Part of the joy of owning a canal boat is having a floating second home. It is here that you can really go to town with decor.

This is the space to get in touch with your inner eccentric.

A canal boat can be as unique as you are.

Bright colours, everything painted, not so much retro as nineteenth century, capturing the essence of the original boat traders.

Crafts are back as YouTube means that skills are easy to learn and the growth of knit and natter style crafting groups makes it easy to pick more experienced brains (and hands) for tips and advice.

Rag work is great. Charity shops are overflowing with fabric. Coffee shops sell (or even give away) hessian sacks. Rag rugs are easy to make, machine washable, apt for a canal boat and add that little touch of you, your own work, your own style, to your floating home.

With a little forethought you can co-ordinate fabric in patchwork and rugs. Scatter cushions are a good project as they are small enough to complete in a month of evenings.

Beginning a large project like a quilt is best left until you really do have the time to get to the end.

Rugs grow quickly and can be made in an hour here and an hour there.

Bunting is very in at the moment. It’s easy to make and adds a great touch to your boat. Just make a triangle pattern from any old paper. A4 is an ideal size to cut down. An afternoon with a sewing machine is ample to make enough bunting for a boat. After all, the whole point of messing about on a canal is to have fun. Bunting says party. This is what you chose your boat for isn’t it?

If you are interested in making your own rag rugs you may like to check out my YouTube video by clicking on the link below.

The disadvantage is that your friends will soon be asking you to make a rug for them too.

Rag work can also be addictive. You’ll soon find yourself trawling charity shops for interesting fabric. It’s great fun.

River Canal Rescue says a recent callout on the river Severn, where a vessel became grounded upstream after taking the wrong turn at a junction, underlines the importance of knowing what to do if a boat becomes stuck. And with low water levels, sand bank and silt build-ups, debris and weed-filled waterways increasing the risk of grounding, RCR managing director, Stephanie Horton, offers the following advice:

Grounding can occur anywhere if you stray from the middle of the water course, cut a corner to take the shortest route or fail to check water levels before setting off. It’s therefore really important to find out, where possible, the protocols and what’s happening in the area you plan to navigate. Situations will develop all the time, so be aware of the risks around you and be cautious while cruising.

If you run aground, put on a life jacket and put your boat in reverse to see if you can move away from the obstruction. If this doesn’t work, walk around the vessel testing the surrounding water depth with a boat pole. This will pinpoint where the water’s shallower and where the problem is. On rivers you can usually see it - rocks or gravel for example - as the water’s clearer.

If the front of the boat’s grounded, move some of the ballast that may be holding it down. The water tank is always at the front of a narrowboat so turn on the taps to empty it and move heavy items such as gas bottles, the anchor and any chains to the rear – this will give the boat more buoyancy at the front and potentially lift it a vital few inches which may be all it needs to clear itself. Half a ton of water can create a six inch difference. If it does clear, put the boat in reverse.

If the boat’s grounded on one side, it’s a similar scenario; move anything that’s weighing it down in this area to the opposite side. Do this in cautious stages - if you over-balance, the vessel will list and it could end up taking on water.

If there are people onboard, position yourself at the helm and ask the remainder to rock the boat gently; the momentum may move it. If the rear of the boat’s aground and the propeller’s lifted (which is a rare scenario), you’ll probably need a tow.

While it’s tempting to ask a passing boater for a tow, this should only be undertaken by an experienced boater. We’ve had cases where the person towing the vessel has got into trouble and we’ve ended up rescuing two boats. Also, anyone on a hire boat will invalidate their insurance if they try to tow you, so it’s better not to put them in that position in the first place.

If you‘re able to free your vessel, check it thoroughly at the first possible opportunity – particularly the hull – as this could have been damaged.

During the peak season, RCR regularly gives phone assistance to people who have become stuck, and although many callers are then able to move their boats, around 40% require support from a rescue team.

When you’re young and you run away from all that you know, you don’t really get time to think of anything much that is practical. You just go, often to be picked up by concerned and somewhat annoyed family members a few hours later. When I embarked on my waterways adventure I really was at least practical enough to get as many home comforts aboard as I could but I never thought about spring turning to summer and thence to autumn and colder weather.

