National Trust gardeners at Greenway, the much-loved holiday home of Agatha Christie, are currently engaged in a battle to protect the stunning bluebells in the romantic woodland garden from an aggressive weed threatening their habitat.
Unwelcome and invasive, the three-cornered leek, or three-cornered garlic as it is also known, is similar in appearance to a white Bluebell, but with a distinctive smell and a narrow green stripe down the centre of each petal.
Belinda Smith, Visitor Experience Manager for the National Trust English Riviera explains: "Pretty as they are, the...
On Friday 17 May, two beautiful National Trust places on the English Riviera will each step back in time to their heyday as they host a Swiss vintage car tour.
A wide range of classic cars will be included in the tour, which stops at Coleton Fishacre, the epitome of 1920s elegance; as well as Greenway, the holiday home of the queen of crime Agatha Christie.
The two elegant houses fit fantastically with the glamour and style of the luxurious cars, which range from Austin Healey 100 Ms to Jaguar MK IXs, and Alvis Cabrio Grabers to Mercedes Cabriolets.
Exeter City are delighted to announce that the club has been awarded the Family Excellence Award by the Football League. The announcement was made at St Andrew’s, the home of Birmingham City, on Wednesday 8 May. Each of the 72 Football League clubs receives two visits a year from a mystery family who judge the club on more than 70 supporter touch-points on a matchday. The clubs have to achieve a minimum score of 75 per cent on each visit and that there must be an improvement in the second report to prove on-going commitment. Last year, Exeter City lost their status as a holder of the...
A Devon conservation charity plans to revolutionise the difficult relationship between conservation and consumerism.
Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo, has introduced a shade-grown, ethical rainforest coffee that – unlike most other coffees – does not threaten the habitat of rare species.
The Zoo’s parent charity, the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, has led the way in linking consumer ethics to wildlife conservation and has tried to drive palm oil – produced across South East Asia in plantations that are destroying orang utan habitat – from its catering business....
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall is to attend the first day of the Devon County Show on Thursday 16 May at Westpoint, Exeter.
It will be the Duchess of Cornwall’s third visit to the county’s largest annual event where she will be the guest of The Hon George Lopes, this year’s Show President.
Show Secretary Ollie Allen said: “We are honoured and delighted that Her Royal Highness will be with us this year and will do everything to ensure she enjoys her day.”
The Duchess of Cornwall’s first visit was in 2005, shortly after her marriage to HRH The Prince of Wales and a...
Up to 20 new apprenticeships are now being offered by South West Water as its successful programme is expanded.
The majority of the chosen trainees will be working within the company's waste water and drinking water teams and responsible for operating and maintaining assets such as pumping stations and large treatment works. A further three apprentices will work in the technical services team and will learn how to install, repair and maintain South West Water's electrical and process control systems.
South West Water's Customer Relations Director Monica Read said: "We are...
Commenting on today’s Queen’s Speech, setting out the programme of Government legislation, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said:
"The Government proposals on reforms to the National Curriculum, examinations and the deregulation of teachers’ pay are ill thought out and plain wrong. They will certainly not ensure a world class education system.
"Michael Gove now needs to stop and reflect on its plans for curriculum and examination reform. Many teachers are genuinely in despair about the curriculum proposals...
Experts writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine disagree with the conclusion that PIP breast implants do not show any evidence of significant risk to human health.
This was the decision reported in June 2012 by the panel appointed to investigate the PIP breast implant scandal chaired by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh.
Disputing this the authors point to evidence showing that the PIP implants were found to contain a higher proportion of a group of small-sized molecules than the norm, including one referred to as D4 which has been identified as an...
Exeter Chiefs may have just brought the curtain down on their 2012/13 campaign, but already head coach Rob Baxter is looking to next term with the acquisition of Fetu'u Vainikolo.
The Tongan international is the latest newcomer added to the playing ranks at Sandy Park, having agreed a two-year deal from RaboDirect Pro12 side Connacht this week. With not only seven international caps to his name, the 28-year-old winger arrives having previously featured for not only the Irish outfit, but also the Highlanders in the Super Rugby structure and Kiwi provincial sides Northland and Otago...
News about ‘skivers’ and ‘shirkers’ is not news but propaganda. It is convenient for governments – and, indeed, some citizens – to have scapegoats for our economic problems. Stigmatizing selected groups shifts the blame.
Josef Goebbels said, "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
What are the causes and cures of poverty? Is poverty the fault of the poor themselves? Is it inevitable and intractable? Is employment what is needed to pull a family out of poverty? Isn’t it the case that most of the national welfare budget goes on the...
