A YOUNG Bodmin woman has revealed how she thought the symptoms of her cancer were down to her life as a student.

Sam Smith was 19 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in August of 2012.

Her main symptoms were unusual tiredness, persistent itching and a lump on her collarbone.

Sam, now 20, of Clifden Terrace, had just finished her first year studying sports psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University's Cheshire campus when she was told the news.

"I thought my symptoms were purely down to being a student for a year," she said.

"I went to the doctors and they sent me off for some tests, and kept mentioning lymphoma and I thought, 'Well, that sounds like eczema, so maybe it's something to do with my skin or my glands and I'll get a cream or antibiotics or something and I'll be fine'."

Sam was then stunned when doctors told her the bad news.

"At the end of August last year they said 'you've got lymphoma – don't worry it's Hodgkin's lymphoma. It's a good kind of cancer to have'. I thought – cancer? What are you on about? I just didn't understand, it didn't really hit me.

"Then, within a week, I was starting the whole process of chemotherapy. I was overwhelmed but I knew I had to fight."

Due to her treatment Sam, a keen hockey player, had to drop out of university and give up playing sport. She moved down to Cornwall from Merseyside in July to be with her partner and is unsure where life will lead her next.

"I may go back to studying in the future but for now I'm just going to try and fully recover, look for work and then maybe get back into sport," she said. "I may even pursue a different career path, who knows."

Sam was told in May that she is now in remission, and is desperate to raise awareness of the condition.

Figures show Hodgkin's lymphoma is the most common cancer in the under-30s and affects more young adults than any other form – with around 850 young people diagnosed in the UK each year.

Lymphoma often responds well to treatment and in many cases it can even be cured. But with studies in recent years showing that more than a third of people under the age of 30 were not aware that lymphoma is a form of cancer, The Lymphoma Association aimed to use last week's Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week to get young people talking about the disease.

It is estimated that approximately 75,000 people in the UK are currently living with the disease and the incidence of lymphoma is increasing year on year, although there is no explanation for this.

The most common symptom of lymphoma is a painless lump or swelling, often in the neck, armpit or groin. Other common symptoms include excessive sweating (especially at night), fevers, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, unusual tiredness, a cough or breathlessness and persistent itching.

PLANS to build a new search and rescue base at Newquay airport have taken a step forward.

Bristow Helicopters Ltd confirmed this week that Balfour Beatty has won the £40 million contract to build the new bases at nine different locations across the UK.

The Cornish Guardian reported back in May how Bristow was to take on the search and rescue service in Cornwall from 2015.

It was announced in March that the UK company, which has its corporate head office in Texas, had won a seven to ten-year contract to provide the service across the UK.

The move by the Department for Transport will see two Sikorsky S92 helicopters based at Newquay airport and has been welcomed by community leaders in the town, who said it will create jobs for local people and is a "vote of confidence" in the airport.

However, the £1.6bn deal ends several decades of search and rescue provided by the RAF and Royal Navy, which ran a 40-strong fleet of Sea King helicopters.

Mike Imlach, managing director of Bristow Helicopters Ltd, said of the deal with Balfour Beatty: "We were impressed with the extensive experience and professionalism displayed by the team at Balfour Beatty and have absolute faith in their ability to deliver on this important project.

"We remain committed to involving local contractors in the establishment of the new SAR bases and look forward to seeing these contracts signed in the coming months.

"Our experienced crews have fed into the design process and worked closely with the architects to ensure that the bases are ideally suited to safe and efficient SAR operations.

"The identical interior layouts across the country will make it easy for our crew members to work from alternative bases should they need to. Each site will provide modern, high-quality accommodation for the aircraft and crews while demonstrating how buildings like this can be made highly sustainable and environmentally friendly."

Construction is due to commence in early 2014 with developments continuing until early 2017.

A DAD of four believes that a heart attack has saved his life.

It all began when 17st Ben Ingall, 43, decided to lose some weight and went out for a run.

Two hours later he was on the operating table being fitted with a stent in his coronary artery after suffering a heart attack.

The former architecture CAD technician said the episode was a warning shot.

"After the op I thought, 'thank God I am still alive'," he said.

"It really puts life into focus. Life is short. It's not all about getting up at 5am and working."

His wife Jo described the heart attack as a massive reality check which she had thought could leave their children fatherless.

"He could have died," she said. "I was really upset; we are in the prime of our lives with four children.

"Every moment of every day I used to think I could have lost him. I could be in a very different situation now, I could be sitting here with my four kids and no husband."

Two months after the operation, Ben's heart rate was still not recovering as expected, dropping as low as 25 beats per minute at night.

Jo said: "I didn't sleep properly because he used to get really cold and he used to have these gasps of breath and I used to think he was dying."

In October, he was fitted with a pacemaker and, with the help of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) team, started swim training in March.

In June and July, less than one year after his heart attack, Ben completed two gruelling sponsored swims, raising almost £2,500 for the charity which helped him to cut down on drinking, to eat more healthily and to take regular exercise.

"I lost three and a half stone, changed my eating, drinking and smoking habits and started regular exercise.

"I then set myself an ambitious goal to raise money for the BHF by swimming 5.3km down a river," he said.

Ben's grandfather and father both had pacemakers fitted and his uncle died from heart disease aged just 55.

"It makes you re-address your lifestyle and habits. You realise what is important, like family and enjoying life."

PUBLIC toilets at a popular North Cornwall destination could be kept open year round – but an increase in parking charges may have to pay for them.

Traders in Boscastle have been left furious after learning that, from today, Cornwall Council has doubled the cost of the first hour in the park opposite the Cobweb Inn from 50p to £1.

Annoyed with the authority's plans to close the toilets, which are part of the car park site, on winter weekdays, representatives of the Boscastle Chamber of Commerce had put forward the idea of raising the fee for the first hour of parking and using the extra income to keep the toilets open.

Cash-strapped Cornwall Council seized upon part of the suggestion and are raising the parking charge from today.

Cabinet member in charge of car parks, Bert Biscoe, told the Cornish Guardian yesterday that he was hoping to find a solution to benefit the village.

He said he was trying to put forward a trial scheme which would be beneficial to the community without affecting council revenue.

"We will keep to the plan of increasing the tariff for the first hour at Boscastle to £1, but I want to see that extra 50p go back to the parish council for the benefit of the community, possibly to keep the toilets open.

"However, the legal position of whether we are able to do that is still being investigated."

Mr Biscoe said that if Cornwall Council could not give the money to the parish council they would not implement the order for the increase in the car park fee.

He also said the possible payment to the parish council would only be for a limited trial, probably to the end of the financial year next April.

The parish council at Boscastle wrote to Cornwall Council in July saying it was appalled at the decision to close the toilets – the only public toilets in the area – on weekdays from November to March, and to charge for them.

It wrote: "The public conveniences serve Cornwall Council's car park customers, delivery drivers, bus/coach drivers, postmen and so on. Closing the facility during the winter will stop coach parties, and seriously reduce tourism."

The car park has a turnover in excess of £200,000 with running costs of around £80,000.

The toilets cost £19,000 to operate and Cornwall Council offered the parish council a £15,000 grant to take them on. The car park is operated by one council department while the toilets are operated by another.

"Surely the car park and toilets should be considered a single customer entity," said the parish council.

