13.02.16
blowaway
• Royal frocks
• Sixties skirts
• Victorian velvet
Fashion that will
youStyle through the centuries
with The National Trust
+ BEAUTY+ WELLBEING + GARDENS
DON’T MISS:
+ DAYS OUT & SHOPPING
TRIPS
WIN:
pg16
Covers.indd 1 09/02/2016 12:49:55
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Untitled-1 6 09/02/2016 13:11:36
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6 SWEET THINGSIdeas for last minute Valentine’s gi s
9 JUST BETWEEN US...Sh! We have the latest gossip!
12 PASTA’S FIRST LADYMeet fabulous Anna Del Conte
16 TO DYE FOR Colourful costumes at Killerton
22 CHOOSING YOUR HUESThe latest interiors trends
26 ANNE SWITHINBANKDelicate plants that thrive in the shade
28 BEAUTY WITH ABBIE BRAYHow to be a Valentine’s belle
30 LOVELY LINGERIEWe have something for everyone
34 CULTURE VULTUREWhat’s on and where to go
36 BOOST YOUR WELLBEING Great ways to feel your best this week
41 RHUBARB, RHUBARBTim Maddams loves the early pink stu
46 FUNNY MANChris McGuire takes up cycling
contents[ [Inside this week...
‘Note to self: remember not to leave the walking
stick in the pub’’
Darren Norbury is labelled an older beer
drinker, page 40
16 VIBRANT SHADESFabulous fashion down the ages
22 COLOUR CLASSGo for gold and dusky pink
FOODIE HAUNTSA Newlyn local shares her tips44
GREAT ESCAPEA weekend in Babbacombe 42
30 SITTING PRETTYOur pick of romantic undies
38 BEST FOOT FORWARDLooking great over 50
Contents_Feb13.indd 3 09/02/2016 13:46:25
Becky Sheaves, Editor Sarah Pitt Kathryn Clarke-McLeod Catherine Barnes Lynne Potter
4
[[ [[welcome[ [
here are primroses in the hedges and daffodils in a jug on the kitchen table. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day - the time when we humans head out for dinner a
deux and (according to legend) songbirds pair up to build nests and raise chicks. In short, it is time to bring our winter hi-bernation to an end and get out more.
With this in mind, how about a day trip to the National Trust’s beauti-ful manor house at Killerton, east Devon? Open-ing today - and running all summer - is a fabulous fashion exhibition there which is well worth a visit. West magazine was allowed backstage at the profes-
sional photo shoot to celebrate the exhibition, so do read all about it and check out photographer Steve Haywood’s gorgeous pictures on page 16 today. We’ve even got some family National Trust entry
passes to be won, too.Elsewhere, I love the
feature Sarah Pitt has written about meeting the Nigella-inspiring Italian food writer Anna Del Conte in Dorset (p12). Anna is 90 years old and certainly
has a lifetime of wisdom to impart. And if all this spurs you on to buy new clothes or eat some great Italian food in Jamie’s Italian in Exeter, check out our Princesshay gift card competition on page 5 with £50 spending money up for grabs - good luck!
[ [The fabulous fashion exhibition is
well worth a visit
Becky Sheaves, Editor
Spring is in the air...
[
PERFECT PASTAMeet the woman who taught Nigella12
COVER IMAGE: Steve HaywoodEDITORIAL: [email protected]: 01392 442250 Twitter @wmnwest
@tristan_nichollsAww... we do have a lovely love story
#Valentine @wmnwest
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, [email protected]
12
13
People
To celebrate the power of true love this Valentine’s Day,
we meet three inspirational couples who have found real-
life romance right here in the Westcountry
Lovestories
VALENTINE’S DAY
Jacky and Tristan
Jacky Nichols, 32, and husband Tristan, 37, lived a world apart when they made
friends on a social media site. Four years ago, they met up in Jacky’s home country,
Mexico, and within months Tristan, who works in public relations, gave up his job in
Devon to be with her. They are now happily married and live in Plymouth
Jacky says: My husband is the most amazing,
good-looking guy with a huge heart and I don’t
know what I’ve done in a past life for all these
rewards. I’d do anything for him; he’s the best
thing ever. He’s my world.
Our story began ten years ago when the web-
site MySpace was the place to be. Tristan’s pic-
ture popped up and I thought, that looks interest-
ing. In his profi le, he said he had
the same birthday as me, Febru-
ary 17, so that prompted my fi rst
email. It was just a friendship,
but then, in 2012, we planned to
meet up for a ten-day holiday in
Mexico’s Playa del Carmen.
I used to joke with friends that
one day I’d marry an English-
man although, really, I thought
I’d never get married. I wasn’t
the type. After I met Tristan,
though, I was a different person
and never had any doubt. I
didn’t recognise myself. I’m so
lucky, I’m still pinching myself.
Ten days after Tristan re-
turned to Plymouth, he fl ew back to Mexico to
meet my parents. It was so, so quick. He wanted
to reassure my dad and said, “I’m so in love with
your daughter”. I was living with my parents and
we’re a traditional Mexican family, so he and I
slept in separate bedrooms for a year. Tristan
then landed a job as a news anchorman in San
Diego, California. We got married there, a very
very February, our thoughts
turn to all things heart-shaped
and romantic. But above and
beyond the mere froth of cards,
chocs and roses (lovely though
they are to give and receive) here we celebrate
the enduring power of true love to overcome
all the hurdles that life may throw at us. Meet
three couples who have so very much to cel-
ebrate this Valentine’s Day...
E
‘I thought I’d
never get mar-
ried. I wasn’t the
type. A� er I met
Tristan, though,
I was a di� erent
person’ [[quiet ceremony with close family and we fl ew off
to Fiji for our honeymoon.
When his TV contract came to an end after
a year we were in a dilemma, did we go back to
Mexico or come back to Plymouth? We decided
my English was more advanced than his Span-
ish, so now we’re back here, and I have a job in
IT. I’d always dreamed of living in England and
now, Tristan’s made it my home.
Living here is very different from
Mexico and being far away from
family has been the hardest part,
but I know I can count on Tris-
tan. He’s here for me and I love
his family, too. It may seem im-
possible, but when you meet the
right person, you suddenly fi nd
anything is possible.
Tristan says: As soon as we
met on holiday it was immedi-
ately obvious that something
magical was going on. Jacky was
quite simply the most beautiful
person I had ever seen. It wasn’t
until she wrote ‘te amo’ – Spanish for ‘I love
you’ – in the sand that I realised that my feel-
ings for her were returned. I fl ew back to the UK
feeling that I had left my right arm in Mexico.
I fl ew back out two weeks later. It was just some-
thing I had to do. I love her... to the moon and
back. Every couple has their own story but ours
is so magical, people think we’re making it up. T
1thing_Edsletter_feb13.indd 4 09/02/2016 11:56:21
55
Win
one thingIf you do
this week...
We have a £50 Princesshay gi� voucher win, to spend in the shopping centre’s 70 shops and eateries. To enter, email your contact details with the answer to the question below to Princesshay competition, [email protected]
by February 27. Normal terms apply, West will not share your details. Q: In which city is Princesshay Shopping Centre?
Head for Princesshay Shopping Centre in Exeter with your loved one to � nd the perfect Valentine’s gi� for each other, and perhaps enjoy a romantic meal for two. Jamie’s Italian and Carluccio’s are just two places where café society is alive and well in the shopping centre in the heart of the city. Or you could linger over a glass of wine and tapas at the lovely Chandos Deli.
1thing_Edsletter_feb13.indd 5 08/02/2016 16:21:38
6
the
West’s picks for spending your time and money this week
wishlist
Judie Henburow Judie is a councillor and lives in
the village of Kenton in Devon. She tells us she’s not an avid follower of fashion. Instead, she believes
in “doing your own thing and not being dictated to” – well, it certainly
works for her.
Shoes: Dune £55
Skirt: Jigsaw £30
Scarf: Jigsaw £29
Bag: Longchamp £55
STREETSTYLE STAR
WO
RD
S A
ND
PIC
TU
RE
: EL
LIE
JO
NE
S A
ND
SO
PH
IE W
HIT
ING
Fish coin purse £5 www.tch.net.
HANDY
Charlotte pressed glass vase £19.50
Marks and Spencer
I love you cupcake £8
www.biscuiteers.com
Earrings £17 Monsoon
fave!
Elegant
Wishlist_Feb13.indd 6 08/02/2016 13:27:50
7
Wishlist
This little shop on Plymouth’s Barbican is crammed with cra� y things from all over the South West. We particularly love the stylish oilcloth bags designed by My Sister Mabel in Devon. Jewellery, ceramic signs, handmade cushions and quirky
candles, it is all here. Owners Helen and Brendan have taken the trouble to source unusual things you won’t see elsewhere.Rockpool Trading, 10 Southside Street, Plymouth PL1 2LA, www.rockpooltrading.co.uk
STORE WE ADORE:
Rockpool Trading
Red heart purse by Gmalou £19 DaWanda.com
Hand enamelled limited edition bird earrings £9.95 www.acornandwill.co.uk
Century 24-piece cutlery set £180 Living by Christiane at House of Fraser
Hammered leaf necklace £30
Accessorize
Dickins and Jones striped wellies £30
House of Fraser
Glamour
Tweet!
Wishlist_Feb13.indd 7 08/02/2016 17:57:10
8
talking points
The awards season is now in full swing, giving us the opportunity to check out the gowns and jewels of the rich and famous. Dame Helen Mirren was looking relaxed and gorgeous at the Palm Springs Inter-national Film Festival, in her royal blue ensemble from Alberta Ferretti. Take a leaf out of her book with block-colour blue and you too will look the part – especially if you team it up with silver accessories as she has done.
