{"id":1305,"date":"2026-07-31T13:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/?p=1305"},"modified":"2026-07-31T13:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:11:17","slug":"looking-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/2026\/07\/31\/looking-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, here we are in July and we\u2019ve been without a drop of rain for 35 days at the time of writing. Sadly, the lawn is looking more like a desert than anything luscious and green. But, as with most things in life, of course there are some advantages. Not least, it has brought us more British guests deciding to have a staycation rather than risking going abroad with all the time-consuming complications queuing at airports now entails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking of Things Looking Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Torbay Airshow in June was an enormous success again \u2013 it must be said they do it very well. And this is despite the reduced numbers in the Red Arrows display team \u2013 I kid you not, it\u2019s now down to seven jets instead of nine to save money! The dates for the 2027 have already been announced but, sorry, I\u2019m afraid we are already fully booked up for it. (The airshow\u2019s fame continues to spread far and wide.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Red
As perfectly flown as always<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We\u2019ve also had the nearby Brixham Pirate Festival (yikes) and, here in Torquay, a weekend music festival. This was a free event on the \u2018Banjo\u2019, the nickname for the \u2018event space\u2019 in Princess Gardens down by the Torquay Marina, and it proved to be great fun with plenty of good music for all ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Talking of Fun<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We have some fabulous shows at The Princess Theatre here in Torquay. Tickling our fancy: Jools Holland this July, Katherine Jenkins in October 21st and the excellent ELO experience on 24th October. Whatever takes your taste, it\u2019s certainly a venue to keep an eye on \u2013 and it makes for a special break if you can coincide seeing a show with a stay with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hobnobbing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No, I\u2019m not talking about hobnob biscuits. At the end of June we took a mini-break because we\u2019d been invited to the Royal Enclosure at Royal Ascot. Ooo er! It must be said this is a truly British occasion and keeping my top hat on all day was a rather hot and sweaty affair. I think I just about pulled it off, but even if I did look a tad flush-faced, Helen looked amazing in her cerise outfit.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Dressed
Looking the part!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Another British Treat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Away from dressing-up for the Royal Enclosure, the other evening we took camping chairs up to Babbacombe Downs, bought fish-and-chips from Hanbury\u2019s Famous Chip Shop and ate them simply taking in the spectacular view \u2013 one we never tire of. We said to ourselves that although we didn\u2019t have to dress up for our take-away treat, what we were doing was in fact just as British as Royal Ascot; even, arguably, more so.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Fish
Good food and a good view – you can’t ask for more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

And, Relax<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And if you\u2019re up for it, a walk on Dartmoor is another very nice way to chill-out. The moor is easy to get to from Torquay and it has its charm whatever the weather. Add in the Dartmoor ponies and what\u2019s not to like. In fact I\u2019ve promised Helen we must make the effort to enjoy a sunset on Haytor before the summer ends. (Haytor is our nearest granite tor.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Dartmoor<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s it for this update. We look forward to seeing you when you\u2019re next down this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter and Helen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorised","entry","override"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1305"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}