THE CHRISTIAN couple at the centre of controversy after refusing to let a gay couple stay in a double room at their guesthouse say it is forcing them to sell up.

Hazelmary and Peter Bull, who run Chymorvah Hotel, Marazion, said they have no option but to sell their beloved home and business after failing to attract enough custom and having to find money for legal costs.

The Chymorvah, which allows only married couples to share a bed, has been unable to advertise and is no longer listed by Visit England since the Equalities Act was brought in in 2007.

In 2008 the couple had to pay £3,600 to civil partners Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy after they were refused a room at the hotel on religious grounds.

Mrs Bull said they have now been forced to put the nine-bedroom property on the market.

"We were optimistic in the spring. Why wouldn't we be with the summer ahead of us? We have had a better summer than we thought but nowhere near good enough to pay our way," said Mrs Bull.

"We were not even half-full. We must have been the only place in west Cornwall that had rooms left."

Since the controversy, the couple have faced a string of vandalism. They claim they have had the bolts removed from the wheels of their car and most recently found a dead rabbit nailed to their fence.

Despite death threats, vandalism and the hotel website being corrupted with pornography, it is the financial pressure that is forcing them to sell.

"It was a gradual process; we just noticed more and more that we couldn't make the mortgage repayments. Last winter was terrible. We were actually shivering and were hungry," said Mrs Bull.

"We are coming towards next winter and dreading it. In 2013, two people who worked all their lives at this have ended up cold and hungry. It's not right."

The grade two listed property is on the market for £750,000 but Mrs Bull is concerned it will sell for less. She said they had not yet made any long-term plans because running a guesthouse was all they ever wanted to do.

She added: "This is like a death in the family. I never thought it would end like this.

"We are not facing the future with any real enthusiasm."

Earlier in the year the couple won the right to take their appeal to the Supreme Court next month after the case was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

PEOPLE in Hayle have had their first glimpse of plans showing the £35 million mall which could be built next to the existing West Cornwall Shopping Park.

Residents were invited to meet the developers and ask questions about the proposals for eight new shops, as well as a managed wildlife site and improvements to the A30 at Loggans Moor Roundabout.

The planned centre could include top high street names including Debenhams and H&M as well as restaurants.

More than 5,000 feedback booklets were distributed by the company to homes in the area. So far 537 responses have registered support for the plans, with 29 not in favour.

Bill Oakley, chairman of Cranford Developments, said: "We have had a fantastic response and are truly grateful to the residents of Hayle for the support they have shown. They are telling us they want to see Debenhams and other retailers come to Hayle. They want to see more shopping choice in the town. They also recognise that this development can be the catalyst to upgrade the A30 roundabout at Loggans Moor and help improve the traffic flow through that junction."

Angarrack residents were among the first to see the plans, as proposed changes to the road layout could affect access to and from the village.

Traffic congestion was one of the biggest concerns raised by residents at the meeting.

Marilyn Kennard said: "There's a traffic problem now. What they are proposing will not accommodate such a large development. I am completely against it."

Another resident, Phil Drew, said he had been concerned about traffic in the village, but felt reassured having listened to the developer's plans.

He added: "We need jobs in Hayle, I live in Angarrack and we are already out of road room. But we have been assured about these plans and good quality shops coming to Hayle. You can't beat it."

Included in the plans is a green buffer zone, meaning that no building would ever take place on that land. Developers said this buffer could be gifted to the community of Angarrack if desired.

Cranford will review all the feedback before submitting a planning application by the end of the year. If approved, the company would hope to start work in summer 2014 with the shops to open in autumn 2015.

You can comment online at www.hayleshoppingpark.co.uk

AN INVESTIGATION into the suspension of former Five Islands School head Bryce Wilby over alleged financial irregularities has concluded both the islands' council and the governing body erred in their handling of the case.

Last autumn the Department for Education investigated complaints against both the council and the governors and has now reported that procedures were not followed.

Mr Wilby was suspended and subsequently resigned.

The council responded to the findings by claiming the report recognised the difficulties it had faced at the time and the department had required no action or enforcement.

However, it was later alleged the severity of the breach had been played down, with a local radio station claiming the department had told it: "We are clear that both the school and the council have broken the law. We have written to them setting out our findings and await their responses as to how they will make sure this will not happen again."

They would not hesitate to take action "if the necessary improvements are not made".

The report is believed to call for the school to move towards academy status.

Chairman of governors Ben Julian said they "broadly accepted" the DfE's recommendations and the finding that the governing body did not discharge some of its duties, but did not wish "to divert their energies" into a point-by-point rebuttal.

They were working with inspectors, Ofsted, the diocese of Truro, the council, DfE "and excellent mainland practitioners ... to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the school and its governance".

In response to previous observations the governors had reconstituted their composition, appointed a new head and would now be looking " properly and thoroughly" at school organisation.

Options to be considered included retention of the status quo, embracing academy status or co-operative models with links to the mainland.

Despite "unprecedented challenges and change" the school continued to outperform most mainland schools, he said.

The council said that in a private letter to the interim chief executive, "the Minister concluded that, although the authority made some errors in dealing with procedures, no action or enforcement by the department was required".

The makers of a popular television programme didn't call their series Location, Location, Location for nothing – the geographic situation of a place can make all the difference in many, many ways.

If, for example, you were to go to a bank manager and tell them that you wanted to set up a business to catch passing trade in one of the highest and most remote places in all of southern England, he'd probably look askance. If you told him that your plan was to establish a pub in such an unpopulated spot, he'd laugh you out the door.

However, if you were to tell the bank manager that the location in question was one of the most beautiful uplands in the UK, he might begin to see sense in your apparent madness.

The Warren House Inn, up there in the lonely but lovely depths of northern Dartmoor, is located 1,500 feet above sea-level, making it the highest pub anywhere south of the Pennines – and it is amazingly remote, as our photograph shows.

And yet – despite a complete lack of locals – it does a brisk and healthy trade.

Pubs in this country are closing at an alarming rate – which is why the Western Morning News decided to do this series in conjunction with Otter Brewery in a bid to examine why it is that certain public houses survive where others fail.

On the face of it you'd expect the Warren House Inn formula to be a recipe for disaster. Put one old building, without mains electricity, into the middle of a sometimes bleak and barren landscape (containing not another chimney-pot in site) and then sit back and expect the bar to be full every day? It does seem crazy.

And there's just one other little foible in the recipe which might add to your woes – as landlord you must never, ever, allow the log fire to go out...

But... And it's a big but – there are two other things in the case of the Warren House Inn to take into consideration. The first is the sheer beauty of the location – and the fact that the general public's appreciation for outstanding countryside has grown and grown in recent decades – indeed, country walking has become by far the UK's favourite outdoor pastime, with people taking to the hills in all their protective modern hiking gear all year round, including the depths of winter.

Then there's the person who runs the pub. It doesn't matter how scenic a location – if the landlord or landlady is a knave or a fool, the place will fail. Peter Parson is neither of those things – indeed, having spent a couple of hours chatting with him up at the Warren Inn I have a hunch Peter knows exactly how to play the cards which our imaginary bank manger would suspect were stacked against him.

