are these cornwall’s tastiest tomatoes?

July 23, 2010 in east cornwall, eco, farming, food, rame peninsula, vegetables | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

tomatoes buttervilla cornwall

I saw this article about Cornish farmer Robert Hocking of Buttervilla in the Telegraph yesterday and it reminded me to post on something.

If it’s possible to be the rock star of, erm, organic small-holders, then Robert of Buttervilla Farm might just be one. He has been mellowly championing small-scale, highest-taste farming for many years before such things became fashionable. For him it’s clearly just a way of life: makes sense, tastes good.

But since the chef from Fifteen picked up on his passion for taste (over large-scale production) at a Soil Association meeting a few years back, his microgreens and heirloom strawberries and tomatoes have been in heavy demand with the likes of Jamie, Heston et al.

I interviewed him for food magazine earlier this year and found him utterly inspiring, so I called in to see him the other day while I was staying in the Rame area. He showed me around his small farm and, clocking my curiosity, or at least my appetite for strawberries, he encouraged me to start growing some bits and bobs in my yard.

But I don’t have the patience, I mumbled. I need instant results or I’ll get  frustrated. ‘That’, he said, ‘is exactly why you should do it – it’ll be good for you.’

So, he sent me off with a pot of his special ‘vintage manure’, a strawberry plant, a tomato plant and some salad leaves – and told me to get stuck in.

Weeellll, my first foray into gardening has been an emotional rollercoaster. The excitement of the first strawberries was too much (there were only three, so the eating of them was a ceremonial affair), then the thrill at the first yellow flowers appearing on the tomato plant… and THEN came the double-pronged heartbreak of slugs and weeds.

It turned out I had been tending lovingly to a bunch of poxy weeds for weeks thinking it was the first fragile shoots of parsley (sense of humour gradually returning). And I hate slugs sooo much.

But I pulled through the slug/weed crisis and it made me more determined to succeed. Rewards really do come to those who wait. So genuine thanks, Robert, for starting me off – there’s no stopping me now. And there’s clearly no stopping you.

Pics of my first shambolic kitchen garden below.

http://www.buttervilla.com/funky

garden penzance

westcountry bluegrass

July 21, 2010 in music, penwith, penzance | Tags: , , | 1 comment

I’ve seen these guys busking in Penzance a few times – and it’s always been a huge, mood-enhancing bonus to hear their close harmonies and banjo playing while going about my lunchtime chores.

So, it turned out at the Last Cabaret at the Acorn the other weekend (where I took this vid), that The-banjoing-buskers-from-Causewayhead-and-occasionally-if-drizzly-the- bottom-of-the-stairs-by-Abbey-National are actually a regularly gigging group – called Flats and Sharps.

Ha ha, or at least they were until yesterday. Having only just discovered them in earnest, I felt quite stricken to go on their Facebook page to find this statement posted just yesterday: “Unfortunately, Flats and Sharps as from today are no longer a band. Thank you for all your support.”

All is not lost: two members – Kirk (banjo, vocal, harmonica) and Liam (vocals, guitar) – have formed a yet-to-be-named duo playing a similar mix of bluegrass and country. Hallelujah, I’m ready!

Keep an eye out for them – they are young, funny, and disgracefully confident and talented.

Check out Kirk & Liam’s facebook page for gig dates etc.


good day sunshine

July 19, 2010 in art, blogs, design, north coast, penzance, west cornwall | Tags: , , | 1 comment

Twitter is many things, not all of them 100% productive. I can personally confirm that it is the most spectacular time-waster EVER for self-employed writers. But since entering the world of retweets and 140-character missives, I have made no end of Cornish discoveries. There are so many sole-trading creative types lurking in the coves and crannies of Cornwall and twitter seems to attract them like moths to a flame.

Last week in the Cornish twitter village, I discovered the talented Mat McIvor (http://twitter.com/matmcivor), a Penzance-based artist, t-shirt and poster designer, muralist and blogger (and, judging by his twitter feed from the last few days, acting manager of the Crown pub on Bread Street in PZ?).

Check out Mat’s uplifting, pop art-tinged interpretations of the Cornish coast – the first two are of Newquay and the last one is the view over the rope bridge at Land’s End and out to sea.

Thanks for kindly lending me these rays of sunshine for Monday morning pasties & cream, Mat. See you in the Crown one day?

