Mrs Allen’s memories “ I’m not sure how my dad, Harry Wood, came to buy the boat. We'd heard he'd seen this boat. He was boat and engine mad, a clever man. He just fancied this and wanted to do it up. When he saw the engine he was thrilled to bits about it. He did the engine up and it was absolutely gleaming. Sam Baume was my uncle. His wife was Alice. They came down to Devon so they could carry on with this boat. We came down one weekend and I just fell in love with the place and a fortnight later we came here to live. We had emigrated to Australia but the heat was too much. When we first came here we stayed with Sam and Alice. Sam, he only had one arm, he lost it in the war. A bomb blew up near them. He was with one of his mates. His mate was blown to bits and he lost his arm. He was in the Desert Rats. My stepmother did the cooking. She was a good cook. My father had used to work building pipelines and worked away a lot. I came here in 1969. Dad died in the early Eighties. Prince Charles came on the boat and I believe the Duke of Edinburgh, but I am not 100 per cent sure on that. It did well as a restaurant. She was a super cook. It wasn't just a little bit in the middle of the plate. Did you know it was featured on the Onedin Line? It wasn't the full-blown boat just the engine room. They arranged an explosion. My dad was 75 when he died.