Mention Penzance and “The Pirates of Penzance” comes to mind and for sure the Barbary Pirates were still snatching the good citizens of Penzance well into the seventeenth Century, yet explore the solid town of Penzance today and you will find a solid matron of a town, rising above the harbour. Penzance is more of solid, middle of the road, type of dowager, compared to the fashionable thirty something of St Ives but explore and you will find a rewarding companion in the sleepy granite streets, still echoing with memories a whisper of the Medieval town, the seafaring pirates and smugglers and the solid dignity of a former stannary town shaped by the Cornish Tin Industry.
Continue reading “Explore Penzance – Stanary town and harbour” »
Christine Taylor
Morning magic
I must admit I was excited at the prospect of a rare snowfall here in West Cornwall over the last weeks. A dusting of those magical icy crystals does add an adventurous spice to our normally subtropical climate and when I opened the front door on the predicted morning? Well there was definitely a powdery dusting of the white magic clothing the Parterre in the Courtyard but I don’t think we had been transported to Narnia!
Continue reading “February’s snow – magic moments over the years” »
January flowers –
spinosissima-aloe
I must admit to being a reluctant January gardener this month – perhaps it was too much Christmas but somehow the prospect of a left over box of Christmas chocs. and afternoon screening of Father Brown won me over instead!
And yet somehow the garden got on with “making spring” all on its own, bursting into life with a flurry of vibrant Narcissus who have been waiting for twelve months for their very own stage show in which to shine and an exotic Aloe has been fascinating in the Italian Garden
Today I’d like to share three of our favourite walks with you – just snaps and impressions but wonderful memories that I’ve treasured over the years.
When a fabulously bright and sunny day dawns in wintertime, the Cornish have a special name for it: – “A day lent from summer” and those balmy sun filled days are perfect for walking in Cornwall and of course making wonderful memories along the way.
Over the years we’ve walked the coastal footpath around the peninsular from Perranuthnoe to Land’ End and then around to St Ives in easy stages and they were a powerful tool in making the winter seem shorter and now, looking back through our albums storing memories to treasure for a lifetime.
Continue reading “Three winter walks with wonderful memories” »
The perfect arc of golden sands of Porthminster beach marks the true gateway to St Ives just below the railway station and a short stroll from the bustling harbour.
As a popular beach, the soft sands of Porthminster have a charming back drop of manicured sub tropical gardens that in turn give way to the wooded slopes that artfully concealing the little railway that ferries visitors along the edge of the bay from Lelant Saltings to St Ives.
Porthminster beach is a smaller, more intimate beach than the Carbis Bay Beach that we visited just before Christmas but with same stunning views across St Ives Bay to the famous Godrevy lighthouse immortalised in Virginia Wolfe’s book “To the Lighthouse”
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Each year the villagers of the beautiful old harbour village of Mousehole in the far west of Cornwall, haul the boats from the harbour to fill the waters with floating pontoons of Christmas lights, dresses the ancient granite walls and welcoming the world to their tiny coastal community. Fund raising for the event will have started in the summer months and now for a few brief weeks they embody the spirit of Christmas.
The glowing Christmas nights of Mousehole have shone across Mounts bay to us each night and last night was the final night – the twelfth day of Christmas. The final twelfth night of Christmas would be our last opportunity (until this December of course) to visit the famous Mousehole lights that feature all of the traditional Christmas symbols of songs and folk lore before they are finally switched off to mark the end of Christmas. For us, as the crowds subsided, the twelfth and final night it is the perfect night to reflect, to watch the lights rippling across the sea in the harbour and experience the atmosphere of Mousehole at its best.
The glowing Christmas nights of Mousehole have shone across Mounts bay to us each night and last night was the final night – the twelfth day of Christmas.
Continue reading “Mousehole Christmas Lights – the twelfth night” »
Come and visit my garden at Ednovean Farm, in my final Garden diary entry for 2017 I’d like to make a roundup of the seasons. The garden in the far south west of Cornwall that has become my friend, litmus of emotions, reflection of dreams and hard taskmaster. This blog will follow the year in the Ednovean Farm Garden, so enjoyed by our Bed and breakfast guests, just as 2017 draws to a close and I would like to wish you all a very happy New Year!!
Continue reading “This year in the Ednovean Farm Garden a roundup of 2017.” »
We wanted to wish you a very Happy Christmas and thank you for visiting us and following my blog and we hope to see you again in 2018.
There’s a traditional Christmas tree resting gently on the flagstones of our hall now decked with my favourite decorations like an old Christmas friend who has come back to visit us dressed in the same familiar clothes.
We walked up across the farm in a bitterly cold wind one day to cut two thorn trees from a thicket that was invading the field ready for Christmas decorations.
Rosamunde Pilcher is something of a Cornish icon these days, bringing the fans of her books and films to the south west every summer to soak up some of that special “Pilcheresque” atmosphere. Throughout the winter in Germany the tranquil days of a Cornish summer have been translated into the setting for the Pilcher films leading to the expression that Sunday night is “Pilcher night” or as one of our German bed and Breakfast guest put it “you can sometimes see the same film three times in one year” I gathered his wife was a big fan!
We were thrilled last year when scenes for “Fast Noch Verheiratet” were filmed here at Ednovean Farm and we had the chance to meet some of the cast and crew at work. Our heroine’s bedroom was the Pink bedroom complete with its hand carved four poster bed although she magically walked out through the Blue Bedroom’s French doors, to stand on the terrace gazing at St Michael’s Mount
November has been a strange month for my garden diary, a month of days born as if on butterfly wings through the garden, swinging from soft tranquil days to dark dramatic skies before giving way to the final sting of winter.
This November, as the year changes from autumn into winter, my garden diary is in two parts; a diary of soft dark nights eating suppers beside a brassier and the pleasure of a robins company on sparkling mellow days spent clearing and tidying the garden for the year, and the final darkening, dramatic, skies that spoke of thoughts of winter.