Home Away From Home

We were one of the early families to have a caravan at Bovi. This was what the campers called it back then. Caravans were positioned randomly before terraces were excavated in the field over the fence from the green above Sandy Parlour (Bovisand's third beach). There was a community of campers and Christmas parties each year were fabulous for us kids. A good present could be depended on. We spent all summer holidays there and there wasn't a corner of Bovi we did nt know. An interest in ships was always big in our family and this was the perfect place to see trans-Atlantic liners when they called into Plymouth. The boom of the coastal defence guns off Wembury frequently startled us when target practice was being conducted. Our parents were very active and we were taken on coastal walks to Heybrook Bay, Wembury and Jenny Cliff frequently. Sometimes this included walking home to Billacombe when we had missed the last bus. My dad made a trailer from an old pram which he towed with his pushbike and on many occasions we rode in the 'buckboard' to and from Billacombe. Most days we ate mushrooms collected from the fields, blackberries were plentiful and were cooked with apples brought from our home garden. Watching the flashing Breakwater light through our caravan window on a dark and windy night will always be etched in my mind. Jeff Smith, Sydney Australia.