What a great day we had last Sunday at our second Family Fun Day. The weather was, once again, very kind, folks started arriving twenty minutes before we officially opened, and the last visitors were still sitting on the lawn listening to the live music when we closed five hours later.

We’re still counting the money and paying the bills, but it looks like we’ve made just over £4k, which is almost enough to pay for one of our Time To Retune breaks. So a wonderful outcome on a great day.

The unexpected emergency road closure between Chudleigh and Ugbrooke caused a few last-minute headaches, but we rerouted the mini-bus; and most people came from other parts of Devon anyway.

As expected, the dog show was a popular part of the event. We sold even more draw tickets than we did in 2025. The food and drinks outlets all did well. And judging by the squeals of delight coming from the children (many of whom were upside down at the time) the addition of zorbing to the programme was a big hit.

There are so many people to thank, if we attempt to name them all, we are sure to forget someone. But we really do need to acknowledge our main sponsors and supporters:

• Alexander and Lucy Clifford for letting us run wild in the grounds of Ugbrooke House again.
• Dartmouth Distillery Co., Windsoredge Research; Hamiltons Fish; Calancombe Estate; and Atkins Ferrie Wealth Management for donating prizes for the draw;
• The Wayward Pynes, Georgia Omarah. And Three Shots Later for providing the live music;
• Devon Contract Waste for garbage disposal;
• Prestige Decorators and Wisteria Kitchens for sponsoring the dog show;
• Wottons Printers for providing Loop The Lake stickers;
• Foresight Financial Management for sponsoring the parking stewards;
• Chudleigh CE VC Community Primary School for loaning us the mini-bus to run the Park and Ride;
• Devon Productions for filming the day in order to produce a promotional video.

In addition, thanks should go to Chudleigh Scouts, Chudfest, Newton Abbot Rotary Club and all the individuals who helped in the run-up to the event and on the day. And of course, to the hundreds for adults, children and dogs that came through the gates and made it such a brilliant day.

(We were too busy to take any photos on the day, so we’re busily contacting everyone we can think of to pull together a gallery for the website. Watch this space. And don’t miss the Devon Productions video of the day, coming out very soon.