• Recharging our batteries – 5

    ….and if this won’t do it, you need a new one. We usually wind up our English tours at the tip of Cornwall…not only because of the cows and the scenery but because this is where our search for pure traditional English Devon first began five years ago.  I used to say this was “Doc Martin country”…but now I guess I should say “Poldark country”.  And the lovely thing is the people aren’t much changed from those times. My mate, Ivan Rowe of Goldings herd, is a case in point.  But all the attention we’ve paid him has made Ivan something of a celebrity. One of the days we were there…

  • Recharging our batteries – 4….

    ….took us next on our annual sabbatical deep into Cornwall….land of Doc Martin…and Poldark…and Juliet Cleave.  Juliet’s infectious high spirits captivated us on our very first bus ride in the area.  (she was the local tour director) So it was pre-ordained that we’d invite her and her husband, Chris, to join our Traditional Devon™ group. Speaking of Poldark, the Cleaves relationship is straight out of a BBC romance.  For years they cast longing glances across the stone walls separating their two family farms.  Finally, after too many years of delay, Juliet got up enough nerve to embolden Chris to propose. Their Kew Herd has blossomed, too, and is now one of the premier…

  • A world without antibiotics….

    ….I switched dentists the other day and, for the first time in more than 30 years, the hygienist presented a cup with four little pills….yes, routine, preventive, antibiotic therapy.  The explanation was that I’d undergone hip surgery in 1980 and there was a danger of infection when she cleaned my teeth.  Never mind  that I had somehow survived almost four decades of dental work, including extractions, crowns and the like, without antibiotics…the young woman and the older dentist were insistent. So I did what any obedient subject of modern medicine would do:  I palmed the pills and threw them away later.  But I wonder, as with red meat and red…

  • How can this be…..

    ….just in the past few days I’ve read more warnings in respected journals about the “dangers” of eating red meat and bacon. Of course, my other favorites—coffee, red wine and eggs—are regularly condemned as well.  Even my doctor asked me to get a cholesterol test the other day. Rather than issue a detailed rebuttal…in fact, I wasn’t even going to mention it….I simply pass along this from this morning’s reading. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11721581/Worlds-oldest-person-116-eats-diet-of-bacon-and-eggs.html

  • Re-charging our batteries – 3

    ….our visit to the new two of our partners had to be short because of the intrusion of real life.  Margaret Elliott’s mother had been hospitalized unexpectedly earlier that day…and Angus and Joy Cottey were both recovering from very serious illness. We confined ourselves then to brief courtesy calls.  We were pleased to see that our Falcon’s brother, Millennium Monte, who had been ill himself, was doing much better now that he was under the care of Margaret at her Cutcombe Farm. We also paid our respects to one of the grand old bulls of English Devon, Bywood Jasper, who is living out his days in semi-retirement at Cutcombe.  Jasper’s breeder,…

  • Recharging our batteries – 2

    ….after a brief detour to the Cotswolds to stay in one of our favorite inns—Russells in Broadway—we plunged into the heart of Devon country.  This is famed Exmoor, in legend at least the birthplace of Devon.  The moor is both beautiful and forbidding but nearby are some of the finest Devon farms in the world. And there is none finer than Ashott Barton, one of our partners’ properties just outside Exford.  There, Shiamala Comer and her son, Jeremy, have an outstanding herd of truly traditional Devon. Not only her colleagues agree with her, but Shiamala’s devotion to detail—and the results she has achieved—can’t be denied.  It was she who bred Millennium Falcon,…