Oakhurst wasn’t quite love at first sight. But my wife, ever the optimist, didn’t flinch. “It just needs love,” she said. And, as usual, she was right.

The blazon of our Coat of Arms (at least within my branch of the family) describes our crest as being an ibex’s head, erased, sable, eared, armed, collared and lined gold. Despite my excitement at discovering this, many of these words had no meaning to me and I set about learning their significance. Erased describes a head, forcibly ripped from the body, as opposed to severed from it, leaving a jagged edge. Sable is an ancient word for the tincture equivalent to black. Eared

With a pang of sadness I boarded the train at Exeter bound for Hereford, where I will explore my Mattey roots for a few days before...

Charles Bertie Prowse, of the 2nd Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, and grandfather of Thea Parsons, was mentioned in dispatches by Field Marshall Lord Roberts during the 2nd Boer War (1899-1902). The battalion, which had arrived in South Africa on the 8th December, 1899, took part in the Battles of Colenso, Skion Kop, and Vaal Kranz, all of which had horrendous British losses