Much as I love her, Mayfly is just fifteen feet and six inches long, made of rather thin wood, has no heating and very little space. Way back when I was a stroppy teenager though, this was my chosen home as we set off to prove that you could carry cargo (ours being a box of wristwatches) and to sort the situation that made me take the seemingly desperate measure of effectively stowing away on a boat belonging to someone I hardly knew. My parents were, out of necessity, in Spain so there wasn’t anybody around to repossess me as we set off on what a lot of people would see as a fool’s errand.

The weather was kind to us at first but time does move on and the almost imperceptible signs of a turn towards the autumnal started encroaching. Colder mornings, shorter nights, rain and drizzle making just about everything damp. Even my socks went mouldy one day, which could have put me off the lifestyle but didn’t. What I was becoming aware of was the fact that this part of the adventure was finite. I still loved where I was though and kept coming up with seemingly daft ideas, one of which was to keep the cabin warm at night with hot bricks in an old deed box. It worked a bit and we felt like we’d beaten the weather as we watched the leaves turn brown and then fall all over the place.

This may be very picturesque to the photographer or calendar maker but when you are trying to work a lock whilst walking on a surface that feels like it’s been treated with the best quality axle grease, the romance can fade a little. Actually, after the third time you land on your backside whilst working your way up a flight of narrow locks, I can assure you that it fades quite a lot! There’s always a but though and I remember so well the feeling of triumph over adversity as we sailed out of the top lock. We were both well plastered with mud and it was drizzling but it was another obstacle that I’d traversed without any injury, except to my pride!

Frost was a new thing which, when added to the leaves, made life really treacherous but we still plodded on with out little boat and its polished black outboard. If anything, the weather brought out a sort of house proudness that neither of us knew we had. Yes, of course, we were two youngsters travelling around in rather less regulated times, on waterways that the government would have loved to have filled in. We often travelled all day, or days even, without seeing another boat on the move or even a human being.

Mayfly could have been filthy and smelly but she wasn’t. Every bit that was made of brass was burnished until it was so bright it could have been mistaken for gold, the woodwork buffed up with the beeswax polish that I liberated from what had been my home before I was evicted by people that wrongly thought it was theirs. Finally that shiny black outboard was shone up with some very good car wax that we bought during the summer when our funds were in a bit better shape. If I felt any remorse for running away, or lack of enthusiasm for the next day, all I had to do was take a look at this beautiful little varnished clinker cabin cruiser that was little more than a day boat and I felt that all would be well.

We were clueless back then, even to the point of not being sure if the strip of water we were moving along was a canal, a remaindered waterway or (heaven forbid) a cruiseway! We achieved things almost by accident but still we progressed. To say that it changed my life would be understatement. It pretty much blew everything I knew clean out of the water. We were not supposed to be where we were and certainly doomed to failure according to pretty much all prevailing opinion. The fact is that we were both alive, well fed, mostly warm, and progressing. I was aware that the progression would eventually lead to us having to return to what was my home and face the music but that wasn’t for the moment we lived in. We were facing up to the ever worsening weather as well as the tasks we’d set ourselves and we appeared to be slowly winning.

Of course now I’m a lot older, and Mayfly is sitting as beautiful as ever on the water whilst the leaves slowly begin to match her beautifully varnished hull and cabin. I can’t help thinking how absolutely stupid I must have been to even think of setting off on a voyage with a stranger over half a century ago when I was still of school age. Back then though there was an atmosphere that anybody could do anything and big changes were afoot, so I went without a second thought. My reflective mood was set off by a radio program about diaries from various celebrities’ school years and what advice they’d give themselves from today’s standpoint if they could. What would I say to my young self if I was suddenly plonked back over fifty years
to that first day. My answer is nothing at all. I’d do the same again in a shot and I blooming well know it!

Many of the places we’ve visited since living on the boat have been new to us, but being moored on the Peak Forest Canal allowed us to revisit somewhere we’ve been to many times when we were caravanners and even before that.

Many years ago, we were staying in a well known B&B in Castleton called the Ramblers Rest and we decided to climb Kinder Scout.

One minute we were following a long line of brightly coloured cagoules ascending the climb, when suddenly the weather ‘came in’ and there was literally no one around us. The rain was coming down so hard and the wind blowing so strongly that the Kinder Downfall waterfall was blowing upwards. The whole area was just a bog and we couldn’t see a thing.

