Westward Ho! is the the name of a novel by Charles Kingsley - it's also the name of a seaside town in Devon (complete with exclamation mark!) Kingsley was born in Devon and set his story in Bideford on the north Devon Coast. In the nineteenth century local entrepreneurs decided to capitalise on the popularity of the novel and named a fledgling tourist spot a few miles away with the name of the book. It's now an attractive seaside resort and we thought we'd spend a few days there to cheer up our November. We pottered along the seafront and explored to surrounding nature reserves with Skip and had a thoroughly relaxing time. Kingsley is not the only literary connection which the area possesses and Rudyard Kipling spent some time being educated at the United Services College in Westward Ho! where he wrote some of his early work. His short stories entitled Stalky and Co were apparently based on his larking about with chums on the cliff sides overlooking the town. We were aware of the Staffordshire Kipling connection as we'd run around Rudyard Lake several times, this is a reservoir in attractive surroundings near Leek which was quite a tourist trap in the 19th century - and indeed Kipling's parents met there on a day trip from the Potteries - they liked it so much they named their son after it! And a further curiosity - the lake was named for Ralph Rudyard a local chap who was reputed to have been the soldier who killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
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No we have no doggie ice cream!
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No trip to the seaside is complete without ice cream and even on this bracing but sunny morning we found a van from the world famous firm of Hocking's who ply their trade in several North Devon locations. They are very traditional in respect of their fare - it's vanilla or vanilla but it's vanilla of the highest quality. You can have a cone or a wafer, you can have a Cadbury's Flake stuffed in it and there are several other variations of style but it's vanilla only. Scrumptious
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Do come again!
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