Monday 4 May 2009

Cornwall.



(click on the photos for a better feel of how it is!)

There are so many reasons I love Cornwall and I thought today I would show you just one of them: the landscape. Though it is a small county, a tiny peninsular where you are always within easy reach of the sea, there is huge variety to be found in its landscape. Most counties have something wonderful about them - the coast, huge hills or soft rivers for example - but Cornwall has a little of everything. There are the bleak moors popularised by du Maurier's 'Jamiaca Inn' if you feel the need for a Heathcliffe moment; there are the soft, gentle inlets and coves with their lush banks so romantically tree-lined and inns tucked away telling of a smuggler's past.



The North coast has dramatic and rugged cliffs towering majestically over pounding seas (truly where my heart lies), whereas the South has calmer waters with gently rolling headlines in the distance, the waters most often sparkling jade and turquoise blue, topped with gleaming freshly-laundered horses that shimmer as they break. Of course, as everywhere, there are parts that tell of a different Cornwall, an industrial past of tin and copper mining, of engine houses and chimney stacks and blackened walls that no amount of rest and time have softened. For me there is beauty even in this as I am forced to confront the hardship of this life by a landscape that hides nothing away. The parish of Pendeen in west Cornwall has all this and more with its breathtaking views from the coastal road over vast seas, mines perched on the edge of cliffs and picturesque fishing villages. This is what we saw yeterday: golden, coconut-bun-scented gorse blazing against an endless blue sea.



The moors are scattered with many carns (Cornish for hill), huge piles of granite rocks precariously balanced against a blistering blue skyline.



Fishing boats, rowing boats, boats of every size waiting ready be hauled down steep slipways...



into a deceptively calm sea. A look at the smoothness of stones tells you how wild and dangerous Madam Sea can be when her fickle mood changes and why it pays always, always to show her the very greatest of respect.



A reminder of her power shatters against the sharp rocks. It is these deadly teeth which led to the erecting of Pendeen Lighthouse to lessen the number of ships tossed like so many matchsticks.



Crab and lobster pots heaped at Sennen.



Mr Davey collecting pebbles for a quick 'best of three' game of Ship, ship Sailing.



I won!



One of many engine houses.



Houses crouch against the cliff



Dinosaur egg pebbles...stones...boulders



Having fun



Cornwall. I love it so.



Have a lovely Monday x

22 comments:

  1. What a beautiful place, Pipany. I've read so many books in which Cornwall is the leading 'character' and I can see why it would be! The sky, the sea - the stones get to me too.
    Can you explain, please, what Ship Ship Sailing might be?

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  2. Pipany, you are superb spokeswoman for Cornwall. I am sure that you've already encouraged many folks to explore those coves and hills, and dinosaur eggs.

    It's also marvelous how you clearly have passed along your enthusiasm to your children!

    xo

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  3. Gorgeous! Such beautiful photographs.

    Pembrokeshire, of course, is exactly like Cornwall, but two weeks later weatherwise (I can't believe your aquilegias are in bloom already) and without the traffic jams!

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  4. The reasons you love Cornwall are also the reasons why I love west Wales and some of the pictures could have been taken here (though not the ones of Mr D, obviously!). We have been watching the waves hit the rocks at Strumble today.

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  5. Doh! Just noticed that Mags has made the same point!

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  6. Wonderful photos, Pip. I am Cornish on my Mothers side of the family and I only have to hear Cornwall mentioned for the hair to stand up on the back of my neck! Luckily we visit each year but I bore my family to death singing its praises. Karenx

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  7. Thank you for taking me on a trip to Cornwall. It is sooo beautiful. Now I know what we are in for when we visit Pembrokeshire (north of St. David's) in a fortnights time.

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  8. Absolutely perfect - thank you Pipany.

    It's so hard to decide which part I love - the woods have my heart, but those spectacular boulders and crashing waves are just mesmerising.

    My memories of Cornwall are distant as it's been ten years since we've been and that was our only trip a coastal one starting from the New Forest then all the way along to Padstow - it was and still is my best every holiday 'every!'

    Have a lovely evening,

    take care,

    Nina x

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  9. Stunning photographs and beautiful words to go with them.

    Do tell, how do you play 'Ship Ship sailing'???

    One day I will get to Cornwall.

    CKx

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  10. How lucky you are to know the real place - on our recent visit I felt like an alien, only encountering the tourist spots I'd rather avoid.

    No time then to explore those untrodden paths which your photos prove are there. One day I hope.

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  11. I love it too, and I love your blog! Thanks for the photos.

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  12. So do I Pipany....and I miss it so.

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  13. Did I spot CApe Cornwall?

    Tracey

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  14. Lovely, Pipany, quite lovely. I really don't know Cornwall well at all, just the old Geevor mine, with which I became involved very briefly before they switched off the pumps and the mine flooded. I suggested that it be turned into a film studio and used for shooting adventures of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' kind. But it wasn't to be. An awfully long way down to St Just, I used to think and never sight of the sea.

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  15. I loved my trips around Cornwall each month in my job visiting Architects, when I was working and living in the West Country. That was back in the 1960's. Remember doing a trip with my friend visiting all the places mentioned in Daphne Du Maurier's novels. Such a rich history. Will be back. Thank you Pipany.

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  16. Where ever I travel I know I will only have to look at your blog to be home.

    Thank you.

    Pippa

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  17. Just chanced across your blog - I'm on a bit of a hunt for good blogs at the moment and hope to explore yours a bit further - very interested in your business and hope to take a closer look too. Stuck in london and hoping to find a way out and want to start my own business too. Would love to talk to more similiar minded people who have achieved it... xxx

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  18. Blissful. Just perfect. I know why I live here!
    Happy week, Pip.
    xxx
    Diana

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  19. Cornwall, I love it so, too.

    From my landlocked county I dream of my trips to your beautiful county.

    Just a few short weeks ago I was there, before Easter, only three more weeks till our Whitsun trip. And then the long wait till August, and our beach holiday, where we hope to be in the sea EVERY day...

    Plans are also afoot for some "sneaky" in-between trips, and always, waiting to be back...

    Thank you for your pictures and words.

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  20. Beautiful, i cannot wait until the Summer when we will be visiting. x

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  21. Your love of Cornwall is in every descriptive word and evocative photo. A beautiful post. One of the best holidays I ever had was spent while based in Padstow. We hope to go back soon! I love the crab and lobster pots at Sennen and the dinosaur eggs.

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  22. Ah yes, I love it so too. You are making me feel way too 'homesick' Pip. Maybe I will retire down there. I do hope so. My Grandmother sings out to me through your pictures - and so many of my childhood memories and impressions. Thank you.

    PS: how long did it take you to load such huge pix? I have taken to downsizing all of mine as otherwise it just takes forever on my computer.

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