Mat McIvor blog: http://hardworkwiththekids.blogspot.com/

newquay - image via mat mcivor

land's end rope bridge - image via mat mcivor

spot of weather coming in

July 16, 2010 in cornwall, penzance, video, weather, west cornwall | Tags: | 1 comment

Blimey, last night was wild. I went down to the promenade for some wave watching early evening and here’s what I saw.

(Overheard in Coop: the Scillonian came in “virtually on its side”. Doesn’t bear thinking about.)

Check out these daredevils:

that. is. a. very. big. wave.

July 15, 2010 in beaches, newquay, no way, north coast, surf, video | Tags: , | 1 comment

Ben Skinner riding the Cribber off Newquay – up to 40ft – plus mini interview. Too cool.

doin’ it dreckly (yeah we’re doin’ it)

July 14, 2010 in comedy, gigs, penzance, redruth, web, west cornwall | Tags: , , , | 4 comments

When the compere introduced the opening act at the Last Cabaret at the Acorn on Saturday as a rap outfit from west Cornwall, I couldn’t help but brace myself and check the exit leading to the bar was clear (well, come on, on paper it didn’t bode well). I needn’t have worried though because the duo in question clearly started honing their sense of irony in the womb.

“Casio rap duo” Hedluv & Passman deliver deadpan raps and rhymes from the urban underbelly of, er, Redruth. ‘Doin’ it Dreckly’, as fans will know, is their “anthem” – you can buy the T-shirt on their website. The chorus is catchy and it goes like this: Cos we’re doin’ it, yeah, we’re doin’ it dreckly… doin’ it, yeah, we’re doin’ it dreckly… Listen to it on their myspace.

Their act was over too soon for me – the belly laughing was just gathering momentum on my row – and I was left gasping for more of their humorous rhapsodies on life in ‘Druth. Fortunately I have now discovered Hedluv’s blog, The Online Pasty Guide, to sate my appetite – which is a stroke of pasty genius. Here’s the basic remit:

“Welcome to ‘the online pasty guide’ brought to you by hedluv and filled with hints and tips designed to help you avoid the unspeakable pain of having a bad pasty (photographed above). This particular pasty was purchased after 3pm – that was my first mistake, and leads me neatly to my first tip: 3pm is too late to be buying pasties.”

Look out for them.

headluv and passman (www.druth.co.uk).

Don’t forget to join the facebook group ‘Save the Acorn’ for the latest on how to help secure the future of the marvellous venue, which is sadly due to close shortly. Click here for my blog post on this.

sea salts & sail

July 13, 2010 in boats, cornwall, events, festivals, mousehole, old cornwall, photos, west cornwall | Tags: | 2 comments

A few pics from the jolly Sea Salts & Sail maritime festival in Mousehole harbour at the weekend – next one in 2012. www.seasalts.co.uk.

(Apologies for minimalist blog post today – large book to edit. But a picture speaks a thousand words, right, so really this is a 7000-word blog post). Read the rest of this entry »

pasty digest: sleeper trains & naked tin miners

July 9, 2010 in art, articles on cornwall, media, pasty digest, penwith, penzance, rail, west cornwall | Tags: , | 3 comments

via wiki

Two Cornwall-related stories that caught my eye this week.

More sleepers on the sleeper

I haven’t yet banged on about the joys of the sleeper train on this blog, but rest assured it is only a matter of time *friends nod knowingly*. The discovery of the Night Riviera service to London – with its gentle rocking motion, late night bar for a nightcap, and all-round usefulness and romance – was a key moment after I moved to Cornwall. Ok, we’re 300 miles from anywhere but at least I can sleep through it!

More of that later…  Like a massive train geek, I was pretty stoked to read this week that more carriages are being added to the sleeper train from Penzance to London on account of demand. Given that local people fought hard to save this service in 2005, it’s a happy ending to know it’s being used. Now all they need to do is make a ticket cheaper than a round-the-world trip…

“Sculptor seeks tin miner to pose nude”

As headlines go, this one’s hard to make up. But ’tis true. The story goes: “Sculptor Tim Shaw is hunting for a Cornish miner with a ‘rugged experienced look’ to pose naked so that he can refine a £90,000 bronze sculpture that will eventually stand outside the Hall for Cornwall.”

