Vacation Rentals

It’s that time of year again, when fishing calls us to the great outdoors! Fighting a lunker bass or a mean ol’ catfish on your line just seems to somehow go perfectly with all the sights, smells, and sounds of Spring and Summer. There are so many great aspects to fishing that it’s often easy to overlook them. Catching bass or catfish is great fun, of course, but there’s so much more going on around us. Don’t forget to take it all in!

Use all of your senses when fishing and you’ll enjoy the day more while catching bass, catfish, perch, or nothing at all!

Sights

Use your eyes while you’re fishing to soak up the scenery. It’s too easy to get so focused on that trophy bass or monster catfish that you miss out on everything else going on around you. Turtles sunning themselves on the shore; ducks swimming along in a row; kids out enjoying a day on the lake.

Smells

So many fishing memories we all carry in our heads are tied to the smells of nature. The water, the flowers and weeds, and even the dirt your worms were packed in – all of these add to the experience every bit as much as landing that bass or catfish.

Sounds

Who can forget the sounds of their first fishing trip with the old man? The boat motor; the ‘bzzzz’ of your reel as you cast out your line; the ‘kerplunk’ of the bait or lure hitting the surface; and of course the frenetic splashing as you set the hook and reel in the first bass or catfish of the day! Not to mention all the birds and the quiet chatter with your fellow anglers.

So as another fishing season takes off, cherish the time you spend at this wonderful pursuit. Enjoy more than just the thrill of landing a big bass, catfish, or whatever else you’re lucky enough to haul in. Stash away the memories of the great outdoors too!

The Grand Designs show, as its title would suggest, paid host to a variety of different companies specializing in exciting structures designed to fit any catering or hospitality need, and, while perhaps not the most important elements in the environmental scheme of things, and despite the sometimes astronomical cost of these additions, they do make for worthy column space when considering the tastes of the consummate gardener. After all, if you’d spend thousands on a car or extension, then why not on your garden?

There were two major companies at Grand Designs competing for these attentions. The first was ‘Oceans Outdoor Living’, which specialized in woven outdoor furniture. However, to leave its mission statement at that, would be to do them a great disservice. Oceans were exhibiting a variety of furniture that I was lucky enough to look at and to enjoy after a hard days stomp around Custom House. Some of the pieces I saw were opulent bordering on outrageous, for example, the design team had formulated entire three piece suites suited to outdoor conditions, including sun loungers, banquet tables and day beds-complete with a fold down cover to protect prospective nappers from the elements. However, the stand-out at Oceans exhibit was the presence of a four-man Tee Pee durable enough to remain a permanent outdoor installation.

The other competitor vying for domestic supremacy was The Breeze House Group, who provided a special focus on gazebos and pavilions and offered the very top of the line in construction and maintenance. Their motifs, however, are not confined to the structure, but rather the ecology of the entire garden, tailoring your planting scheme to fit the architecture of their centrepieces which are available in Safari, Oasis and colonial themes. However, while they do make for beautiful structures and more than comfortable entertainment spaces, they are pricey decisions to be made frivolously, with costs ranging between £4,000 (for the basic models) up to £20,000 for the Empire motif.