Stepping out from Newbarn Farm this spring!

Here are just a few events taking place this April........Visit the tiger cubs at Paignton Zoo, this is a rare chance indeed to see such a truly moving sight. All four cubs have survived and thrived over the last six weeks although it was expected one could die. Their antics will be able to be viewed by a remote-control webcam which will cover the large public tiger enclosure plus a second installed in one of the dens can be viewed on a flat screen monitor set up by the tiger enclosure window showing live pictures from the cameras.

This system will go live at Easter when the cubs are due to make their first public appearance. Newbarn Farm offers discounted tickets for entrance to Paignton Zoo and her sister company Living Coasts in Torquay where a huge Golden Easter Egg Hunt will take place ove the Easter weekend. Children will be able to take part in this egg hunt with a difference; each day guests will have the opportunity to find ten silver eggs and one golden egg. Everyone who finds a silver egg will win chocolate mini eggs - however the lucky person who finds the golden egg will win the chance to feed the penguins on that day.

Over a Occombe Farm on Sunday 26th April there is rare chance to see the innermost planet Mercury and the ringed planet Saturn through a telescope with expert Chris Proctor. You will also explore the craters of a crescent moon and see the subtle but beautiful earthshine on the moon's dark side with a hot drink in hand!

If cloudy on the night you will have the alternative of exploring the Occombe Farn nature trail on a dusk safari with bat detectors! Meet at the entrance to Occombe Farm Cafe at 7.45pm. Adult;£3.50 Children £2.50 - includes a tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Back in Torquay at the Princess Theatre, The Top of The Tots will be performing; ten years after bursting onto the scence, The Tweenies are back with their chart-busting new show!

'Top of the Tots' is packed with tot-tastic tunes. Their live performances have vowed over a million Tweenie boppers worldwide and, with a platnium selling single under their belts, get ready for the fab four to entertain you once again in their spectacular new theatre show. Get set to reach for the stars, sing along, dance in the aisles and find out why the Tweenies are still the ultimate Number One! Performances start at 11am or 2pm. Tickets form £12. Box Office:0844 847 2315.

Finally for early start this spring join the Dawn Chorus Walk & Breakfast in Haldon Park Wood on 2nd May - 5am - 9am. This will definitely be worth setting the alarm clock for! A two and a half mile walk around the forest (involving steep hills) will take you into the best areas for songbirds and you will also have a great chance to see many of the forest's shyer creatures such as the black fallow deer. Tickets: £11 per person includes a traditional English or vegetarian breakfast a the Forest's new cafe. Booking essentail: Forestry Commission: 0845 36 73787. And remember every day and every night if you wish you can fish on the banks of Newbarn Farm's lakes to your heart's content.

Newbarn Farm probably the best Fishing in Devon; Devon Fishing Holiday; Fishing Holidays Devon; Holiday Cottages & Fishing and Self-catering Cottage & Fishing.

Fishing in Devon

Where in the World?

Where in the world can you glimpse the metallic blue shaft of a dragonfly hovering for their prey amongst the golden hue of gaint yellow water iris' adorning the perimeters of a succesful fishing in Devon lake surrounded by green pasture with the undulating rolling hills of the South Hams before you - countryside designated as an area of outstanding beauty?

Where in the world can you watch from afar the summer sun set behind eleven majestic granite tors of Dartmoor home to the Hound of the Baskervilles with peaceful early evening hot air balloonists floating efortlessly past as you sip your chilled wine drinking in the evenings promise of another lazy day ahead?

Where in the world can you fish for carp, roach, rudd, bream, tench and perch a stone's throw from your luxury self-catering cottage & fishing with every tackle and bait essential at hand should you need it and plenty of hot and cold drinks and snacks to keep the hunger pangs at bay?

Where in the world?

Newbarn Farm that's where. Newbarn Farm probably the best Fishing in Devon; Devon Fishing Holiday, Fishing Holidays Devon, Holiday Cottages & Fishing and Self-catering Cottage and fishing.

That's where!

Jeremy Fisher is Fishing in Devon!

Nature at its Best

This morning Richard and I decided to take Verity and Imogen our 6 and 3 year old daughters for a walk through the copse here at Newbarn Farm. Richard has been supervising and working with a group of children and their carers from the YMCA every Friday morning since the beginning of January. He has set them a project of clearing a path through a wildly overgrown copse inhabitited by all types of wildlife. The intention is to finish with a clearly marked pathway through a beautiful copse literally bursting at the seams with nature's beauty, birdife nesting in the boxes which will be put up with even ones for owls, bat boxes, bumblebee dens, the list goes on but the wildlife I cannot wait to spot are the resident badgers. This copse is riddled with badger sets, this morning we saw their paw prints clearly and found a newly dug opening to one of the sets, the air nearby punctured by the smell of freshly turned earth. Marvellous.

Naturally the walk encouraged a mountain of questions from the girls about the birds and animals who lived in this magical place. Why have the woodpeckers made big holes in the trees? How do they do it? Where are all the badgers now? Is that a pond over there does it have frogs in it? Frogs I thought, early spring I thought, tadpoles I thought. Last year I was too late to collect frogspawn for the children to watch the egg morph into tadpole and eventually to a tailess frog. So after the walk through the copse we made our way down to Mirror Lake where a couple of local anglers were fishing in Devon.

