Menu

Cornwall

Screenshot-2022-02-25-at-10.35.40-1-e1661776823431-1024x601-1024x585

Out on the Boats

, , 0

If you have read The Body in the Wall you will know there is quite the boat chase, so I took my family out for a bit of research. Not so many explosions though 😀

We had the boat to ourselves and made our way to the end of the harbour for 9am. Our skipper was Ben and his company is Mevagissey Sea Safaris. The sea was like glass and we headed off in search of the horizon.

The gannets were flying south so we followed them beyond the Dodman Point and were soon rewarded with the sight of porpoises jumping in and out of the water. A little while later we were lucky enough to spot a minke whale. Ben doesn’t believe in chasing the wildlife so he stopped the engine and waited to see if the whale wanted to come closer and explore. Sadly, she didn’t but we all approved of Ben’s actions. We are guests in their home after all.

If you would like to see a closer encounter, read about one in the link below. A local kayaker went out into the bay, leaving from Fowey, rather than Mevagissey, and had a much closer experience. It could even have been the same whale that we saw. Albeit from a distance. The Lone Kayaker

As we headed back, a seal came and swam alongside for a bit which was brilliant, then we explored the coastline and said hi to a few passing sailors and fishermen.

Finally, before we headed back into the harbour, Ben threw the boat into a few figure eights and I’m sure our laughter could be heard back in the village.

Eventually, the experience was over and we all went home fizzing with energy. Honestly, there really is nothing half so much fun as messing about on boats.

Out on the Boats
17103798_10155182475374455_7384184700275842506_n

One Silver Summer – Perfect in every sense.

, , , 0

17103367_10155182475349455_6116945601149451693_nThere are lots of perks to running a bookshop, obviously, the main one is running a bookshop, but close behind that is receiving free books. Sometimes they are excellent, often they are not, not because they are no good but because they are just not my cup of tea, and given that I don’t like tea this suggests just how picky I am.  Books arrive in bright red padded envelopes, sparkly metallic boxes, with jigsaw puzzles, bookmarks, music tracks, booze and yesterday, chocolate.

The gifts generally tie into the book, Under a Pole Star, a tale of polar exploration, came with brandy and mintcake, A Year of Marvellous Ways, set in the Cornish countryside came with Slow Gin. Are these gifts shameless bribes from the publishers to make sure their book gets noticed? Absolutely. Is that a problem? Not in the slightest. I am quite capable of receiving gifts without feeling beholden. Personally, I think publishers know when they have a winner on their hands and get a little generous or maybe it does just give them the edge. If I receive five books and two have gifts I generally look at those first, if the book is good which it invariably is, my time is taken up and those other books, unless their blurb hits my sweetspot, get put in a pile and invariably forgotten about. So the gifts aren’t a bribe but they are a way of getting the book noticed.

All this leads me to a very pretty package that I received this week and the first thing I noticed was the bar of chocolate because although it was a specially commissioned bar, I recognised the packaging folds.  This was a bar of chocolate made by Kernow Chocolate, a brand I am very familiar with as we have stocked them for years, wandered around their factory when they were operating out of farm barns and are a truly wonderful local brand. The book was set in Cornwall and the publishers / PR had chosen a local Cornish company. A very good start, it also helped that it was sea salt chocolate, our best seller!

I then gave the book a quick glance, teenage romance set in Cornwall, drifted past it, not my thing, and read the covering letter. Publisher and author both had great pedigrees, Puffin Club, Chicken House Publishing, Harper Collins, lots of very good names which again told me that the book was probably half way decent.

Anyway, I took some photos, ate the chocolate and promised to say nice things after a quick browse and maybe even stock it. Evening came and I didn’t fancy starting Guernica, it looked a bit gruelling so I figured teen romance would be the ticket. Oh boy, what a treat that I had nearly missed.

One Silver Summer by Rachel Hickman is the tale of an orphan and a prince, of ponies and a perfect Cornish summer.  It really is the most gorgeously, warm romantic tale and I was hopelessly drawn in and hooked. I don’t want to say too much about it without spoiling some of the storylines but it really is worth getting, I can just see this book being passed all around the classroom. It made me think of Jilly Cooper and Daphne du Maurier whilst being wonderfully innocent. Despite making me cry it does have a happy ending and we will, of course, be stocking it!

