Forever Cornwall

West Cornwall from the air

phil — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:42:14 +0000

Thumb’s up for Visit Cornwall (our beloved tourist board) for commissioning some stunning aerial films. This one takes you on an epic soaring journey starting at Mullion on the Lizard Peninsular, which is a short drive south of our very own Chapel Cottage, then swooshing westwards over Mount’s bay with Newlyn in the distance (where our lovely Kiln Cottage is situated) — finally past Land’s End and around to St Ives Bay. The finishing shot is Gwithian and Godrevy island, where you’ll find Driftwood Beach Chalet. Couldn’t be more appropriate if we’d hired the helicopter to show off our holiday cottage locations ourselves!

A beautiful cottage with an artist’s studio

phil — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:27:37 +0000

Chapel Cottage near Helston, the Helford and the Lizard Peninsular is perfect place to escape if you are feeling artistic. On request, it comes complete with a spacious and fully equipped artist’s studio. It occupies the entire first floor (approximately 25 ft x 18 ft) and has wonderful light (north lit) with skylights and sash windows on both sides. The studio has facilities including sink, two easels, tables and even a small ‘bench top’ etching press making it suitable for any artist’s requirements. Materials are not supplied, but anything you forget can be bought in Truro at the very good art shop there (Truro Arts Company). Chapel Cottage is one of our favorite Forever Cornwall cottages — it is a beautifully renovated ‘classic’ cottage, set in a spacious and secluded garden. Please note that the studio is priced separately at £50 per week.

From Seed to Plate to Cornwall

phil — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:02:18 +0000

We are lucky to get such interesting guests at the Forever Cornwall cottages. And they don’t come much more interesting than seed gurus Peter and Imogen Clements who have just spent a self-catering week at our chalet at Gwithian Towans. If you’ve ever wanted to tun a patch of soil into a bounteous organic veg patch you’ll find their unique website Seed to Plate to be a most helpful place to start. “We know people don’t have stacks of time to devote to their veg plot, so we’ve made every effort to ensure growing is as low maintenance as possible” says Imogen.

Start off with a little inspiration, by using the Plot Designer tool which cleverly tells you what to plant based on the size of your garden (or window box!), what you like to eat best, and the spare time you have available… then flick to the Sowing Calendar to show you when to plant… and finally video tutorials to show you how! The site is designed and presented with all the care and attention you’d expect from your favourite cook book. Very clever… now I’m hungry. Where’s that spade (and credit card)!

If you want to find out more about how to be as eco-friendly on holiday as you are at home, have a look at the CoaST website. It’s the portal for the global (but Cornwall-based) “one planet tourism network”. (Forever Cornwall is proud to be a member).

Forever Cornwall’s online pasty guide!

phil — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:55:52 +0000

When you visit Cornwall, whatever the weather and whenever you come, there are two things you will almost certainly do. Go to a beach — and eat a pasty. Now, just as there is good and bad disco music, good and bad haircuts, and good and bad karma — there are good and bad pasties. And to save you the time, trouble and unnecessary calorific intake of testing out all of the types you come across, we though we’d give you some pointers. Following are our current top ten… but first the basics..

A Proper Pasty has to be made by hand. The reason is that the ingredients have to be carefully layered for the flavours to integrate successfully. Specifically the meat has to be on top so that the meat juices flow down though the veg ingredients during the cooking process. ‘Mother’ would very likely have put a knob of butter on top of the meat for added flavour (and cholesterol). On top of the meat, some seasoning obviously… Below the meat there must be onion, followed by turnip which should be sliced, not diced, so that it cooks in time with the potato which is on the bottom. See the logic? each flavour will flow through the next. Make it in a factory mixer and the effect is utterly lost — like trying to make a layer cake without the layers. If follows that if a pasty is hand made it will be hand ‘crimped’ too.

Incidentally the clasic beef for a pasty is either ‘chuck steak’ or ‘skirt’. I have to be honest and say I have no idea what skirt is… plesae do tell if you know.

‘These days’ you will find pasties with all sorts of ingredients. This is by no means a modern idea, as ‘originally’ pasties might have had all sorts of things in them… depending on what was in season, personal preference and so on. And while we are talking history, pasties aren’t actually that old — the thing we recognise as the Cornish pasty today is probably a Victorian invention.

There are various cute stories about pasties, one of the most prevalent is that miners with their mucky hands would hold on to the crimped edge as if it were a handle, and then discard it (also to pacify the Knockers who may otherwise have jinxed the mine). Personally I am more than a little skeptical about this. Dunno about you but I reckon the crusty crimped edge is the best bit, and if I were a hungry miner I’d want the calories and the treat enough to simply give my hand a wipe first and then eat the lot.

