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“Unite and unite and let us all unite,
For summer is acome unto day,
And whither we are going we will all unite,
In the merry morning of May.”
These are the words from the strangely magnetic song sung en masse by the people of Padstow every year at Obby Oss – the town’s (probably Celtic) may day festivities.
My mum says the communal singing, the spring flowers and the beat of the drum always involuntarily bring a lump to her throat. Thinking about it, the lyrics are rather emotive and hopeful. (Modern translation: thank god for that – couldn’t have taken any more Cornish drizzle, please can we have a summer this year or I might have to emigrate.)
Obby Oss was a nice warm-up for Flora Day in Helston this Saturday (8 May) – as far as I’m concerned Read the rest of this entry »
hawker's hut, morwenstow
This fantastic drawing of the Hawker’s Hut near Morwenstow is the work of Jerwood Drawing Prize-shortlisted artist James Hobbs.
I don’t know about you but with all the (justified) fuss about the colour and light in Cornwall, I found it refreshing to chance upon this brilliantly unruly black and white drawing, which conjures up the eccentricities of the famous opium-smoking Reverend Hawker against the backdrop of the north Cornish coast.
In his blog post, James says, “Hawker’s Hut is set into the 400-foot cliffs of remote north Cornwall, originally built out of driftwood by the Victorian priest Rev Robert Stephen Hawker as a place to write poetry, smoke opium and watch for passing ships coming to grief on this notoriously dangerous stretch of Atlantic coast. It’s remote and wild, and one of my favourite places.’ Read the rest of the post here.
Mmm, I need to think of a job that lets me write poetry, smoke opium and watch for passing ships…
I also love this sketch by James of London’s planeless skies the other week.
Check out http://james-hobbs.blogspot.com/ for more of his work. Thanks to James for letting me use this image.
A bit like the paladares of Cuba or the puertas cerradas (meaning literally ‘closed door’) of Buenos Aires, ‘home-restaurants’ are taking off in the UK, particularly in London. I was holidaying in the distant capital at the weekend and I had the good fortune to be invited to Secret Kitchen, a monthly restaurant run by North London mega-foodie (and author of Eat Slow Britain) Anna Colquhoun.
It was all flawlessly prepared and presented, and endlessly creative and surprising. There was pecorino cheese with unforgettable truffle honey, wild garlic pesto lasagne, home-cured salami, zesty homemade limoncello…
In short, it was all the things you always hope a meal at a fancy restaurant will be, but so very rarely is – because the chef’s got 100 other covers to deal with, the waitress has a hangover, the sous-chef only started yesterday…
As with almost everything Read the rest of this entry »
Just stumbled across Mildred the surfing sheep – the star of Cornish outdoor/surf apparel company Finisterre‘s new advertising campaign. In the same, surprisingly popular video genre of surfing animals, a Peruvian surfer brought us Pisco the surfing alpaca not long ago.
Random!
finisterre clothing from cornwall
Finisterre has a nice-looking merino base layer range btw. Merino base layers have become a bit of an obsession of mine since I discovered their many merits (feel like a t-shirt, act like a jumper!) on a trip to the Arctic Circle last year.
a shower with a view at prussia cove
Trencrom Hill Fort is one of the highest hills in the westernmost Cornish district of Penwith – and I was looking forward to finally conquering this great peak. Ten minutes after parking the car, I had.
The ascent was a little tamer than expected but it was none the less epic at the summit. The views from these granite stacks are incredible – from sand-trimmed St Ives Bay to the north to Mount’s Bay in the south, and the ancient field patterns stretching west across the moors towards Land’s End.
In my Trencrom expedition team were some visiting friends, one of whom enquired about the age of this historic site. I usefully stated it was ‘really bloody old’. Read the rest of this entry »
Stand-up Mark Steel is travelling around Britain at the moment for a new series of his comedy show ‘Mark Steel’s in Town’.
Taking six British towns in turn, he lovingly celebrates their quirks and individuality, but much more importantly for the purposes of comedy, he rips the piss out of them on home turf in front hundreds of locals.
Last night he was in Penzance (it’s not hard to see how it made the shortlist) – and I was lucky enough to have tickets to witness the Steel spectacle.
Without wanting to give too much away, highlights included a portrait of Humphry Davy as a caner, using chemistry experiments as an elaborate excuse to get high Read the rest of this entry »
The name doesn’t lie – the Cabin Café, by the beach at Perranuthnoe, is indeed just a cabin. It’s not, as is fairly common in Cornwall, a case of a restaurant trying to inject some laid-back beach vibes into its name (The Beach Hut at Watergate Bay, say, or the Porthminster Beach Café in St Ives…). This is a common or garden wooden shed with a hatch, and a handful of picnic tables and garden chairs alongside – no pretension, no silly prices, no rain cover.
