adapting to English wine & Devon Tapas

It’s a habit of us Brits to go on about the weather. I’m sure it’s been going on for a millennium, but it’s now conditioned into our psyche. Every downpour of rain, heat wave or cold spell is treated as a portent for the coming Ice-age, the end of the world or we just put up with it – we’re British after all. Now don’t get me wrong I’m no Michael Fish (RIP) or any other meteorologist for that matter but I thought June was oppressively hot. I must have sweated half my body weight away on its humid nights as I tossed and turned, wishing I lived in Iceland. I’m sure the sultry conditions affected us all differently, but I was only to happy to remind Julie with a ‘Told you so’ when the Met Office recorded it as the hottest June ever. You can call me a cynic if you want, but there’s little denying things are hotting up around the world. Climate change is here to stay with its extreme weather and that’s without mentioning this years El Ninò which is still to impact us. Already this summer parts of East Devon were saturated in flash flooding and I was shocked to watch on the news people clinging to their cars as they were swept away in even more adverse conditions in Northern Spain. As you know we are far from being immune in our own back yard on the West Bank. It was only ten years ago that the seawall was swept away at Dawlish – in the mother of all storms and as it happened that’s where we went earlier in the month, on one of those balmy sunny days with our bucket hats on. I wanted to check out the new footbridge which opens the way up for wheelchair users from the Town to the Warren and was well impressed. The works around the station are still in their final stages but the sea wall is now fully accessible. We decided to save the yomp and back to the Warren and opted insteadw to head West and beautiful Coryton Cove. Maybe it was the heat, or the azure sea, those sand stone cliffs or perhaps even that smoothly roasted cappuccino from the cafe adjoining the beach, but I was soon thinking I could have been on a small esplanade by the Mediterranean. Funny thing though is that fleeting illusion could soon be reality in the South West. As the temperature gauge continues to rise and the sun beats down we’ll have to find ways of adapting our culture to blend in with it and we could learn much from our Mediterranean cousins. Already South Devon is being touted as fertile wine country and has a rich tapestry of Vineyards. A trip to the Kenton Estate (one of our locals) is like stepping out into the South of France and the industry is only set to grow; as is the amount of stay-cationers and people wishing to move to the county. It’s hardly surprising considering our coastline can match anywhere in the world and our produce from land or sea are second to none. Hopefully as we adapt to changing conditions and more people, that new sea wall will come into its own. There’s plenty of open spaces on it which could accommodate pop up restaurants, local street food even some Devon tapas bars which would encourage a more Al fresco lifestyle and enhance that trip to the seaside. OK, we’re never going to be like Spain – we are unique enough. However the thought of sitting out on a warm summer evening, overlooking Lyme Bay, with a glass of English wine as the woft of garlic and fried calamari flirts with your taste buds – obviously as you discussed the weather – wouldn’t be a bad adaption or compromise to live with.

....and one last thing

I wrote an article about James Gould last year and his amazing journey since being paralysed as a teenager. I mentioned in the piece that he’d hand-cycled to Amsterdam for charity and was planning his next trip from Milan to Venice. It should be a fantastic trip but he’s going to have to cover 350km in late September. It will be an arduous challenge for even an intrepid local fundraiser like him. James is raising money for Regain a charity that assists Tetraplegics and any support for his endeavours would be much appreciated.

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/James-Gould15