We decided to head down to get our bearings and a Peak Forest Ranger in a Land Rover stopped to ask us where we were staying as we clearly looked lost! He was kind enough to take us back to Castleton where we tried to figure out why we’d got so lost.

Since then, we’ve been back to the Peak District many times and done lots of different walks in different areas. We’ve always loved walking hills and mountains and it felt so nostalgic to be back in Derbyshire after a few years away.

At one point, I said to Rob, ‘I feel really emotional being back here’. To which he replied with his usual empathy, ‘I’d save your energy for the climb if I were you’ 🙄

We caught the train from Strines to Edale and decided to walk up Mam Tor and around the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, when we came down from Mam Tor to continue our walk, Rob informed me we were going the wrong way and needed to go back up!

A couple who’d passed us going up as we were coming down said ‘you’re never going back up again’….words sometimes fail me 😉

All in all, we had a great day, a lovely walk and we’re hoping the CRT keep this canal open beyond July 31st so we can give our boots a few more ‘airings’ 😊

(first published in 1996, but re-published here with the kind permission of Richard Hill)

Richard Hill tells the story of his grandfather, George Wiseman whose job was operating the horse-drawn boat Bournville 5 carrying milk to the busy Cadbury processing plant in Knighton on the Shropshire Union Canal a hundred years ago in the 1920s.

Anyone who's cruised the Shroppie between Bridge 45 and the Shebdon Embankment through Staffordshire will have come across a deserted canopy, its castellated fringe reaching out of the trees on the north bank. Approaching from the east, boat owners will have noticed a large glazed industrial plant concealed behind. Approached from the west and the canopy remains hidden by trees until reached, but the rising industrial noise may give a hint of something up ahead. This was part of the Premier Beverage plant, accessible only by road. In the 1920s however, this was the busy processing plant of Cadbury Limited. Milk was collected from local farms along the Shroppie and brought to this plant for processing into crumb chocolate which was then taken by canal to the Cadbury Bournville factory for further refinement into the world-famous Cadbury's chocolate.

One of the boatmen working on the canal from here was my grandfather, George Wiseman. After serving in World War One he went back to his old job of collecting milk for a cheese processing plant in Gnosall from local farms by horse-drawn narrowboat. The wages were not good. When an opening for similar work became available at the Cadbury Knighton factory, George applied. The terms offered by Cadbury were much better and George was taken on. George and his wife Evelyn lived in Norbury with their family, two sons Henry and Bernard and daughters Joyce, Dorothy, Janet, and Elizabeth.

A short walk across the field started George's working day at Norbury Junction where the horse was stabled and the boat Bournville 5 moored. Work started at 6 a.m. The horse was groomed, tackled and prepared to haul the boat load of 150 empty milk turns to the start of the collection at High Onn (bridge 25). Churns full of milk were left by the milk farmers at High Onn wharf and collecting points along the canal. Gradually, as the boat made progress towards Knighton, churns, each one labelled by the farmer, were loaded onto the boat, and empty churns deposited for the following days collection. Once the boat arrived at the Cadbury Knighton plant the full churns were unloaded, the quantity and quality of each checked before being emptied and processed. It was these checks that would determine the payment to be made to each farmer each month. The empty churns remained inverted for cleaning before passing on to a conveyor that would carry them up to the top of a storage tower. The churns were stacked on the helical track, gravity carrying them back down to the bottom for redistribution, a sort of giant ‘helter skelter’ for empty milk churns. Once empty the boat was reloaded with empty churns from the bottom of the tower in preparation for the following days collection. George the boat and horse returned to Norbury Junction. The horse was stabled, the boat moored and George finished for the day usually around three to four pm.

In 1925 at the age of six George's eldest daughter Joyce had scarlet fever. George could not live at home for the period while the virus was contagious for fear of carrying it to the other families. He went to live at ‘The Junction Pub’ at Norbury Junction which was run by his father and mother, Henry and Mary Wiseman. Today this is a busy pub and restaurant but then it was a small pub on a small farm holding of 14 acres.