BLUE IS THE colour
OPTION BLaceyDress £119 Jacques Vert
OPTION ALongMaxi dress £30 Evans
stealherstyle
OR MAKE IT YOUR OWN
Dress £45 JD Williams
few of us from the offi ce pooled some cash to enter the Euromillions lottery. We didn’t win,
alas. Actually, we won about £30 with which we bought more lot-tery tickets, and then we didn’t win. I should have stuck to what I learned in Vegas: if you win, keep half of the winnings, and only gamble (ie lose) the other half.
The amounts you could win are truly staggering, aren’t they? £30 million? I was trying to get my head around that. £1 mil-lion makes you rich. £30 million makes you like, a small country in Africa.
Seriously, you could get into Mark Zuckerberg territory there – he’s pledged to give away 99% of his Facebook stock over the course of his life-time, in order to “make humanity better” or some-thing.
Because you’d have to give loads of it away, wouldn’t you? There’s no way you could use all that money. Or at least, not in a way that wouldn’t make everyone secretly hate you.
My kids ask me questions like this all the time: “if you had all the money in the world, what car would you buy?” and the answer is: “I would buy a horse box and something to tow it.” That would make me really happy, because I love horses. As for the car, I like my car. It’s a very serviceable Renault. I know where all the buttons are. It has a space for my handbag, the kids and the dog. Life is good.
“I’d get a Lamborghini,” Freddy
once said. “Yeah, but then you’d look like
a jerk driving around,” I said. “Everyone would stare at you when you were trying to parallel park. Car jackers would tag you. It would be a nightmare.”
Don’t get me wrong, having wads of cash to sling around would be fun. And I would like to make a difference to the world. But what cause do you choose?
Abandoned dogs? Cancer research? Cancer research for abandoned dogs?
I would do one of two things. My fi rst vision is of a really kickass library in our local town, with a soft play/read fl oor for small chil-dren, a hangout and listen to music place for teens, and a big living room where older people could
sit and read the newspaper or play backgammon. And an art gallery.
The second is of a Roman-style complex consisting of a huge gymnasium where you could watch athletes training, and a sort of pillared area where you could lounge and discuss philosophy. Probably it would also have a café. And food stalls so you could do the shopping – I think they had those.
Zuckerberg, are you reading this? There’s some good stuff here.
Story of my life...
Gillian Molesworth
Dreaming of those Lottery millions
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
A
But what cause would you choose? Abandoned
dogs? Cancer research? Cancer
research for abandoned dogs?
Gossip_StealherStyle.indd 8 08/02/2016 13:30:40
HOMECOMING’
‘IT’S LIKE A
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has said that’s he’s looking forward to the band headlining Radio 1’s Big Weekend at Powderham Castle near Exeter in May. There’s been huge excitement in the city and wider Westcountry since the event was announced and it seems like Chris, who was born in the city, feels the same: “I lived the � rst few years of my life less than 500 yards from where we’ll be performing, so this couldn’t be more of a homecom-ing for me,” he says.
9
Justbetween us!Gossip, news, trend setters and more – you
heard all the latest juicy stu here � rst!
13.02.16
She’s the child star that many of our own kids have grown up with, in the title role of long-running (and o� re-peated) CBBC series Tracy Beaker. But now actress and Strictly Come Danc-ing star Dani Harmer has announced she’s expecting her � rst baby.The 26-year old (yes, really!) revealed she’s due to give birth this summer
and that she and boyfriend Simon Brough are “over the moon”.She said: “I absolutely can’t wait. I’m also really nervous. But I guess I just have to take each day as it comes. I’ve always wanted to be a mum.”
Spare a thought for glamorous Nancy Dell’Olio this Valentine’s Day. The lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, 54, who was the second house-mate to be evicted from this year’s Celebrity Big Brother house, has revealed: “There is no one special in my life now.”Or is there? Nancy, who became a household name in 2001 through her relationship with football’s Sven
Goran-Eriksson says she now tries to keep her personal life as private as possible and to “keep people guessing”.“I think I have been a few times deeply in love. Love would be ter-rible if it was always the same when we are 15 or 20 or 30 or 40. Love has to change because we want di� er-ent emotions and love at di� erent times and di� erent moments.”
‘Yes, I will be all alone on
Valentine’sDay’ [[
IS NANCY SINGLE AGAIN?
STRICT
Coldplay in Exeter
DANI’S BABY
NEWS
Gossip_StealherStyle.indd 9 08/02/2016 13:31:18
10
in pictures
Neverland: Helston Community College have staged a production of Peter Pan – meet
the flamingoes!
Beautiful: Ellie Taylor, 17, from Plymouth is competing to be Miss England
Full bloom: The magnolias
at Trewidden Garden are
out early this year, says
head gardener Richard Morton
Picket: Workers at Ainscough Crane Hire
at Plymouth docks went
on strike over plans for zero
hours contracts
WIP_Top10_Feb13.indd 10 08/02/2016 14:37:49
11
Love stories
talking points
Mwah!
Food of love
10 vampy shades:
1 Maneater (Illamasqua)
2 Ruby Woo (MAC)
3 Pirate (Chanel)
4 Pillar Box (Barry M)
5 Cherry Lush (Tom Ford)
6 Red Siren (Body Shop)
7 Chilli (Max Factor)
8 Red-y to Wear (Clinique)
9 Rouge Buzz (Bourjois)
10 999 (Dior)
DID YOU KNOW?
This week:
Famous faces with links to the Westcountry
ONE OF US
The Bergerac and Midsomer Murders star was born in Cornwall and lives in north Devon
John Nettles
The happy list
10 things to make you smile this week1 January it’s over!
2 Radio 1’s Big Weekend coming to Exeter
3 Fresh brewed co� ee heaven scent
4 Lighter mornings Carpe Diem
5 Dark chocolate guilt-free
6 Gin just because
7 Hugs promotes oxytocin, which makes you happy
8 The weekend it’s happen-ing, right now
9 The cold side of the pillow midnight bliss
10 Running #thisgirlcan
10 ancient aphrodisiacs:
1 Green oats
2 Ginger
3 Avocado
4 Fenugreek
5 Sea cucumbers
6 Birds nest soup
7 Pepper
8 Black beans
9 Vanilla
10 Eels
Mills and Boon bodice rippers :
1 His Shock Valentine’s Proposal
2 A Valentine for the Veterinarian
3 The Doctor’s Valentine Dare
4 Fortune’s Perfect Valentine
5 A Date with her Valentine Doc
6 Lone Star Valentine
7 Her Valentine Sheri�
8 Jackson Hole Valentine
9 The Prodigal Valentine
10 Always Valentine’s Day
Early days: John Nettles, now 72, was born in St Austell, Cornwall. His birth mother was a young Irish nurse working in England during the Second World War.
Family: John was adopted at birth by carpenter Eric Nettles and his wife Elsie. He attended St Austell Grammar School and then the University of Southampton, where he started acting in his spare time.
Career: In 1981, he won the role that made him a household name, that of Jim Bergerac in the Jersey-set crime drama Bergerac. The show ran for 87 episodes: “We used the same plot over and over again but that didn’t seem to matter!”
Murder: In 1995, he took on the role of another policeman, Tom Barnaby, in Midsomer Murders. The show ran for 81 episodes, until 2011.
Marriage: John and his � rst wife, Joyce, have a daughter Emma (born 1970) and divorced in 1979. He
married his second wife, Cathryn Sealey, in 1995.
Honours: John was appointed O� cer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2010. He has an honorary doctorate at the University of Plymouth and is patron of Devon
charity The Mare and Foal Sanctuary.
Fans: He is a reluctant heart-throb: “A lady from Norway used to send me long letters about what she wanted to do to me and it’d make my eyes water! It’s very sad, and my wife Cathy got hugely annoyed.”
Devon: He and Cathy live on a 20-acre farm in north Devon, with horses, a dog, three cats, chickens, two geese and “assorted wild things that have taken refuge with us”.
Competition winners:Congratulations to the winner of the Gustav table lamp from Amos Lighting
• Anna Jones, Sheepwash near Beaworthy
John owns a pet donkey
called Hector
WIP_Top10_Feb13.indd 11 08/02/2016 14:38:14
12
Interview
nna Del Conte is making me tea in a silver teapot as we sit watching the light fade over the Dorset coun-
tryside from her kitchen window. I feel honoured, doubly so in fact, as this legendary doyenne of the food world cuts slices of a polenta cake, dusted with icing sugar, which she has made especially for me. “You are allowed to throw it away if you don’t like it!” she says.
If you haven’t heard of Anna, you should have. After all, Nigella Lawson credits Anna with inspir-
ing her love of Italian food. “Anyone who cooks should have Anna’s books,” Nigella has said. “I’m telling you, she’s the best writer on Italian food there is.”
Anna counts Nigella as a friend: “She is a lovely person, really a very nice girl, whom I respect enormous-ly,” she says. And Nigella’s own success has sent a new generation back to Anna’s books (she has writ-ten 12). Her iconic volume, Portrait of Pasta, was fi rst published in 1976 and has just been reissued. The new version contains 40 fresh recipes and beguiling illustrations of the many and varied pasta types now found on supermarket shelves in this country.
Back to the polenta cake. We both
take a mouthful. It tastes like a par-ticularly nutty soda bread. “Mmm,” says Anna. “It is rather dense, and not sweet enough. I am sorry, you come here and see me and I give you revolting food!” Jumping up, she roots around in a biscuit tin, producing some delicious biscotti, layered with almonds. And between crunchy mouthfuls, we chat about her life.
