Village of Plums

In the southwest of England, two miles upriver from Dartmouth, the River Dart swells to a mile wide at the village of Dittisham, known by locals as Dit’sum. The Dimbleby family had been taking holidays there for several years before I married David. They had an old bungalow at the water’s edge with a breathtaking view and a large, steep plum orchard behind, but by 1977 David and I had three young children, his brothers had also started families and his sister was soon to follow. The bungalow simply wouldn’t take all of us.