One of the perks of Cadbury employees was being able to buy cheap chocolate particularly when it was rationed during the Second World War. Employees could make a monthly purchase of three or four 2-pound bags of misshapen chocolate, each bar bag marked ‘Not for Resale’ and costing George about one shilling a bag.

Another purchasable product was ‘crumb’ chocolate, the product of the factory made from cocoa beans, sugar and milk. This was sent to the Bournville factory, by motorised narrowboat, for final processing into chocolate bars. George's son Bernard recalled the crumb chocolate as an occasional treat: “It looked like sandstone but tasted lovely.”

Each summer Cadbury would host a summer fete for the children of their employees on the field high on the bank opposite the factory. Between egg and spoon or sack races the children would look down and wave to their fathers working at the plant. The highlight of the day was a trip on the canal in one of the horse-drawn narrow boats.

The milk collecting routine continued daily through each season. The canal was a vital part of the dairyland community. In winter an ice breaking boat would clear the canal for the daily working traffic but in the winter of 1929 even the icebreaker was outdone by the weather and the milk had to be collected by road. Perhaps Cadbury recognized the opportunity as a more efficient form of transport or perhaps for other reasons, the milk collection was slowly transferred from canal to road.

Following Bournville 5’s final collection, George was transferred to work at the plant itself, loading and unloading lorries with milk chocolate crumb and other imports and exports from the factory. By now George lived in Knightley some eight miles from the factory. In the 30 or so years of working a country he was late for work only once. On the 12th of February 1955 while motorcycling to work he collapsed and died having suffered a heart attack. George enjoyed his work and died probably the way he would want. His children, now all sadly passed themselves, remembered him as a fine man, Cadbury as a good employer and a manufacturer of fine chocolate, so much so that my mother Dorothy, never bought chocolate other than that made by Cadbury.

From the duck’s eye view of the canal we see the world in a different way.

The kingfisher’s colours become emerald and sapphire, trees seem to loom above the water reaching for the ever changing sky, lilies appear as lotus flowers.

At Grangemouth the world’s biggest equine statues take on a whole new grandeur as they appear to be even bigger from the canal.

The Forth and Clyde Canal sounds at first to hint at industrial decay. The kelpie statues both celebrate the connection with metal working and raise art to a whole new level.

It’s possible to exhaust a thesaurus in an attempt to describe the towering metal giants as they rise from the canal. A colossus of art. Enormous and huge don’t even come close.

You can even climb up inside them and admire the feat of engineering that created something so beautiful.

Kelpies are part of the wonderful Scottish storytelling tradition.

The world of storytelling is replete with tales of monsters who lurk in river and lakes just waiting to drag an unsuspecting human beneath the unforgiving surface to the watery depths below.

The Loch Ness Monster and the Kelpies are considerably scarier than Jenny Greenteeth.

The point was, of course, to frighten children into staying well away from the water’s edge. The real monster was the risk of drowning.

Kelpies were particularly devious. White horses with glowing skin who invited children to ride on their backs which magically lengthened to accommodate any number of people. Once there, the children found themselves stuck as if by glue and unable to dismount as the kelpie dived beneath the water, drowning his human cargo.

If you find yourself on the Forth and Clyde, do take time to gaze in wonder and maybe even climb up inside the statues. They are ________________ (insert the word of your choice here). I’ll go for 'incredible' in the true sense of the word as kelpies are difficult to believe in.

For my own telling of the story of the kelpies, please visit my YouTube channel, or type in Fiona Dowson Kelpies.

Finding our boat in need of some attention from an engineer, we booked into a Dry Dock.

We took the opportunity to freshen up the paintwork. Over the last year, on the advice of the previous owner, I had dabbed grey undercoat on every new scratch to prevent too much rust forming, resulting in a very pock marked boat that looked, to my eyes, a mess!

Roping in friends to help, day one and two went like clockwork although on day one I did get stranded on the boat as the water emptied from the dock and I realised my legs were not long enough to reach the ground. Balancing some nearby logs one on top of the other, my other half managed to make a step that allowed me off the boat, albeit rather precariously! At 6ft 3” he didn’t have a problem! I was also grateful for my mobility and agility in being able to hop on and off the boat reasonably easily. Little did I know what was around the corner.

