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