The sculptor says: “I thought that if I cast my net far and wide I would find someone different and interesting. The historical images that I have seen at the museum show men with hard expressions in their eyes.”

Miners with their tackle out – could be an interesting new, cliché-free angle on Cornish mining heritage? Full story here.

Have a good weekend!

i am the breadman, i am the breadman

July 6, 2010 in art, galleries, penwith, penzance, the exchange | Tags: | Leave a comment

breadman exchange penzance cornwall

I like to think I’m a pretty open-minded kind of person when it comes to the arts but even I was a little perplexed this morning when I got the Exchange Gallery‘s summer programme through the post. First thing I spotted was an event taking place this Saturday morning called the Breadman, accompanied by a picture of people with bread on their heads.

OK, fine, I get it: the people have baguettes tied to their heads. I read on… “Tatsumi Orimoto, as Breadman, will dress a dozen assistants with loaves of bread bound with twine around their heads. Starting at The Exchange, the Breadman will lead a tour of tourist sites through the centre of Penzance, stopping for photo opportunities and offering bread to the public.”

It is definitely bizarre but it’s also quite an intriguing photo op. BUT IS IT ART?! Only one way to find out. It starts at 11am on Saturday. See http://www.newlynartgallery.co.uk for more deets. Get your bread on.

http://www.newlynartgallery.co.uk

atlantic blanket

July 5, 2010 in cornwall, design, padstow, shops, that's pretty | Tags: , , | 2 comments

I can but apologise in advance to male readers for the amount of pink in this post. I discovered Atlantic Blanket‘s Padstow shop recently and must have spent about half an hour in there stroking the cashmere throws and merino hand-knitted hot water bottles. The owners of this newish Cornish company (with an online shop) hand-pick their stock from knitters and weavers far and wide – and collection is clearly amassed with great care.

Having become strangely obsessed with llama wool in Argentina (only to get home and have the whole lot decimated in the washing machine EVEN THOUGH IT WAS ON A COLD WOOL CYCLE), I was a bit disappointed not to see any of it on the wool menu at Atlantic Blanket. But no matter – there is mohair, alpaca, cashmere, lambswool, merino, as well as more practical fleecy throws for picnics. Check this Celtic Fringe blanket from Scotland… £250…sigh.

And here comes the pink…

brother & bones at the acorn

July 2, 2010 in gigs, music, music reviews, penwith, penzance, video, west cornwall | Tags: | Leave a comment

brother and bones cornwall

I went to a great gig at the Acorn in Penzance last night – it was the launch of Brother & Bones’ new album, supported by up-and-comings Rokshan and Ryan Jones (of the Hitchcock Rules).

Brother & Bones were accompanied by a full string and brass section and the high-emotion, epic sound was – and I’m trying not to say this too lightly – quite reminiscent of Muse. Impressive stuff. Check out their myspace.

I tried to get some footage on my iPhone of their more high-octane songs but it distorted (far too much energy, it seems, for such a small mic) but this sweet acoustic lullaby came out sort of OK for the first half. Sorry must do better!

And here, by polar contrast, is a masterclass in how to make a VERY cool music video of the wilds of west Cornwall – the lead singer Rich of Brother & Bones doing a more slidey guitar thing:

the moors in your drawers

June 29, 2010 in ancient sites, design, galleries, penwith, west cornwall | Tags: | Leave a comment

penwith chest of drawers

I’m more of a mid-century-classic kind of girl when it comes to furniture fantasies, but this chest of drawers sculpted from oak caught my eye the other day for its strong sense of place (my favourite place as it happens!).

It’s entitled the ‘Penwith Chest of Drawers’, priced at a mere £6,000, and is shaped like the many ancient granite monuments that dot the moors around Penwith. I have to admit that I would prefer it without the black stripe across the drawers (achieved by using dark bog oak – and designed, I would imagine, to reflect the moodiness of the moors), but I really like the prehistoric shape. It’s sold at Handmade Designer Furniture, a site featuring mainly Cornish designers.

Click here for some pics (also quite moody!) of the granite moors from my blog post about Trencrom Hill.

pollock sashimi, anyone?