Rising from a sitting position on the ground, I thoughtlessly stood up and twisted my leg, pulling a thigh muscle that led to me being incapacitated, for how long I had no idea. The boat half painted, 28 locks ahead of us on exiting the dry dock and a house move imminent, I retired to bed feeling myself to be in a dry dock mentally, notwithstanding a four hour stint in A&E to assess the damage and obtain some much needed crutches.

Overnight I struggled with both immobility and pain when twice needing to go to the bathroom, but surprisingly slept well on my front, as my leg seemed more comfortable when fully extended. I knew a couple of family members were praying for me and all I can say is their prayers were heard because at 8am I got out of bed, no need of crutches and the ability to walk around unhindered and no pain relief required.

Coping with the unexpected is something we all at times have to navigate. How we respond determines how we cope and how we eventually feel about life and ourselves.

Our boat is usually floating along in the water, giving us joy and refuge. Yet when it goes into dry dock, the tiller removed, it is little more than a large tin can unable to fulfil its function. A boat needs water just as we do to live and thrive. When we are physically dehydrated our bodies start to give us problems, such as headaches, fuzziness, an inability to concentrate.

When we are spiritually dry we may lose a zest for life and a purpose of being. There may be an emptiness inside that cannot be filled by retail therapy, alcohol or other addictive substances. Tapping into our spiritual nature can release a side of us that is unseen and unfathomable but when activated leads to untold joy and purpose.

So if today you feel like you are in a dry dock, try and remedy the situation by tapping into your spiritual side, perhaps by doing something creative, or going for a long walk or by asking God to reveal himself to you in some small way, to show that he is there, he does care and he wants to fill you with the water of life.

The Hemsby Independent Lifeboat Service came fully into service in 1977 following the formation of the Hemsby Volunteer Inshore Rescue Club in 1976 as a result of their having been nine fatalities as a result of drowning in the previous four years along the popular local North Sea beaches.

The Hemsby Lifeboat Service is especially notable as a result of it role in covering a very significant area of the Norfolk Broads as well as the nearby Norfolk beaches; in fact well over 50% of the call-outs for the Hemsby boats are in response to incidents on The Broads rather than to those at sea and one of the two (soon to be three) Hemsby Lifeboats is designated as “The Broads Lifeboat” and this well-equipped Dory style lifeboat can be towed by a dedicated Hemsby Lifeboat Station vehicle to no less than thirty-two launching sites around the Broads.

It is this towing vehicle, which is virtually identical to those used by the Coastguard Rescue Teams, which has recently become a “cause celebre” for those of us involved in maritime Search & Rescue because as a result of a complaint by a member of the public, the Hemsby Lifeboat Station has been informed by the Police that because the Hemsby Lifeboat is independent of the RNLI they are NOT authorised to tow their boat to call-outs using a blue light and/or two-tone horns (known to most of us a “blues ‘n' twos”).

As things stand, the Police are quite correct as regards stating that under current regulations only lifeboats belonging to the RNLI are allowed to use “blues ‘n' twos” so the Norfolk & Suffolk Boating Association, of which the MNA Boat Club is an affiliated member have written to the Minister of Transport to seek a change to the regulations that would enable independent lifeboat stations to use “blues ‘n' twos” in the same way that RNLI lifeboat stations are authorised to.

Support for this initiative by the NSBA, the MNA Boat Club and the Institute of Seamanship has been forthcoming from various organisations involved in maritime safety including from the Broads Authority and the National Independent Lifeboat Association, and the response from the Ministry of Transport has been positive at least as far as saying that they “have the question under review and that a decision is likely to be made by September this year”.

Before recommending to the NSBA management committee (as their rep on the Broads Authority Boat Safety Management Group) that the NSBA Chairman should make representation to the Minister about this restriction imposed on Hemsby and other independent lifeboat stations, I took the opportunity to make two visits to the Hemsby station. During these visits, I was made very welcome by both Daniel Hurd their cox’n and by their chairman Chris Batten. They took a lot of trouble to show me around their station and their lifeboats, vehicles and other SAR assets which were as impressive as any I’ve seen elsewhere in literally dozens of visits to (mainly RNLI) lifeboat stations. Indeed, on my second visit, I was accompanied by the former Lifeboat Operations Manager of an RNLI station on the south coast who said he wishes his local lifeboat station was as modern and well equipped as Hemsby!