As a Duchy of Cornwall leaseholder, Peter has been making a success of running the Warren House for a quarter of a century – and here's what he told the Otter Brewery's Patrick McCaig and I during a busy lunchtime recently...

"Without a doubt, we are the most remote pub in the south of England and, at 1,500 feet, easily the highest. But its position is the most important thing – the appeal is the position and the panoramic view we've got of Dartmoor," he said.

"Being on Dartmoor we've got history going back to the Bronze Age – and a lot of people are coming up here to look at the old cairns and the hut circles. And, obviously, there's a vast amount of walkers.

"There are different types – there's the ones that come here with their compass and map reading who want to do 30 miles in a day. Then there are other walkers who want to do something more gentle – they are probably not quite so secure in these surroundings and they'll just walk in the valley below us. It's not only walking; cycling has also become a big part of the trade."

Patrick joined in the chat: "It's nice to have a pub as a beacon when you're out going for a walk when you're not quite so comfortable – it almost acts like a refuge. What's lovely about this [newspaper] series that we're doing is that it's all about different uses for different pubs – giving them the reason to be there and to be part of a community.

"The community is something that forms 90% of our pubs, but here there is no community," Patrick went on.

"So it is the walkers – and people who are genuinely interested in the moor – who are your customers. What we [as a brewery] are finding now is that a lot of people are going out for a walk at the weekend – and mixing that with a lunch at a local pub within the confines of that walk."

Peter agreed, but added a landlord's perspective: "The whole concept of walking has changed. If you go back a few years, particularly on a Sunday, which is most people's day off – we had [legally] limited hours between 12 and two.

"Everyone had to get their day in, and their walk finished, to coincide with that window. Now we're open all day it's a lot easier...

"If you're out with your children and one falls in the river and you get held up – frustration builds, you've got to be in the pub, it's shut until seven... But now we're open all day, it's a lot easier for families.

"We get people throughout the day – they tend to come in during the early afternoon – they've had their walk and enjoyed their day. There's no time limit – they can relax – it doesn't matter what time they get here, because we serve food all day."

This got Patrick pondering: "When you go walking, is the pub used for sustenance or recovery?" he mused. "That's two very different things – do you feed yourself before you go out, or is it a refreshment when you get back?

"And with children – and I've got a couple of kids – I think the idea of walking the hell out of them before you bring them to a pub is fantastic."

All of which is well and good – on a pleasant day in summer... But what about winter, I asked Peter – did people still come to walk in the wilds of Dartmoor on a bleak cold weekday in February?

"You get quite a few retired folk and people like that who come out on a Monday or a Tuesday even in the depths of winter – but at the weekend it's down to weather," he replied.

"You need either very cold crisp weather when it's easy to walk – or you need a bright day. If you get the mist and the rain, that's no good to anybody – you won't get anyone out here then. The weather is very important to us.

"But, as you say about being a beacon..." he added, turning to Patrick. "We have no mains electricity up here so, the generator banging away out the back there, you can always hear that if you come over the hill there. So you know if you're heading in the right direction. I've done that myself.

What's it like living on the roof of southern England, I asked him?

"Lovely. I think it's gorgeous. You get up in the morning and whistle to the dog and just go off for a walk. Two steps out of the gate, and I'm on Dartmoor.

"We do get snow and we get cut off – but as time passes and you have more four-wheel drive vehicles and better snow-clearing equipment, we get cut off less and less.

"But every now and then we do get a couple of days when nothing is coming through – but that's got a beauty of its own as well. The silence. No vehicles. Unbroken snow. That's gorgeous as well."

Patrick found this interesting: "The brewery drays take it as a challenge to get out in the snow – we have about ten of them," he said. "There are scraps among the drivers to get the best runs and this one is deemed to be one of the best – you can imagine driving across the moor. It's beautiful."

Talk of winter caused me to gaze across at the log fire that was burning away in the grate, despite the fact it was a warm summer day. Like many people in the Westcountry, I knew all about the legend of this particular conflagration, which is supposed never to have been extinguished... "The fire has never been out," nodded Peter when I asked. "It's been alight for 168 years.

"The pub was originally built to service the tin mines and miners would come here in the week – it was somewhere warm for them to meet and congregate in the evenings and drink and gamble," he explained. "The fire was always kept going with peat, which smoulders away.

"Then the mines closed, but we were on the packhorse route between Princetown and Moreton(hampstead) – welcome for any traveller – and the fire was kept alight out of pure tradition, although I can't account for every year, only the last 25.

"Before that the pub was on the other side of the road – but that was prior to it [the fire] in 1845. That pub was burned down and the fire was meant to have been brought over on a shovel – it was the last embers of the old pub."

Watching the constant train of walkers and tourists coming and going from the bar, the thought struck me that the added responsibility of keeping a fire going 365 days a year could be a straw which would break a proverbially overworked camel's back – did Peter ever wake up in the middle of the night worrying he'd let it go out?

"I've never gone to bed that early," he laughed – and with that the jovial landlord went off to serve yet another happy hiker...

Fact file

If you call at the Warren House Inn and fancy a delightful five-mile moorland walk so that you can return and enjoy a well-deserved lunch, head due east, cross the shallow Runnage Valley and cross the hill to Headland Warren Farm, then stroll south around Challa-combe Down before returning back up to the road past the pine woods of Soussons Down.

For David Thurston, his photographic career has gone full circle. Brought up in Bishopsteignton near Teignmouth, his first job in journalism was as a sub-editor at the Western Morning News in 1967. Those were the days when journalists used typewriters and telephoned their stories back to base, while photographers worked with film and spent much of their time in darkrooms.

Although working as a night sub, David's heart was really in photography: "I started doing some sports photography in my spare time on Saturday afternoons," he recalled. "My first published photograph was a cricket picture."

Almost half a century later and David – whose photographs are nowadays viewed in galleries rather than newspapers – has embraced the digital era, swapping his two Leica cameras and four lenses ("you had to get your photo right, it was a learning curve") for a Sony compact and a Canon digital SLR.

The new technology has made life so much easier; the equipment is far more portable and you know immediately if you have successfully captured the image you were after. And it's light years away from David's experiences as a photo-journalist in China and its Far East neighbours.

But how on earth did he end up in China in the first place? And why is it only now that a picture he took back then of a three-year-old boy smoking a cigarette is receiving such widespread comment?

After a few years working on a number of regional English newspapers and as a freelance photographer, David decided it was time for a change.

"I become very interested in Chinese matters largely because of my interest in farming – my mother's family were farmers," he explained. "So I went to Cambridge to study Mandarin as a post-graduate and then got a scholarship to study art history at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing for a year. In fact, I spent most of my year there taking photographs."

One of the photos, taken in 1982, was of the little boy smoking a cigarette. This summer, the image was hung at the Royal Academy of Arts as part of its prestigious Summer Exhibition. David said: "I did a new edition of the photo and had it printed on aluminium in Silicon Valley, California. The technique really brings the image out, so that it glows.

"It's very difficult to get into the Summer Exhibition – nine out of 10 are rejected, so I was very pleased that they chose this photo.

"I remember the day that I took it. I came across this family when I was passing through an area in north-west China. They were semi-nomadic and were very hospitable and invited me into their yurt for some tea. I smoked in those days so I offered this boy's father a cigarette. This sparked a rare old tantrum with the boy and I asked what was wrong with him. His father said: 'You didn't offer him a cigarette.' I thought he meant the boy wanted an unlit cigarette to play with so I gave him a cigarette. It never occurred to me he'd smoke it! But it became clear that the boy was quite used to smoking."