Despite living in Britain for nearly 60 years, Anna’s Italian accent is still discernable. Her chic style, too, is an indicator that she is not of these shores. Now 90, she grew up in Milan before the Second World War, in an elegant apartment fi lled with paintings and treasures. A Sunday morning outing with her
parents would typically involve a stroll to a city market to buy a lump of truffl e. Her family were well-off, rather than rich, she says, but they had a cook and life was “civilised”. Then the war came, and Anna and her family had to fl ee the city and the bombs of the Allies for the Ital-ian countryside of Emilia-Romagna, occupied by the Germans.
The rustic food was good: “they had everything, vegetables, chick-en, grapes, oil and eggs” but danger was everywhere. Anna, who cycled miles to school each day, ended up in prison several times, albeit briefl y. Once, Germans searched her house, where Anna’s older brother and sev-eral others were in hiding. And on another occasion she was machine
A
By Sarah Pitt
Nigella Lawson says veteran foodie Anna Del Conte is ‘the best writer on Italian food there is’. We � nd out more on a visit to her Dorset home
thePASTAqueen
Feature1_Feb13.indd 12 08/02/2016 17:18:23
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Feature1_Feb13.indd 13 08/02/2016 17:18:58
14
gunned by a plane overhead. Luck-ily, the bullets missed.
“The whole war was difficult, but we got on with the process of sur-viving – being able to get to school, being able to get home again, that was what it was about,” says Anna today. “The thing is, though, I didn’t really have any teenage years, all those years were wiped out for me. There were no boys, all the men were away fighting. There were the Germans, but we didn’t mix. Those girls that did suffered terribly after the war.”
It’s all quite fascinating and, my interest primed by reading Anna’s autobiography Risotto with Nettles, I am bursting with questions. I’m actually here, though, to talk about her new
book, Anna Del Conte on Pasta, the reissue of Anna’s Portrait of Pasta, which launched her illustrious career as a food writer back when pasta to the British still meant ra-violi in tins.
Anna has lived in Britain since she arrived in the UK in 1947 as an au pair. She met her husband here and stayed, saying that our food cul-ture has altered “beyond recogni-tion” since her first book was pub-lished nearly 40 years ago.
“The food here couldn’t change for the worse, so it has, thank God, changed for the better! When my book originally came out there was nothing – just spaghetti hoops!”
There was also, Anna found to her horror, no unsalted butter, a staple in Italy. Nor could you buy olive oil to cook with. “Olive oil was at the
pharmacy still, for ear-ache.” But, with rationing continu-ing into the 1950s, she used
her more adventurous Ital-ian tastes to her advan-
tage, buying offal which was not rationed. She also used horsemeat in her polpette (meat balls), although she didn’t tell that to her English guests.
Cooking for her family, she dipped into both cultures. “I made English cot-tage pie, but if I did
roast chicken very often I’d do it the Ital-
ian way, start off with vegetables, carrots, celery
and onions then sprinkle it
with wine,” she says. And her two sons and daughter
grew up bilingual in food. “I remem-ber my sons loved fish fingers,” she says. “And they loved Bird’s Cus-tard more than mine. But they’d come home from school with their friends and make huge helpings of spaghetti for everyone because the food at school was so disgust-ing.”
Anna, then living in London, could find dried pasta from her native land in the shops run by Italian immi-grants in Soho. But it was not widely available in the UK when Anna embarked upon her first book, Portrait of Pasta, in the early 1970s.
The suggestion to write it came from the publish-er father of a girl she was coaching for her A level Italian. “It was just a vague idea at that point and, in fact, it took a long time, we didn’t have the internet then! I went to do research in the library and talked to people. I started from scratch. My husband Oliver did a lot of the editing, he was my first editor.”
Anna has never had her own TV cookery show. She did trials for TV three times but found she was not a natural in front of the cameras.“I froze,” she says. Nevertheless, she
did have cameo roles on others’ pro-grammes, including those featuring Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater. She thinks there is “a bit too much” food and cooking on TV now, but she loves Delia Smith.
“Delia has been wonderful, ab-solutely,” she says. “She really was the first one who taught the English
how to cook in a sensible way.” She is less glow-ing about Eliza-beth David, the woman credited with bringing the magic of the Mediterranean food to the Brit-ish. “I met her, but I didn’t like her,” she says. “I took my hat off to the way she wrote though.”
Anna wrote her autobiography Ri-sotto with Nettles after her husband Oliver Waley died in 2007, when she was
obviously still grieving. The book attracted media attention because Anna mentioned an affair she’d had early in her marriage, which her husband never knew about.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says. “It was my mistake to put it in the book.” There is a pause. She regrets, she says, that her husband missed the second flowering of her writing career.
“I’m sorry, because he died before I did a lot of things, and before I was on Desert Island Discs,” she says. “I
‘Thank God the food here has changed
for the better. When my book originally
came out there was nothing – just spaghetti hoops!’
Feature1_Feb13.indd 14 08/02/2016 17:19:35
15
really did enjoy that.” She was also, in 2010, given a major award by the Ital-ian government: “I’m nearly a Dame in Italy,” she explains.
To this day, Anna loves good food but she’s no food snob (albeit a bit dismayed that spaghetti hoops are still on sale in Tesco). She shops in both Lidl and Wa-itrose in Shaftesbury, Dorset, where she lives next door to her daughter and grandchildren. “Lidl is good, and there are a lot of Italian ingredients there, because the Germans like Italian food.”
Anna’s book was the fi rst to introduce the British to the possibilities of pasta. She hopes her book will be rediscov-ered by a new time-poor generation. “It is very versatile, pasta,” she says. “Not all sauces are quick to make, but a lot of sauces only take as long to prepare as the pasta does to boil.” Wise words, indeed, from a woman who knows.Anna Del Conte on Pasta is published by Pavilion, price £20
At the age of 90, Anna Del Conte cooks pasta at
her Dorset home
Interview
Feature1_Feb13.indd 15 08/02/2016 17:20:19
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People
NATIONAL TRUST FASHION SHOWNATIONAL TRUST FASHION SHOWNATIONAL TRUST FASHION SHOWNATIONAL TRUST FASHION SHOW
A blastof colour
Every year, the National Trust stages a major fashion exhibition at Killerton, near Exeter. As well as the show itself, the Trust has a tradition
of creating striking photography to accompany and publicise the show. Here, West magazine goes behind the scenes at the photo shoot for
the 2016 fashion exhibition, which opens today
very year, the National Trust stages a major fash-ion exhibition at Killer-ton, near Exeter, based on the vast costume collec-
tion that has been stored at the house since the 1970s.
“At Killerton, we have 10,000 items of clothing, so there is no way we can have them all on show at any one time. Our annual exhibition is all about dis-playing a selection of what we have, in an intriguing and creative way,” says Shelley Tobin, the Trust’s costume cu-rator.
“This year, the show is all about colour and how it has infl uenced the way we dress over the centuries.”
To publicise the show, National Trust photographer Steve Haywood, who lives in Devon, has set up an en-ticing series of images based on the show’s title: Fashion To Dye For. The results, showcased here, are a striking reminder of how crucial colour has been to sartorial trends over the cen-turies. As well as costumes, the show also includes work by Exeter College’s
Fashion and Textiles students.The show opens this weekend and
will encompass every shade of the rainbow, as well as monochrome black and white. Among the highlights is a crimson dress, believed to have been made for Princess Margaret in the 1950s. “I’ve been in touch with Ken-sington Palace to try and authenticate the claim that it was her dress,” says Shelley. “They are pretty certain it was made for her on a trip to Hong Kong in 1955. But what we really need is a picture of her wearing it – you never know! In terms of the colour, what is interesting is how regal a shade of red it is, the dark crimson of royal robes.”
The Killerton costume collection has clothes dating from 1700 to 1975 and was originally the collection of rich heiress Paulise de Bush.
“When she died in 1975, she left in-structions to ‘see the collection found a good home’ and so it was given to the National Trust,” explains Shelley. “An annual fashion and costume exhi-bition has been held at Killerton ever since.”The Fashion To Dye For show opens today (February 13) at Killerton, Broad-clyst, near Exeter, and runs until October 30. Visit www.nationaltrust.org
By Becky Sheaves
E
ClothesKillerton_Feb13.indd 17 08/02/2016 17:58:22
18
The out� ts:Shelley Tobin is the National Trust costume curator, based at Killerton“We have chosen all sorts of out-fi ts from throughout the centu-ries to represent the theme of the fashion exhibition at Killerton. In fact, there were very few of
the pieces that we could use for the photoshoot to publicise the show, because they are too rare and delicate.
“The purple and orange silk dress (see previ-ous page) is in fact a modern replica costume, which is why we could take it outdoors for the shoot. It represents the fashion in the 18th cen-tury for very strong colours, but used on quite plain textiles. There was not too much pattern back then, but very bold colour choices that we really wouldn’t put together today. You often get maroon and yellow together or orange and purple, as we see here.
“A scarlet guardsman’s tunic (see above) would have been dyed with madder, a natural dye that has been used for thousands of years. Linen dyed with madder was found in the Egyptian pyramids.
“This little turquoise 1960s dress (see right) has been handmade to a pattern. Even as recently as the 60s and 70s, it was very much the norm for women to make their own clothes at home. The 1960s saw much bolder use of colours, such as this pretty turquoise.
“To see the really rare outfi ts, however, you’ll have to visit the show itself at Killerton.”
ClothesKillerton_Feb13.indd 18 09/02/2016 11:58:16
19
Balancing act:Jazz O’Neill, 19, works in retail at the All Saints fashion store in Exeter. She studied Fashion at college and is on the company’s internship programme to train as a fashion designer.
“Luckily, I did a lot of competitive gymnastics from the age of three to 13, so I was able to balance on the fence post – for quite a long time, too. Those pictures are not Photoshopped!