June 28, 2010 in beach food, camping, devon, fish, food | Tags: , , | 1 comment

I’d like to share with you the “interesting” results of a fishing and sushi-making escapade on the coast of South Devon at the weekend. When it comes to sushi, pollock and wrasse aren’t the first fish that spring to mind – nor for that matter are crudely cut pieces of fish served on plastic plates on a distinctly unminimalist camping table but that’s by the by. When the fish has come straight out of the water, anything is fair game. Very fresh fish is almost odour-free (the fishy smell comes as it decomposes) and fine to eat raw.

So, with a few wrasse and pollock duly reeled in off the rocks, we filleted it and sliced it up, and served it ceremoniously with wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce.

Here’s how it unfolded in pictures. In words, the verdicts were variously: ‘mmm… lovely’, ‘a little mushy in texture’, ‘oooh much nicer than I expected’, ‘I prefer salmon’, ‘the presentation needs work’, ‘you can’t just chop up a fish, serve it up and call it sushi’.

the new dining room at the penzance arts club

June 23, 2010 in food, new cornwall, penwith, penzance, restaurants, west cornwall, wild food | Tags: | 2 comments

penzance arts club cornwall

Where oh where would we be without the Penzance Arts Club?

A little while back, the lovely Emily Evans and Harry Gordon-Smith took over the Club (after rumours of a boutique hotel) – located in the instantly memorable old mansion, once the Portuguese embassy, at the bottom of Chapel Street.

I say instantly memorable because, although I only visited Penzance maybe once as a child (for a Kneehigh Theatre production at the Acorn – we have to save it!), the extravagant seaside mansion and its intriguing side entrance etched themselves on my memory.

Let’s be honest, the restaurant situation in Penzance is pretty dire at the moment – I really love a chilli and chorizo pizza and a pint of Otter in the Crown, occasionally get a Curry Corner or Sukothai takeout (both good & friendly) and I stop for a Corona and some tapas at Mackerel Sky now and again but there’s really not much else cooking.

Or at least there wasn’t until the Dining Room at the Penzance Arts Club opened a few weeks back. I made it over last weekend to try it out and it’s brilliant – and *very big cheer* it’s priced with locals in mind. The room is pure shabby chic, with sweet French perfume bottles as mini vases, simple rustic furniture and white tablecloths, and Breon O’Casey paintings on the walls.

Check out the colours in the food – it looks like an abstract art canvas! The chef makes extensive use of Dan the Potager’s salad boxes, which are stuffed with bright, wild greens, and lots of edible flowers.

Bruschetta, giant prawns with aoili and fishcakes were all fantastic – oh, and we met a nicely sticky end with limoncello cake and cream topped with roasted almonds. There are worse ways to go.

Penzance Arts Club, Chapel Street, 01736 363 761/www.penzanceartsclub.co.uk

penzance arts club cornwall

st ives food & drink fest – tasty

June 21, 2010 in cheese, drink, festivals, food, new cornwall, penwith, rail, st ives | 1 comment

st ives harbour cornwall

The first St Ives Food & Drink Festival seemed to be going with a swing yesterday when I swung by – though it’s hard to imagine what wouldn’t go with a swing when the skies are blue and St Ives looks, as it does on sunny days, like it’s been dropped in from the Bounty advert.

The Guild Hall food fair was a bit of who’s who of cool new Cornish food & drink companies (and there really are TONS). With everyone enthusiastically handing out tasters and being generally friendly and chatty, it was a convivial scene.

Polgoon was there with its new River Cottage-endorsed elderflower fizz in champagne bottles (tasty stuff but £17 – ouch!), then there was the Rev Berriman’s fiery chilli cola (which I enthused about the other day), Cornish Stingers nettle beer, Cornish Blue cheese, amazing Helford River cheeses, real ale, St Ives beef….

Down on the harbour wall, a small crowd had gathered for the chef demos. I listened for a while to the chef from the Greenbank in Falmouth demonstrating how to cook fish to perfection (in brief: score the fish, high heat, skin first, shake the pan, then don’t be tempted to keep moving it away from the hob…).

Oh, and I took the park & (train) ride from Lelant for the first time – it’s the only way to go. (10% off tickets the Cornish rail card btw – yay).

