One of Exmouth and East Devon's top attractions, Stuart Line Cruises, has announced the winners of a poetry writing competition it launched to inspire hope, creativity and mental wellbeing during these difficult times.

The competition, which was given a nature theme, was launched via the cruise company's monthly newsletter and was soon shared to its social media channels, reaching and engaging thousands of people.

Jake Stuart said: "We have been completely overwhelmed by the number of entries. The Easter weekend would usually represent the start of our summer season but at a time when we are unable to run boat trips, we hoped this would be a good way of reaching out to our community, helping them to feel connected, engaged and to lessen the worry and uncertainty of isolation and subsequent loneliness.

"The internet is proving a wonderful thing at this time and we have read some really beautiful poems; some are based on peoples' memories of boat trips with us and their experiences of the wildlife and Jurassic Coast and others were written by young children with colourful drawings to go with them.

"I am sure that home education is proving a very challenging aspect of this situation for so many families and it was really heart-warming to know that parents were using this as a way to engage their children in creative writing, as well as the older generations taking part."

One entrant said: "You have always been and always will be a very important, integral part of our lovely community," while another expressed that the competition was 'a lovely distraction' which has been 'very uplifting' and 'really cheered me up'.

The winners were announced on Easter Thursday and they have won gift vouchers for Stuart Line Cruises' award-winning Guided Bird Watching Cruises.

Although the competition is officially closed, the cruise company plans to publish 'a poem a day to keep social isolation at bay', via the blog on their website. You can visit their blog here.

Lauren Clark, director of Marketing for Stuart Line Cruises said "This is an extraordinarily strange and unsettling time for everyone – we have never experienced anything quite like this before and this is something which we all have in common.

"This is our way of letting our community know that they are not alone and whilst the competition element was fun, the main focus here was on encouraging people to feel connected by immersing themselves in nature and reflecting on happy memories and thoughts.

"I really hope that this competition has helped people to feel positive and uplifted. With so many wonderful entries and having felt so moved and uplifted myself having read them, I decided that it would be selfish of me to keep them to myself, which is why I will be sharing them via our blog, for everyone to enjoy."

Two of Captain Jake's favourite winning poems can be found below:

PRIDE OF EXMOUTH

Sailing on the low tide,

o'er the sand she does glide,

the sun, high in the sky,

birds in stereo, we hear their cry.

Carefully following the channel,

silently and steadily we travel.

As the sun's reflection glistens,

our senses heightened, we sit and listen.

Cormorant to the left, shag to the right,

oystercatchers on the shoreline, more in flight.

Totally absorbed by mother nature at her best,

we look up to the tree tops and spy the heron's nest.

The sun is sinking in the west,

the flocks of birds now take their rest,

her ray's shorten and the water turns gold,

the air cools quickly, in fact it's cold.

A flash of blue crosses our bow,

surely not a kingfisher, not now.

For day has turned to into night,

time to rest, not be in full flight.

As we retrace our journey, somewhat faster,

who is at the helm, oh it's the master.

The Pride of Exmouth heads back to shore,

the light has faded we can birdwatch no more.

Written by Nina Geraghty

NATURE POEM

We go on the Exmouth boat.

Oscar sings a happy note!

Along comes a Billy goat,

Swimming fast, with a float.

We sail on the Stuart Line Cruise,

People taking photos for the news,

Of the animals and their poos,

Because nature has no loos.

We love the Brixham Pirate day,

Dressed as pirate, ready to play.

We cannot find a parrot, so we use a Jay!

We go crab hunting in Brixham Bay.

All abroad the Stuart Line ship,

Off on the Teignmouth carnival trip,

The fireworks were such a pip!

The grey seal ate one chip.

Written by Oscar age 9 and Malachi age 6.