Reading Age 11+ Available May 25th.

 

 

 

 

Holy Wells: Cornwall by Phil Cope. Filmed by The Cornish Bookshop

, 0

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etTdsb4SSCs]

Sacred wells have played an important part in the culture and landscape of Cornwall for several millennia, and continue to do so. Holy Wells: Cornwall is a collection of beautiful colour photographs of forty-five of the most important and pre-eminent wells in the county, accompanied by an informative text about the history and legends associated with them, and a number of poems celebrating them by Robert Southey, Arthur Quiller Couch and others.
Like Wales and Ireland, Cornwall was an influential centre for the Celtic church and pagan places of worship were taken over by Christianity. Many Celtic saints – St Piran, St Euny, St Nonna, St David, St Mary, St Cuby, St Anne, St Sampson – are referenced in the names of churches and wells which stand in towns and villages, alone on moorland next to stone circles and iron age settlements, hidden in valleys and even in sea caves. Phil Cope takes the reader on a journey of discovery through densely wooded terrain, past bare tors, into ancient churches and along almost forgotten road and tracks, to lead us to special places of wonder and enrichment.
Holy Wells: Cornwall includes over 150 photographs, together with a map, bibliography and index.

Price inc p&p
UK £17.99 GBP Overseas £25.00 GBP

Cornwall Today and Us – A new Cornish reading group

, 0

What’s this? Well Cornwall Today have launched a new reading group with me acting as host! From Daphne du Maurier and Winston Graham to renowned modern authors including Patrick Gale, Cornwall has inspired reams of literature exploring the rich fabric of our history, culture and landscape.  If you love exploring the county through books, then join our free Cornwall Today book club.

Each month, book club host Liz Hurley, of Hurley Books in Mevagissey, will suggest a new book to read, along with reading notes, links and further reading. Club members who wish to can then join our online discussion about the book, or simply read what others have to say.

We hope the Cornwall Today book club will provide a way for people who may live in remote areas, or who live outside the county, to share a common love of Cornish literature.

“The aim of the club is simply to share a love of books about Cornwall and by Cornish or Cornwall-based authors,” explains Liz. “My own reading addiction started at a very early age, aided by a trusty torch and a large city library with a seemingly unending supply of books. I stumbled into a career in the library when I found it was the only job I could get in the Welsh town where I lived. I loved the job and trained to become a chartered librarian. Eventually, this brought me and my husband, Steve, to Cornwall.

“Steve had always dabbled in bookselling, via car boots, markets or shady corners. With the rise of the Internet, we discovered one of the shadiest corners – namely a new player on the block called Amazon. On the back of a successful time selling books online, Steve opened a little shop in St Austell. I left my job to help him, and we moved to an even smaller place in Charlestown.  Realising that bigger was better, we moved to Mevagissey and haven’t looked back.”

Hurley Books now sells new and second-hand titles, both in the shop and online, with a specialist Cornish section where you can buy The House on the Strand at a reduced price.

To join the Cornwall Today book club, simply email us at promotions@cornwalltoday.co.uk putting BOOK CLUB in the subject line. We will add you to our newsletter, giving details of each month’s book club choice. We will then put together summary of the discussion on each month’s title, along with any offers which might be available for book club members.  Check in here on at the book club section of our website for the latest updates.

September’s book club choice is a classic which many of you may have read already: The House On The Strand by Daphne du Maurier. Please e-mail us with any other suggestions or feedback for the book club. Until then, we look forward to cosying up and sharing some thrilling Cornish tales with you.

The Saints’ Way Walk. Part One.

