A Blog about Cornwall's Hidden Places & Untold Stories
“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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Discovering the story of Estah, a Cornish Bal Maiden, against the breath-taking backdrop of the World Heritage Site at Heartlands was truly wonderful. It will certainly be one of my lasting memories of this summer. This inventive production weaves together threads of Cornwall’s mining past. From the far-flung journeys of our intrepid miners, to the […]
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One way or another we would all like to leave a legacy. For some people that might be their children. For me perhaps it will be my writing, and for my father, well, one of his legacies will be a large piece of granite. Whatever the case, I believe that most of us would like […]
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Cornwall is rich. Rich in heritage, rich in beautiful natural resources and rich with some of the finest produce from land and sea. The Cornish Cook Book is the latest in a long tradition of local cook books designed to celebrate this richness. To delight in all that Cornwall has to offer. The Cornish Cook […]
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We are very used to hearing about the Cornish taking advantage of bounty brought to its shores by the ferocious sea. Tales of crowds of the opportunistic, greedy, and probably at times desperate, inhabitants swarming over a beached vessel and plundering all they can. Stripping a ship, and sometimes its crew bare, before the arrival […]
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