Looking back at a British summer

Well, that’s the end of the summer holidays. 6 weeks, 4 birthdays, a wedding anniversary, work on the boat, many mini adventures and lots of time together.

[Image description: teenage deckhand with power tool sanding paintwork inside the boat]

We’ve done some proper traditional British stuff this year which has been great. A steam fair in Somerset with tractors, traction engines and other steam related engines was a hit with the boys. It was in their home town and it was great to catch up with some old friends too and see places that are important to us. 

 

Our first visit to a Devon sheepdog trail was interesting. There is a lot of skill involved in controlling the animals. There are certain signals and different parts to the challenge of rounding up the sheep and guiding them around the field. Fortunately the programme included a page telling us what they had to do to score points so we were able to follow it and learnt some stuff. The dog particularly enjoyed watching and took part in his first dog show and a running race where he won a bone. The local hunt was there in all its finery which led to some interesting discussions with the deckhands about the morals of hunting animals and changes in law affecting this very traditional part of the British countryside.

[image description: green field with sheep dog lying on ground watching a flock of sheep]

There was also a local summer fete in our nearest village. Traditional English fetes include lots of stalls with handicraft items and games like splat the rat (a sock down a tube), soak the Vicar/teacher (throwing wet sponges at someone who we normally show respect to) and lucky dip (small packages wrapped in paper with surprise contents). There is usually a band or singers and maybe some dancers to watch if you’re lucky. It’s all fun and a good excuse to get people together. It also raises lots of money and awareness for local groups.

The beach has been our main playground over the summer. Scrambling over rocks, hunting for sea life, barbecuing on the beach, kayaking trips and lots of swimming have been enjoyed by the crew. The weather this year has meant that the water was a nice temperature. Further round the coast we made the most of the sandy beaches of South Devon.

Thurlestone beach

Rum Bay

We went out out walking on Dartmoor and in the local woods. There are a lot of very beautiful places around the area which has meant lots of photos to be sorted and prepared for uploading to our Shutterstock profile. I enjoyed a visit to the spectacular Brent tor which has a small chapel built on its mount. There are always lots of legends and stories about Dartmoor and plenty about this building being a thanksgiving to St Michael for bringing a merchant sailor safely home.

Food is something that the crew has a healthy appreciation of. We’ve been playing around with various cake recipes that don’t need ovens (we do have an oven but it is in the cockpit and not connected to anything) including some really sticky rice crispie cakes and an attempt at cooking sponge in the frying pan that almost worked. I think with some more practice and some alterations that could work quite well. It’s amazing how many recipes we found that claimed to not need an oven then ended with the final step – now put it in the oven to brown. The ‘Best takeaway fish and chips in Britain 2018’ are from a chippie not far from us so we decided to give them a try and they were lovely. We also enjoyed proper pasties hot from the local butchers - 'proper lush' as they say in Devon.

[Image description: golden coloured crescent of pasty in a white paper bag]