“I loved this little 1960s blue dress, it was so sweet as it was handmade. I made dresses and handbags myself when I was at school and also when studying Fashion and Textiles at Exeter College, so I think the handmade trend is coming back. I love fashion and I am hoping to move to London towards the end of this year to further my career as a fashion designer and stylist.
“I have had a preview of the exhibition and really loved it, especially the exhibits from Exeter College students. They were so innovative and I knew a lot of the people who had created them. Recently, I went to London to intern in the All Saints HQ, predicting trends and working on designs for their Autumn/Winter 2016-17 collection. I fi nd fashion absolutely fascinating, and really good fun.”
Green goddess:
Also modelling for the shoot is Tilly Barnes, 18, from Tavistock. Tilly is on her gap year before going to Birmingham University to study Archaeology and Anthropology.
“I have never done any modelling before, and it was very good fun, not at all what I was expecting. I didn’t even wear a real dress, just a length of fabric pinned into place and was surrounded by coloured smoke gre-nades! The whole experience did make me think, as I almost always wear black in real life. But I was given some vouchers for Christmas that I haven’t spent yet. I will try to experiment with wearing more colour. It’s my New Year resolution.”
ClothesKillerton_Feb13.indd 19 08/02/2016 17:59:42
20
People
The photographer:Steven Haywood is a freelance photographer who works closely with the National Trust, both in the South West and nationally. He lives in south Devon with his wife and daughter.
“I often work on photography for the National Trust and it is always a lot of fun and very crea-tive. This set of pictures was inspired by a play on words. The show is called Fashion to Dye For, so we bounced some ideas around and thought about guns and shooting. The cannons we used were Killerton’s own, the guns were replicas that we hired.
“To make the smoke grenades, I took children’s party poppers, opened them up, removed the streamers and replaced them with food dye. It’s probably not to be recommended but was very ef-fective.
“A shoot like this, done outdoors, is at the mercy of the elements and we had some challenges with the wind blowing the smoke all over the place. It was shot at the end of October last year. I wanted a sunny blue sky so we waited for a nice day but to counteract the sun’s shadows on people’s faces, I used a very big light – 135mm across, with a grid on it to diffuse and soften the light.”
Win tickets!Family National Trust day passes to be wonWe have two family day passes for The National Trust to be won, worth at least £29 each (depending which property you visit) o� ering entry to any National Trust property for two adults and two children.To win, send your name address and contact details, together with the answer to the question below, to: National Trust competition, [email protected] to arrive by February 26 2016. Normal terms apply, West will not share your details. Q: Where is the Fashion To Dye For fashion show taking place?
ClothesKillerton_Feb13.indd 20 08/02/2016 18:00:39
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22
REAL HOMES
re you yearning to feel sun-bronzed in these chilly times, considering fl irting with a little pink, or maybe dreaming of serene blue skies?
You may be surprised to learn that you’re probably not simply longing for spring – you’re succumbing to the power of paint.
The colour for 2016, according to Dulux, is Cherished Gold, while the paint wizards at Pantone have chosen blush-ing Rose Quartz and Serenity, a soft blue. All three shades are tipped to make their mark on our decor this year.
They have already strongly infl uenced the colour palette of the new 2016 home ranges, which means there’s no problem picking up on whichever colour appeals. I’ll guarantee it won’t be long before you’ll be thinking you can’t live without one, or maybe two, of these fashionable shades.
Cherished Gold is a rich ochre gold shade which moves away from the in-your-face ‘bling’ of metallics and instead has an earthy, burnished quality, which sits well in a period or contemporary setting.
“Gold, and tones of gold, are being used everywhere in the design world,” says Rebecca Williamson, senior colour design and content manager at Dulux.
“It’s a recurring colour and it’s featuring strongly in graphic design, as well as in architecture, fashion, beauty and interior decoration. We feel Cherished Gold is extreme-
ly versatile and can act almost like a neutral, and works beautifully with many colours in the spectrum. It’s natu-rally evolved from our last year’s colour of the year, Copper Blush, and is perfectly in tune for the continuing desire to use metallics to add glamour to our interiors.”
Cherished Gold can be in unifying force in a room, rather than an overwhelming one, if used sparingly. Pair it with cool neutrals, warm browns or even a gutsy chocolate and
light wood for a sophisticated, contem-porary look. Alternatively, it will act as a grounding force with sharp citrus shades or chalky pastel hues, like duck egg.
Consider a painting a feature wall in Cherished Gold, which could harmonise with a mouth-watering brown, such as Rum Caramel, or a greeny Atlas Blue. Both avail-able in matt emulsion, from £24.49 for 2.5 litres, Dulux.
Metallic fi nishes, especially golds, are fea-turing strongly in tile collections, and Topps Tiles has one with a particularly appropri-ate, glossy fi nish, Diamante Ocre, which is £43 per square metre. If you simply want to experiment with the shade, start with a few
accessories to test your enthusiasm for it. For a softer look, the gentle rose tone of Rose Quartz is
calming and easy to interpret. Go more candy and sugary sweet if you want girly decor, while pure pale pink will pro-vide a classic backdrop.
A
True coloursThink you’re naturally drawn to certain shades? You’re probably
being swayed by the power of paint. Gabrielle Fagan brushes up on the key colours for interiors in 2016
Go more candy and sugary sweet if you
want girly decor, while pure
pale pink will provide a classic
backdrop [[Interiors_Feb13.indd 22 08/02/2016 18:02:04
23
Interiors
Bloomsbury sofa covered in Harbour fabric in Wedgewood, £899; Florine coffee
table from £349; Florine lamp table from £229; all harveysfurniture.co.uk
Interiors_Feb13.indd 23 08/02/2016 13:46:17
24
Interiors
“There’s no easier way to add colour to your interiors than to inject it with comforting pastel tones. Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Rose Quartz, is a perfect example,” says Samantha Parish, who is the interior design manager at Hypnos Beds.
“This soothing shade adds a soft, feminine and welcoming touch to an interior scheme. While pastel-based shades are renowned for their mood-enhancing and lifting qualities, be careful not to pair them with too many colours in one room, as this can make a setting feel too busy and jumbled.
“Instead, pick it as a dominant colour and complement with smaller doses of a secondary, harmonising shade, to create a grown-up, sophis-ticated look.”
Rose Quartz pairs well with rich browns, greens, purples, and yellows but for an on-trend interpretation, match it with a calming shade of light grey. Enhance it with soft metallics, rose gold or copper, and wood accessories.
Pair rose pink with rich browns, greens, purples and yellows – or match it with a calming shade of light grey
STYLE TIP:
Just looking up at an expanse of pale blue sky is uplifting, and Pantone’s cool Serenity is a safe bet for those who want to create a fresh, airy, tranquil room. You don’t even have to stick to painting walls; Burbidge Kitchens offer their Langton kitchen painted in Serenity by Pantone, which starts at £12,000.
“Serenity is an almost ethereal shade and its calming infl uence is said to create feelings of ‘respite and relaxation, even in turbulent times’
so frankly, who could ask for more?” says Mike Stephen, who works as design director at Apollo Blinds.
“Whether utilised in stripes, a coastal scheme, fl oral patterns, or as a block of colour across home accessories or even an entire room, this peaceful blue imparts a sense of order and peace. Blue is still strongly featuring in interiors and this would work well contrasting with a deep indigo or a bright cerulean.”
Bailey velvet maxi sofa in dusky pink,
£1,499, dfs.co.uk
Get a glow with these Diamante Ochre tiles £43
a square metre, www.toppstiles.co.uk
Gold can add dash to a muted decor in small doses, as with these gold parrot bookends,
£42, miafleur.com
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et ground has meant less gardening but more time for plan-ning so I’ve been
thinking of ways to introduce better summer colour to the shadier parts of our garden. Most shade tolerant plants originate from woodlands and, as well as having evolved to cope with low light, they have other specifi c needs. In many ways these plants are rather delicate and turn up their toes when faced with the compacted soil, wind tunnels and weed competition sometimes found in the shadier parts of gardens.
As ever, the best way to under-stand the needs of plants is to visit their wild rela-tives in the UK, so a walk in the woods is on the cards. You’ll have local favourites , I’m sure, but try consulting www.wood-landtrust.org.uk to discover more. Even in winter, this is a revealing experience and easy to relate back to the garden. The immediate im-pression is silence, then drips and bird song as you step onto soft, leaf-mould rich soil. Despite the leafl ess canopy, a wood feels sheltered and ground is generally sloping, often
down to a stream or river along the valley fl oor. There is usually a well-defi ned understorey of small-er trees and shrubs (hazel, holly, elder) but in winter, little growing on the ground other than ferns and maybe patches of snowdrops. Soon, a succession of daffodils, wood sorrel, wood anemone, bluebells and stitchwort will follow.
Most woodland dwellers are spring fl ower-ing, to make use of sunlight fi lter-ing through bare branches. They’ll grow, fl ower and seed before the tree canopy closes over, many dying back to bulbs, corms or tubers well able to tolerate summer droughts while trees are in full leaf. Obviously, there are degrees of
shade and where trees have fallen or coppicing carried out, light enters and there’s a sudden explo-sion of foxgloves and willow herb. Wood edges and river banks offer a mix of sun and shade similar to that experienced in gardens.
Imagine the roots of woodland plants pushing out into all that moist yet well-drained, soil, fed over the years by annual layers of fi brous leaf mould. Undisturbed,
26
ANNE SWITHINBANK
In theshade
Gardens
Devon’s Anne Swithinbank, panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, is getting some natural inspiration for the shady areas of her garden
W
Most woodland dwellers are
spring � owering, to make use
of the sunlight ltering through
bare branches [[Gardening_Feb13.indd 26 08/02/2016 13:52:20
To benefit from instant height, I planted some tall, narrow cypresses into containers for my small town garden. They are now leaning slightly and some of the foliage has
gone brown. How can I rescue them?
