Devon Air Ambulance Trust’s Motorcycle Ride Out is one of the great annual events in the bikers’ calendar and a great way for bikers to support the Charity.

This year it came to Dawlish Warren and within sight of Sandays! Look out for Sandays on the photos. The ride out started from Trago Mills in Newton Abbot and ended in the outer car park at Dawlish Warren. It was a fantastic sight watching the huge variety of motorcycles pouring down the hill and into the car park, created a lot of interest. Seemed to go on for hours with some riders off again whilst others were still arriving. For those that hung around there was music, trade stands & plenty of ways to relax around the sea front on a lovely Sunday afternoon.

The Great Big Rhino Project is a mass public art event on the streets, parks and open spaces of South Devon to promote and raise funds for rhino conservation. It is run by Paignton Zoo in partnership with Torbay Council, Exeter Council, and Wild in Art.

More than 70 lifesize sculptures will form a trail on the streets of Exeter and the English Riviera from Saturday 30th July to Sunday 9th October.

Big Rhino trail: our favourite at Cockington Court.

There will be a “Goodbye Great Big Rhino” event at Paignton Zoo Friday 14th – Sunday 16th October .
Finally, a charity fundraising auction at the Riviera International Conference Centre on Wednesday 8th November.

The Great Gorillas project in 2013 raised thousands of pounds and was enjoyed by all ages; we are sure that this one will be just as inspiring and successful.

Thank goodness we still have all 3 of our Dawlish cygnets and they are looking very grown up and independent now. These pics were taken on a lovely balmy evening and they were very busy roaming around and feeding.

The Warren is looking very pretty at the moment. There have been lots of Southern Marsh Orchids this year and also loads of foxgloves. Along with the tall grasses and a multitude of other wild flowers it is a lovely sight. We walk there a lot from Sandays (almost an extension of our back garden!) and it is such a pleasure. Also a lot of little puffball fungi around at the moment.

We have just enjoyed the first Torbay Airshow weekend and what a fantastic event it has been. Some of our Sandays guests went along on Saturday and we went ourselves on Sunday and all really enjoyed it. We all went on the train which is very convenient at both ends. Plenty of space at Paignton for people to spread out along the sea front and the pier and have wonderful views of the action in the air. The Tigers (Freefall parachute display) delighted children on the beach by landing just a few feet away in the water! The start of the Red Arrows display coincided with a heavy shower but as the rain cleared there they were, providing the usual professional and amazing action. The event village on the Green was tremendous with something for everyone (my favourite was “Chin up”), plus of course all the usual play areas and attractions that make Paignton special all the time. I really hope they decide to run this again, I would definitely put it in the diary.

One of the joys of living at Sandays is being close to the station at Dawlish Warren and able to take a few minutes to go and watch the steam trains go through. We had one on Saturday passing through around mid-day and back again later on. Plenty of people out watching from the serious train spotters to those like myself who just enjoy the sight and wonderful sounds!