We made our way to the far corner to the stream and sure enough there we found some frogspawn using a fishing net we harvested a little into a bucket for the girls and then meandered on around the edge of this great Devon fishing lake. It was here I spotted at first just one frog and then another and then so many more. The four of us spent ages watching these frogs and trying to find more. Many were sitting on the silty bottom by the fast growing bullrushes. And then Richard pulled a few out for the girls to take a proper look. It was when he did this that he saw an unfamiliar sight in the water. He asked me what I thought it was and I was pretty sure it was spawn not frogspawn but toadspawn - long stripes of about 8 inches long with eggs inside, almost like a string of black pearls.

So it would appear that Mirror Lake is home to hundreds and hundreds of toads, great apparently for keeping slugs down!

Richard has since taken the girls swimming, I chose to stay behind to write this blog (tomorrow I have such a huge work schedule to get through so doing this today will help), a few minutes ago I received a phone call from one of the anglers on Mirror Lake he had hired his tackle today and was ready to return it. Saving my unfinished article, I ventured down the steps from the Holiday Cottages down towards the Fishing in Devon Lakes. On my way I bumped into a gentleman staying in Oakrest (the largest of the self-catering cottages & fishing at Newbarn Farm) with his daughter and husband and his grandchildren. 'Out for an evening stroll' I greeted him with. 'Marvellous, absoultely marvellous' he said, 'the children have been catching frogs down there' he said pointing to Mirror Lake, 'they are so excited!'. 'Toads' I corrected him, 'We did the same this morning'. I agreed with him 'Marvellous'
Let's hope they don't see too many toads in this compromising position as our two did this morning. Some questions are harder to answer then others. Just ask the birds and the bees!

Those Yellow Flowers!

Why are those Yellow Flowers There?

I had just picked my 6 year old daughter up from School the other day, we were driving back along the Totnes Road towards Newbarn Farm. The hedgrows for this time of year are typically flourishing with a golden glow - countless bulbs having survivied a harsh winter are majestically on show with a crowning glory of hundreds of tubular yellow flowers. My daughter found this a little odd as the trees are still in their winter state, barren and bare. Hence the question, " Why are those yellow flowers there?".

I explained that daffodils are a sure indication that spring is on it's way (at long last!); Snowdrops in January and early February often fight with the winter snow to capture the sun; catkins are a sign that the early spring lambs will be born soon and then the daffodils start to emerge as the temperature warms up and Easter is fast approaching. She was satsified with my answer.

Yesterday we saw blossom buds on the Oriental Damson tree and on the Apple tree on the banks just above Island Pool, another sure sign that spring is indeed on its way!

The mole activity in some of the fields is quite alarming - every morning fresh mounds in evidence of their growing numbers. Birds having paired up collecting twigs and grasses to line their nests and the fish are beginning to feed after a long cold winter.

Anglers on the banks at Newbarn Farm, an ever popular Devon Fishing Holiday site, have reported catches of up to 25lb (a 25lb Common was caught over the weekend one evening).

With the sun emerging and postive signs that spring is truly on its way - where better to watch nature adapt to the coming summer than on a self-catering holiday with fishing here at Newbarn Farm.

We are lucky! Living on site my daughter and her younger sister will continue to watch spring emerge and develop into summer in these beautiful surroundings. And they can ask as many questions as they wish on the changing scene unfolding infront of them!

Newbarn Farm: probably one of the best Fishing Holidays in Devon; Devon Fishing Holiday; Self-catering cottages & fishing; Holiday Cottages & Fsihing and Fishing in Devon

Courting Pink Wellies!

Fashion over comfort!

Victoria Beckham never far from the front pages of the celebrity glossies or indeed the higher ranking fashion journals has successfully managed to ridicule herself in the full glare of the Paparazzi. Sporting a highly fashionable expensive pair of Christian Louboutin 'pumps', Posh clearly thought she looked the business. How wrong she was! Oh Dear, Oh Dear! Wearing the shoes at least two sizes too big, the outer arches of her feet were falling infront of her toe line, I'm very surprised she managed to walk at all! Now some may say that in the face of fashion this is acceptable - well just possibly on the red carpet but surely not on a day out with three young boisterious sons running around the Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Yep! The woman has clearly lost it! She should have been in casual shoes and a casual outfit, she obviously selfishly thinks far more of herself than those poor sons of hers. Flipflops, trainers or even a pair of pink wellies would have done.

Goodness knows what she would adorn on her feet should she ever grace the paths at Newbarn Farm, with gravelled pathways and the occassional muddy footpath. I'm sure a pair of Louboutin 'pumps' would soon loose their face value! A good pair of wellies or walking boots are needed on wetter days and a pair of flip flops fine for the hotter months. But maybe those here on a Devon fishing holiday would find flipflops a little flimsy on the banks of the Fishing in Devon lakes.

Actually we're not sure we would like the likes of Victoria Beckham visiting, we cater for those who appreciate their surroundings and know how to have a good time whether on a self-catering cottage & fishing holiday or not!

So don those pink wellies and let's be seeing you!

Newbarn Farm probably the best Fishing in Devon; Devon Fishing Holiday; Fishing Holidays Devon; Holiday Cottages & Fishing; Self-catering Cottage & Fishing