Living Locally

Here at the BGI, ‘local' is one of our keywords. We encourage people to shop locally, buy local produce and live as locally as possible - the closer things are, the less likely we are to use our cars!

Very soon though, my ‘local' will change and we will be heading off to the glorious wilds of Cornwall. Cornwall has been calling for many years, and now we are finally able to make our Big Leap. So we will be leaving Dover and South East Kent behind and whilst I admit to not being Dover's biggest fan, there are still some things from the area I will miss. So I looked around with fresh eyes and really thought about what mattered to me in my local environment. ‘You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone' as the saying goes.

Nature

Mention Dover and the first image that comes to mind are the iconic White Cliffs. They are National Trust property and walking along them is a wonderful way to blow away the cobwebs. On a clear day you can see France and watch the hustle and bustle of the ferries far below. Dover also has some lovely beaches - not the golden sand, rolling surf beaches of Cornwall, but rocky seashores, just as beautiful in their own way. St Margaret's beach is the place for rockpooling, the cliffs above perfect for foraging. The Warren is a fossil hunter's dream and Kingsdown is the place for prawning. Many an evening we have enjoyed barbecuing our catch there - those that I didn't release back into the sea!

We have some amazing woodland walks nearby. There is a very mystical, enchanting wood, just behind Temple Ewell, an idyllic village on the outskirts of Dover. We visit the wood every month or so and marvel at the changing seasons. It was the home of my Yule Log and Winter Solstice greenery and the last visit proffered up the most wonderful field of bluebells and wood anemones. There are also woods behind Barham (between Dover and Canterbury) where you can walk for hours and not see another living soul. These were the site of our first ever morel discovery!

On the edge of our allotment is an ancient elder tree. It is stunningly beautiful and the supplier of all our elderflower cordial. I have also made oil of swallows from its leaves and cordial from its berries.

Wildlife

To get anywhere, we have to walk along the side of the river at the bottom of our road, so we are able to observe the changing seasons and the changing life on the river. The best time of year is spring as the ducks and moorhens have babies and it is a daily joy watching these little balls of fluff grow into healthy birds. There is also a resident kingfisher, an egret and a heron, who for some reason likes to sit at the top of trees.

Nearby Folkestone was home to a solitary dolphin called Dave for a handful of summers. She (yes, she) visited in the summer months and could be seen swimming and fishing very close to the shore, jumping in the waves and displaying her white tummy. Seeing her for the first time was an awe inspiring experience and one we repeated many times during each summer. Unfortunately, she was injured as a result of inconsiderate onlookers getting too close, either swimming up to her or using motor boats. These idiots caused Dave injuries that may well have been life threatening and despite the best efforts of the marvellous British Divers Marine Life Rescue, Dave hasn't been seen since 2007.

Oh, and we also have a seal in Dover harbour! I was most upset that I hadn't seen it (I am the sort of person who spends many hours in Cornwall watching the sea, just in case...) but on January 1st this year, just as we were celebrating ‘This is the Year we move to Cornwall', I saw it. I took it as a sign!

Shops

I have some wonderful local shops within a five minute walk from my house. A few months ago Gary and I decided to avoid the large Tesco supermarket situated just outside of Dover and make a conscious effort to use local shops. And I'm glad we did. Shopping is now a pleasure. Admittedly I send Gary out to get the bulky stuff each week (!) but on my days off I wander round and choose local products from local shops, whose owners greet me by name. The butcher, Ronnie, the ‘R' in ‘R Veness Butcher', teases me for being a vegetarian as I gingerly put a piece of, I am told, marvellous rolled pork into my bag. The vegetable shop (Veg for all Seasons) does what the name suggests, selling local, regional fruit and vegetables as well as Kentish honey, free range eggs from Dover hens, flour from Crabble Corn Mill and wonderful Kentish apple juice. We also have a chemist, a little post office (a rare treat these days), a charity shop, a florist and a corner shop. So most things covered!

If we do need to go further afield we visit Canterbury, my favourite shopping haunt since my long-distant teen years. It is a Fair Trade town and boasts many quirky and individual shops - particularly those nestled in the Buttermarket near the entrance to the cathedral and along the cobbled backstreets. Siesta is a Fair Trade shop selling clothes, instruments and crafts, and Canterbury Wholefoods sells everything you could possibly need for your kitchen, home and health as well as having the added bonus of a marvellous veggie café upstairs. There are a host of charity shops and a well-stocked Oxfam book shop.

Ghurkhas

Dover is often in the news for all the wrong reasons - immigrants dying in lorries and animal exports to name but two. But we are very privileged to have the Ghurkha regiment staying at the local barracks. We visited the barracks on an Open Day a few years ago when the Ghurkhas had just moved into Kent and I defy anyone to find a nicer, kinder, more polite and gentle race of people. Thanks to the indomitable (and local!) Joanna Lumley's high-profile media campaign, ex-Ghurkhas will now be able to stay in Britain indefinitely and Dover is a far richer place for having them here.

Family and Friends

Both Gary and I have lived in the Dover area for most of our lives and all our family are here. It will be a wrench for us, but more so for them, so I hope they understand it is not a decision we have taken lightly or without a great deal of planning. And Cornwall is only a train ride away after all. My children have lived here all their lives and will be leaving many friends behind, and I know it is asking a lot of both of them to make this leap. Maybe not so much for Tom as he is already flying the nest off to university but Caroline will be leaving her friends behind. She is as excited as we are and has been an angel about the whole move but my most important First Job will be to make sure she settles in and is happy. We have also made many lovely friends in our respective jobs who we will be sorry to say goodbye to, although most of them view our new house as their holiday home so I am sure it won't be long until we see them again!!

So reading back, even though Dover may not be my ideal hometown, there are still things about it I love. Finding them was actually a surprisingly easy exercise so we would love to hear from you about what makes your local area special. Please write in and tell us.

Jo

photos (c) Gary Barlow 2009 

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