More pics of the festival care of the Clotted Cream Diaries blog here.

http://www.stivesfoodanddrinkfestival.co.uk

pasty digest: mackerel, wallabies & chip fat power

June 18, 2010 in articles on cornwall, dolphins, eco, ferries, fish, pasty digest, penwith, porthtowan | Leave a comment

mackerel cornwall

via wiki

The fat of the land I can’t say I had really thought much before about the fuel potential of chip fat – and then in one week I hear about two Cornish businesses running on the stuff. The new Place Ferry (from St Mawes to Place) is powered by waste chip fat (provided by local businesses – nice) and this week I took one of Newquay’s biotaxis, running on an eco-friendly biofuel.

God knows there’s enough fish & chip shops in Cornwall to oblige! Does this mean that if I fuel my body regularly with fish & chips that I am technically being very green? If necessary, I can up my intake.

Mackerel crisis It really isn’t easy being green when it comes to eating fish – there is next to nothing left on the OK list. Still, I’ve always been glad that the humble but delicious mackerel is on there (along with gurnard), so that is what I buy – and occasionally attempt to catch (low success rate – the fish stocks are totally safe with me). So this Times article about the ‘mackerel war’ made rather grim reading…

Cornish wallabies Finally, everyone say ‘aaaaaah’ for these zoo escapees seen strolling about in Cornwall – a long way from the outback.

OK, actually, sorry you’re going to have say ‘aaaaaah’ again for this dancing dolphin snapped off Porthtowan. I saw some dolphins do a turn at the weekend off the coast near Zennor but this guy caught a really high jump (& he deserves it for getting up at 5am).

paint colour code: kelly’s whip ice-cream

June 15, 2010 in beach food, ice-cream, st ives | Tags: , | 2 comments

st ives door ice-cream colourst ives door ice-cream

While I wade through many MBs of pictures of turquoise seas and secret coves (um, ah, how many different angles do I need of Pedn Vounder beach… oh ok maybe just one more, since it’s got the Logan Rock in the background… oh actually this one’s pretty too with the birds), I thought I’d share with you this rather charming ice-cream-coloured door I saw in St Ives on the coastal road past Porthmeor Beach – right by the Tate St Ives.

The minute I saw it, I needed a Kelly’s of Cornwall whippy cone with a flake urgently but could find no one to oblige. I love the creamy paint peeling off in layers and the cool old guy in shades.

p&c is away

June 11, 2010 in footpath, walks, west cornwall | 2 comments

coastal footpath cornwall

pasties & cream will be away for a few days walking a portion of the Cornish coastal footpath and camping en route – possibly in the rain. Wish me luck.

If I haven’t dropped my phone in a muddy ditch or reached some sort of zen-like ditch-the-screens state of mind, I may attempt some tweeting or a mobile blog post but failing that expect a bombardment of pictures on my return.

peppered strawberry forever

June 10, 2010 in art, cafes, food, galleries, penzance | Tags: , , | 1 comment

the exchange penzance cornwall

I’ve been to the Exchange gallery café for lunch about a dozen times (it’s central, quick and all lunches are around the £5 mark – oh and I get to gaze longingly at the hand-made vases, jewellery and books). And every time I’ve been, I’ve found a strawberry part-dipped in black pepper tucked artistically in my salad.

I *love* this touch – particularly good with the Cornish yarg in my ploughman’s this week. I’ve got pretty expectant of this strawberry now – they’d better not go changing the chef.

The Exchange, Princes Street, Penzance, TR18 2NL (www.newlynartgallery.co.uk)

More photos after the hop… Read the rest of this entry »

pasties & cream gets reviewed

June 10, 2010 in blogging, cornish world, cornwall, magazines, media, radio | 1 comment

As any budding blogger will know, it’s an exciting day when someone picks up your blog from the net and says something nice about it. Particularly if it isn’t your mum, sister or best mate (thanks for your support though guys ;-)).

So, at the impressionable age of four months, pasties & cream is glowing after a review in Cornish World magazine’s Online section this month – and even more pleased to be described thus:

‘Quirky and sometimes nostalgic, this blog looks at Cornwall with an unusual twist. Amidst the many little gems waiting to be discovered are surfing sheep and an intriguing video of Penzance in the 60s. pasties & cream features kitsch venues, good food and fun facts alongside beautiful photography.’

‘Quirky’ is of course one of those words that is totally off-limits when describing yourself but is always well-received when coming from someone else.