The Royal Academy of Arts placed a £750 price tag on the photo and seven of the 12 copies which were made have been sold.

After his 12 months in China in 1981-82, David returned to the UK and worked at the London Evening Standard, but the call of the East saw him head back in 1985, firstly as a roving correspondent for Asia Magazine and then as deputy editor of the South China Morning Post Sunday Magazine, based in Hong Kong but covering the entire region. Finally, he worked as a freelance until his return to Devon with his Singaporean wife, Angie, in 2004.

During those years in the Far East, David photographed life in communities across the region. Little did he know then that he was capturing a way of life that would soon be gone. "The one thing I've learnt, perhaps too late in life, is that everything changes; what you see now will never be the same again.

"My advice to young photographers is: 'Shoot everything, keep it for 40 years and get a day job.'

"Photography is so competitive and it's difficult to earn a living. But there is a value in nostalgia, so you have to wait. If I'd have taken photos of milkmen in the 1950s, it would have an interest now. So I think that my China pictures have a value now because the country has changed completely since the time that I took them."

David saw this for himself when he returned to a town called Shaoxing in Zhejiang province, where 30 years ago he took a picture of local children going to school on a boat. "I was hoping to find some of the people who were in the photo, and I did find a few but most of the people have since moved away from the town. It has all changed. The town was based on water as it's in the Yangtze Delta. But now, the canal is gone and all the buildings in the picture have gone. What was the canal is now a trickle of water and there are great big lorries trundling along the highway, hooting their horns.

"The landscape here in Devon will change over 40 years, too. If there is no money in dairy farming, then our fields will change and there will also be wind turbines. So the photos we take now will be part of history by then."

Of all the countries David visited during his career, his favourite place to take photos was Tibet. "I've been there twice and it's astounding. You're not just going to another place, you're going to another time; it smells as I would imagine the Middle Ages to smell – of wax, ropes and leather. And the landscape is very austere," said David, who got to meet the Dalai Lama when he was India.

He eventually decided to settle back in the UK because "I wanted the four seasons, intelligible radio, the sound of church bells and people who make jam". The countryside around Totnes provides David with much of his subject matter: "I love getting up early, before dawn, to see the sun coming up. And I really enjoy the Devon countryside – the colours, the greens and the undulations. I'm out taking photos of something or other every day, weather permitting."

One of the dawn photos shows a meandering river of mist above the River Dart as it runs down towards Dartmouth from Sharpham. Another of David's favourite photos is of a flock of Canada Geese which were feeding on a field of corn stubble beside the Dart near Dartington. Although not a wildlife photographer, he spent three days watching and waiting for the opportunity to get the image.

David, now 69, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1999, but he says it hasn't affected his work: "You think it's the end of the world but it isn't. The only thing I've noticed is that I have less energy and I feel like I'm being weighed down at times. You need to stay positive and take advice from people like Parkinson's UK. And you have to look after yourself, watch your diet, exercise, keep busy and enjoy your life."

Which is exactly what David is doing. He still has some driving ambitions – including to have a portrait photo accepted for the annual exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. One of the photos David entered in 2013 was of a girl in Shanghai – an image full of vibrant colours. "Only 60 out of 6,000 entrants are selected and I came very close this year. I will try again next year."

And there are some places on this planet that he has yet to photograph: "Although I don't like the cold, I'd like to go down to Patagonia in southern Chile to see the ice formations. Failing that, Iceland.

"I do feel very lucky with all the travelling I've done and I love my work. When people ask me: 'What's your favourite photo?' I always say: 'The next one.' I'm still very excited about what I do and what lies ahead."

davidthurstonphotography.co.uk.

I've enjoyed a mouthwatering appetiser – a sneaky look at what is a beautiful new book bringing together Cornwall's landscape, producers, food and chefs.

The Great Cornish Food Book is a celebration of all the work that has gone into making Cornwall a popular foodie destination.

Yes there are recipes from top chefs such as Rick Stein and Nathan Outlaw (who also wrote the foreword) but it is also a tale of the people who grow, rear and catch the food, useful hints and tips and wonderful pictures.

In February, it was just an idea, says Ruth Huxley, founder and director of Cornwall Food and Drink. It was seen as a great tool for the Choose Cornish campaign and, in keeping with that ethic, all the writers, photographers and designers are based in Cornwall and the book was also printed here.

Ruth says she was determined that it shouldn't be just another cookbook. "It was a story that needed to be told in this way. Sometimes things can be hyped up, but that isn't the case in Cornwall. We had something worth shouting about.

"I spent several days in France this summer and we didn't have one good meal. That's not the case here. True, we know the places to go here but the local scene is so much better. France hasn't moved on in the last 20 years.

"What we've got far more is the integrity in the supply chain. It gives the customer reassurance and that's what builds the reputation. But it's not a time for complacency."

Ruth arrived in Cornwall 13 years ago and didn't know where to find good food or enjoy a good meal. She thought the whole food experience needed "tying together" and set up her own business – Cornwall Food and Drink. She's certainly made a key contribution to Cornwall becoming a foodie destination.

"One in five people who come to a food festival come from outside the county," she says. They may have come for the day, or the weekend or planned their holidays around it. And she has nothing but praise for the chefs who helped put Cornwall on the food map, particularly Nathan Outlaw who, in his foreword to the book, talks about Cornwall as "a magical place" where its unique micro-climate creates great produce. He says he feels "blessed" to be a chef in Cornwall.

Ruth says she's delighted with the book, and that it was very important that she should give something back in terms of donations to Fishermen's Mission and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution from the proceeds.

When I was a lad everyone knew the old folk song about Uncle Tom Cobley and All – a few could even remember the long list of names which feature in every chorus. But when I mentioned the world-famous ballad to some youngsters the other day after attending Widecombe Fair, every one of them gave me a blank and withering look.

It seems the youth of today no longer know about the Spreyton farmer who really did exist or Tom Pearce's unfortunate grey mare which was expected to carry Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawk – along with Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all – to the celebrated annual event.

All along, down along, out along, lee...

That is where they travelled on their journey – at least, it was before the Mr Pearce's hapless mare "took sick and died". And, ever since singing the old Westcountry song at primary school 50 years ago, I have wanted to visit that mythical place – which is why this week our Classic Walk retraces the much-put upon mare's hoof-prints all along, down along, out along, lee.

I attended Widecombe Fair last week to work on a story about Dartmoor farmers and tourism operators who are forming a partnership with counterparts from an area in Switzerland – and must say that it is undoubtedly one of the most pleasant events I've attended on journalistic duties this summer.

But it was while working on another newspaper story that I ended up walking all along, up along, out along lee. I say "up" rather than "down", because this walk takes us away from Widecombe, rather than towards it...

Which is what I was doing recently in the company of Dr Kevin Bishop, chief executive of Dartmoor National Park Authority. Kevin had invited me on a big "U"-shaped hike to learn all about the modern challenges facing a national park, and our walk took us from the hills above Widecombe village, north all the way to Grimspound, around Headland Warren to the Warren Inn, then south around Soussons Down to eventually terminate at Postbridge.

