For those of you that are in Sidmouth for Folk Week may I wish you an enjoyable stay and I hope the entertainment lives up to your expectations.

The festival this year is scaled down from the usual festival for obvious reasons but I am sure friends from all around the country will be enjoying meeting again and sharing stories and songs. The festival is important for many businesses in Sidmouth and this does not just include the shops, pubs and hotels but also a number of other connected businesses. For example the Cricket Club and the Rugby Club both have parking on their fields and both make a substantial contribution from their income back to the festival to ensure that it continues. So if you are parking in Sidmouth this year both clubs would value your business! This valuable income ensures that not only adult sport continues but also the extensive colts setups can continue and benefit grassroots sport.

On the nature front I read with interest the reports of seagulls appearing to be drunk while eating flying ants last week. Apparently this is due to the formic acid that the ants produce which causes this reaction. Unfortunately it means the gulls are not as aware as they could be and there were reports of some having been run over. Down by the river mouth the gull activity has been very high and it appears that they are using that area as a nursery! Nothing divides opinion in Sidmouth like herring gulls. Yes they are noisy. Yes they are messy. But it’s the human race who provide a food source that they take advantage of. And amazingly their national numbers are decreasing! By the way, a herring gull once reached 32 years of age although their average lifespan is around 12 years.

We got a shock this week when Jurassic Fibre turned up in our road and started digging trenches to lay cables. No warning whatsoever. And what a din when we had to have our windows open because of the hot weather. Surely a leaflet drop to advise us about the works would have been appropriate? Now we have messy grass borders and damage to our road and pavements! Hopefully the Council will be onto this. I wonder if other residents have faced similar issues?

What a scorching few days we had last week! I’m told the historical record temperature recorded in Sidmouth was 28 degrees Celsius. It’ll be interesting to see if that was beaten. It was certainly very hot on the golf course and umpiring a cricket match. The rain that fell last Saturday was welcome but it prevented Sidmouth 2nd XI from chasing down Exeter 2nd XI’s score at The Fortfield. The 1st XI lost in the reverse fixture and the 3rd XI lost at Sampford Peverell where 16 year old Charlie Brock made a century opening the batting. A terrific effort from a player with obvious potential.

On the property front, the latest Sidmouth area sold house prices are now available on the Internet. It is interesting to see how many properties have jumped by over £100,000 in recent years. These are of course mainly the larger detached homes but I noticed a Witheby townhouse increased by £108,000 in seven years and a fine bungalow in Harpford had increased by £143,000 in four years. This is more likely to happen if the property has been improved. The recent trend of houses and bungalows increasing in value seems to be continuing while flats, in the main, appear to be similar in value to what they were a few years ago.

Enjoy Folk Week as much as you can and let us hope for decent weather and fine entertainment. I look forward to seeing some of you at the cricket ground when you park your car!