, 0

It’s time again for the school’s Saints’ Way walk.  Every year in the summer the school take the year 6 pupils on a trek across Cornwall, they stretch it out over 3 days and it gives the children a chance to get out of class.  By the summer term they are ready to move on, they’ve done their SATs, they can rings around the curriculum, and they are itching to go up. Up to the big school with all the terrors and the excitements that it promises and suggests.
So in a rather smart move years ago, it was decided to exhaust this over excited, nervous pack of puppies and the Saints’ Way walk was borne.  Stage one is Fowey to No Man’s Land above Lostwithiel, we were due to go two weeks ago but an early rain shower meant that it was called off despite howls of protests from the children and parents alike. Naturally the rest of the day proved dry and sunny. In fact it was probably the last dry and sunny day we’ve seen since.  Yesterday we were scheduled to try again and as I woke up I looked out the window to see heavy misty rain blowing along the street with almost no visibility and high winds.  An even worse day than last time.  However Mr F. was not to be thwarted a second time and the walk was on. The mini bus was loaded up with children, parents and dogs and we were off!
We jumped out at Fowey and stepped straight up to the church and the Saints’ Way.  Days out with Mr F. are always special because of the enthusiastic and bizarre way in which he presents information. Nothing in his mind is boring except maybe paperwork, no child is a failure so long as they are trying and very little is impossible.  We started in the church where I discovered that during the civil war Cornish hospitality towards the Parliamentarians was lacking and they were all sent home naked having been beaten and had all their provisions removed. The pulpit is from the wrecked timbers of a Spanish galleon and that the decorative piece of stone in the graveyard came from atop of the church tower when it was struck by lightning.
We were about to set off on the Saints’ Way but what exactly is it?  This is an old path that connected the early Christian Celts in Ireland through Wales across Cornwall and down over to Brittany. As the Saints and pilgrims progressed across the lands they were banishing the pagan religions as they went and brought the word of God to the people they met.  So we were going to follow their route spreading the word of God, banishing such pagan practices as worshiping water deities and woodland spirits.  Looking around me I felt quite confident that the woodland nymphs and deities would be safe from our bunch of heathens!
Off we set, nattering and chattering, wrapped up against the wind and rain and soon we were walking up some very steep hills, shedding coats and jumpers as we went and very glad of the damp air to cool us down. Eventually we arrived at St Sampson’s at Golant. A Holy Well stands at the entrance of the Church so maybe those water nymphs weren’t so much banished as assimilated? Inside we discovered that St Sampson fought dragons and brought the dead back to life. Early saints seem to have more in common with super heroes rather than being nice, kindly folk. In an interesting aside Mr F suggested that dragons might have existed, in the form of fire breathing pterodactyls that ignited their own malodorous, methane burps with their rough teeth. Who knows? Stage two of the walk coming soon.

, 0

It seems hard to believe but another year has passed and the rugby season is finally over. It’s been a rough year for the club having its club house vandalised and losing Paul to cancer but Lankelly Fowey aren’t ones for giving up.  The boys have turned out most weeks for training and matches, they have played in hail and driving rain, slid along mud slides, been gouged, thumped and tackled again and again and again but they loved every minute.  I’m not sure how much fun it was for the coaches and parents who also turn out every week but for our sins we must enjoy watching our children try their hardest and sometimes succeeding.
So now that rugby is over you’d think I’d get a rest but my youngest has decided that he wants to come running with me. The first time he came I tried to keep up with him which proved to be a massive mistake.  Not only can I not run a mile yet, I’m also not Usain Bolt. Finn can not only run rings around me at speed, he can do it for miles and miles.  To make things more fun he has decided to lap me, to see how many miles he can run whilst I try to run just one. I’m not sure who is finding this fun. I know it’s not me but I suspect by his grin and shouts of encouragement as he goes past that it might be him.
My eldest boy now having lost his weekly outlet for rage and violence has turned to his piano with gusto and no little amount of trepidation on behalf of his piano.  His teacher was a bit concerned that he wasn’t making much progress recently until we discovered that there was a language breakdown. Rachel was telling Thomas to look at a certain piece. Thomas did just that, he looked at it. For weeks he looked at it, and then went on to play his own pieces. Rachel has now stopped asking him to look but to actually play and progress is being made.
Of course running and piano is not enough of an outlet for sporty kids so out come the surf boards and the sail boats and there goes the state of my car. I wish there wasn’t this modern obsession with carpeted cars, the sand gets so wedged in and it never hoovers out – just more mess to learn to live with. I liked the old lino types where it all just sluiced out, dog hair, mud, sand, food, the whole lot swept out and then washed down.
So it’s going to be a long sporty summer ahead of us, hopefully with lots of lovely sunshine and long sunny evenings. The children can go grab their bikes and ride their socks off and Steve and I will relax over a well-earned glass of something chilled. Cheers!