So in our case it wasn't, alas, a circular route – but you could easily make it so if you were to swing left near Soussons Farm and head east to eventually cross Blackaton Down.

If you start at Widecombe – like so many lowland farmers who would have been heading away from the ancient fair all those years ago herding cattle or sheep in front of them – you will take the route we followed up over a ridge called Kingshead which looms north west of the village.

Take the Wooder-Natsworthy lane out of the heart of the picturesque community, then turn left up the track that ascends to the farmstead at Kingshead, and you will be on the right road. Because this takes you up to the vast, wide and almost empty acres of Hamel Down which is crossed north-to-south by the Two Moors Way. It is this track that we follow due north – climbing gently all the while until we reach the great curving summit crowned by the beacon. This wild and empty place might seem like an odd place in which to find relics of the biggest war ever fought, but the traces of the Second World War are there in the form of a few rotting wooden posts and a commemoration stone.

The few gaunt and weathered poles are what remain of a huge number that were planted here by local defence forces in the early 1940s when it was feared the great breadth of the down would make it an ideal landing place for enemy gliders full of troops. Fortunately for several dozen local sheep and the entire population of South West England, that never happened – but a plane did visit the place, albeit with tragic results...

On March 22, 1941, a bomber from 49 squadron was returning to RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire when it hit the big hill in conditions of poor visibility. A memorial to the downed bomber was later erected to commemorate four crewmen who died.

Past this lonesome stone, we stroll to eventually descend north-west past Hameldown Tor to the ancient village of Grimspound, where we met the national park's senior archaeologist, Jane Marchand. She told me that the area is recognised as having the most important Bronze Age remains anywhere in Europe. "Altogether we have 22,000 sites on our historic environment record – from the Second World War anti-aircraft poles you saw to the kist on Whitehorse Hill," she said.

"That's a huge resource which has to be managed – it's about making sure the archaeology gets looked after," said Jane as we looked at the remains of the mysterious village which draws many thousands of visitors each year. "Nowadays we live in the valleys and vales and so have obscured the ancient history in those places – but these areas have not been exploited in later periods and up here on Dartmoor we're lucky because it's granite and tough.

"People find it difficult to get their heads around that – there were probably lots of places like Grimspound across lowland Devon, but we've lost those. Which makes what we have up here so incredibly important."

From Grimspound we skirted Hookney Tor to pass by the fabulous old Headland Warren Farm and cross west over the hillside which gave the place its name. Up here the world looks an empty place – but looks can be deceptive. As you walk west over the hill and into the shallow valley under Birch Tor, more and more ruins and workings become evident.

Indeed, back in the 19th century there were any number of tin mines up here 1,400 feet above sea level – the two main workings being at Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines, but with the Golden Dagger, East Vitifer, Headland, Bushdown, King's Oven, Water Hill and West Vitifer all burrowing away somewhere in the vicinity.

There's not much of this extraordinary industry left now, except for a few low walls where once the miner's humble cottages stood, and other lowly ruins advertising the whereabouts of various long-gone structures linked to this damp and backbreaking industry.

On our walk we were heading for lunch at the Warren House Inn – which sits on the Moretonhampstead road directly above the card-shaped enclosures – and as we proceeded towards it I tried to picture the days when it was the hub of the remote mining community, home to a thousand brawls and celebrations, witness to laughter and tears and to the sad reality born upon hard-working, hard-playing men for whom tomorrow was just another awful, muscle-wrenching day.

Not only was extracting tin from these hills dark, damp and dangerous, it was also horribly unhealthy because the men were wet-through from morning, noon 'til night. But there's no actual record of violent deaths occurring in the mines – although there was one lucky escape. It happened when men working one of the deepest tunnels were concerned about water backing up somewhere in the rock.

They took the trouble to come up for their "crib" or morning snack, and no sooner had they done so the wall burst under the weight of the flood. Had they still been down below they would have drowned.

After lunch at the excellent Warren Inn we returned to the Vitifer Mine valley, but this time headed south downstream to pass what's left of the Golden Dagger Mine before entering the pine forests that cover Soussons Down.

Walking south all the time, our track took us through the trees and around the contours, past Soussons Farm, to eventually deposit us on the lane at a place called Ephraim's Pinch. Who Ephraim was, and why he got pinched, I have not idea – but I do know we walked a few hundred metres west along the lane, only to leave it again by taking the track that heads directly onwards toward the setting sun or, more locally, to the ancient farm at Pizwell.

After this, the farm track took us west again – so that new we were in the low valley created by a young East Dart River. After a mile or so, close to the grounds of the Lydgate House Hotel, we found a tiny footpath in the left-hand bank of the lane and followed it down to the riverside where it turns upstream to soon reach the popular hamlet of Postbridge.

This was the end of our ten-mile hike but, as I say, you might prefer to follow a route that takes you back east to Widecombe In The Moor. Whichever option you take, you will have enjoyed a fabulous walk in the very heartland of Dartmoor.

Fact file

Basic Walk – from Widecombe In The Moor north over Hamel Down to Grimspound, then west over Headland Warren to Warren Inn, proceding south past Soussons Down to Postbridge. Distance and going: 10 miles, easy going, not too steep but could be muddy in places.

The Warren House Inn, Dartmoor from Otter Brewery on Vimeo.

Man's best friend, they say. But when you're running, your dogs can be very unfriendly indeed. Especially if you decide to start off running uphill. Man's best training partner perhaps, but certainly not friend, certainly not when you're running straight up the south western side of Sheepstor. Dogs just don't feel hills like I do. They don't stop, they barely pant, they just run.

If you want to get your heart pumping from the off, this is the route for you. If you like more of a build-up – go the other way round.

After five minutes of this run, all straight up, I was in a state. The last time I'd been quite as breathless was when I was "boxed" by a fast bowler on the cricket pitch. If you're not familiar with the term, it's the sort of impact injury that can leave you doubled over, choking, and crawling on all fours.

But, however fast you go up Sheepstor, the ascent is worth it. Ships anchored off the Sound, the Eddystone, Burrator, and the beauty of south-west Dartmoor are all included in this tor's very special 360-degree view. And the climb opens the door to some fabulous cross-country running trails. This route starts at the first parking spot you come to after turning left immediately before you get to Sheepstor village from Burrator dam. From there, follow the track up, and up, and up. It's an easy route to follow. But beware, this hill has more false brows than a circus clown.

When you do make the top, pause – if you're as fit as me you'll have to – and take in the view. Then proceed in the same direction towards the open moor, and over the fabulous Yellowmead down. It looks like African savannah, but as you bounce down the hill it quickly becomes quite wet underfoot. The tracks are easy to follow and you can bank left and head down through the woods towards the reservoir for a shorter run. I went straight ahead, there's a clear trail across some very open moor, with only the occasional ditch to negotiate.

A slight incline is tempered by the space. First the Roughtor plantation then Cuckoo Rock on your left. It's classic moor running. When the Princetown mast is on your immediate left, the trail splits. Take the right hand and soon you will hit a much clearer track. Right again and head down towards a small plantation on the left of the track. Cross the ford, hit the road right at the T-junction, through the idyllic Sheepstor village, then right again. Up, down and round. It's a brilliant five-miler.