Finally, and while we are talking history, the etymology of the word ‘pasty’ goes back to old French and thence Latin. The same root word as pastry, pasta, patty, pate, patas etcetera. Now, for that highly subjective list! (… which focuses unashamedly on West Cornwall).

1. Trevaskis farm shop pasty in the restaurant — at quiet times of year they may let you have one to take away, worth the ask

2. Anne’s in The Lizard village. Literally worth the drive from almost anywhere

3. Horse and Jockey in Helston (by The Bell public house in Meneage Street)

4. Strawberry sandwich bar in Penryn — they just make a few every day, awesome

5. Philps in Hayle or Praze-an-Beeble — a big maker but absolutely the real deal… join the queue in the summer and eat on Hayle quay

6. Rowes — made in Penryn and about the biggest chain in the area with ubiquitous yellow shops. Very good nonetheless

7. In the cafe at Geevor Tin Mine — dunno who makes them but they are just ace

8. Berryman’s in Redruth — a little plain but a delight

9. The village butchers in Mylor Bridge — it’s traditional in Cornwall for butchers to make pasties for obvious reasons

10. Choaks in Falmouth (at the top of ‘the Moor’) — see them being made in the shop
Forever Cornwall says: Want to read more? Try this pasty blog from Cornish Casio rappers Hedluv and Passman

World Heritage Mining sites in Cornwall

phil — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:51:16 +0000

Close to the Forever Cornwall HQ, and just a 30-minute walk from the Swallow Barn along the meandering bridle path takes us to Polcrebo Downs, between Crowan and Nancegollan. Polcrebo mine was active in the 1860s, mining tin and copper, and the records seem to show that it struggled to break even. The remaining chimney set on ragged down-land is a fine building nonetheless, and is grade II listed, to prove the point. In spring and early summer the downs bloom purple with heather, and the gorse is vivid with golden flowers even now in midwinter. The mine shaft was capped in 2003 by the local council.

Mining for tin, copper and other minerals shaped the landscape and history of much of Cornwall, and in 2006 numerous mining landscapes in Cornwall and West Devon were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, ensuring that they will be preserved for future generations.

To find out more about the history of tin mining and the World Heritage mining sites of Cornwall and West Devon visit The Cornish Mining website. When you come to Cornwall take time to visit the Royal Cornwall Museum or the fab Geevor Tin Mine where you can go underground yourself.

Breon O’Casey at the Newlyn Art Gallery

phil — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:30:39 +0000

Newlyn was the home of Cornwall’s first artist’s colony, so it is fitting that the very wonderful Newlyn Art Gallery www.newlynartgallery.com should be hosting a major retrospective of the work of Breon O’Casey (1928-2011). Breon O’casey came to Cornwall in 1959 and was a contemporary of Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Terry Frost, Bryan Wynter, John Wells, William Scott and others. This major exhibition will feature many of his iconic bird and fish paintings, as well as notebooks, photographs and artefacts. Newlyn Art Gallery 14th January – 28th April 2012. In the summer Kiln Cottage makes a great base for exploring Newlyn and West Penwith — or at any time of year Newlyn is just 25 minutes drive from our delightful self catering cottages Chapel Cottage and Wildwood.

Winter sun and great surf at Gwithian

phil — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:29:41 +0000

We have Driftwood beach chalet to ourselves for a few days after a few particularly busy Forever Cornwall weeks. It has been time for some TLC — all of the window hinges have seized up after a few winters of thrashing by salty Atlantic winds (a day of ‘fun’ with screwdriver, wire-brush and marine-grade grease has worked wonders). So by Sunday it’s time for a well earned break. Poppy, Midge and I head out for a long beach-combing session, while Maria sleeps off a birthday celebration. And it’s one of those perfect winter days in Cornwall. You are aware of texture everywhere, accentuated by the crisp light from the low sun. The marram grass, the sand, the black-golden-granite cliff face, the surf with sets of curling glassy waves, peeling left and right from the offshore rocks that make the surf work at high tide down below the Lifeguard hut, even the sky itself seems newly etched onto the retina. With the tide high, we walk ‘down’ the coast towards Upton Towans, over the dunes, following the meandering paths, St Ives and Carbis Bay beckoning us across the bay. After half an hour we descend to the beach, now revealed pristine again with footprints washed away by the ebbing tide. We are able to make it back to the chalets at Gwithian by slipping from cove to cove, dodging the rushing foamy tongues of spent rollers as they race across the hissing sand. I’m glad to have a camera in my pocket, glad to have the privilege of West Cornwall as a neighbor, and the sea as a friend.