So on behalf of our Club I wish the Hemsby Station well, not only with their quest to be treated the same as RNLI stations as regards the use of “blues ‘n' twos” but also because, as many of you will have seen on TV, during last winter Hemsby village, and the lifeboat station, suffered huge storm damage: several properties ended up being washed into the sea, and whilst the lifeboat station itself was safe, the slipway was largely washed away and their 7.5m ILB could no longer be launched from the station!

The summer of 2022 saw record temperatures across the UK. What could be pleasanter than a sunny day afloat? Nothing, as long as you can cope with the heat and the flies. Here, Fiona Burt shares her tips for dealing with both.

Heat
We were on the Coventry canal, in the Tamworth area, and quickly realised the big advantage of a narrowboat; you can move it to remain in the shade. We became adept at selecting an overnight mooring which would provide shade as the sun rose, then cruising with parasol (AKA golf umbrella) to find afternoon shelter.

The lack of double glazing proved a benefit as we merely removed the panes on both sides to capture a draught. One especially stifling night, I took the dinette cushions and slept under the stars. Early morning dog walkers were somewhat surprised to be greeted by my bedhead!

We lived off salad and quick-cook stir-fries to reduce the heat on board. Our fridge ice-box contained a big bag of ice. Handy for the G&T and, on one occasion, an iced foot-bath. We needed no excuse to stop for an ice-cream.

When conditions became unbearable, we treated ourselves to a meal in the local air-conditioned Wetherspoons (LIDL also had air-conditioning, but there's a limit to his long you can loiter in the freezer section without arousing suspicion).

And the extreme heat kept the flies away!

Flies
We should have guessed when we saw the plug-in Pest Reject, the electric fly swatter and the can of fly spray left by the previous owners of Lutra Lutra. Our floating summer idyll is attractive to all sorts of flying insects. So what really works.

Well, I can tell you how that the flies just walked straight across the sticky sunflowers that I placed on all the portholes. And they left a sticky outline which was impossible to remove (perhaps I stuck them on backwards?).

They were oblivious to the Pest Reject, which also require the inverter to be running. Now on ebay, free to a good home.

The fly spray required a certain hunting instinct, deadly aim and a willingness to breathe in the chemicals, which I have never possessed.

The electrified tennis racket was fun for the kids to use and highly effective against the larger flying insects, but the smell of singed wings does turn your stomach after a while.

All in all, we settled for the humane fly screens over the front doors and side hatch (oddly, the hot air rising from back hatch keeps them out of that end). Held in place with double sided sticky tape and magnetic closures, these halved the number of flies. And for those insects who evaded our defences, we maintained a goodly crew of spiders to welcome them aboard...

What a wonderful start to this summer boating season we are having. We have all enjoyed the arrival of the June sunshine and the settled weather set to continue. May certainly was “marvellous May” giving us stunning blossom displays all month and thanks to “no mow May” we enjoyed the pretty wildflower displays and sweet smells. Now the elderflower is coming into full bloom I’ll be starting my cordial in the next few days, perfect timing as I have only just used up last year’s batch.

We have recently enjoyed some steady cruising on the quieter Northern waterways and our eyes have been wide open to appreciate all that we have seen, one advantage has been some wider towpaths giving us plenty of space to cook outdoors and watch the sunset.

The boat roof garden and the herbs are doing well, giving the convenience of fresh mint, parsley, chives, oregano, thyme and rosemary on hand. I use lots of coriander and basil too which is potted up and in the cratch. This year I have lemon balm, which is considered to have health benefits and is refreshing in boiling water as a tea. I have also discovered lemon balm with peaches or any mixed fruit salad, as a pesto with fish, or with new potatoes as it is a member of the mint family.

PEACHES WITH HONEY, LEMON BALM AND CRÈME FRAICHE
Halve two peaches making a cut all the way round with a sharp knife, twist in opposite directions to separate the halves and remove the stones. Dot with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar, place cut side down in a foil parcel and pop in the oven or over the barbeque for about 15 minutes until tender, add a drizzle of honey, a few torn lemon balm or mint leaves and return to the heat for another 5 minutes. Serve with crème fraiche.

