I love footpaths that bend .... they draw you on until you feel so knackered you need to sit sit down amongst the wild garlic and just take pleasure in being alive.
Glad to hear your good news about the new publisher. Hope it all goes well
What a brilliant post. Yes, Devon has changed a lot. We first lived her in 1978 until 1980 when we rented a tiny cottage in Bradninch which was quiet and not a commuter village and had a papershop, a butcher, a Spar, and a hardware shop. I loved it but, we needed to live in places that had easy access to workplaces. We moved back to Devon in 2019 (just in time for the pandemic) and live just outside of Sidmouth. We love it, but it isn't the Sidmouth we used to visit from Bradninch all those years ago. Now , everywhere is busy, and you have to really go out of your way to find the quiet places. But still, today is lovely, and the sky is blue and we can see the sea from our window and a view of Trow Hill. It'll do.
It isn't only the West Country that has changed over that time. Perhaps it is noticed in sharper colours there. I moved (via the world) to NZ in 1981. In 2009, I attended training in London and thought I might like a London job, but didn't do it. Visiting in 2013 (including spending time in still lovely Devon), then 2015, 2018 and 2023, I have felt increasingly alienated. England is no longer a place of familiarity for me, born in 1950. Time morphs everything. Not necessarily for better or worse, but evolved away from memories, for sure.
Have a wonderful time on your holiday! Don’t think of anything, if you can help it. Look for French portals, and meet new sheep, and find interesting rocks left by strangers who were hoping you would walk by.
Ah the enshittification of Devon, it has a history. I worked on a farm just outside St Giles on the Heath (just in Devon, between Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor) back in 1975 and even then people were grumbling that people from London were buying holiday homes all over the county forcing prices up so locals couldn't afford houses. There were other grumbles but the local dialect was so strong that I had no real idea what people were saying (I was brought up with Oxford English) but the shaking of heads and the muttered 'viddy you' or ' brave n bad' left me in no doubt that things had gone downhill and, potentially, I was the cause. To me though, brought up on a series of RAF bases, it was almost paradise; I went back recently, it is no longer
The shittification breaks my heart. I choose to continue to believe you live in a fairyland. I was hoping for a photo or two of one of the gypsy caravans…
My phone died a little before he showed me them but I’ll make sure I take pics next time I go to see John. I’m hoping he’ll teach me how to make cider.
Near Exeter seems to be trying more of the enshittification than anywhere…a great shame, but I also wonder if its better to have the enshittification localised and more intense or sofas a little around here and there. My own corner is doing ok in hanging on while gently moving on, and I hope yours is too
Thanks for taking us along on another lovely adventure … even if we did have to bear witness to the mangling of the countryside by soulless building and homogenized invasion. That’s a hard tragedy to watch.
On a happier note, I’d never heard of O Caledonia, and now I’m very much looking forward to reading it. So, thank you for that!
Yikes...someone else remembers the Blues Magoos, one of my all-time favs. I still listen to many of their songs. The haunting "Sometimes I Think About" is still a good one. I was not familiar with the other three songs but I am with the artists. You picked up on that evolution quite well. Too bad the mid 60's music was wrecked by the 70's pop slush and then disco.
What a wondrously serendipitous walk! Thanks for telling us about it. Thanks also for another book recommendation in O Caledonia. It is now on my list. Enjoy your well-deserved holiday!
Dorset is becoming a bit like Devon, see how ‘popular’ Durdle Dor is becoming? Also, Lyme Regis is going along the same path, with so many ‘weekenders’ and the likes. I feel your pain 😞
I love your descriptions of footpaths, that you can actually walk on other people's property...and encounterr their livestock. I'm sorry your country has changed. Mine certainly has. Not for the better, either. Oh, and I got your books the other day! Thanks! There's light at the end of the tunnel (book selling wise)!
Another fabulous piece of writing, thank you Tom. I read O' Caledonia last year and it is an absolute gem! I've since read Notes from the Henhouse and two of her daughter Rafaella Barker's novels which are really enjoyable too. Have a well deserved holiday 😎
I love footpaths that bend .... they draw you on until you feel so knackered you need to sit sit down amongst the wild garlic and just take pleasure in being alive.