, , 0

Fault Line – Robert Goddard
Any new book from Robert Goddard is a read to be looked forward to but his latest thriller is set around St Austell and focuses on the fortunes a China Clay family.  This modern thriller follows the Wren family from the late 60’s, the Wren’s own a small china clay business which is soon taken over by Cornish China Clay under a cloud of tragedy.
Forty years on and Jonathan Kellaway prepares to retire from International Kaolin but the events from his youth pulls him back to Cornwall.  Initially, he is sent to find out what has happened to a decade’s worth of company documents, however, he knows that facing this problem will also force him to re-examine his past.  In the late sixties Jonathan had become friends with Oliver and Vivien Wren, both troubled and beautiful and affected by their father’s unexplained suicide some ten years earlier.  Further deaths over the decades hint at a secret that cannot stay secret. Now Jonathan has to see if he can finally unearth it.
This is a great thriller with more deaths and misfortunes that seem right for any one family to endure.  The storyline grabs you from the beginning and never disappoints,  just as you unravel one mystery another one appears keeping you constantly turning the page.  The accuracy of the research is perfect and gives greater depth and enjoyment to anyone familiar with St Austell or the china clay industry.
An absolute treat of a book.

Liz

https://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822/GB/wwwhurleybook-21/8001/0e69907c-834a-4fbc-be8f-f4524e73bf29 Amazon.co.uk Widgets https://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=wwwhurleybook-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=0593065204&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

St Austell – the come back?

0

Welcome to the town of St Austell, so we didn’t win the city bid and not only am I not surprised I’m also not sure if the prize was that big a deal anyway. I understand why St Ashap’s went for it and why they got it, they do have a cathedral after all, they must be thrilled to be finally recognized after all these centuries, and Chelmsford and Perth are really quite large.

What it has done though is make us relook at our town and consider it in a positive light.  It’s been so easy to denigrate the place over the last decade.  The rot appears to have set in according to local gossip when the council said no to Marks and Spencer and they went to Truro instead.  I wasn’t around then but I know people who used to shop in St Austell who  started to shop in Truro but let’s be fair, Truro may have a smaller population than St Austell but it has a far larger commercial centre in which shops can flourish. It has more open areas within the shops to have markets and street fairs, it was the county seat and had other reasons for people to visit; the cathedral, the law court, county hall, the theatre and so on and all of these factors must also have had a factor on where shoppers chose to spend their money.  As I said I wasn’t here at the time and this is one of those topics where I run the risk of being shot down as an outsider that doesn’t know what they are talking about. However, looking at it dispassionately, having M&S would have been great but the argument that other big businesses followed M&S into Cornwall and into Truro doesn’t really wash, where would they have gone in St Austell? Even with a brand new shopping centre we still don’t have anything large enough for a second department store.

Maybe losing M&S created a loss of confidence in the town amongst the people of St Austell; lord knows the amount of times I hear that that decision was the wrong one suggests that people were very bitter and resentful about it.  And it is fair to say that St Austell has undergone something of a steady decline over the last few years but I can see a town getting back on its feet.  I went to a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting and it was a pleasant eye opener.  I’m not a member but they had an open meeting where all businesses could come along.  The Chamber held their hands up and said that in the past they had had issues but they were making a new start, that included a greater level of inclusivity and a more open a receptive attitude towards new schemes and businesses.  One great new event is going to be the first St Austell Spring Fayre on the 28th and 29th of April with  Plants Galore, Flower Show with St Austell in Bloom, Children’s Fun & Games with the Big Green Bus & Eden Cafe, Food and Drink from Cornish Producers, Live Music & Entertainment.

The chamber will be supporting this venture along with providing real support for new businesses and I think it marks the start of a very positive new chapter in St Austell’s very long and important history

Plymouth, Cornwall.

0

We were in the audience at Plymouth Pavillions last night laughing with Billy Connolly when he started singing a song about the flowers of Devon.  Devon! Why on earth was he going on about Devon and then the penny had dropped, we had left God’s own country and crossed the border.  I know that Plymouth has special dispensation for all those unfortunate Cornish children that had to go there to be born but in all honesty it isn’t Cornwall.

