For the second year running, plants from Otter Nurseries will be entrancing visitors to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The East Devon plant specialist is supplying all the flowers for the crowd-stopping Robert James trade display garden.
The garden, sited just outside the main flower marquee, is being created around a stunning collection of bronze sculptures and water features based on quintessentially English literary characters.
This year’s display at Chelsea will unveil a new figure, Christopher Robin from the AA Milne Winnie the Pooh books. He will feature...
Women living in the Exeter and East Devon area are invited to Killerton estate, near Exeter, for the launch of a new cycling initiative. In conjunction with the British Cycling ‘Breeze’ campaign, the National Trust hopes to help local women feel more confident and comfortable about going on a bike ride.
The first of the free instructor-led rides starts on Friday 16 May at 10.30am and follows an almost entirely off-road route from Killerton to the 200 year old Clyston Mill in the neighbouring village of Broadclyst. Places on the ride can be booked at goskyride.com/Breeze.
Organisers of the inaugural Honiton Sausage & Cider Festival on May 3 are advising the public that tickets will not be available to purchase on the gate, such has been the response to online booking.
The festival, which is being held to raise money for emergency out-of-hours voluntary medical courier service Devon Freewheelers and other good causes, promises great entertainment with live music acts Sweet Black Angels, Ollie Bowern, Fools and Horses, Diamondogz plus headliners, The Wurzels.
Gates open at 8.00am and the music starts are 10.00am with the Ukelele Band....
Rural communities in East Devon could see up to £5,000 of funding from the district council to build or improve village halls and community shops.
The grants can be used to help refurbish, improve or even build village halls, community shops and community buildings in rural areas (those in towns are not eligible). EDDC Councillor David Cox, who sits on the grant decision-making panel, said: “In our rural areas, halls and community buildings are often at the very heart of the village and may be the only communal facility available to residents.
Otter Nurseries continues to raise funds for Charity of the Year Devon Freewheelers with a grand wheelbarrow raffle to be held at the Ottery St Mary garden centre on Easter Monday, April 21.
Not only will the lucky winner receive the contents, worth around £100, but also the wheelbarrow itself, bringing the total value of the prize to £200.
One of the Devon Freewheelers volunteer riders, complete with liveried motorbike, will be on hand to answer any questions about the service.
The last wheelbarrow raffle held on Mothering Sunday raised in excess of £300 for the...
Visitors to Otter Nurseries can enjoy refreshments in a bright new kitchen garden, thanks to a makeover and inspired planting.
The popular garden centre worked hard to get the area ready in time for customers to be able to enjoy the recent clement weather.
Managing Director, Jacqui Taylor said: “The outdoor dining area was looking rather lacklustre and we decided it needed an update to provide a more pleasant area for our customers to relax and enjoy their food, particularly as we have been enjoying a bout of warm sunshine and blue skies.”
People who suffer form lung or heart disease are warned not excersise outdoors today due higher than usual levels of air pollution.
In the last few days a combination of local emissions, light winds, pollution from the continent and dust blown over from the Sahara caused a spike in the UK Air Quality Index compiled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
And those higher than usual levels of pollution may bring on health effects in some.
Dr Sotiris Vardoulakis, head of the air pollution and climate change group at PHE’s Centre for...
158 newly-built homes in Exeter and East Devon have been bought using equity loans from the government’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme according to new figures released today. The 'Help to Buy' equity loan scheme, which was launched in April last year, enables people to buy a newly-built home with a deposit of at least 5% of the property price, while the government offers a loan of up to 20%. The shortfall is then covered by a mortgage. Across the South West over 1,700 homes have been bought using the equity loan scheme with 28,000 across the whole of England.. Housing Minister Kris Hopkins has...
Update: As of his morning 16 schools will be closed or partially closed sue to decisions to close beign made late in the day.
The list has been updated witht he additional school names.
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At least 14 schools across Devon will be closed or partially closed tomorrow due to strike action from members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT). Six schools, including will be fully closed as a result of the strikes while eight others will be partially closed potentially disrupting work for parents across the county. The strike...
Communities around East Devon are about to see an extra cash injection after parish and town councils successfully bid for over £150,000 of fresh funding.
In total, £155,558 will be placed in the district’s ‘Parishes Together Fund’ after East Devon District Council and Devon County Council worked together to raise the sum equal to £1.10 per elector. Projects including the Ottery Food Bank, the Cranbrook Community fund, the Axminster mental health organisation known as ‘The Project’ as well as several primary schools in the area are among the projects to benefit from the funding....