You can get up-to-the-minute surf reports for Gwithian and all of Cornwall’s best breaks at magicseaweed.com

A day with a Cornish blacksmith

phil — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:04:20 +0000

“We think we might have an old forge — do you want to have a look?” said Lisa Harrison’s friends when they bought Trevone quarry near Falmouth three years ago. Quite bit of luck for a Blacksmith looking for somewhere to work. The building had trees growing through it, but sure enough, a forge it surely was, complete with chimneys and hearths. Situated in the midst of the granite quarries of Mabe, it once would have been the place where quarrymen’s tools were made and repaired. A new roof, a power supply and an array of mysteriously named tools later, and Lisa the blacksmith is so settled in that it looks as if she’s been working here forever.

We are at Smythick Forge for the day; it’s Harry’s tenth birthday present, and a complete surprise. Our mission is to make a sword the hard way. Lisa throws Harry in at the deep end. This is no have-a-dabble experience.

After fitting us with safety glasses Lisa lights the coke fire, to enable it to reach the 1200 degrees needed to work steel. While the electric fan hums and the forge spits and cracks, the design for the sword is discussed and quickly roughed out on paper. It’s to be a single-handed short sword, with a ball at the end of the handle.

Suitable mild steel is selected and cut to length and the smithing begins. Soon the building is ringing and Harry and Lisa settle into a working rhythm; heating and hammering on blade on the huge anvil, cooling the handle-end in a trough.

After a couple hours, lunch is a pan-full of chipolatas a-la-blacksmith, eaten by a flooded quarry adjacent to the smithy. While Harry tries out a tightrope we talk about life as a blacksmith. Lisa always knew she wanted to work with metal, and travelled widely to find out more, even working in a silver mine before going into higher education. First a diploma, then silversmithing at Birmingham School of Jewellery, and finally a year’s training at the only dedicated school of blacksmithing in Europe at Hereford. “That meant I could be useful to a smith — but you really learn by watching and helping”.

After lunch Harry moves on to “cold work” with hacksaw and file, tower drill and rivets. I worry that the treat might be turning into too much like hard work. “That’s it, I’ve finished it” says Harry after five minutes of filing the pommel. No you haven’t says Lisa “keep going!”. But his enthusiasm does not wane, and nor does Lisa’s. “Wow that’s perfect” says Harry of the slowly forming T-bar”. “I’d expect nothing less from you,” retorts Lisa.

Lisa’s stock-in-trade is functional, sculptural or architectural ironwork for interiors and exteriors, which she creates at all scales. You can find Lisa’s work from Canada and North America to France and all around the UK. She is also happy to take on (very) small groups of up to two in the smithy so if you’d like to experience real smithing while you are on holiday in Cornwall you can. Please contact Lisa through her website www.smythickforge.co.uk — but do make the arrangement well in advance! Smythick Forge is 30 minutes from our self catering cottages The Cosy Cow Shed and a little closer to Chapel Cottage.

A Lizard walk less ordinary

phil — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:31:42 +0000

We awake to hammering Cornish November rain. I mean stair-rods. Horizontal. “Are we still going?” asks Georgia. “Well c’mon… what’s the worst that can happen?” say’s I, annoyingly optimistic as usual.

Well, we could get very very wet. You see, we plan to head for the Lizard for the day, to walk the most southerly section of the South West Coast Path, and this is not a good start. To be fair, rain is forecast all week.

But, an hour later we are bouncing down the A3083 from Helston and things are starting to look up.The Southerly horizon brightens, and hey-ho, the grey blanket cracks open to reveal a bluecrystal sky-scape. We shouldn’t be too surprised, for one thing we are at the point on mainland Britain closest to the equator, and for another… well, the Lizard peninsular does have a micro-climate after all.

Out intended walk is not a conventional one. Yes we aim to take in one of the most dramatic stretches of coastal scenery in Cornwall, in fact anywhere, and hope we might spot peregrine falcons, or better still, rare choughs — but we are also following up rumours that harriers have been spotted somewhere near. Of the jump-jet variety.

We start the way a Cornish walk should— by picking up pasties. In this case from Anne’s famous shop in The Lizard village (are they the best pasties you can buy? We think that they might possibly be, unless of course you know differently). We then roll down to the big car park adjacent to the lighthouse.

