The best things in life...

Feeling lucky that we have had so many sunny weekends, Lizzie and I decided we ought to make the most of it, and so invested in two inflatable rings.  Taking them onto our idyllic corner of the River Teign, we had a cool, refreshing splash-around.  The Teign is a beautiful river, shrouded by trees so that we floated in and out of the dappled sunshine.  Every now and then, a fish would leap out of the water, and the delightful call of the kingfisher was confirmed by the ocassional flash of brown and turqoise flittering through the air.  We know a place on the banks where we frequently like to sit and watch the river roll by.  To me, it always feels like another world, peacefully unaffected by all the strife taking place across the planet.

I live in a stunning part of the country, and it really comes into its own on these long summer days.  The day after our river adventure, we went on one of my favourite walks - from Teigngrace, up the lane to Stover school, and then on through the woods to Stover Lake.  The walk takes many turns - you leave the village on a woodland track, but the trees give way at the highest point to reveal a beautifully enclosed field.  From here, it's possible to see all the way to the shining white tower of Haldon Belvedere, whilst at much closer range, wildflowers and grasses sway in the soft breeze, and hundreds of bees and butterflies enjoy a peaceful and undisturbed life.  This is one of my favourite spots, away from the roads, the tourists, technology and the hassles of our everyday lives.  There are also some stunning trees at this point, some with branches flashing out like giant forks of lightning.  

The Stover estate was first purchased in 1765 by James Templer, who landscaped the grounds into what is now a delightful country park.  It's a popular place with both locals and tourists, who circumnavigate the tranquil lake, feed the ducks, visit the interesting information centre, or just enjoy an icecream.  We tend to come up to Stover Lake on lazy weekends, and it is wonderful to see the wildlife changing throughout the seasons.  All too soon, the trees will reveal their autumn coats, the little spring ducklings will be fully grown, and the circle of life will complete yet another round.

Back into the woods for the walk home, we stop and play our usual game of pooh sticks at the usual bridge.  We've probably played this twenty times here, and I am yet to win a game.  On this ocassion, however, I manage to do even worse than my normal poor form, and my stick never appears on the far side of the bridge.  Another win for Lizzie.

Sometimes, especially in a Westcountry summer, you could do much worse than simply staying on your doorstep.  It's accessible, beautiful, interesting, fun, and totally free.



Treasures of Life

I've spent the day cleaning and sorting out my pad!  For me, this is always a refreshing activity as it give me the opportunity to clear out the rubbish that inevitably collects during the course of my everyday life - the pile of magazines that I read months ago, the clothes with holes in that I've been keeping out of sentiment.

It's also a great activity for reassessing the things that you really do want to keep.  My room is crammed full of objects that have great personal value, and although they're mostly of little monetary worth, to me they each have a story, a link to my life and the things I have done.  They're all around me as I type, so here are ten of the best...

1. 1958 Penguin Books copy of The Great Gatsby

This is one of my most recent acquisitions and was passed on to me by Lizzie's mum, who was having her own clear-out.  I have been trying to get my hands on the older Penguin editions of my favourite books (to no great success), so this is a real gem to me, and now sits proudly on my bookshelf with my other Fitzgerald novels.  One of my favourite books, from my favourite author.

2.  Childhood teddy bears

These two guys have been around my whole life, making them my oldest friends!  The panda was given me by my grandma when I was very young, whilst the tartan bear was given to me as a replacement for another bear that I dropped from my pushchair one careless day in town.  If they were alive, they'd know me better than anyone, and if they could talk...

3.  German smoker man

I call this guy Herman.  He comes from a wonderful Munich shop called Max Krug, purveyors of traditional German and Black Forest souvenirs.  I bought him when I was inter-railing in 2008, being one of the few things in the shop I could afford.  What really attracted me to him was his sales tray, beer and gingerbread men.  I was so happy with my purchase that the I almost forgot I had paid with a 50 euro note... The lady behind the tills had to chase me down the street to give me my change!

4.  Beethoven

Another find whilst I was inter-railing, Beethoven entered my life when I was in Barcelona.  I was staying in a hostel just off La Rambla, home of the Liceu opera house.  Their shop window display was interesting, and when I stopped to look in it, this little guy was staring back at me.  The best thing about Beethoven (except his cuffs, tails and cravat) is the key on his back - wind it up, and he plays a lovely rendition of Moonlight Sonata.

5.  The Savoy Cocktail Book

The greatest book ever written on the subject of cocktails was Harry Craddock's 1930 masterpiece.  Craddock, the chief barman of the Savoy Hotel, created cocktails for every occasion.  "But where, Oh, where is the book that gives the earnest student all?  Every beautiful and perfect Wine, each with its own special and perfect occasion, and every cocktail known?" asks Craddock.  "We searched, and found it not, so thought it as well to sit down and get it put together."

