Katie Bruno mentioned in her blog last week that Northeast Ohio is generally a chilly, overcast place and the same can be said of Devon and indeed England. However, in early Summer there is nowhere more beautiful than this lush, verdant county. Our humble hawthorn, fairly nondescript for the rest of the year explodes into a mass of snow white and has to be seen to be believed; Proust wrote a whole chapter (i.e. 2 sentences) on this stunning annual display. I am looking forward to another stunning display – of Brush Boarding – next week as I head down to Cornwall’s Crealy Adventure Park.
Crealy Great Adventure Parks is in fact two amusement parks here in the south west. Devon’s Crealy is based just outside Exeter and Cornwall’s Crealy is based not far from Newquay. The creation of Angela Wright MBE, Devon’s Crealy was opened in1989, inspired by Angela’s own country, farm based childhood. It has grown year on year in terms of the number of its rides and attractions and also visitor numbers, and now attracts around half a million people a year, with a healthy split between locals and tourists.
This coming week sees the launch of an exciting new attraction, sport and product at both Crealys; Extreme Sports Zone‘s Brush Boarding. Invented by Australian Kyle Dent, the Brush Board ramp simulates surfing or snowboarding or indeed skateboarding and looks set to become a major hit in the leisure industry. Think Flowrider without the water.
Champion surfers love the ramp and reckon it presents a genuine test for even experienced athletes, but the product is also adaptable to such a degree that children, grannies and surf dudes alike can enjoy the waves/snow.
Wild Wadi’s Flowrider defeated me after 1 ungainly minute. An incredible experience but it takes some getting used to. It will be fascinating to compare Brush Boarding. Will it, I wonder, in the words of “sk8ter girl” Avril Lavigne (pronounced to rhyme with “hinge” by my daughter – I haven’t the heart to tell her) be, “like, so whatever” or will it be “like, totally awesome man”? Watch this space, dude.
See also: 2007 UK Windsurfing Champion John Hibbard to launch Brush Ramp at Devon’s Crealy
Devon the Home Of New Surfing And Snowboarding Sport Of Brush Boarding