But against the odds, it just happens to be serving some of Cornwall’s best beach food – and, after years of Read the rest of this entry »
Check out pasties and cream’s new design*sponge guide to Cornwall, out this week.
For those of you not familiar with the site, design*sponge – written by Grace Bonney and her team of design detectives – feeds readers with a constant supply of art-craft-design ideas, images and general loveliness from across the pond. It’s addictive stuff.
The last film I saw at Redruth’s Regal cinema was Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which dates the trip at circa 1988 – a time when I almost certainly would have been wearing high-waisted stonewashed jeans with zips at the ankles. So you could say my visit last night (to see The Hurt Locker) was long overdue.
Two decades on, the Regal is a surprisingly fancy affair, tricked out with neon deco signage, a bar and – the unique selling point – a licensed screen with saloon-style black leather seats, two-person love seats and acres of leg room.
That perennially short-changed Redruth should be the chosen cinema for this sort of flagship treatment isn’t perhaps as surprising as it first seems. Architecturally, this is easily the county’s most interesting cinema, an art deco affair dating back to 1935, with a gorgeous fin tower on the left, deco signage and a circular lobby. Read the rest of this entry »
still from FLOW the film
After watching the excellent – if inevitably depressing – docu-film The End of the Line about the excesses of the global fishing industry a few weeks back, I remembered just how rewarding and effective a well-made documentary can be, and vowed to watch more. Read the rest of this entry »
sir humphry davy taking the cornish colours very seriously
mount's bay
…Winter is over!
OK, I know there are lows of 1º C forecast for Sunday night but it’s the deep blue sky and daffodils that count. Read the rest of this entry »
bbc world service at the university of falmouth
Readers are warned that this post may contain trace elements of editorial bias, as the presenter of the BBC World Service show in question just happens to be my brother Ros Atkins.
The World Service’s daily interactive news show ‘World Have Your Say’ will go out live at 6pm from the terrace of the Gylly Café with the help of University of Falmouth journalism students. Guest speaker on the show is Harvard philosopher and all round brain Professor Michael Sandel. Click here to listen to the show live at 6pm.
the jam, falmouth
Today I’m blogging from the Jam, a vintage-chic record/book shop-cum-coffee shop in Falmouth from the comfort of a bashed-up chesterfield armchair.
Good coffee. Tightly curated stock: Susan Sontag, Julian Barnes, New York style bibles (intrigued by ‘Rebel Style’; must remember to be more rebelliously stylish) and black and white postcards of Jubilee Pool share the book tables. Great for the sort of record-geek chat lacking in the Amazon age. Tiny wish: the Italianate cakes and biscuits were good but packaged – a fresh chocolate cake would have been nice.
(PS Can someone open somewhere like this in Penzance please?).
bordelais by vicky's bread
Is it just me or is there a micro trend going on in Cornwall for artisanal bread? There’s Baker Tom, Baker Steve, Baker Bob, Barbara…
OK I made the last two up. But the one I am obsessing about is Vicky’s Bread from the Lizard, to the extent that when I found out she had gone on holiday and production had temporarily ceased, I must have been visibly distressed – Lavenders suggested I reserve a loaf for the morning of her first day back to avoid disappointment!
Since chancing upon one of her round Bordelais loaves – crispy topped, chewy inside – in Archie Browns last year, I have been buying the stuff religiously. All the loaves are baked in traditional French style – slow-risen in willow baskets – but the Bordelais is still my favourite.
Vicky sells in Lavenders (6a Alverton Street) and Archie Brown’s in Penzance, as well as Fore Street Deli in St Ives, and other outlets throughout west Cornwall – all independents.
brenda wootton - pasties and cream
Crucial though pasties and Rodda’s are, I don’t intend to blog solely about Cornish delicacies. The name of my blog in fact comes from the seminal 1971 west Cornish folk album by Brenda Wootton and John the Fish. (Penwith dwellers, check out the broadsheet-format Cornishman newspaper on the table.)
Among the salty classics on the album is the title song, a patriotic number bathed in old-time Cornish pride. ‘Pilchard and herring that sparkle and gleam’, Wootton trills, ‘Though we may roam, Cornwall’s our home’. And I suppose that seemed like a fitting start to my blog: I moved back to Cornwall 18 months ago and fancied blogging (and maybe even a bit of flogging and vlogging) about life in the far west.
The song in question seems to have slipped through the holes in the Net, so I’ll direct you instead to this crackly old footage of Brenda Wootton and her bird-like tones for now.
ismay atkins
pasties & cream cornwall blog 