Historic Churches LAST week was Devon Historic Churches Week — a chance to support local churches many of which need extra funding to keep them going.  I dropped in to St Paul's in Chudleigh Knighton, a lovely church that opened its doors for tea and cakes. Okehampton's most historic church is All Saints where a place of worship has stood since Saxon times, then on the hilltop village of Ocmundtune surrounded by forest. After the Norman conquest, Okehampton Castle was built and Ocmundtune was abandoned in favour of development in the river valley. The current church is therefore out on the edge of the town. Substantially rebuilt in Victorian times it has one of the finest organs in Devon. Service details can be found on the website http://www.achurchnearyou.com/okehampton-all-saints">www.achurchnearyou.com/okehampton-all-saints  Last week I had the pleasure of opening the Ashburton Food Festival. This extravaganza of local produce, drink, entertainment and cooking is a great draw. The town was transformed by stallholders purveying everything from vanilla pods to organic heritage ciders, from cheese to chutneys and chillies, from real ales to liquors and free range meringues. And if Tom's pies, Ladilay's hand-made chocolates and the sizzle of fresh meat on the grill were not enough there were demonstrations too — Nick from Ashburton's outstanding Fish Deli, Ashburton's Cookery School with Chef Darrin Hosegrove, award winning Michael Caines, and, in this age of sparing the Earth our human greed, there was David Beazley who hunts wild foods — mushrooms, nuts, rabbits, even squirrel — 'they taste like chicken,' he tells me 'although there's not much meat on them.' A bit tough too, I proffer, but he assures me that a slow strewing guarantees perfect pitch in tenderising a slice of the old Sciurus Carolinensis. Can I ever look a squirrel in the eye again I wonder?