The Napoleonic Wars ended with the Batttle of Waterloo in 1815, and Jacob Weymouth, then aged 34, was pensioned off from the Royal Navy and came home to Devon to take over the lease of Higher Lincombe Farm from his father, Francis Weymouth of Collapit.
     Though he came from farming stock Jacob's life until then, had been spent in the Navy. the war had damaged him as it had done so many others; he had seen the terrible injuries canon fire had inflicted on his crew mates when his ship had come under attack in the Mediterranean, and he had been ship wrecked and left ner death in freezing waters off the coast of Scotland for hours, and now he sought solace in Nature, his family and his friends.
     This extract of his diary details Jacob's everyday farming life at Higher Lincombe, Salcombe, at Rickham, near Prawle Point and on the many acres around the Estuary that he farmed.  He writes of his struggles to bring in the harvest and to care for his animals, of dealings with his business acquaintances and his labourers. He tells of bleedings by his doctor in attempt to cure his Gout;  of allowing his young workers to go to Kinsbridge Fair; of taking care of another boy not physically strong enough to for gruelling manual labour, yet also as a matter of course expecting another to work on Christmas Day.  He tells of the day when the Maid rode the wrong donkey home...
   In so doing he compiles an astonishing account of life around the Kingsbridge Estuary almost 200 years ago...