FENNEL BISCUITS
These are delicious served with those sweet honey peaches and crème fraiche.
135g wholemeal flour
115g rolled oats
55g dark brown sugar
110g butter
20g coconut oil
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt

Combine all the ingredients and turn onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a ball and wrap in cling then refrigerate for 15 minutes. Roll out to 3mm thick between two sheets of greaseproof to avoid sticking. Cut into about 10cm rounds and bake on a lined tray, spaced well apart for 15 mins at 180 fan.

Why not try peaches or nectarines in a salad? They are delicious with lentils, a few greens, sliced red onion, feta and honey vinaigrette (see below) with the addition of a 1 tsp wholegrain mustard.

It's the dressing that really does make a salad interesting, be sure to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil, or sometimes I use cold pressed rapeseed oil.

I often chop or finely shred salad combinations, sometimes with beans and pulses, add the dressing and make a wrap out of warm breads or crispy large lettuce leaves. Or use up last of the bread, cut into crouton size chunks and toss in a hot frying pan with a little garlic oil and seasoning and add to a salad bowl.

LEMON BALM VINAIGRETTE
Makes a zesty dressing for leafy greens and summer salads
8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic paste, or crushed garlic clove
8 fresh lemon balm leaves
Salt and black pepper
Blitz all the ingredients together until finely blended. If you don’t have a mini chopper or stick blender, use a pestle and mortar or very finely chop and whisk together.

BEANS AND PULSES SALADS WITH HERBY DRESSING
Use any combination of tinned beans such as cannellini, black, chickpeas (otherwise known as garbanzo beans). Drain and rinse and then add finely chopped red onion, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach etc. salt, pepper and garlic then toss with 3 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp cider or balsamic vinegar and chopped herbs such as parsley, mint, coriander or basil. Add a little finely chopped fresh chilli for an extra kick.

These hearty salads are also great with tinned fish such as tuna or sliced chorizo or pepperoni.

AVOCADO AND LIME DIP Makes an ideal accompaniment to a bean salad or at the barbeque.
Blend the flesh of two ripe avocados with 1 tbsp lime juice, pinch chilli flakes or powder, finely grated garlic clove and plenty of salt and black pepper.

LEMON AND FETA VINIAGRETTE
A real Summery addition to salad
¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ crumbled feta
1 finely grated garlic clove
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp clear honey
1 tsp chopped oregano
2 tsp lemon zest
Salt and pepper to taste

YOGHURT DRESSING Use with spiced meats, kebabs, flatbreads and salads
300ml natural yoghurt
2 finely grated or minced garlic cloves
1 tbsp fresh finely chopped herbs such as mint (or dried)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Add lemon juice, zest and chopped cucumber to become TZATZIKI.

SWEET AND SOUR HONEY DRESSING Useful over fish, noodles and salads.
1 tsp clear honey
1 tbsp hot water to combine with the honey
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet wine or ½ tsp sugar
Add a few dried chilli flakes for heat (optional)

COCONUT DRESSING Great with fish such as prawns, noodles or curries.
Add a little lime zest and juice to tinned coconut milk with a pinch of sugar.

MANGO DRESSING For cold rice and chicken salads
4 tbsp mango chutney
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp medium curry powder
Juice of 1 - 2 lemons (depending on size)
I you don’t have lemons a good substitute would be cider or white or red wine vinegar.

HONEY VINAIGRETTE Perfect with summer salads
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
1 tbsp clear honey
Salt and pepper to taste

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey (use ½ tsp sugar if you don’t have these)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice ½ lemon

HALLOUMI Is another big summer favourite to cook over the barbeque. Simply marinate large cubes together with onions, peppers, mushrooms, courgettes etc. with oil, herbs, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice before assembling the skewers ready to grill.
Make it spicy by slicing it into oblongs and rubbing with cumin, salt, pepper and oil, add smoked paprika powder to make it smoky and serve with a yoghurt dressing.

PIZZAS ON THE BBQ
I swear by my pizza stone on the Cobb.