We sometimes ask a lot of our plants. I suspect they might have been planted too deeply, so look to see how much extra compost was piled on top of the original rootballs and up the trunk. You might need to carefully lift and reposition the plants but wait until spring. Some plants, such as clematis and roses can be buried a bit deeper, others like conifers and rhododendrons take exception to this. As they are tall, they are likely to have been rocked by the wind, tearing new roots. Maybe they could be secured to something while pushing roots into the compost. Conifers benefit from mycorrhizal associations as described above, even in pots. A sprinkle of Rootgrow over the roots when you reposition them would help.
27
Last year, I planted a summer flowering jasmine to climb an obelisk. It grew a bit but is now a mass of stems, some green but others brown and dead-looking. Is it dead and how
do I look after it?
This would be Jasminum officinale which, unlike the indoor Jasminum polyanthum, is usually deciduous and better able to withstand frost. It is also, like winter jasmine, rather prone to die- back hence the brown stems. As long as there is plenty of green stem, there is nothing to fear and come spring, you can prune the dead away and your plant will burst back into growth. Providing it receives plenty of sunshine and warmth, your jasmine will scent the whole garden.
Q
Question time with AnneWest reader queries answered by Anne Swithinbank
Send your questions to Anne at [email protected]
This week’s gardening tipsAnne’s advice for your garden
Q
• Sow peas into a container under glass for early pickings. I used a 35cm/14in wide pot, fixed five twiggy beech sticks 1.5m/5ft high around the edge, tied in over the top to make a wigwam and sowed a tall pea 5cm/2in apart in and around the supports. Despite a frost under unheated glass, they’re already germinating.
• Buy tender plug plants cheaply,
keep on a cool, bright windowsill or under glass and take cuttings of their shoots so you have three or four for the price of one. Fuchsias verbenas and argyranthemums (margueurites) are ideal.
• Sow calabrese into a wide pot. When germinated, transplant one per 9cm/3.5in pot to grow on and plant out for an early crop.
Sowantirrhinums as the tiny seeds need a long growing season. Scatter thinly and evenly onto a tray of moist seed compost, cover with a thin layer of compost or vermiculite, keep in a warm propagating case until germinated, then space seedlings 2.5cm/1in apart, grid fashion in a seed tray
Shop Those still panicking over Valentine’s presents for gardeners could do worse than choose seed packets promising plants with love in their name. There is love-in-a-mist (nigella), cupid’s dart (Catananche caerulea), forget-me-not (myosotis) and heartsease pansy (Viola tricolor).
this provides the ideal environment for the myc-orrhizal fungi whose mycelium or fungal strands grow in or around plant roots. Sugars are taken from the plant in exchange for extending the root system for an improved uptake of water and nu-trients. This is a far cry from our gardens, where in new plots soil can be poor and compacted with no body to it. Even ‘well-cultivated’ soil is regu-larly disturbed and a poor home for these sym-biotic, beneficial fungi. If your soil is workable, I’d opt for planting straight into it with minimal fuss, then mulching with lots of well rotted com-post. Products containing mycorrhizal fungi can be added to roots at planting time to help them establish.
Among my favourite spring flowers are Medi-terranean Cyclamen coum, out now. These perky, hardy cyclamen are brilliant for dry shade quite close to the trunks of trees. Ours are colonising soil just under the skirts of a clipped beech. The lungwort Pulmonaria ‘Diana Claire’ is another treasure for dry shade, as the silvery leaves shine out. Dicentra spectabilis, the bleeding heart, sends up arching stems of pink and white blooms but needs a moist soil. There is a white form and they die back during summer.
For the more difficult summer months, I’d like to try some campanulas in areas of light shade
and moist soil. C.takesimana makes sturdy 60cm/2ft tall plants with large, drooping bell-shaped flowers of white or pink. More graceful at 1m/3ft tall, C.latifolia will probably need some support. Another often overlooked summer plant for a similar position is the willow gentian (Gen-tiana asclepiadea). This grows to 60cm/2ft, with cascading stems bearing blue or white flowers, so ideal for a moist bank or slope. As with all experi-ments, I’ll try a few plants first to see how they get on and whether the rabbits and deer find them tasty. Those that take off and thrive will then be propa-gated and added to, m a k i n g impres-s i v e drifts.
Gardening_Feb13.indd 27 08/02/2016 13:52:47
28
BeautyBeauty
Expert advice from beauty guru Abbie Bray of Newton Abbot
Beauty box
Abbie’s
You can never go
wrong with a smoky eye
and a bold red lip [[
Happy Valentine’s Day! I can’t believe it is the middle of February already. So if you are going out somewhere wonderful tomorrow night, here’s my advice on looking gorgeous on a romantic night out. You can never go wrong with a smoky eye and a bold red or pink lip;
whether you are staying in to have a romantic meal for two or painting the town red with the girls, there is a something to suit everyone.This week my favourite product is this Clarins Iridescent silver pink eye shadow. It is great to wear as a subtle wash of colour or you can create a gorgeous smoky eye look by layering the colour. Don’t let the shimmer put you off, it is suitable for any age. There is also a shade of pink or red lipstick to suit any tone of skin – warmer tones tend to suit a more olive skin tone whereas blue (cooler) tones of red suit a fairer skin.
Bene� t Maybe Baby Per-fume (Boots, £19.50)
Complete your look with a spritz of this so� and
sultry fragrance. Redolent of white blossoms and a rush of sultry musk, it’s
eau so irresistible.
Eau yes!
Color Studio pure matt lipstick in Heart Throb (www.colorstudiopro.com, £8.50)
The matt look for lips is hot right now. This lipstick is one of the best I’ve tried, with plenty of pigment for a long-lasting pout. Mwah!
Kiss kiss
YSL Shocking Mascara in black (John Lewis,
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On the lash
Ciate Chisel eyeliner in
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Eyes right
Clarins Light Perfecting Base
(Debenhams, £18)
A moisturising primer for
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pearls.
Perfect
Clarins Iridescent Sil-ver Pink eye shadow (Debenhams, £19)The smoothing e� ect of a cream shadow, but with a powder � nish. I love it!
In the pink
Beauty_Feb13.indd 28 08/02/2016 13:56:38
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Untitled-1 1 09/02/2016 11:26:09
30
W
Mylene Klass scroll embroidery body
£35 Littlewoods
ow! Doesn’t mum-of-two Myleene Klass look lovely in this lingerie? Valentine’s Day is the ideal excuse to
treat yourself to some extra-special undies (or receive them as a gift!). If you’re slim and athletic like Myleene, then there are lots of bras now with clever and confi dence-boosting pad-
ding, while slim girls who don’t need support can wear wispy fabrics and go overboard with the frills. Curvy ladies can accentuate a larger bust – and make a feature of your waist – in a bra that creates amazing cleavage. Look out, too, for straps and clasps that add tantalising detail, as well as support.
Loveable!
Body £65 www.lascana.co.uk
Petite Fleur side bow briefs Petite Fleur side bow briefs £14 www.lascana.co.ukwww.lascana.co.uk
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Fashion_Feb13.indd 30 08/02/2016 14:01:11
31
Fashion
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Bra £26, briefs £12 Boux Avenue
Fashion_Feb13.indd 31 08/02/2016 14:02:23
t’s embarrassing confession time. When I like a pair of trousers I can wear them up to three times a week. I get to the point where I fi nd it hard to believe I ever left the house
in anything else. This is how I felt when I got a pair of high-waisted black jeans from Topshop re-cently. I realised I had a problem when my best friend Kerry casually remarked ‘Those welded on?’ when I arrived for a coffee date. Brutal, but necessary. An intervention in the truest sense of the word.
Most problems can be solved with a bit of shop-ping and, luckily, this one was no exception. I’ll admit, I was tempted to strike out in search of a similar style but the aim was to add depth to my weekday scene. A fresh approach was needed.
It only took the swiftest of fl ips through my fa-vourite fashion weeklies to see the answer lay in slacks. They’re defi nitely my favourite kind of solution too, elegant and simple. One magazine even went so far as to declare 2016 ‘the year of the pant’.
The hype is justifi ed. Popping on a good pair of this season’s trousers gives you that rare feel-ing of looking incredibly fash-ion-forward, but also like you didn’t try, at all. A heady com-bination, usually the domain of style royalty.
A good pair can be worn in a multitude of ways. They marry well with a col-lared blouse. Think cuffs rolled up to your elbow. White, striped or even covered in a cute pattern like dots or wee bicycles, but not too crisp, and always tucked in. If the fabric is soft enough a half tuck will do (This is where you artfully tuck in just the front of the shirt leaving the rest hanging out). I’m a sucker for throwing a soft knit over the top of this and letting collar and cuffs protrude. Sharp dressing with a soft side.
Talking of soft, this Reiss knit I’m wearing was like a soft cloud of warmth. I love a beautiful but
comfortable piece of knitwear but I sometimes feel a bit on the casual side when I wear one with skinny jeans to the offi ce. Throwing the knit on over these slacks was a great workaround. The tailoring means you still get taken seriously and the juxtaposition with the softness of the jumper provides interest.
I went for a black pair, aiming for maximum versatility. But there a multitude of options avail-able from pastels to print. I love the idea of an ec-lectic print with a simple white vest and strappy
sandals in the summer, and even an olive green pair would look great with a grey jumper and ballet fl ats on a casual weekend get-together. My advice, start with a pair in good old basic black and, if you fi nd they have transformed your ward-robe, then diversify.
