Jack Baker shares his favourite memories of living in Newton Abbot
A variety of people, adore Newton Abbot because it has lots of lovely, beautiful parks spread out all around the town and residential areas. Decoy Park also has a stunning carved wooden railing designed by me and some other children from Decoy School.
Last year a group of children from Decoy School were asked to draw a sketch about pond wildlife. I drew a stunning Kingfisher soaring through the diamond blue sky. A few months later, I found out my beautiful Kingfisher had been picked. I felt really happy because my own drawing was going to be on show to the public. After that my design was given to the brilliant wood crafter so he could carve it on some oak.
The Kingfisher is now on a boardwalk with lots of other drawings that were designed along with a line of poetry. After months had gone by, Mr Bone (who is the Deputy Head at Decoy School) took us over and we saw all of our lovely drawings. I felt really glad and proud of myself. I can show it to my family every time we walk my dog Kara in Decoy Park.
Recently, our class were lucky enough to visit the unique Fenland, at Decoy Park, with Simon the ranger.
The Fenland is a really beautiful nature reserve with emerald green moss and reeds going crazy. It tickled so much it was almost like a colossal house because the reeds were so tall they covered us. The mud came past our boots, all the girls were screaming “Ooh there’s mud in my boots!” There were really deep bogs, it felt awesome with the mud squelching around in your boots. At the end of the day, I was really tired and my feet really ached. Fenland is not open to the public unless you go with Simon the Decoy Ranger.
Town Quay Bridge is new for Newton Abbot, around one year old. It lies across the silky smooth River Teign. The bridge is open to the public at all times and you can have a walk, cycle or run across it. It is a very pretty bridge and takes you through Hackney Marshes. When I first cycled over the bridge I had a nice ride because the stunning racecourse was on the left hand side and next to that was the railway. It was awesome, I thought this is the best bridge in Newton Abbot. It is fantastically beautiful flying through next to the turquoise river.
Next to the cycle path the really tall reeds shoot up into the sky. Sometimes, we have a break next to the river, the trees overhang with the gazing sun beaming on them. The tips of the trees dip their fragile claws striking through the tranquil river like a lightning bolt. When we set off I was glad because there was more of the beautiful ride coming up. After the bike ride, I felt epic because it was a long and tiring but immense ride.
Newton Abbot inspires me because it a really interesting place to grow up in.