Running time: 72 minutes, 5.13 miles.

Running weather: Autumn evening sun to moonlight

Running song: Battery, Metallica.

The customary route is for novels to be adapted into television series, but occasionally it happens the other way around, as is the case with Doc Martin: Practice Makes Perfect by Sam North (Ebury Press, paperback and ebook). It's nine years since blood phobic ex-surgeon Martin Ellingham arrived, reluctantly, in the Cornish village of Portwenn to take over the GP practice.

On screen now, in the sixth series of the popular comedy drama – filmed, of course, in beautiful Port Isaac – we are seeing Martin as a new husband and father. A unique character, brought brilliantly to life by actor Martin Clunes, he remains curt and curmudgeonly, but we have seen his softer side. Going back to the start in the book is a reminder that first impressions can be deceptive.

Sam North – a novelist based in Devon, who also lectures on creative writing at the University of Exeter – builds on the script and dialogue originally written by Dominic Minghella to take the reader where the camera can't. He taps into the feelings of Martin, young village teacher Louisa Glasson, and the weird, wonderful and largely loveable inhabitants of this tight-knit and eccentric Westcountry community to paint a vivid mental picture.

This very readable first volume fills in all the background you might have forgotten. Remember that scruffy dog that followed Martin about – the first Portwenn resident to fall for him in spite of his relentless frowning?

We have ten copies of Doc Martin: Practice Makes Perfect to give away. For your chance to win one, send the correct answer to the question below, with your name, address and telephone number, by email (Doc Martin in the subject line) to wmnfeatures@westernmorningnews.co.uk, or post to Features Desk, WMN, Studio 5-11, Millbay Road, Plymouth PL1 3LF by Monday, September 30.

Q.What is Doc Martin's surname?

Kelly, West Devon £550,000

The Limes has a large conservatory overlooking the gardens in this former estate worker's house on the Kelly Estate near Lifton. Also in the grounds are two huge greenhouses, previously used to grow roses professionally.

Miller and Son, Tavistock, 01822 617243, www.millerson.com

Trecrogo, East Cornwall £550,000

Strand Farm is a lovely property near South Petherwin dating back to the 17th century. It has a handsome 16 x 12ft conservatory opening on to a garden terrace and overlooking its 1.3 acres of land.

Stags, Launceston, 01566 774999, www.stags.co.uk

Weare Giffard, North Devon Price £850,000

The Old Rectory overlooks the pretty church in Weare Giffard, near Bideford. It has a beautiful conservatory from which to enjoy the view.

Webbers Fine and Country, Bideford, 01237 472344, www.fineandcountry.com

Cricket St Thomas, Somerset £675,000

In the heart of the beautiful Cricket St Thomas estate near Chard, Chalkway Mill has a fabulous green oak and glass extension, perfect for enjoying its quiet woodland setting. The property has three bedrooms and a barn with planning permission.

Stags, Bridport, 01308 428000, www.stags.co.uk

Totnes, South Devon £1.3 million

The elegant orangery at Beaston is a glorious later addition to this 18th-century small manor house five miles from Totnes. The property has six bedrooms, a four-bed annexe, courtyard of barns and six acres of land.

Stags, Totnes, 01803 849912, www.stags.co.uk

Buying wine by the case for home delivery is still a minority sport. Fewer than one in five of us has ever done it. But these days, it pays to give it a try, because the best wines, and the best bargains, are moving online.

Partly it's to do with the supermarkets. The margins on most of the wines sold in stores are being squeezed between rising taxes and a reluctance by customers to pay higher prices. As the profitability of wine shrinks, so will the space devoted to it in stores. The shelves can be better employed moving faster-selling, higher-margin goods.

But the supermarkets don't want to miss out on profits from wine. Tesco, by a mile the biggest retailer of wine (one in every four bottles sold retail in Britain), is already selling 10% of its wine via the tesco.com website. Just 10% maybe, but Tesco's size is such that this relatively small part of its business nevertheless accounts for about half of all the wine sold online in the UK.

And the giant is now running an intriguing scheme called "co-buying" which allows online customers to group together jointly to order wines at usefully reduced prices. The website nominates cases of wines as candidates for group purchases, and if enough subscribers indicate a wish to buy, the price is lowered.

Recent co-buy deals have included the delicious Rioja Viña Pomal Centenario Crianza 2009, sold at £36 per six-bottle case, cut from the list price of £54, and a seriously good Australian red, Wirra Wirra Church Block 2009, down from £69 to £45. Classic wines are included in the deals too. Sixes of New Zealand's cult white Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2012 lately went for an unheard-of £84, against the usual retail price of £126.

These are real deals on real wines, not supermarket trickery of the kind that involves the notional pricing of £5 wines at £10 in order to offer them later at half price. These practices are, in fairness, now quite quickly disappearing thanks to a recent agreement between the leading retailers and the Office of Fair Trading to phase them out.

Savvy shoppers can look forward to a more genuine discount culture, especially online.

Nick Juby, who sources wine for tesco.com, is certainly pleased with the way the co-buy scheme has gone so far this year.

"It's about getting customers together and it has been very exciting," he says. "In the past few months several thousand have joined the co-buy community."

Wine is the only product, so far, to be sold in this way, but if it is catching on as it appears to be, expect developments. For details of the scheme, enter "co-buy tesco wine" into your search engine to see the admirably lucid guide to the process. You pay a fee of £1 to make each purchase, and if you recruit friends into joining in to make a purchase you might win a case of the wine. "Whoever brings the most other people into a co-buy," the website declares, "gets their product for free!"

While no other supermarket has yet (as far as I know) launched anything similar, Tesco's competitors are certainly working hard to keep up. Morrisons has spent a fortune this year launching an entirely new online wine service, and Waitrose Wine Direct this month is offering a 15% discount to first-time customers who order a case or more – any mix of wines or spirits – costing £120 upwards, with free delivery within three working days.

Rather to my surprise, neither Asda nor Sainsbury's yet have a dedicated online wine service, but both will deliver wines ordered in the way of any other groceries from the stores. Now that morrisonscellar.com (10% off your first order, by the way) is well under way, I wonder how long these two rivals will be able to stay out of the loop.

Marks & Spencer has had its own wine website for as long as I can remember. And for just as long, it seems to me, they've been offering large discounts off store prices if you buy just a couple of six-bottle cases. Last time I looked, the website had headline reductions of up to 40 per cent off some wines by the case, and 25% off a number of pre-mixed cases. It makes you think you'd be mad ever to buy wine in an M&S store, where the discounts seem very modest, and very few.

Not so at Majestic, where the discounts are all the same, in store or online. Majestic has always been a by-the-case retailer, and bases its perpetual price deals on the buy-two-bottles-pay-less principle. It has clearly worked for this unique enterprise, now with nearly 200 warehouse-style stores right round the nation.

The Majestic website is slick and easy to operate, but it is in effect little more than a link with the branches, as your order will be delivered to you from the store nearest to where you live. Minimum order is six bottles, and delivery is free if you're spending £40 upwards. Like Tesco, Majestic sells about 10 per cent of its wine to online customers.

The Wine Society, I understand, now does 60% of its business online. This seems a remarkable development for an operator founded in 1874 as a thoroughly gentlemanly, non-profit-making mutual society aiming to bring decent wines to aspiring enthusiasts whose modest budgets were beneath the notice of lordly Victorian merchants.