I’m going to wear these at least four times this week. That reminds me, I must cancel lunch with Kerry. Totally unrelated of course.All fashion in these pictures is from Princesshay Shopping Centre, Exeter, www.princesshay.co.uk
32
Trend
Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod � nds a pair of trousers that earn their keep
HOW TO WEAR IT:
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Slacks
Shoes, Next, Princesshay, £30
Trousers, Reiss, Princesshay, £120
Knitwear, Reiss, Princesshay, £130
Hat, Reiss, Princesshay, £60
They’re de� nitely my favourite kind
of fashion solution too, elegant and
simple.
TREND_SLACKS_FEB13.indd 32 09/02/2016 13:25:23
33
GET THE
look
Jacquard trousers £36 NEXT
Green slacks £40 TOPSHOP
Ankle strap heels £150 REISS
Blue slacks £40 RIVER ISLAND
Tassel bag £29 MISS
SELFRIDGEPrinted trousers £40
RIVER ISLAND
Wide-legged trousers £140
KAREN MILLEN
fave!
TREND_SLACKS_FEB13.indd 33 09/02/2016 13:26:03
34
culturevulture
Our guide to what’s on in the South West by woman-in-the-
know Sarah Pitt
Explore the world of all things that scuttle and creep at the gardens at RHS Rose-moor in north Devon this half-term week. Adults and children are invited to see the world of insects up close to discover their secrets. You can also wander under giant willow spiders that make you feel like a tiny � y and even dress up and take part in an Ugly Bug Ball The fun starts today (February 13) with ‘secret life of insects’ guided walks at 11.30am and 2.30pm. And on Friday, February 19,, kids can learn to make a Bug House to give insects somewhere to shelter. Normal garden admission applies, £11 for adults, £5.50 for children or family ticket (two adults, two children) £28.25. Find out more at www.rhs.org.uk
Mini safari
One man show I Am Not Myself These Days is by turns brutal, funny and heartbreaking, a gripping tale of self-discovery set amidst the hedonistic excesses of 1990s New York. Adapted for the stage from Josh Kilmer-Purcell’s New York Times bestseller, this is a darkly humorous autobiographical story. It tells of a young New Yorker’s unconventional journey to self-acceptance while living a daring dual life as an advertising art director by day, glitter-dripping drag queen by night. Starring Tom Stuart, in his own adaptation, this Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit is at Exeter’s Bike Shed Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 22 and 23.
Double lifeOne of the rising stars of the national comedy scene is making a rare trip west to appear at The Mill Comedy Club in Penzance. Welsh funny man Dan Mitchell will headline the stand-up comedy event at the venue on Friday (February 19). Described by TV veteran Bob Mortimer as “a joy to watch”, Dan has starred in many shows on the box, including Show Me The Funny. And he’s even been funny on Welsh language TV, on the S4C show Gig-L. He is joined at The Mill by three of the best up-and-coming acts in the South West. Tickets £3 on the door for 8pm start, see www.themillpenzance.co.uk
Laughter
Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions) from www.bikeshedtheatre.co.uk or call 01392 434169. Performances start at 7.30pm.
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CultureVulture_Feb13.indd 34 09/02/2016 11:51:22
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Enjoy
Your starsby Cassandra Nye
PISCES (February 20 - March 20)Are you feeling a little put upon? Well, don’t let it concern you. Practise, this
week, saying ‘no’. Contrary to what you may think, you will still be as popular. Indeed, doing so can make a romantic interest even more interested. Feel like spreading your wings? Doing something different? Well, let someone else organise it for a change.
ARIES (March 21 - April 20)This is a powerful week when you will feel strong and attractive. Indeed, your
charm positively shines through. When embark-ing on a new plan, have alternatives and be fl exible. Changes in your romantic life can be unsettling, but you know they make sense.
TAURUS (April 21 - May 21)Although it is a busy time, you should feel able to tackle anything that comes
along. Realising that you have back-up gives extra confi dence. In both a loving and sen-suous week, personal satisfaction seems that much closer. An ‘over the top’ reaction from someone around the time of Valentine’s still makes you smile.
GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)Move forward with ambitions and don’t be coy about showing your talents.
Although you may be quite prepared to go it alone, there are those who are willing and
eager to back you up. Be optimistic about fi nances and get your house in order.
CANCER (June 22 - July 22)Jump at any opportunity that helps move plans forward. This can be a
very progressive week in all areas. Finances are highlighted, but be sure to seek out the best deal. It is out there! This week can be as romantic as you care to make it.
LEO (July 23 - August 23)Being at your charming best pays dividends when it comes to romance
and cooperation with others. Someone from the past is setting their sights on you and maybe this time it will work out better. Still, take a practical approach rather than a rose-tinted one.
VIRGO (August 24 - September 23)Keeping up with the latest techni-
cal moves can seriously benefi t your working life right now. Break down any mental barriers and be prepared to be amazed! You look good, feel good and a bit of romance would certainly do you good. Let optimistic Jupiter guide you towards a more spontaneous and romantic weekend.
LIBRA (September 24 - October 23)Information coming your way through
others this week really gets you think-
ing. Your personal charm is at a peak as this period begins. Some of you who have a serious relationship already will feel like making a proposal. I don’t want to take the shine off, but work out fi nances fi rst!
SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22)A change in plans as the week begins is just a blip. Family matters are fun
and give you a better understanding of those who are close to you. A chance meeting or conversation at work leads to quite a radical idea (for you). If this touches on a holiday with someone rather different, so much the better!
SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21)A certain kind of detachment from your daily life is pushing you in the direc-
tion of a more social approach. Have you been working too hard or giving up leisure time for others? With Mars on your doorstep, be prepared to open the door to new and exciting people.
CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20)A certain lack of energy this week gives you the chance to catch up on paper-
work. Finances can be tightened up and work plans made more effi cient. Giving a bit more attention to your love life is essential and will be fun. Cash fl ow may be a bit of a problem right now, but dealing with this can be an intel-lectual challenge.
Simon Pegg
This week’s sign: Happy birthday to...Aquarians typically fall into two camps: the shy and sensitive types and the e� ervescent exhibitionists, but both are strong-willed in their own way. But that doesn’t mean stubborn: one endearing characteristic is the willingness of Aquarians to listen to others and admit to being wrong. Even when you stick to your own opinion, you’re so considerate of other people’s views that you’re a great friend to share time and conversation with, Aquarius!
born February 14, 1970Gloucestershire-born Simon studied theatre, � lm and television at Bristol University. Brit � lms Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (co-starring his best friend, Nick Frost) � rst made his name and Simon has gone on to star in Hollywood hits including Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Star Trek. Simon married music industry publicist Maureen in 2005 and their six-year-old daughter Matilda’s godfather is Devon-born Coldplay singer Chris Martin. Simon is godfather to Chris and Gwyneth Pal-trow’s daughter Apple.
AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19)Something you once thought could provide an income has the chance to
become a satisfying hobby instead. Be with your friends at the weekend to avoid a fl at period. Indeed, you need to organise your own fun this week! Waiting for others to get moving can be frustrating. Give them the knowledge they need to do it though and you all get ahead.
CultureVulture_Feb13.indd 35 08/02/2016 16:14:28
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Want to cleanse your mind and overhaul your tness regime at the same time?
Breath Health and Fitness Centre in Truro o� ers classes that promise to be gentle on beginners and relaxing for tness fanatics,
too. Make time for you by taking one of their specialised classes in Back Yoga, Hot Yoga or pilates. A glutton for punishment? Book
a 1-2-1 session with one of their personal trainers. Get a full class list on their website:
www.breathehq.co.uk
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
Popular US fruit and nut snack bar range KIND launched in the UK in October. Each bar has an average 40% less sugar per 100g than similar snack bar products. All are gluten-free (many are dairy-free too), high in bre and contain no arti cial � avours, colours or
preservatives. A great late-a� ernoon or pre-workout boost. Find them at Tesco, £1.29 each.
Healthy snacks
TIME FOR YOU
Children’s charity the Rainbow Trust supports more than 1,900 families caring
for a child with a life threatening or terminal illness, giving them emotional
support and much-needed breaks. This Valentine’s Day, the charity is
asking us to have a heart and make a £5 donation – just what you might spend
on a box of chocolates – so it can support more children and families. Visit www.
rainbowtrust.org.uk/donate
Show some love
TheBoost_Feb13.indd 36 08/02/2016 14:20:55
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What’s coming up? Tweet us your wellbeing diary dates @WMNWest or email [email protected]
EAT WELL, THINK
Did you know our brain is an energy hog that consumes 20% of all the energy we put into
our body? There is no single best diet or food. It’s about including a wide variety of fresh, unprocessed foods, vegetables and fruits,
lean protein (including three portions of oily � sh a week), seeds, nuts and wholegrains. Water is essential. Even 1% dehydration is
associated with fuzzy thinking, so keep � uid intake up with six to eight glasses a day.
MORE CLEARLY
Andrea McLean recently shared a sweet
picture on Twitter of herself posing with
her 14-year-old son Fin, with both of
them in teeth braces.
The Loose Women presenter explained:
“I’ve had braces. I was supposed to have
them when I was a teenager. I had acne,
a perm, I was not going to add braces.
“My 14 year old son just had them done, I
was saying you’re so brave, and I thought
you’re such a hypocrite because you
never did it.”
Brace! your hands this Valentine’s day: this
nourishing cocoa and shea butter
cream (£12.95 www.annabeljames.
co.uk) is gorgeously rose and geranium
scented. What a treat.
LOVE...