So, thanks CW.

shades of cool at jubilee pool (+ art 75 event on sat)

June 7, 2010 in architecture, art, cornwall, design, events, history, jubilee pool, old cornwall, penwith, penzance, photos, sea, south coast, swimming, vintage, west cornwall | Tags: , | 1 comment

jubilee pool penzance cornwall

The 1930s deco lido in Penzance is a great source of inspiration to local photographers and artists – the cool curves, cubist steps, and triangular shapes pointing out into the sea are a pretty extraordinary sight.

To celebrate my first ever swim in the Jubilee Pool – so overdue, it was getting quite embarrassing – I thought I’d post my humble interpretation of this iconic monument. This was the view from my towel as I lay sunbathing at the weekend (before, that is, I was told to stop photographing the architecture due to ‘child protection’).

I lay there for at least an hour thinking that if I could just absorb enough rays, it would defend me against the famously cold temperature of the water. I noted with some concern that over half the people in the pool had some sort of expensive-looking swimming protection, including swimming caps made of wetsuit material.

But I have to say the water really was lovely – fresh but manageable, and considerably warmer than the sea proper (I know this because I swam off Battery Rocks on Friday evening sans suit and it was… challenging). The feeling of swimming in a pool of that size (100 metres long at its longest point!) was invigorating – and the unconventional triangular shape liberates you from boring old up-and-down lengths, and makes it feel more like a wild swim.

This year is the 75th anniversary of Jubilee Pool, and there are celebratory flags flying (below) and historic Read the rest of this entry »

the pasty digest

June 4, 2010 in articles on cornwall, falmouth, pasty digest, telegraph museum, university college falmouth, web | Tags: | Leave a comment

As I spend so much time trawling the net, often chancing upon interesting articles about Cornwall, I thought I’d attempt to justify my Mon-Fri journey into the time-management black hole that is the internet by starting a Friday digest. So for this week, we have:

• The Geek Guide to Cornwall Tips from the Times for a total geek-out of a holiday in Cornwall, including Read the rest of this entry »

the cornish riviera… it’s sunny but not that sunny

June 4, 2010 in art, cornwall, design, old cornwall, rail, vintage | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Cornwall railway Poster

image via Jaunted.com

I’ve always been a huge fan of those old railway posters advertising trips to Cornwall – they are beautifully designed and just bursting with the pride and aspiration that once surrounded rail travel. Many of the Cornish ones are famous to the point of cliché but thanks to Jaunted today I discovered a new one, dating back to 1907 and boldly comparing the Cornish riviera to Italy.

‘There is,’ it claims, ‘a great similarity between Cornwall and Italy in… climate.’ Even on a scorching summer’s day such as today with the sea shining on Mount’s Bay and the sky a deep blue, you can’t help but laugh at this barefaced advertising lie.

I’d love to own one of these vintage rail posters but every time I come close to buying one I think: isn’t that a bit like wearing an ‘I heart NYC’ t-shirt when you live there? Totally uncool. Similarly my Alfred Wallis harbour print came straight out of the frame as soon as I moved to Cornwall – I still love it, but it made me feel like a tourist.

Here’s another goodun:

rail poster cornwall

tregothnan-sur-fal

May 31, 2010 in cafes, cake, cornwall, cream tea, ferries, new cornwall, river fal, sea views, south coast, tea, that's pretty | Tags: , | 3 comments

tregothnan tolcarnetregothnantregothnantregothnan

At the weekend, under heavy grey skies, I set off with friends from Feock for Tolverne Cottage on the eastern side of the Fal, via the King Harry Ferry (free for pedestrians). It’s a serene part of  Cornwall – and you can cut through on a footpath through the woodland attached precariously to the banks.

On arrival at Smugglers’ Cottage, we found what was once one of Cornwall’s most eccentric teahouses looking considerably more dapper, having been taken over by Tregothnan of tea fame.

‘Oh,’ said one of our party, ‘It’s been Farrow and Balled’.

That pretty much summed up my unedited response to the new understated colour scheme and smart garden furniture. Gone was the endearing eccentricity of the place (though all the nautical curios that once hung from all available spaces will appear in a soon-to-open museum) and in their place was a National Trust look, silver trays and lots of beige.

I think I am probably taking out my frustrations about wider issues on this one, ultimately very pleasant spot – it’s hardly like Starbucks has just pitched up in the woods on the River Fal. There is nothing wrong, and plenty right, with tasteful aesthetics and high-quality cream teas but, like all forms of gentrification, in large quantities it starts to feel like it’s endangering the very character of a place – ie the bit people liked in the first place.