If I don’t plan to make the dough in advance a quick no rise pizza dough is just as good using 1 ½ cups self raising flour, 1 cup plain yoghurt and ½ tsp salt, just combine the ingredients and knead for ten mins and the dough is ready to use. This will give two good sized bases. These can be cooked on the stove top by lightly oiling a large frying pan, start the bases off, add the tomato sauce and topping of your choice with cheese and finish under the grill for the last few minutes. Or if you really don’t have the time, use a ready bought flatbread and simply add your topping, just don’t cook for as long.

Sandwich two wraps together with cheese and your favourite filling along with Mexican spices and it becomes a quesadilla.

When the barbeque coals are still hot and cooking is finished, I often char-grill peppers by placing them over the hot grill, keep turning until the flesh is blackened, cover with cling in a small bowl or bag. When cool discard the skins and slice the flesh into thin pieces to keep in the fridge for a few days for adding to salads and pasta dishes etc.

I have the frying pan accessory with the cobb so will often use it for a stir fry or curry and cook outside to keep the heat out of the boat.

HOME MADE TACO SEASONING
I make this in a batch to keep in a jar for use with those bean dishes, with minced beef for a taco meal or rubbed over a ready bought plain beef burger or chicken with a little oil before barbequing.
2 tbsp chilli powder
5 tsp paprika
4 tsp cumin
2 tsp garlic powder
1 ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 ¼ tsp dried oregano
1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

SHAWARMA MARINADE This is a type of middle eastern spice blend and goes well with chicken or lamb kebabs. Serve with flatbreads, salad and yoghurt dressing.
These quantities are plenty for a marinade for 2 to 4 chicken thighs or breasts.
I also use this for veg skewers with aubergine, onion, courgette and pepper, marinating first before threading on the skewer.
Whisk 1 tbsp olive oil with the juice of 1 lemon
Add 3 finely grated garlic cloves, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp turmeric, ¼ tsp curry powder, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, pinch red chilli flakes, 1 tsp salt and black pepper, tiny pinch ground cloves.

SHAWARMA BURGERS
Use the dry spice combination for the shawarma marinade recipe, but only half quantity, save the other half for next time.
Very finely chop or mince half an onion and 1 clove of garlic, add to the minced beef (enough for 4 small or 2 larger burgers) with the dry spices.
Work everything together with your hands adding a little oil, squeeze very firmly together and refrigerate for a half an hour. Squeeze together again forming into the burgers, brush with a little oil before cooking to avoid sticking. Note, they keep their shape better after refrigeration. Gently cook over the hot barbeque.

SUMMER SARDINE SALAD
This is a little like a niçoise salad but using tinned sardines, hard boiled egg and salad leaves with black olives, tomato and cucumber.
Finish with a tomato mayonnaise dressing simply by adding a little cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice and tomato puree to mayonnaise.

POTATO BACON AND BROCCOLI SALAD
Par boil the potatoes and then strain and dry before rubbing over a little smoked paprika, salt and oil. Finish over the barbeque grill or flash in the frying pan for a few minutes each side. Dress with the lemon and feta vinaigrette recipe above.

STICKY SAUSAGES
4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp soy sauce
Dash of oil
Mix everything together and coat the sausages well before cooking over the barbeque. This also works well roasted in the oven with sliced onions and potatoes.

BEAN BURGERS
1 tin mixed beans, strained and roughly mashed
1 small or ½ large onion very finely chopped
1 red chilli deseeded and very finely chopped
1 to 2 slices (depending on size) wholemeal breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper
Blend everything together, ideally pulse in a processor, the finer the easier it will keep the burger together.
Form into shapes and then coat with flour and chill for 1 hour.
Brush well with oil before cooking over the barbeque for 5/6 minutes each side.
Delicious served with avocado and lime dip.

HOT DOG ONIONS
2 large onions thinly sliced
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
1 tin tomatoes blitzed to a puree
½ tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
1 to 2 tbsp hot chilli dipping sauce (depending how much heat you like)
Sautee the onions in the oil for 5 to 10 minutes and then add the remaining ingredients, simmer for ten minutes.

CARAMELISED ONIONS
2 large onions thinly sliced
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp each of sugar, salt, paprika, cumin and oregano
Add the onions, sugar and salt to the oil in a frying pan and very slowly cook for at least 20 minutes stirring often until lightly caramelized. Remove from the heat and add the spices, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
These will reheat, wrapped in foil over the barbeque.