If heart disease runs in your family, knowing about it could help save your life, says the British Heart Foundation. You can also � nd out more about your ‘heart age’ by � lling in an online ques-tionnaire which assesses your heart age compared to your real age on the NHS choices website, www.nhs.uk
TheBoost_Feb13.indd 37 08/02/2016 14:21:27
Wellbeing
I am a woman in my fifties and would like to know what I can do to keep look-
ing healthy and glowing, like the celebrities of my age seem to do! DS, Axminster
Medical aesthetician Dr Pradnya Apte says: There are plenty of celebrities out there of your age that look amazing. Just look at Michelle Pfeiffer or Elle Macpherson, for example. Maintaining a youthful glow is more of a challenge now, with your oestrogen levels declining as menopause is imminent, thinning and drying your skin – but there are plenty of solutions that will help.
First up, diet and physical activity are vitally important to women in their 50s and can contrib-ute to a wonderful overall sense of wellbeing and appearance. Your metabolism slows down natu-rally as you age and, if left alone, lean muscle can turn into fat. There is an increased risk of diabe-tes and heart disease but include some unsatu-rated fat in your diet, to keep your skin supple.
There is a huge range of skincare products to choose from, but I recommend cream or lotion cleansers that do not strip the skin of their natu-
Qral oils. Also try serums that penetrate down to the dermis to work more effectively. It is very important to use a moisturiser with at least SPF 30 to prevent further damage to the skin’s DNA, which causes ageing. Retinoids (Vitamin A for-mulations) in skincare work by resurfacing the skin, increasing cellular renewal and improving elasticity. Formulations that are deemed “cosmoceutical” in strength also cause mild shed-ding of the skin, which is great for improving the skin’s appear-ance. In my clinic, I stock Image Skincare, a cosmoceutical range that delivers key ingredients to the deeper parts of the skin.
Other effective ingredients in skincare include glycolic acid, to resurface, brighten and hydrate the skin, and Vitamin C is good for collagen production and re-ducing redness in the skin.
You could consider non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Injectables like dermal fillers and botulinum toxin injections (botox) help correct
lines, folds and restore facial volume. There are a lot of products out there so do choose a quali-fied aesthetic practitioner and aim for subtle and natural results.
Laser and Intense Pulse Light (IPL) treatments are great for reducing areas of pigmentation, removal of super-ficial wrinkles and tightening the skin. Non surgical facelifts (also known as One Stitch face lifts) offer immediate results for those that do not want to have surgery. Silhouette Soft is a one-stitch procedure that I carry out in my clinic – threads lift the soft tissues in the jowl area. It only takes an hour and the results are fantastic, lasting about 12 months until the threads break down naturally.
Dr Pradnya Apte runs the Revital-ise-Rejuvenate medi-clinic in Exeter. For information on Silhouette Soft and Image Skincare contact [email protected] or visit www.revitalise-rejuvenate.co.uk
38
How to look fabulous at 50
‘Vitamin C is good for collagen production and
reducing redness. Glycolic acid will help brighten and hydrate the skin’ [[
What are the best ways to care for your skin in a new decade?
WellbeingQ&A_Feb13.indd 38 08/02/2016 14:24:07
St Austell8ManfieldWay, Holmbush,PL25 3HQ - 01726 [email protected]
WadebridgeBridgend, PL27 6DA01208 814242
Hayle4 Fore Street, Copperhouse,TR27 4DY - 01736 755 700
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TR1 1SB - 01872 [email protected]
the furnishers
Bed Sale!until February 29th 2016
Tip: The use of a tall headboard incontrasting fabric to the divan base,
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sumptuous glamour.
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Untitled-1 2 09/02/2016 11:25:07
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Drink
Despite rumours to the contrary, Cornwall CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) is
keeping its spring beer festival in St Ives this year. There had been talk of a move to Penzance, but the team have opted to stay
at the St Ives Guildhall venue.
Shipshape and Bristol fashion Butcombe Brewery is to sponsor this year’s Bristol Beer Festival, at Brunel’s Old Station, Temple Meads, from March 10-12. The festival will feature more than 140 real ales, as well as ciders and perries.
STAYING IN ST IVES
Darren Norbury
talks beernline retailer EeBria’s research about the drinking habits of older people almost passed me by, until I realised that, by their measure, I am,
at the grand old age of 51, an Older Person. What a cheek. I admit that I am more inclined to walk back to the pub rather than run after a bus I’m late for, and that my idea of adrenaline sport is to request a beer glass without a handle, but even so. Older. Pah.
The point, however, is this. Apparently, us grey, baldy gee-zers aren’t as wedded to old-fashioned beer styles as the hipster youngsters think. Black IPAs, double IPAs and sour beers are grabbing our imagination, to the cost of, presumably, trad brown bitter. My experience of drinking in a pub where new and old styles are both present is that, well, you can teach old dogs new tricks.
You can steer traditional bitter drinkers into hoppier porters and fruity milds; you can even get lifelong lager drinkers trying zesty pale ales and ditching the Stella forever. It’s a Damascene moment (oh, and they save quite a bit of money over the course of a year, too).
I am, of course, in oh so many ways, a special
case. Trying new beers is my thing. But even so, I can see a point in, say, 15 or 20 years where old-fashioned brown bitter as we know it may be seriously hard to fi nd among the jungle of keg IPAs, canned imperial stouts, and bottled British
saisons.And I think that would be a
real shame. But perhaps the twist in the tale could be a future revival of historic recipes. Per-haps the acquisitive nature of AB-InBev will have reached its peak by then, with the global giant buying up every interest-ing, high-alpha hop crop grow-ing. And the small brewers will be left with Fuggles and Gold-ings and they’ll think: we could make an old-fashioned bitter. To enjoy as Leicester City march to their 20th consecutive Premier League championship, manager
Jose Mourinho announcing his retirement after all those glory years in charge.
Until that happens, I’m happy on my voyage of discovery, quaffi ng Sorachi Ace single-hop pale ales and delighting in cacao nib-infused double porters. But, note to self: remember not to leave that walking stick in the pub. Darren Norbury is editor of beertoday.co.uk
@beertoday
O
As the presentation was made to Cornish Crown Brewery for its win in the speciality
class in last autumn’s Falmouth Beer Festival, I had to remind myself what a � ne beer Red IPA (6% ABV) is. Hopped
with Nelson Sauvin and Cascade for good bitterness, there’s a nice red tinge to the
beer and a note of fresh red apple.
Beer of the week
[[My experience of drinking in a pub with new and old style beers is that, well, you can
teach old dogs new tricks
Tim_Beer_Feb13.indd 40 08/02/2016 16:19:32
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Tim Maddams is a Devon chef and author of Game: River Cottage Handbook no. 15 (Bloomsbury £14.99)
ow, I don’t want to drag out the same old cliches and bang you over the head with them. We know by now that rhubarb is a vegetable, not a fruit, and we are equally aware
that the early stuff is forced in darkened sheds in Yorkshire to produce the delicate, pink stems and crunchy freshness we are all so familiar with at this time of year.
I have, at times, actually treat-ed it as a vegetable, chopping it fi nely, adding fi nely chopped onion and thyme and dressing the whole thing in rapeseed oil to garnish cured mackerel and bass. But most often when I see the new rhubarb I am thinking about pudding. I know, that’s ter-ribly uncool, but this is where rhubarb excels. These tender stems are so fresh and fi rm they can simply be dipped into sugar, sherbet dib-dab style, and eaten raw. But once
you cook it (see panel) you have a whole gamut of options. Serve it up warm with ice cream or yoghurt, churn it into ice cream, or make it into a sorbet or frozen parfait.
I like to drain off the cooking liquid and shake this over ice with equal parts of gin and dry vermouth to make a very tasty rhubarb martini. The fruit itself often ends up in a lightly-spiced brownie mix, baked until just about set enough to cut. Serve it as a pud with a cocktail and you’ll be sure to im-press your guests.
Cooked rhubarb makes an ex-cellent addition to trifl e too. and a rhubarb mille-feuille is well worth the effort.
Whatever you decide to do with it, please don’t overcook rhubarb to a watery colourless sludge,
unless it is that hard stuff from the garden that needs the extra cooking time to bring out its sweetness and fl avour.
N
Rhubarb, rhubarbI think the very best way to deal with this wonderful chap is to dress lengths of rhubarb in a little honey, add a little black pepper and place the whole thing in a ceramic baking dish.
Cover with a tight fi tting lid and place into a warm BUT NOT HOT oven, say around 80C for around 40 mins, until it’s softened but has still got some bite and sharpness to it.
@TimGreenSauce
Ingredient of the Week
Rhubarbwith Tim Maddams
I drain o� the liquid, shake it
over ice with gin and vermouth
and have myself a tasty rhubarb
martini [[
Eat
Tim_Beer_Feb13.indd 41 08/02/2016 18:03:24
42
Enjoy
BabbacombeA WEEKEND IN...
nown for having some of the most picturesque views in the country, make sure you get the window seat when travelling to the beautiful vil-lage of Babbacombe, near Torquay.
There are plenty of hidden treasures in and around this village. So whether you’re after a cream tea or just hiking down to the beach, there’s something for everyone here this Valen-tine’s Day.
Stay: The Babbacombe Downs guest house offers guests a stress-free holiday from the minute they arrive. Rooms start from £75 per night and on offer are numerous extras to make your stay memorable. Make your loved one feel extra special this Valentine’s Day with their handmade chocolates and a selection of wine in your room.The Cary Arms offers stunning beach views and prices start from £195 per room with
Kbreakfast included. Situated on the beach itself, this hotel has won several awards including the 2014 Bronze Visit Devon Accommodation award and its food earned it a Gold Award from Taste of the West in 2015. It is pet friendly, for those who want bring their furry friends on holiday.