Of course, the 1930s original would be impossible to find nowadays, but I was given this (rare enough!) facsimile by my friend Tristan, on my 25th birthday.  It's the only cocktail book I'll ever need.

 6.  Lakota-Sioux Bison

In the summer of 2004, I was part of a university group which travelled to South Dakota for an archaeological dig.  We were examining a Native American village that had been abandoned about 1,000 years ago.  The dig was open to the public and had an accompanying museum and shop, in which all the products had been handcrafted by Native American people.  Since I had been digging up ancient bison bones for nearly a month, I bought this little wooden bison to hang in my room.  Nine years later, it is still here.

7.  Treasure Island

Aside from the remarkable tale of piracy, this book is one of my biggest treasures because it was awarded to my grandma by Wolborough Senior School, Newton Abbot, at Christmas 1937 for an essay she wrote on Temperance.  She donated it to my book collection a few years ago, and I love nothing more than flicking through its pages, smelling its musty book smell, and enjoying its lovely illustrations.

8.  Buffalo Sabres pennants

In a country where ice hockey memorabilia is scarce, these two pennants of my favourite hockey team seem all-the-more special.  I bought the smaller of the two in a wonderful sports shop in Banff, Canada, last year.  The longer one was given to me on my last birthday by Lizzie.  How she went about finding it, I still don't know, but it was a wonderful surprise when I ripped off the wrapping paper!

 9.  Rue de Saintonge street sign

I spotted this genuine Parisian street sign on eBay four years ago and immediately loved the idea of having piece of the historic city in my room.  It fell into its previous owner's hands after it was replaced by a newer sign, and now sits happily (if not entirely well-fitting) on the end of my shelves.

A year after I bought it, I made my second visit to Paris and went off in search of Rue de Saintonge.  As it turns out, it's a tiny little street in the Les Halles district, home to apartments and one or two shops.  Hardly a memorable road, it nonetheless has acquired meaning to me.

 10.  Nutcracker

Anybody who knows me will know I'm a collector of nutcrackers.  Most of the nutcrackers in my collection are only about a foot tall, and only come out at Christmas.  This guy, who I call Wilhelm, stands at about four foot, and has acquired a year-round presence in the corner of my room.  My dad gave me Wilhelm as a birthday present a couple of years ago, after buying him from a shop in Lincoln.  Wilhelm was not actually for sale at the time, but was being used as a Christmas display!

So there you have it - ten treasures of my life, from my room.  They're certainly not the only things I could have included here, but they perhaps best represent the myriad objects I have acquired over the years.  Everything has a story to tell - it could be the place it was made or bought, the weird and wonderful way it was acquired, or simply the fact that it has become an intrinsic part of your life.  So why not cast your eye around your own room and see what stories you can find...

Teigngrace Halt

Standing in the garden this week, I was struck by a sudden prolonged rumble cutting through the gentle birdsong. Stretching over the bank at the back of the house and peering through the bare trees, I saw the culprit; a freight train. The old railway line between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead had been closed for quite a few years, but the line up to Heathfield reopened for freight in 2011, bringing with it the occasional engine. Of course, it's all a far cry from the good old days, where passenger trains plied this route and the village of Teigngrace was connected to the great national rail network, but hearing the freight roll past certainly got my imagination going.

The station at Teigngrace came about under interesting circumstances. Initially it was decided that, due to the village's population, no station would be required. However, one of the conditions of the sale of the land to the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway was that the land owner, The Duke of Somerset, had the right to stop any train at the village when he wished to travel. it seemed sensible, therefore, to provide the village with a station, which opened in 1867.

Teigngrace Station had a 200-foot platform with a booking office and a lavatory, and remained in uninterrupted use until World War I, when it was closed as a cost-saving measure. It reopened after the war, but was demoted to a Halt in 1939, when a decision was taken to make it unstaffed. The halt was closed to passengers for good in 1959, and closed completely in 1962, a year before Doctor Beeching's report, The Reshaping of the British Railways, was published.

Below are some fascinating photographs of Teigngrace Station/Halt from its heyday, from the brilliant website Disused Stations (http://www.disused-stations.org.uk). I doubt I'm alone when I say I would love to see the halt operational again.

Teigngrace Halt in 1921

A steam train pulls into the Halt (unknown date)

Teigngrace Halt in 1965, after closure

The last special passenger train at Teigngrace in 1970

Teigngrace Halt in 2005, a shadow of its former self