I feel that on some level this is what is happening with Cornwall. Where it was once a novelty to have a pricey cappuccino in chic surroundings by the beach, it now seems to be an essential part of the business plan of every beach, cove or garden – and I can’t help thinking that if I’d really wanted to be drip-fed lattes after every muddy walk, surf and wild view, I wouldn’t have moved to England’s most remote county!

On a similar note, Read the rest of this entry »

scarlet wines – red hot!

May 27, 2010 in cafes, cornwall, drink, food, lelant, new cornwall, penwith, st ives, that's pretty, west cornwall, wine | Tags: , , | 4 comments

scarlet wines cornwall

I think Scarlet Wines & tapas bar in Lelant might just be my new favourite place in west Cornwall. I had suspected it might indeed be rather cool when I stopped by Beaten Green next door the other day, but after attending their South American wine & food tasting on Tuesday night, I am now officially Read the rest of this entry »

teaching dad (and me) to cook flapjack

May 26, 2010 in books, cornwall, devon, food, recipe books | Tags: , | Leave a comment

teaching dad to cook flapjack

I LOVE this new cookery book called ‘Teaching Dad To Cook Flapjack‘. Drawing casually on her great-grandmother’s old Cornish recipes, Read the rest of this entry »

push-ups in national trust parkland, anyone?

May 25, 2010 in helston, national trust, new cornwall, south coast, sport, west cornwall | Tags: , , | 5 comments

outdoor gym cornwall

As someone who guiltily neglects to use my gym contract enough (apart from the sauna!) because I always find myself wanting to be outside instead, I was quite enthused by this new National Trust outdoor gym, which blends perfectly into Read the rest of this entry »

powerboats and, hurray, people on the promenade

May 24, 2010 in cornwall, drink, events, penzance, sport, west cornwall | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

I took this vid of the Grand Prix of the Sea on Saturday in Penzance, a powerboat racing event. As you can see, the shameless seagulls couldn’t believe their luck. Er, sorry I don’t seem to have focused for very long on the actual sporting action there.

To be honest, I found it a bit of a tricky one to get into as a spectactor as the boats were really just dots in the Bay – albeit impressively fast dots. But it was SO nice to see the town make use of its fantastic promenade for once – it’s such an underused feature and, trivia alert, it’s also the only one in Cornwall.

Everyone seemed very happy sunning themselves and knocking back flutes of pink Polgoon bubbly and eating big slices of watermelon. More soon please… Read the rest of this entry »

steckfensters now on chapel street

May 24, 2010 in penzance, shops, vintage, west cornwall | Tags: , , | 1 comment

steckfensters penzance

With the casualties of the recession still very visible in Penzance – every third shopfront seems to be empty at the moment ­– it was particularly nice to walk down Chapel Street on Friday and spot something new. A rummager’s dream world, Steckfensters has moved from its smaller Bread Street premises into a plum property – in the old Hilton Young gallery.

I had a browse and the stock is pure Penzance: you can expect anything from a handsome ladies’ pale blue Raleigh bike to rails of leather jackets, plants, curios, floral print garden chairs and, most importantly, a pink tutu.

10 Chapel Street, Penzance – open Thur-Sat

steckfensters penzance

westcroft guesthouse & gallery on the rame peninsula

May 20, 2010 in b&bs, boutique b&bs, cornwall, east cornwall, galleries, hotels, new cornwall, photos, rame peninsula, sea, sea views, that's pretty, vintage | Tags: , , , , | 3 comments

As I am wont to where spotty mugs and wild flower arrangements are involved, I went a bit crazy with the zoom the other weekend at the Westcroft. It’s a gorgeous boutique b&b and gallery in the soothing village of Kingsand on the Rame Peninsula, aka ‘Cornwall’s Forgotten Corner’. As you can see, it’s a haven of all-round loveliness…  what you can’t see here is that it’s right on the beach.

Westcroft Guesthouse & Gallery, seafront, Kingsand, Cornwall – www.westcroftguesthouse.co.uk. From £90 a night for a double. Btw, it’s a short drive from Antony House, of Alice in Wonderland fame.

westcroft guesthouse rame cornwallwestcroft guesthouse rame cornwall Read the rest of this entry »

p&c january header: artist’s studio Newlyn

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