A Blog about Cornwall's Hidden Places & Untold Stories
“Down the wooded lanes, around the twisting of the Helford Creek. Between the bank smothered in primroses, up again along a steep hill with the sun slanting through the blackthorns, passed a great old walled farm with high closed gateway, and a white cat basking in the sunset at a barn door high up in […]
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Standing in the oppressive heat of the desert between Tucson and Phoenix I feel a very long way from the green, rain-soaked valleys of Cornwall. It is a vast and untamed landscape like nothing I have ever experienced before in all my travels, yet thousands of Cornish found themselves drawn here in the 19th century. […]
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Would it surprise you to learn that the practice of wife selling was particularly popular in the 17th century? Divorce was almost impossible for anyone but the very rich and as a consequence some husbands sort rather a interesting alternative solution. This bizarre practice was apparently more common in rural counties such as Cornwall and […]
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Something is hiding beneath the waters of Stithians Lake. And at certain times of the year, when the level drops low enough, these wonderful artefacts, carved more than 4000 years old, reveal themselves. When Stithians Dam was completed in 1967 the shallow valley behind it was completely flooded. Nearly 300 acres of farmland and three […]
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“These simple but powerful relics of the past will turn anyone into a romantic.” E. C. Axford, 1975 The moors are my escape. I find contentment there whatever the season, even on the wettest and wildest of days. A few days ago it was one of those sunny days when the fluffy white clouds seem […]
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Could the Cornish Black Bee be an answer to the decline in bee population in the UK? The sad fact is that bees are in real trouble. In recent years the news coverage of their plight has become increasingly worrying. It is now estimated that of the roughly two thousand species of bee in Europe […]
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Some place names can really create an atmosphere and evoke a feeling. They can be signpost to a place’s past. A waving flag that acknowledges some event or episode in our cultural history. Names are, after all given, given by us. And because of this for me Hangman’s Barrow near Crowan has its own particular […]
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From Glasshouse to your House I grew up in family of keen gardeners and plant lovers. In fact my parents ran a small nursery alongside our farm for more than 30 years. Consequently we have always had a house full of fresh flowers. So when a parcel arrived from Kernow Alstroemeria I was more than […]
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A while back I wrote a series of posts about ruined places. Ruined churches, cottages and farms. There is something endlessly interesting, something that sparks my imagination, about broken down, forgotten buildings. How they came to be there. How they once looked. Who touched their walls, walked their halls. How they fell into disrepair. Old […]
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There are a handful of man-made landmarks in Cornwall that are unmistakable and unforgettable. Carn Brea Castle is one of these. A tiny fortress perched high on one of our most enigmatic hills it is pretty magical. Carn Brea Castle stands on the eastern summit of Carn Brea hill, one of the highest points in […]
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