Glad to hear your good news about the new publisher. Hope it all goes well
What a brilliant post. Yes, Devon has changed a lot. We first lived her in 1978 until 1980 when we rented a tiny cottage in Bradninch which was quiet and not a commuter village and had a papershop, a butcher, a Spar, and a hardware shop. I loved it but, we needed to live in places that had easy access to workplaces. We moved back to Devon in 2019 (just in time for the pandemic) and live just outside of Sidmouth. We love it, but it isn't the Sidmouth we used to visit from Bradninch all those years ago. Now , everywhere is busy, and you have to really go out of your way to find the quiet places. But still, today is lovely, and the sky is blue and we can see the sea from our window and a view of Trow Hill. It'll do.
It isn't only the West Country that has changed over that time. Perhaps it is noticed in sharper colours there. I moved (via the world) to NZ in 1981. In 2009, I attended training in London and thought I might like a London job, but didn't do it. Visiting in 2013 (including spending time in still lovely Devon), then 2015, 2018 and 2023, I have felt increasingly alienated. England is no longer a place of familiarity for me, born in 1950. Time morphs everything. Not necessarily for better or worse, but evolved away from memories, for sure.
Exactly that.
Have a wonderful time on your holiday! Don’t think of anything, if you can help it. Look for French portals, and meet new sheep, and find interesting rocks left by strangers who were hoping you would walk by.
Ah the enshittification of Devon, it has a history. I worked on a farm just outside St Giles on the Heath (just in Devon, between Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor) back in 1975 and even then people were grumbling that people from London were buying holiday homes all over the county forcing prices up so locals couldn't afford houses. There were other grumbles but the local dialect was so strong that I had no real idea what people were saying (I was brought up with Oxford English) but the shaking of heads and the muttered 'viddy you' or ' brave n bad' left me in no doubt that things had gone downhill and, potentially, I was the cause. To me though, brought up on a series of RAF bases, it was almost paradise; I went back recently, it is no longer
The shittification breaks my heart. I choose to continue to believe you live in a fairyland. I was hoping for a photo or two of one of the gypsy caravans…
My phone died a little before he showed me them but I’ll make sure I take pics next time I go to see John. I’m hoping he’ll teach me how to make cider.
Near Exeter seems to be trying more of the enshittification than anywhere…a great shame, but I also wonder if its better to have the enshittification localised and more intense or sofas a little around here and there. My own corner is doing ok in hanging on while gently moving on, and I hope yours is too
Thanks for taking us along on another lovely adventure … even if we did have to bear witness to the mangling of the countryside by soulless building and homogenized invasion. That’s a hard tragedy to watch.
On a happier note, I’d never heard of O Caledonia, and now I’m very much looking forward to reading it. So, thank you for that!
Yikes...someone else remembers the Blues Magoos, one of my all-time favs. I still listen to many of their songs. The haunting "Sometimes I Think About" is still a good one. I was not familiar with the other three songs but I am with the artists. You picked up on that evolution quite well. Too bad the mid 60's music was wrecked by the 70's pop slush and then disco.
What a wondrously serendipitous walk! Thanks for telling us about it. Thanks also for another book recommendation in O Caledonia. It is now on my list. Enjoy your well-deserved holiday!
I have never understood why it isn't better known and I wish she had written more.
Such a relief to hear about your new publisher! Have a lovely relaxing holiday, if you can switch off. It’s been a hell of a few months for you.
Dorset is becoming a bit like Devon, see how ‘popular’ Durdle Dor is becoming? Also, Lyme Regis is going along the same path, with so many ‘weekenders’ and the likes. I feel your pain 😞
I love your descriptions of footpaths, that you can actually walk on other people's property...and encounterr their livestock. I'm sorry your country has changed. Mine certainly has. Not for the better, either. Oh, and I got your books the other day! Thanks! There's light at the end of the tunnel (book selling wise)!
Another fabulous piece of writing, thank you Tom. I read O' Caledonia last year and it is an absolute gem! I've since read Notes from the Henhouse and two of her daughter Rafaella Barker's novels which are really enjoyable too. Have a well deserved holiday 😎
Thanks Lynne! I must give those a go too!
Thank you for the perfect book recommendation. I'm off to Scotland at the end of next month for the first time.
Happy Monday thanks for posting