Heading West from Lizard point we pass bird watchers with impressive lenses on their very expensive-looking cameras. They’ve seen choughs an hour earlier, on the Easterly side of the peninsular. Choughs will have to wait for another day. And anyway, we are not disappointed for long, as we soon stumble upon a posse of Shetland Ponies who make up in friendliness and sheer damn cute-ness what they lack in scarcity value. Natural England does great work managing the habitat down here, and the ponies are all part of the strategy. They munch and trample tirelessly to create open conditions that encourages the pink thrift, blue squill and yellow vetches to grow, creating the perfect conditions for those choughs to thrive. (But don’t expect to see the ponies in the summer, they are seasonal helpers, and reward winter walkers only!).

Of course the real draw here is the landscape. It’s always beautiful. Today it is jaw-droppingly so. Passing Kynence Cove Atlantic rollers pound the granite cliffs a hundred or more feet below. Black crows and white gulls soar while kestrels hang motionless on the stiff breeze.

En route Georgia modifies her footwear. Those Scarpa boots are really really good, luckily.

Soon we near our top secret destination. Sorry we can’t tell you where it is for, ummmm, reasons of national security…

Anne’s pasties survive three hours in a rucksack very well. We retrace our steps. Our walk takes five hours in all, at a very easy pace. This walk is about 20 minutes drive from Chapel Cottage. Thanks to Georgia for the better photos!

Walking on Bodmin Moor

phil — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:25:19 +0000

Our self-catering cottages are all in the West of Cornwall, so when you visit by car you will very probably have crossed Bodmin Moor on the A30, passing Bolventor and the famous Jamaica Inn. The road cuts through the heart of Bodmin Moor — off to the North you will have seen Brown Willy (Cornwall’s highest point at a ‘whopping’ 420 metres) and Roughtor on the skyline, and out of sight to the South you will have skipped past Dozmary Pool, fabled as the place where King Arthur received Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake (and where the sword was returned as Arthur lay dying).

We had a fine day walking in early October, starting at the car park in Minions. First we headed for the ‘Cheesewring’ – dramatically sculpted from granite by wind and rain, taking in Daniel Gumb’s ‘cave’ en route. Daniel Gumb was a stone-cutter on the moor in the very early 1700s – he was also a self-taught mathematician. Rather than paying to rent accommodation in Minions village he made his home right by the quarry in a series of cave-rooms that he chopped into the hillside of Stowe’s Hill, on which the Cheesewring sits. Here, they say, he had three wives and nine children. His name and the date 1735 are carved into one of the stones, and on this roofing stone is inscribed a proof of Pythagoras’s theorem.

… perfect territory for Poppy. Lunch was late summer Cornish tomatoes (black ones!), Baker Tom’s foccacia bread (possibly the best outside Italy) and some wonderful Blue Horizon cheese from the Treveadoror Farm at St Martin’s, which happens to be just moments from our very own Chapel Cottage...

Pushing on Northwards past grazing sheep, granite slopes, and marshy stream-beds we came upon a bizarre abundance of mushrooms…

… followed by stumbling across a Bronze Age village — as one does…

The final push, back in a straight line and over Twelve Men’s Moor. The precarious rock-stack on top provided a welcome respite, although musing over the kinetic potential of several hundred cubic metres of granite may not suit everyone.

Walking Bodmin Moor is worth a drive especially on a fine day in Spring or Autumn. It’s very different from cliff-path walking though, if that is what you are familiar with. Very few paths are marked, and whilst you can just wander if you wish, you will be rewarded by getting the OS Explorer’s map of Bodmin Moor (no. 109). History ooozes from every rock and blade of grass, and you can easily plan a walk that takes in a bronze are burial mound and some hut-circles, a deserted Medieval village, and 18th century mine workings… not to mention some of the most breathtaking views anywhere in Cornwall.

Wear stout boots, take a rain proof, make sure your dog behaves, be prepared to cover far less distance than you think you will… and go make some memories! Oliver Howes has an information-rich website Oliver’s Cornwall that will whet your appetite more and help you to plan.

All photos are by Harriet, except this last one of Harriet on Twelve Men’s Moor — which is why it’s the worst one!

A misty Halloween walk

phil — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:33:13 +0000

We strike out with two dogs, thick socks and a camera on Sunday afternoon and head for Godolphin hill. It’s one of our favorite Cornish walks at any time of year and usually it is the panoramic view that takes in a sweep of the far-West from Mount’s bay to St Ives bay and Gwithian that draw us. No today though, as opaque Autumn mist steals up from Land’s End like a sea-ghost. Today we are just after wind-on-skin, and space. We are not disappointed.