These days, as I have reported before on this page, the Wine Society has an astonishing range of wines, competively priced at every level. It doesn't really do discounts, except on pre-mixed cases, but it doesn't need to. The society has no shops, just a humungous warehouse in Berkshire. This helps keep the prices down. Orders are still taken, I'm glad to say, by post (there is a comprehensive printed catalogue issed four times a year) and telephone.

The only other comparable online wine operation is Laithwaites, which after decades as a strictly mail-order business has lately been opening its own chain of a dozen shops, including one in Gloucester.

Does Tony Laithwaite, who founded this company back in 1969 under the name Bordeaux Direct, know something the rest of us don't?

On Friday, a giant, 7ft tall, ten-tier cake of Cornish food and drink will take pride of place on Lemon Quay in Truro.

Two Michelin-starred chef Nathan Outlaw will cut the cake to mark the opening of the tenth Cornwall Food and Drink Festival.

It's a brilliant showcase for Cornish produce, producers and chefs and, as a testament to its importance on the food scene, Nathan has been involved in every annual event since it launched.

Next weekend Lemon Quay will transform into foodie heaven for three days of eating, drinking, shopping and entertainment.

Never one to rest on its laurels, new this year will be street food style pop-ups from a selection of Cornwall's top restaurants , serving a taster of their signature dishes. The Croust Kitchens will have dishes from Nathan Outlaw's new Outlaw's Fish Kitchen, Truro's own Bustopher's and soon-to-open Mustard and Rye, Olga Polizzi's Hotel Tresanton and Kit Davis from The Castle at Bude.

Artisan producers will deliver a bounty of the best food and beverages from around the county, including new product launches such as Hugo Woolley's specialist porridges, tasty pizzas from new company Kernow Forno and the latest "Proper Cool" chilled beer from St Austell Brewery.

Chefs in the demo kitchen include Nathan, of course, Emily Scott of Port Isaac, Neil Haydock from Watergate Bay and Tom Scade from Tides Restaurant at The Mariners in Rock.

Children can get foodie and creative in the Funky Food Zone doing pasty crimping with Proper Cornish, dipping fruit kebabs in cream with Rodda's Clotted Cream and concocting ice cream sundaes with Kelly's Of Cornwall ice cream... with the chance of winning a year's supply of the stuff.

Best of all, the festival is absolutely free and makes a great day out. It's on Friday and Saturday (9am to 5.30pm) and Sunday (10am to 4pm).

For more information, visit cornwallfoodanddrink.co.uk/festival.

Close your eyes and listen. Nothing. Open them and behold a view to cherish forever.

This is Wheatsheaf Cottage, on the Bwlch Tre Banau Estate, not far from Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales.

If it sounds far from where you are, believe me, when you get there you will feel as far from the hustle and bustle of daily life as you are ever likely to get.

The estate is so idyllic, so serenely beautiful, it is the sort of place that you want to keep secret, to preserve it as an unspoiled haven in which to hide from the world and take shelter from the storm of modern-day life. But part of the deal with travel writing is to tell the story, and so tell it I must.

The Bwlch Tre Banau Estate is a holiday dream. Its situation amid the Carmarthenshire hills is stunning. Lush, verdant rolling hills and valleys, shaded woodland and peaceful pasture. Not for nothing is Carmarthenshire known as the garden of Wales.

The estate's five-star holiday properties are traditional Welsh stone-built agricultural buildings that date back to the 16th century. But they have been restored with five-star style and panache and furnished with spectacular aplomb.

There are three cottages to choose from: Wheatsheaf, Barley and Meadow.

Wheatsheaf Cottage features a stunning living space – the Great Room – with a high, vaulted, oak-beamed ceiling that still carries the old miller's lifting wheel. It has three beautiful bedrooms and would easily accommodate six people.

The restoration has retained many of the building's original features, including arrow-slit windows and an outdoor stone staircase that leads to the upstairs bedroom. A collection of grandfather clocks and ornate sideboard timepieces remain motionless, giving a sense of being lost in time. Bliss.

There's a great TV, excellent sound system, and if you must, there's a reasonably good WiFi signal in the very well-equipped farmhouse kitchen. Luxurious bathrooms have roll-top baths, brass taps and a mountain of fluffy white towels. It would just be downright rude not to relax.

We went in the middle of the beautiful summer, but are hoping we can get stuck there when we go back in winter. There's a fabulous wood burner just crying out for some really terrible weather.

Inside, Wheatsheaf Cottage is exquisite, but it is through the double French windows that the real magic is revealed.

A large private patio and dog-friendly fenced-off garden looks out over a breathtaking valley so eye-achingly beautiful you almost want to plunge into it. Far away, the spectacular Black Mountain. Between you and them a pastoral scene you could stare at all day. I already have.

From the patio, you have no clue there are other holiday properties at hand. But you do have the chance to take in the ever-so-gentle rhythm of life on the Tre Banau estate. Look left, and you will see small families of black and white rabbits lolloping across the beautifully-cut pasture. Around them free-range chickens – surely the happiest in Britain – and beneath you, listen carefully, you might just here the snuffling of the estate's gloriously content pig who will devour your daily scraps.

If you are lucky the owners may offer you a dozen eggs with their delicious bright orange yolks, a handful of raspberries plucked straight from the bush or fresh lettuce with its earth intact. It is like a posh holiday version of The Good Life – without the effort.

If you ever dreamed of giving it all up and going to live like they did in The Darling Buds of May then this is the place you dreamed of.

All the properties are dog-friendly and our two loved the morning walks around the estate perimeter and their afternoons lying in the sun in the garden. Even they seem to have been bewitched by the views, which, as you explore, just keep getting better. Climbing the "banc" behind the property is well worth the effort.

Rain or shine, Tre Banau is an easy place to spend time. It's the sort of place you go for a walking holiday and then decide not to bother to walk anywhere. It's challenging enough to tear yourself away, even when all the supplies have run out.

When you do, the offerings of mid-west Wales mean you really are spoilt for choice.

A 15-20-minute drive will see you in the Beacons. My route on this occasion saw me park near the Usk reservoir before ascending.

Nearby three towns, all beginning with two Ls, offer unexpected quality and variety. For pubs try Llanadog; we counted four, and two of them were great. For shops, it's Llandeilo, where the mixture of class and quality is as puzzling as it is pleasurable. And for a mixture of both with a peach of a castle ruin bang in the middle, head for Llandovery, a town as gentle as its name sounds.

Our visit coincided with the arrival of hundreds of Harley Davidson motorcycles, and even their fearsome riders seemed to mellow in the sun as removed helmets revealed bald and greying heads, and discarded leathers unveiled middle-aged paunches.

A little further afield there's the beach. We headed west towards Aberporth where we found the perfect day out with miles of coast path to explore with spectacular views and the much-welcome pub in quiet coastal towns to take stock and refuel.

But after a day exploring there's nothing better than heading back home to fire up the terrace barbecue, cork a bottle of the finest white, sit back and watch the moon swap places with the sun, in what surely has to be described as our heaven on earth.

