Switching gears

With her caring responsibilities a constant companion, Caro Giles discovers that a change of scenery and a slower pace is sometimes all it takes to top up the tank

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I decide to spend a week exploring why a change is almost as good as a rest. Following a flurry of last-minute disasters (flat tyres, delayed prescriptions, forgetting to ask the neighbour to feed the cat), I fill my car with suitcases and daughters and drive several hundred miles south to the North Devon coast.

Devon holds a special place in my heart. It’s where I spent my childhood until the age of almost eleven, and many of my relatives still live there now. I want to show my own children the hedgerows that curve high above lanes that wind and curl. I used to walk along these lanes when I was little – I can still feel my feet on the tarmac and taste the wild strawberries hidden like jewels amongst the red campions. As we drive deeper into the countryside, I tell the girls about boats hidden in coves and the smugglers who dragged their treasures to safety, concealed by these same ancient hedgerows.