- Turquoise ocean on the Penwith peninsula and beautiful white sandy beaches.
- Spotting the naked man on the beach from high up on the clifftop at Treen ;-)
- Gorgeous fishing villages, full of quirkiness.
- The powerfully evocative (and heart wrenching) atmosphere of 'the dry' where the minors would get showered and changed at Geevor Tin Mine. It's preserved just as it was left when the mine closed down in 1990.
- My most favourite smell in the world - the white lichen which grows on the rocks all over the coast - please smell it next time you see any! It's especially fragrant when the sun's shining. I would love to know if anyone else shares my passion!!
- Browsing through the galleries in Marazion, St Ives and Mousehole, oh and Fowey!
- The arty souvenirs we've brought home with us... we fell in love with this Pure 3 Design lamp in the Porthgwidden Cafe in St Ives and decided it was too expensive but then found it for 50 pounds less in a gallery in Fowey and snapped it up!
- Hooper and Shaw in Port Isaac - full of arty crafty handmade things (photo from their press site).
- The view from the apartment over Porthmeor beach in St Ives - we could watch the surfers and there were two old ladies who went belly boarding together very early in the mornings - very inspiring!
- Listening to the waves crashing on the beach whilst falling asleep - bliss!
- Mr P getting stuck in a wetsuit whilst trying it on in a shop - I had tears streaming down my face I was laughing so much! We thought we were going to have to ask for assistance to remove it because it was so tight and it just wasn't budging. The image of him with it round his ankles will stay with me for evermore!
- Watching the 'ansome Seth Lakeman perform at the Minack Theatre!!!!! We were running very late after eating fish and chips by the harbour in Mousehole and thought we'd have to perch ourselves on a rock somewhere right at the back but on handing our tickets to the usher she got on her two way radio and said "Have you got room for 2 more on the front row?"(!!!!!!!) Must have been our lucky day!! It was excellent and a fantastic atmosphere made all the more compelling by the songs which were written about the west country, the sun setting over the ocean and of course the theatre itself, cut into the rocks of the cliff and exposed to the elements.
- Eating fish every night for tea! Lemon sole, dover sole, sea bass, megrim, john dory, cod, hake, mackerel, oh and a bit of crab too.
- Lots of lovely walks along the coast path and the coconut scent of the gorse wafting through the air.
- Cornish hedges so high and full of spring flowers, and the clifftops full of pink sea thrift, wild garlic and the like.
- Catching the passenger ferry from Polruan to Fowey (and back!). It's not a proper holiday without some kind of boat ride!
- Seeing Show of Hands at the Daphne du Maurier festival in Fowey - just completely fab live. Especially Phil Beer with his fiddle.
- The lovebods we found in Marazion at the Avalon gallery (loads of gorgeous art and craft!!). We only discovered later that they were filled with lavender, what a lovely surprise! We picked up a lovely Ken Eardley jug here too.
- Some scary reversing manoeuvres in the narrow country lanes - poor Mr P!
- Spotting lizards, slow worms and even a snake on the coast paths! I don't think I've ever seen a lizard in this country before.
- Drinking cider in my favourite pub in all of England, the Blue Peter in Polperro, last pub before France! Tucked away by the harbour this place has brilliant live music, is filled with characters (especially in the winter) and is very cosy.
Please share any of your loves of Cornwall, I would definitely keep them for next time... fave beaches, villages, things to do, boat trips, coast walks, gardens... please list them in the comments. All welcome! Thanks!
10 comments:
what a holiday!!! how did you manage to fit all of that into a couple of weeks?! amazing. most jammy too. port isaac is ace. and i'm most jealous that you've been to mousehole! is it like in the book??
i went to cornwall about 16 years ago, so half a life ago! so i can't really remember place names of all the wonderful things / places i saw. i'm sorry. the images in my mind i'll never forget though. ahhh, cornwall...
Seth Lakeman - I'm proper Jealous now!!!! It looks like you had a fab time!
p.s. - i like the fish platter type photo!
it reminded me of the fish trail in hull, have you ever seen that? if you do it you get a certificate at the end of it and get to see lots of different lovely brass (?) fish embedded into random bits of the city on the way!
Oooh you brought back such gorgeous memories of a holiday in Cornwall I had all on my own leaving DH looking after the 3 kids, the youngest of whom was 15 months!! I went to the Minack Theatre too... saw Illyria doing reduced Shakespeare or something like that... and we went round various du Maurier hotspots (I love Daphne du Maurier!) ... and a helicopter trip to the Scilly Isles !! Gorgeous.
nadia, it's just like the book ;-) It had changed a bit since the last time I was there. There seemed to be more galleries and little shops. We wandered around the twisty narrow roads and soaked up the atmosphere. It was lovely. Always seem to end up back at the harbour. I've never been to Hull. The fish trail sounds interesting. I'd like to see that.
E.S.F.T - Hello! Someone else who likes Seth!! I don't know if it's too far away from you but he's playing at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival on the Aug bank holiday weekend.
Liz, you got the helicopter!! Now I'm jealous!! I've seen photos of the views you get when you come in by air and they look amazing, you lucky thing!!
wow- its looks amazing there!!
:)
I adore St Ives, it's been too long since we were last there. Thinking of taking my little man there to celebrate his first birthday.
Sigh, what a wonderfully nostalgic post for me, love, love, love Cornwall... never knew why it always made such an impression and later discovered that one half of my mums family moved en-masse from Cornwall to Co. Durham in 1873, perhaps it's in the genes! Love The Minack, saw The Scarlet Pimpernel many moons ago there, also saw lots of nude people at a beach close by when we had a cliff top stroll! Perhaps the same beach?!
We love Cornwall, and we love fish too, especially mackerel. We had sea trout on the barbecue the other day, have you tried it? Your photos are terrific, you must be very pleased with them. Also the mention of where you visited has given me lots of ideas for our next visit someday. x
tania - It's my favourite place in the uk. You'll have to visit one day!
t.h.b - What a lovely idea! You could play on the beach.
butlersabroad - I bet it is the same place! It's a very long way down from the cliff top and we wouldn't have realised if we hadn't got the binoculars with us!! Not that we spent a long time looking you understand! ahem!!
Louise - It's funny you should mention sea trout. I'd never tried it before last week on our anniversary. It was delicious. I thought it was very much like salmon.
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