would love to return to. Hazel, our instructor was really relaxed and encouraging and we would thoroughly recommend Discovery Surf School if you visit the area. They offer a whole range of lessons including kayaking, for groups, families, or one to one. A 2-hour private family lesson for Paddleboarding is £125. Visit www.discoverysurf.com or email martin@ discoverysurf.com for further information. I cannot write about South Devon without mentioning food and drink. The other abiding memory of family holidays here, apart from the ones I mentioned at the beginning, are the delicious ice cream and cream teas - both of which you must sample if you visit, especially the locally made Salcombe Dairy Ice Cream. As you’d hope for by the sea, there is an enormous choice of pubs, restaurants and cafés serving local produce, and in particular locally caught crab and seafood. We visited ‘The Winking Prawn’ in North Sands, Salcombe. This popular beach café/restaurant has a really relaxed vibe. Looking onto North Sands beach there is an outdoor dining area where barbeque food is served until 8:30pm, or you can choose to dine inside, as we did. The shabby chic interior with its pastel coloured décor along with whitewashed wooden flooring, tables and chairs gives it the perfect seaside ambience. Being a family of great prawn-lovers we ordered the deep fried Pop Corn Shrimps with chilli dip, along with the Whole King Prawns Cooked with Crushed Garlic Butter to start. These were quickly devoured, and followed by our main course choices of Sea Bream Fillet with Chilli, Soy & Ginger Salsa and Half a Lobster Grilled with Garlic, Parsley & Lemon Butter. The table next to us tucked into an impressive Fruits De Mer platter with half a Lobster, which looked amazing (see the photograph for an idea as to what this looks like!). Our boys ordered the Tempura prawns and fries from the children’s menu. Our empty plates were testament to the quality and taste of the food. We just about had room to share a couple of their impressive ice cream sundaes, made with the aforementioned Salcombe Dairy Ice Cream. The Banoffeebocker Glory was my personal favourite, whilst the Nutella lovers in my family were fighting over the Chocolate Chip Cookie Rocky Road
Image Courtesy of The Salcombe Maritime Museum
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American In Britain
Thurlestone
Sundae! We also loved the fun touches at the Winking Prawn such as the dressing up box, buckets and spades and ‘face stand ins’. Visit www.winkingprawngroup.co.uk for further information and please note that reservations are recommended. Salcombe and nearby Slapton have a strong American connection, as we discovered through our visit to the Salcombe Maritime Museum. This small, quirky little museum has display cases filled with artefacts, booklets and many photographs dedicated to the time that the American forces were stationed here during the Second World War. During 1943 many of the homes, hotels and public buildings in Salcombe were requisitioned and occupied by the United
States Navy. Nissen huts were assembled to house the troops, and the waterfront became a hive of industry as the repair and maintenance of landing craft became the primary objective. In 1944, much larger ships, along with barrage balloons, appeared in the harbour as D-day preparations were made. Boats were moored two and three abreast as the day approached, and then on the 4th June 1944, 66 ships of the US Navy sailed from Salcombe to the Normandy beaches to take part in the assault on the enemy. This invaluable contribution to the war effort is commemorated by a plaque on one of Salcombe’s streets bearing the name ‘Normandy Way’. The Maritime Museum is a treasure trove of other artefacts and interesting tales of shipwreck and bravery at sea and really is worth a visit if you are interested in the town’s colourful history. Visit www.salcombemuseum.org.uk. After taking in a final morning of walking, swimming and table tennis at the hotel, our trip to South Hams had sadly come to an end, and it was time to embark on the journey home. This part of the country holds a very special place in my heart and now that I have had a taste of all that South Hams in particular has to offer, I will definitely be back in the near future with my family, hopefully to improve on those Paddleboarding skills. For further ideas, help or advice contact the Salcombe Tourist Information via their website www.salcombeinformation.co.uk or call them on 01548 843927.