Factfile

We booked the property via holiday rental site HomeAway.co.uk. The company has more than 545,000 properties worldwide, including 16,043 in the UK. Find Wheatsheaf Cottage at www.homeaway.co.uk/p412729

The dark side of the sea and those who brave her depths takes centre stage in an adventurous pop-up art exhibition that will briefly inhabit the old stone outbuildings of a historic Cornish clifftop property next weekend.

Forget twee visions of sunny beach scenes, bobbing boats and happy holidaymakers. The painters, illustrators, printmakers, sculptors, photographers and multimedia artists whose work will be on display in 18th century barns at Stowe Barton, have explored a very different brief, set by curator Cai Waggett of the Bude-based, wave-driven, creative collective Hickory Nines.

He says it challenges "the preconceived notion" that the Northern Atlantic coast is a tame and temperate place to visit" and repositions it as "a place of danger and destruction".

Monsters, storms, sinking ships, wet and cold wetsuits, rolling swells, mermaids, tumbling white water and even the odd octogenarian bellyboarder will all be making an appearance.

On a mission to respectfully thumb his nose at the Great British seaside postcard, he was seeking the honest and gritty and fantasy-fuelled faces of the environment he calls home.

"I wanted to look at the vivid and real side to things as well. I walk by the sea every day and for six months of the year it is pretty grim; the sunny side is a very small part of our year," says Cai, an obsessive surfer, blogger and postman, who has lived in North Cornwall for all of his 37 years.

Also one of the organisers of the highly successful annual Leopallooza music festival, Cai visits America regularly and last autumn was particularly inspired by an artist called Derek Nobbs from the Pacific Northwest, who he interviewed for a blog post.

"His work has that slightly dark vibe and he uses loads of detail; I saw that he was putting on a couple of shows in his part of the world," explains Cai.

"I was also reading an amazing book called Republic of Pirates at the time and started to feel that I would like to do something to contrast the kind of exhibitions we usually see."

And so the seeds of The Cruel and Curious Sea were sown; some 12 months later it comes to fruition with the support of the National Trust, which maintains Stowe Barton.

Cai also secured the backing of surf company Finisterre and the Harbour Brewing Co, then put out a call to artists he already knew and spread the word via social networking.

"I got a terrific response. I gave them all some words and themes and all the artists have taken a subjective view. I love the fact that it's a very eclectic mix, says Cai, who is excited about the element of surprise.

"When you go to a traditional painting exhibition, for example, you have an idea of what you are going to see in advance. There's everything from traditional watercolours to edgy sculptures and illustrations," he adds.

Among those exhibiting are Andrew Wightman, Bryn "Byrd" Hall, Claire Chamberlain, Chris Hartop, Dan Fear (who created the atmospheric exhibition poster), Daniel Scott, Danni Bradford, Golden Bear, Hana Backland, Jago, Lee Robertson, Martin Dorey – the Camper Van Man, Neil Stewart, Rebecca Pepperell, Rich McGonigal, Rob Weare, Robbie Jones, Shayne House and Sue Read.

Cai describes the show as "a celebration of all the murk, mystery and myth that underlies most beach communities in this part of the world".

It's entirely appropriate that the reportedly haunted storage barns – which will be suitably dressed for the occasion by Cai and his team of volunteers – are set high above the notorious foreshores of Duckpool and Sandymouth, where many a fateful ship has strayed and many a sailor perished.

"I haven't seen any ghosts myself, but I wouldn't go up there in the dark alone," admits Cai.

The Cruel and Curious Sea runs from 6.30pm to 9.30pm on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28 – at Stowe Barton, north of Bude near Kilkhampton. Entry is free and works will be for sale; you can bring your own refreshments (corkage will apply for alcohol). For more details email cai@hickorynines.com.

If you are looking for a lively market town with some good houses and lovely countryside nearby, then Barnstaple certainly ticks all those boxes – and more.

Dating back to the Norman conquest, this harbour town on the River Taw in North Devon has so much to offer house-hunters these days.

Barnstaple has a prosperous past and for centuries was Devon's third richest town, after Exeter and Plymouth. As a result, you'll find handsome period properties, notably the sea merchant's homes from the 1600s, when it ran a thriving trade with America, and the later Georgian and Victorian family homes.

The town received another boost in 1989 when the A361, the North Devon Link Road, was built. This brought the M5 and Tiverton Parkway rail station within reach, at just over 30 minutes' drive away – as long as you don't get stuck behind a lorry, as parts are still, unfortunately, single carriageway.

Barnstaple's once-thriving harbour lost a lot of trade to nearby Bideford from the 17th century onwards, when the River Taw silted up. But these days, the town is weathering the recession well and is lively all year round despite the area's heavy reliance on tourism.

People living in the town have a wealth of countryside and coast to choose from when it comes to spending their leisure time. Surfers head for the top-quality breaks at Croyde, Woolacombe and Westward Ho! while those in search of quieter waters go sailing in the sheltered estuary at Instow. If country walking is your thing, then both Dartmoor and Exmoor are within easy reach, not to mention the lovely coastal footpath hereabouts.

For cyclists, the Tarka Trail starts at the town's railway station and offers a figure-of-eight route covering 180 miles in total. Much of it runs along disused railway lines and a decent day of level, off-road cycling can be had if you head to the fabulous Yarde Orchard cafe near Torrington, grabbing a wholesome bite to eat before making the return journey.

Famous people from Barnstaple include serial killer Rosemary West, who was born here in the 1950s. But don't let that put you off, as she moved to Gloucestershire in her teens. More encouragingly, the renowned England rugby player Phil Vickery was also born in this delightful little town in North Devon.

ISLANDS perhaps better known for their Bronze Age relics are revealing traces of an earlier civilisation.

A settlement being unearthed on St Martin's represents "the most promising neolithic site in Scilly", according to Dr Duncan Garrow of Liverpool University, a specialist in the prehistory of North- West Europe.

Along with maritime archaeologist Dr Fraser Sturt of Southampton University and a ten-strong team, supplemented by locals, he is exploring how Neolithic man arrived on the islands some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.

After identifying a possible Mesolithic or Neolithic occupation site at St Martin's Old Quay last year, based on finds of pottery and flint tools, Dr Garrow is now conducting a dig in the area, and called it the most promising site in Scilly.

It is part of a Stepping Stones project investigating a northward migration from Europe via seaways and islands in which nomadic hunter-gatherers became settled farmers.

Dr Garrow and Mr Sturt gave a talk to a large audience at the islands' museum and on Saturday are due to host an open day at the dig.

"We ended up at Old Quay because material had been found there, as well as finds gathered there by local people," said Dr Garrow, adding that they were very pleased with what had been found so far, halfway through a four-week dig, "and have really enhanced the material record by finding so much, in particular flint".

They had also found pottery, a field boundary ditch of probable Bronze Age or Iron Age date and a Neolithic pit with a ritual deposit, all from only 2m by 2m test pits. "By opening larger areas we shall see more," said Dr Garrow, adding that they would like to find more features such as pits, post-holes, stone walls or buildings, which would be rare: "That might emerge in the new few days if we're lucky!"

Island archaeologist Katherine Sawyers said after a flurry of archaeological interest in the mid-20th century Scilly had "gone off the radar" in recent years. "It's good to see cutting-edge research happening in the islands as there's such a wealth of sites of antiquity," she said.