the populous economic and cultural hub of Wales. The Severn Link service is a bold new step to reconnect the communities, heritage and history of two areas which, despite lying within sight of each other, have never before had the opportunity within modern times to take advantage of their neighbouring status – whether practically, economically and socially.

 

Regular transport links between the two areas have, in modern times, been limited to road or rail travel, adding many hours onto travel times and many more pounds onto travel costs.  By travelling via Severn Link ferry, travel times and environmental impact will be drastically cut – with its swift 34 knot, 360 passenger catamarans taking just fifty minutes to complete a journey which would take at least four times as long by car.

This means that you can stay in your North Devon holiday home and have a grand day out in the Gower! Not that you're likely to get bored of Devon but South Wales offers a totally different kind of countryside and Swansea has some lovely shops! It's a lot cheaper to rent a holiday home in North Devon as well!

Kate Wallace's death wasn't peaceful. Legend has it she was shipwrecked off the coast of Ilfracombe, north Devon, when returning to the town in 1695. She was nursed, coincidentally, by her parents, but was so badly bruised that they did not recognise her. Three days later, she died, but only after her father, William – who, as a shipwrecker, had lured her ship to its doom in the first place – relieved the unknown woman of all her valuables. Upon realising who she was, the poor man was so overcome he entombed her body in a room in his house, Chambercombe Manor, where she stayed until 1865 when her dusty skeleton was discovered by some unsuspecting tenants.
Second time I've come across this story in the last week. Spooooky!

Herring Festival

Sunday, 15 November 10 a.m.—4 p.m.

The Herring Festival is held to promote sustainable, carefully managed fishing, which helps safeguard the livelihoods of fishermen and supports the local economy through environmentally sound means. Clovelly’s sweet herring was once its staple economy and so a well-justified reason for celebrating the Silver Darlings.

There’ll be herring dishes, local cider and wine, maritime historian, Mike Smylie, with his Kipperland exhibition and freshly-smoked kippers and bloaters, traditional shanty singers, walk-about theatre and lots of stalls.

Thousands flock to annual Foodfest

dave.tanner@archant.co.uk
19 October 2009

LOCAL produce: One of more than 60 stalls at yesterday's North Devon Foodfest. Pic supplied by Lina Pilkis

AN estimated 10,000 people visited the second annual North Devon FoodFest at Barnstaple Pannier Market yesterday (Sunday).

Food fans were able to try and buy award-winning local produce from more than 60 North Devon producers at the free all-day event.

They also had the chance to try the food from local restaurants as well as watch cookery demonstrations my some of the region's top chefs.

Yum - perfect way to spend a Sunday morning in North Devon. I love markets!