We start our walk in the National Trust car park for Godolphin House (OS map ref 600/318). The house itself, a fairly recent NT acquisition is a gem — but we’ll visit another day. The hill oozes history, with over 400 separate archaeological features from Bronze Age enclosures to 19th-century mine buildings. We proceed gently over farmy fields then climb gently over styles and between windbent trees.

On the way home (and moments from the Swallow barn) a red Ford Fiesta rolls around the corner.

“I have cows comin!” announces the woman within, with a Cornish country smile. She sure does. And they’re lovely. We tuck the car into a gateway, wishing we had some ground clearance and four-wheel-drive.

A perfect Cornish walk…

phil — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:30:16 +0000

In August, Ian and Catherine and their 8 and 12 year-old were amongst our first guests at newly-renovated Wildwood. They told us about the best walk of their holiday. It’s a circular walk of 3-4 hours and starts at Perranuthnoe on the South Coast of Cornwall, two miles East of St Michael’s Mount. Start at the Perranuthnoe car-park. Follow paths behind the village to Trebarvah, then to Trevean Farm, then to Rosudgeon, then to Higher Kenneggy and down to Prussia Cove for lunch, “swimming au naturel and then back along the coastal path to Perranuthnoe — perfection of landscape – quintessentially Cornwall”. Thanks for the detail Ian!

Image: Prussia Cove by Kernowseb

Dog-friendly Cornwall

phil — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:16:06 +0000

If you are looking for dog-friendly pubs try the Doggie Pubs website. The Ship Inn at Mousehole is one right on the harbour front and great food. For a beach slightly further afield try Perranporth – a big open stretch of sand with authentic surfers bar The Watering Hole right on the beach — they even let dogs drop in. A warm place to watch the fantastic waves in October! Thanks to Justine, Mark, George, Scarlett, Pat and Frank, and Freddie the dog who stayed at Wildwood.

Tips from Daisy aged three (and a half)

phil — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:58:12 +0000

Daisy aged three-and-a-bit, brought her grandparents all the way to Cornwall from Cheshire for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Here are her shrewd and honest tips for things to do in Cornwall.

“The Eden Project is a bit of a drive but worth it – if you tick ‘gift aid’ then annual membership costs the same as a day ticket. You can’t see the whole place in a day so it’s worth the extra visit. Mullion village and bay are beautiful. Lappa Valley steam railway – not just a steam train but a lake with canoes, a play-park, walks and small trains that run around the park. Land’s End was so misty that we saw nothing but it added to the eerie atmosphere. If you love ice cream go to Roskilly’s at St Keverne on the Lizard – take some bread and feed the ducks…. On the way you’ll pass Goonhilly radio telescopes (but don’t go to the visitor centre!).”

Mount Hawke indoor skate park

phil — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:18:08 +0000

So the kids want to take their new scooters/skateboards/bikes/roller-skates on the Forever Cornwall family holiday to you-know-where? Now, instead of saying “there’s no room in the car” or “you won’t find anywhere to scoot/skate/ride/roll” instead you can say “great idea kids, we can spend some time at Mount Hawke Skate Park.” If you are wheel-minded it is just pure unadulterated heaven. And even if you are not then an acre-or-so of indoor space and kids meals for £2.50 might just tempt you. Mount Hawke Skate Park is about 15 minutes drive from Wildwood cottage, Driftwood Beach Chalet or the Swallow Barn. Hit their website for more information, and get down with da kids.

Heading for St Ives? Take the train

phil — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:30:05 +0000

Tony and Jean from Leicester stayed at Chapel Cottage — they loved the train ride from St Erth to St. Ives, and say it’s the best way to visit the town: no parking worries, and better for the planet. Thanks Tony and Jean. The Forever Cornwall team.

Testimonial 4

phil — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:00:37 +0000

Beach Life

roomfive — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:22:24 +0000

Our favourite walks

phil — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:02:10 +0000

Emma Bradshaw’s lovely blog

roomfive — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:11:59 +0000

In June we were delighted to have Emma Bradshaw and family as a guests at Driftwood Beach Chalet. Emma is not only a prolific blogger, but is an environmentalist, mother, takes a very good photograph, cooks a mean pizza, and is a very nice person, to boot. Have a look at Emma Bradshaw’s blog and try out some of her recipes… for food, and life. This is one of Emma’s photos…