While we’re in North Devon we took the opportunity to catch up with Claire’s Dad and half-sister Caeli in Westward Ho! The exclamation mark in the village’s name always seems to give an air of energy and excitement, of exploration and places further afield. The village is in fact the only place in the British Isles with an exclamation mark as part of its name.
The village name comes from the title of Charles Kingsley’s 1855 novel Westward Ho! which was set in nearby Bideford. The book was a bestseller, and entrepreneurs saw the opportunity to develop tourism in the area. The Northam Burrows Hotel and Villa Building Company was formed for the purpose of building a hotel, which was named the Westward Ho!-tel, and as further development took place, the expanding settlement also acquired the name of Westward Ho!
Westward Ho! has a lovely huge sandy beach, popular with holidaymakers, and we enjoyed some very pleasant time catching up near the sea front.
We heard last week that we have obtained the France long-stay tourist visas we had applied for. The visas will allow us to stay in France for 12 months and will also make it easier to spend time in another European countries, within the Schengen regulations, without coming back to the UK. So our UK tour will be curtailed and we plan to travel to France in early July as travel there is now possible without a compelling reason, if you’ve had both jabs. So France Ho!
It all looks lovely. We are residing in your driveway so do let us know when you are coming home. We will uproot!! 😂.
Jan and Philip. Xx
So …… you may even get down to Portugal? No harm in hoping!! We are so loving your travelogues. xx
We’re hoping we’ll make it there Mary. Will keep you posted… x