Father Christmas is here

Every year Santa brings his sleigh to Ashburton, with generous sponsorship from the local Rotary Club. On Saturday mornings he brings Christmas cheer to the shoppers, and in the evenings he travels round the town broadcasting carols.

Pants come to Ashburton

The latest addition to Ashburton's retail offering is a lingerie shop, in an enviable position next to the public toilets and the bus stop. It comes hot on the heels of the tattoo parlour which opened a few months ago. Are we moving away from the antiques and chintz?

Bountiful Bellever

Not much swimming to report recently due to lurgy. At the least the rain has now stopped and it feels properly like winter. We went to Bellever Forest, in the middle of Dartmoor, to gather greenery for festive festooning. It was cold up there but the sun, gleaming through the trees, was glorious.

Angry river

They say the Dart claims a life every year. Well it claimed a life this weekend - that of a canoeist. He was trapped between his canoe and a tree on one of the most inaccessible sections of the river, below Mel Tor. The Dartmoor Rescue Team had to walk for hours, climbing down into the gorge, to bring him out on a stretcher. Today the river was still boiling with rage.

Swimming through fairyland

Tor Bay has always been a place where ships shelter. Today, despite all the gales, it was serenely calm, and there was a magical sense of otherworldliness, a paused dimension, as we entered the water. We swam from Elberry Cove to Broadsands, past a series of crinkly, pointed rock formations that looked as though they should be home to mythical creatures. My very knowledgeable friend Sue tells me they are the fossilised remains of corals which grew here 360 million years ago, when the sea was shallow and tropical. There were caves and little inlets and channels to swim through. It felt like another kingdom.

Let's go fly a kite

A big storm has been rampaging through Devon. Roofs off, fallen trees etc. Perfect conditions for kite flying. We headed for Bonehill Rocks on Dartmoor. The kite was alive. Here, there and everywhere it went; at one point I nearly got decapitated as it zoomed down in a kamikaze nose dive.

Fungal fruitin'

The 'shroom season has been a little disappointing. It started in a rush of excitement at the end of August, with lots of chanterelles, but the Indian summer, lovely as it was, stopped the fungi in their tracks. The good news though is that the hedgehog mushrooms go on for much longer than most. Today my friend Amanda (shown with handsome specimen) and I took a fledgling forager out to 'show her the shrooms'; fortunately we managed to sniff some out.

A pressing engagement

Apple day in Ashburton. A friend's orchard, a small tractor, a crusher and a press. And last but not least, a (mostly) willing gang. The bottles weren't especially elegant, but that's the reality of recyling.

The kingdom of Yarnia

..is a place bursting with wools in rainbow colours. It's where knitting novices are welcomed with kind hearts, cups of tea and endless patience. We went 'into the wardrobe' at Spin a Yarn as knitting virgins. Half an hour later, we were ensconced in their workroom, cuppas at hand, and already onto the third row of our first knitting assignment - dishcloths.

Adventure down the Avon

It was the third time I've swum down the Avon estuary, from Aveton Gifford to Bantham, and each time has been different. Today it was overcast and there was a strong wind constantly pushing us back. But halfway down the estuary it calmed, and we floated on our backs by the bank, under gnarled old oak trees, gazing up at the leaves and watching them fall delicately into the water. We then stopped on some mudflats in the middle and sucked on some samphire. At one point we saw the most enormous gathering of swans - I counted thirty three, with nine cygnets. In the final leg of the swim the tide raced and we were swept onto the beach.