Isn’t it funny how each county gets proprietorial? Some counties seem rather relaxed about their identity but we know that’s not the case here.  It’s not just those living in Cornwall that seem rightly fascinated with the county or country depending on your leaning but so does the rest of England. The media is full of Cornwall, every five seconds there seems to be another show based in Cornwall, recently we had Caroline Quentin frolicking around in holiday homes and the River Cottage boys foraging along the highways and byways.  Next week Monty Hall is down at Penzance, Claire Balding is Rambling in Looe on Radio 4 and so it goes on.  I can’t think of another county that receives such constant attention. It’s not just TV and radio though, every time I pick up a magazine you might be forgiven for think that the only stretch of coastline in the UK is down here.  I’ve moved around a lot and whilst Cornwall does have jaw droppingly beautiful beaches we’re not the only one.
I’m not complaining and all the free publicity is great but the upshot is that everyone heads for Cornwall.  Like I said not complaining and I love the variety of people it brings into the county – you have to admit we’re not the most diverse bunch of people but I just wish that it didn’t cause so many issues.  I was driving into Newquay last week and someone has posted a sign on one of the main welcome boards that reads “Be nice or go home.”  Now, I know that doesn’t seem hugely friendly on first glance but is it that different to “Please drive carefully through our village”? It’s just some local asking for their home to be treated with respect and courtesy – god knows Newquay is suffering at the moment although it’s not just visitors and Councillors should really look at their decisions to allow so many clubs and bars and topless joints to open up. Those are problems of our own making.
Half term has passed us by and we all noticed that the roads seemed a bit busier than usual, Tescos was running out of stock faster than usual, on Saturday the queues at the petrol pumps were silly and gradually the county felt that little bit fuller.  Now it’s emptied out again but we all know that Easter is just around the corner and along with the visitors comes the good weather (well sometimes) the outdoor concerts, the plays in the park, the festivals, the events and shows which we all love. So even if I have to reverse 500 yards uphill every other day and never find anywhere to park I still love the start of spring and everything and everyone else that comes with it.

A review of the Cornish Guardian.

0

I don’t know much about you, in fact I know just about nothing about you but the one thing that I do know is that you enjoy reading the Cornish Guardian. This Christmas I got the chance to actually sit down and read the whole thing cover to cover and really enjoyed myself.  It’s always a shame though that the property section of the Christmas edition is so light.  If there is one thing I love about the paper it’s flicking through the property pages and choosing my next dream house, in a sense I’m glad I’m not rich because I’d be spoilt for choice, how would I decide between 20 acres of moorland or beach frontage?

The Christmas paper is also unusual in that we get to read the writings of the other local columnists. I think the people of Bodmin, Lostwithiel and Looe are well served with their columnists and it’s nice to see the standard I have to try to keep up to, it’s also nice to see what is going on in the other areas beyond the standard news stories.  One place that is great to find out what is going on is the letters page.  This is the section that I always turn to first because it makes sense of the news stories and also has the bonus of some days making me laugh out loud. Last week we had the treat of a councillor getting in a huff because praise for some scheme hadn’t been duly allocated to him but to a fellow councillor. His letter was full of “me, me, me” and outraged indignation, this week was even better when the second councillor retaliated saying that the first councillor was misguided and that HE was the one who did all the work, in a rare case of one-upmanship the councillor backdated his claim of interest to when he was a “young lad”. I have never read two letters more full of their own self-importance. I’m looking forward to a letter in next week’s paper from a councillor claiming to be Spartacus.  It is funny but really guys you’re councillors. Is this seemly? Is it helpful? Does it matter?  Surely the bigger picture is that the event was a success? Like their letters, I often find that I’m at odds with the political columns none more so than Dick Cole.  He always writes eloquently and persuasively but I generally find myself disagreeing – not this week though – how could George Osborne suggest creating “low pay zones” for public service workers.  The only decent wages in Cornwall tend to be in the public service, we should be trying to raise everyone up to their pay and working conditions not pull them down.

Another letter that struck a chord was from Keeley Allen, who volunteers at a local animal shelter. They want to employ her but have no funding, she wants to work for them and stop claiming benefits so the pair of them have written in asking if anyone knows where they may get funding for £5K a year. I don’t know the ins and outs of this story but it comes across as one of those situations where you think the system just isn’t working.  By the same token Keeley is trying to fix it, so good luck to her and I’m also keeping my fingers crossed for Marna who is still waiting to have her furniture fumigated. Her letter was informative, polite and nicely ironic, I have no doubt that the people at Ocean who really do care about their residents will have sorted out the glitch by now.  So that’s my review of last week’s paper I hope you enjoyed it (the paper) as much as I did.

Load More