Eat: Perfect for a lunchtime rest, Angels Tea Rooms offers a variety of tea, sandwiches and scones. Served on fi ne bone china and made with local ingredients, this is a must for tea lovers. With outdoor and indoor seating, this enticing restaurant has lovely views – just the thing for Valentine dates. It gets busy, though, so do book ahead on 01803 324477
Do: Babbacombe is the place for coastal walks. From Walls Hill you can take a route to
Babbacombe beach where you might get a glimpse of seals and dolphins that often visit. For more information on the Babbacombe coastal walk visit www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk. Babbacombe Theatre hosts a wide variety of performances. We’re very excited about the upcoming performance by Lulu here this April 15, see www.babbacombe-theatre.com for details.
Ride high: Babbacombe Cliff Railway is a unique funicular
railway that opened in 1926 and runs up and down the cliff to the beach. It’s a fun experience and
We’re very excited about the upcoming performance by Lulu at the
theatre here this spring [[
The Cary Arms
WeekendIn_Feb13_Babbacombe.indd 42 08/02/2016 14:13:41
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also a good way of skipping the rather strenuous walk down to the sea. It’s £2.20 return for adults and is set to reopen for the summer season this February, see www.babbacombecliffrailway.co.uk for details.
Shop: If you have a big event to plan for, Boutique 98 offers formal wear for all occasions. The shop is a family-run business located in the heart of Babbacombe and the staff, Nicola, Samantha and Emma are on hand to help you fi nd the right outfi t. Just up from this wonderful shop is Best Wishes, which has a good selection of cards and gifts and is well worth a visit.
Don’t miss: The Babbacombe Model Village is absolutely charming – four acres of exquisitely crafted miniature scenes plus a café and gift shop. It’s £9.50 for an adult visit, see www.babbacombemodelvillage.co.uk for details.
Make a date: Calendar events here include an Armed Forces Day parade on June 11 2016, in partnership with Babbacombe Festival. Tony “Show Me the Way to Amarillo” Christie will be singing at Babbacombe Theatre in October 2016.
Words: Sophie Whiting
Babbacombe Model Village
Babbacombe Cliff Railway
Boutique 98
Angels Tea Room
WeekendIn_Feb13_Babbacombe.indd 43 08/02/2016 14:15:28
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My Secret Westcountry
Jess Golding
44
just tell you about Sennen beach. We as a family have spent hours and days there. You stroll through the woods and then out onto moonscape size boulders that you can dive from, into the sea.
Arts venue/festival: My all-time favourite place (outside of west Cornwall where I live) is Glastonbury Festival. My heart fi lls with incredible joy when the tickets site tells us we have been successful. The house erupts with cheers of jubilation. I have visited the festival for many years with the children, my best friends and their family. Packing is a military operation… teabags (check), headache tablets (check), permanent marker for writing telephone numbers on children’s tummies (check)…
Jess Golding is the manager of Penzance’s Business Improvement District, which promotes the town under the banner Love Penzance. She lives in Newlyn with husband Phil and children Logan (20), Merry ( 19) and Feock (15) and dogs Foster and Ronald
My favourite...
Walk: You know when you live in the right place when you get to enjoy a walk where you live, I can walk from blue sea to rolling green hill and then the woods, all minutes from my home. Newlyn is just a 15 minute walk to Penzance. I’m a power walker, my children when they were little used to have to jog next to me to keep up. Or it’s slap wellies on, clip up the lurchers and we’re off out the back door to the fi elds or the front door for the harbour. I’ve lived in Newlyn since I was 18 and the view of the harbour, St Michael’s Mount, Penzance and beyond is just breathtaking. Life unfolds in front of your very eyes.
Beach: When it comes to giving information about beaches and which are my favourite spots, you run the risk of being told off by your friends for giving away top secret information, so I’ll
Food: We grew up on Philps pasties, made in Hayle – my mum would buy one and
cut it in half, bag and all – so it would be wrong for me not to talk about their delicious pastry and how the gravy sits. Now though, my tastes have changed and fresh lemon sole
straight from one of the boats here in Newlyn can’t be bettered. Luckily, I
know a fi sherman or two.
Tipple: I’m a tea maid, always have been… well, until I discovered cider. Yes I know it harks back to being 13 and that was the only drink you could stand, as lager just tasted bitter, and bitter...well don’t get me started. So a lovely cider goes down a treat.
Pub: Penzance has some great pubs
Philps pasties
Pub grub at The Dock Inn Sarah Shaw of The Cornish Hen
MSW_Feb13.indd 44 08/02/2016 18:23:13
454545
Sennen beach
People
and some brilliant landlords. The Dock Inn based near the harbour, is a wonderful pub to while away the hours, with great conversation, and I’m sure this is where the gentlemen who are “just taking the dog out for his walk” head to really. Then you have The Crown Inn on Bread Street, with a microbrewery serving their own ales, which are highly recommended. I love the board games stacked high on the shelves in the snug room behind the bar. A hundred yards down the road, The Lamp and Whistle is a glori-ous celebration of all thing alcoholic, with some real specialist tipples.
Restaurant: The Cornish Hen in Penzance is a delicious deli and cafe on the corner of Market Place. You can eat tasty treats here and watch the world go by here. Fast forward to the evening though and I would skip my way gleefully to eat at Senara’s at Penwith College, which is very much worth checking out, the stu-dents are great. I also like The Bay restaurant. On an early summer’s evening that killer view is as good as anywhere in the world, and I’m just a short meander across the prom from my home.
Way to relax: When I’m feeling in a ball of
rage, I fi nd a wander to The Promenade in Pen-zance sorts me out. I love walking among some of the most delightful Georgian and Victorian architecture on Morrab Place and Morrab Road and then strolling down the hill towards the sea.
Shop: Have you ever been in a shop that not only takes you rattling back to your childhood, but also makes you want to purchase a giant Dalek? Steckfensters on Penzance’s Chapel Street is the sort of shop that you hear people shouting, “OH MY GOSH, I used to have one of these.” And Make Industries is a supermarket of wonderful crafts and produce, all made in Cornwall and presented in such a way you could blow a month’s wages in minutes. The range of independent stores and businesses in Penzance never fails to astound me.
Treat: My nails! I pop over to St Ives once a month to a salon called Beautopia to get them done. From the salon, the views are to die for when looking over the pretty little harbour, and I get to have a good old natter about life in gen-eral. Beauty therapist Claire Bidgoode has been in my life for six years now, and I have never missed an appointment.
Buy lovely things at Make Industries
MSW_Feb13.indd 45 08/02/2016 14:17:40
46
What a Week
all the gear, no idea
My life
big part of my move to the West-country was an attempt to get fit. Yes, I was that naïve. I actually came to the land of the carvery, the
pasty and clotted cream fudge ice cream to lose weight. To this end, I’ve thrown my lot in with the cyclists. Yet, what I learned this week is that, even with the best of intentions, there are some things you just can’t fake.
It all began with a bike ride – of sorts. I was ‘Lycra’d’ (is that a word?) to the max and seated, with my bike, outside the café at the end of my street. This was my traditional pre-ride coffee, which admittedly was usually longer than the ride itself. I knew my attire made it clear the Christmas pounds had not yet shifted but I comforted myself this state of affairs would soon pass. Probably.
I was just thinking how much like Chris Froome I looked, when someone I knew arrived on a bike. It was my Nemesis, a very athletic local cyclist. “You look wrecked,” he said. “Long ride?”
“Yeah, just done 50 miles,” I lied.
“Not bad. You’ll be a proper cyclist one day.”
I took umbrage at this. “What do you mean? ‘Proper Cyclist’.” I did a small gesture that translated as: “I’ve got all the gear.”
“Proper cyclists shave their legs,” was his reply.
We both looked from my furry calves to his smooth pins.
“Oh.”With that, he gave a smirk and was on his way. I didn’t go on my ride that day. After all I
wasn’t a Proper Cyclist. And as my Nemesis would be spreading the word I’d done 50 miles there seemed no need. Instead I had another latte and pondered. He was right, Proper
Cyclists do shave their legs. But was it a look I could pull off ? Would I get cold legs? What would my girlfriend say? All of this swirled inside my head as I pushed my bike the few hun-dred yards home. After several hours, I decided if I were to be a Proper Cyclist, whizzing around the lanes of our beautiful Westcountry, I had to go the whole hog.
I mentioned this to my girlfriend, casu-ally, in passing.
“All the best cyclists do it, like Froome and Wiggins.”
“But they’re the best cyclists in the world. You’re not even the
best cyclist on this street.”
She had a point. Eventually, how-ever, it was settled that I should do what I liked. Yet I’m not really used to doing new things. I have habits I enjoy, food I like to eat,
programmes I like to watch, a side of the bed I like to sleep on. On reflection, it was a bit late in life to learn how to shave my legs.
What happened next wasn’t for the faint hearted. Oh the horror, the horror! The hair was gone but so were chunks of my skin.
Next day, with smooth legs on display, I pushed my bike down to the same café and waited. I knew my
A
Chris McGuire attempts to get fit, with mixed results...
‘My traditional pre-bike ride
coffee is, admittedly,
usually longer than the bike
ride itself’ [[
Nemesis was bound to pass sooner or later. It didn’t take long.
“I see that you’ve taken the plunge,” he said.“Yes,” I replied. “I’m a Proper Cyclist now.”“Nah. Proper Cyclists ride their bikes, they
don’t just push them to the café and back.”He had a point. I didn’t go for a ride that day – I’d gone off the idea.
What I learned this week is there are some things you just can’t fake. I
promise I’ll be out on my bike for an actual ride next week. Unless it’s cold, obviously, because my poor legs would freeze.
Chris McGuire is a writer who re-cently moved to the Westcountry.
His hobbies include thinking about bike rides and
putting antiseptic cream onto his shaving cuts.
@McGuire-ski
NEXT WEEK: Phil Goodwin on love, life and being a dad to a dinosaur-mad five year old
ChrisM_Feb13.indd 46 08/02/2016 16:17:33
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